Text Set

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFK-A4uTw4s

This clip is a promotional video for the festival of San Fermin. The video depicts the opening ceremonies, concerts, fireworks, parades, bull fights, and of course the running of the bulls! This clip allows a glimpse of the festival and will make anyone who watches it want to be a part of the fiesta!!

The Sun Also Rises

Written by Ernest Hemmingway this novel tells the story of a young group of Americans who travel from Paris to the festival of San Fermin in Pamplona. The Sun Also Rises is responsible for much of the fame surrounding Sanfermines today.

  Bullfighting: A Short History

 A short history of bullfighting, including a description of the three kinds of bullfights and a discussion of the morality of bullfighting.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1908948,00.html

Time U.S provides a brief history of the Running of the bulls in Pamplona. The link provides photos, newspaper articles, and a description of fiesta today. The pictures and articles date back to as far as 1932 allowing readers to see the development of Sanfermines throughout the century.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/places/culture-places/sports/mexico_bullfighting/

This National Geographic video interviews a renowned Matador in Mexico. Throughout the interview Gasto Santo provides background information on the sport and history of Bullfighting. Santo gives his opinion of the sport and its debated violent aspects. 

LOS SANFERMINES

By John Kimmich-Javier

The 119 images in this book by photographer John Kimmich-Javier, are a selection from over 20 years of work documenting all aspects of this international fiesta: the encierros, the street life, bullfights, religious events, and nightlife.

http://diariodesanfermin.diariodenavarra.es/

The Diario de San Fermín is a blog shared with the public which keeps up to date news on all things Pamplona. (it even has a count down until the next fiesta!!) The blog archive contains videos, photos, articles, and posters from previous years of Sanfermines. 

http://www.navarra.es/home_en/Navarra/Asi+es+Navarra/Historia+y+cultura/

This site provides students with a history of the region in which San Fermines takes place. There is information over the origins of the kingdom, the expansion and decline, modern history, cultural life, and customs and traditions. It is important for students to understand the history of the region and its people in order to understand their customs/traditions, such as the festival of San Fermín.

http://geography.about.com/od/spainmaps/a/Basque-Country.htm

This site is a geographic and anthropologic overview of the Basque country. The Basque people have a very unique culture and history. The dissent between the Basque and the rest of Spain is a common debate that should be recognized and researched before examining their unique customs. The site provides a history of the Basque country from ancient times to the present, it also provides the many defining differences between the Basque country and the rest of Spain. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/el-pa-s-vasco-the-basque-country/8589.html

An introduction to the Basque people of northwest Spain, focusing on how they perceive themselves and the importance of gastronomy in the region. The traditions and culture of the Basque Country are seen from the perpectives of two young girls. Both reinforce the strong work ethic of the local people and the importance of this province's customs - in particular its love of eating. We are introduced to the world of private eating clubs and the competitions between local chefs to win local patronage.

http://questgarden.com/151/98/2/121125133531/index.htm

The running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain is famous all around the world but after the bulls run the streets, they are used in a bullfight. Students have the opportunity to learn about the controversies that the bullfight and persuade an audience to support their position.

1- You will learn about bullfighting and its cultural significance during Spanish festivals.  You will also read evidence supporting opinions for or against bullfighting.

2- After analyzing the research and the pros and cons of bullfighting,  your group will create a role-play in which you discuss (in Spanish) whether or not to attend the bullfight while you  are at the San Fermines festival in Spain. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46cJvIaGTdg

This clip is a 8 minute youtube video featuring the best encierros of the 2012 San Fermín celebration. The clip shows the entire days run, from the realase of the bulls to till their final entrance into the bull ring. 

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/07/san_fermin_2012_running_of_the.html

The Big Picture is a news blog which depicts news stories through photographs. This particular news story covers the festival of San Fermín. Author/photographer Llyod Young provides viewers with 41 photos of the festival covering each event throughout the 9 day celebration. Each image has a caption below describing the event taking place and its significance in the festival of San Fermín. 

Running with the Bulls: My Years with the Hemingways

Valerie Hemingway

In prose of brilliant clarity and stinging candor, Valerie evokes the magic and the pathos of Papa Hemingway’s last years. Swept up in the wild revelry that always exploded around Hemingway, Valerie found herself dancing in the streets of Pamplona, cheering bullfighters at Valencia, careening around hairpin turns in Provence, and savoring the panorama of Paris from her attic room in the Ritz.

http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-bullfighting-be-allowed-to-continue

This site allows students to have a virtual debate on whether or not the believe that bullfighting should be discontinued and why. ALL students would be required to participate and back up thier opinion. This is an extremely common debate that should be brought up when presenting san fermín/bullfights. 

Tovani

Chapter 8 of Tovani, focuses on two topics: assessment and student involvement within the classroom. Different types of assessment can be used to judge student mastery as well as provide teaching reflection. The author assigns grades to the majority of assessments which can act as extrinsic motivation for students work but is not always necessary in my opinion. Grading all assignments for complete accuracy places a lot more work on the teacher that is not necessary in determining student mastery. I am a believer in mixing up the grading of assignments,  sometimes grading for accuracy, spot checking, or completion. Through using a variety of grading techniques students complete their work as if it is always going to be graded for accuracy although that is not always the case.  

In the case of summative assessments I lean more towards the standard based approach to assessments, using brief assessments to check for mastery of each standard before moving forward. It is easier for students to compartmentalize specific concepts together rather than being given a variety of concepts on one exam. 

Formative assessments are a great way to check for student understanding without putting anxiety/pressure on students. These assessments can be given through a variety of modes, such as whiteboards, group work, exit slips, or homework checks. These types of assessments are used by the teacher as well as students to reflect on the quality of learning taken place throughout the instruction. 

Assessments are essential in all fields of education and it is up to the teacher to decide which form will best suit their students and aid in student learning.  

Words Words Words

As a foreign language teacher vocabulary intake is a very large part of teacher instruction. In the first two to three years of Spanish students are required to learn and reproduce hundreds of new vocabulary words related to all different topics. It is important for instructors to find efficient and effective strategies for students to master vocab sets in a very short time period. 

Janet Allen, author of Words Words Words, offers teachers a new strategies to vocabulary building as opposed to the traditional memorization methods. Allen believes it to be important for students to make connections with the words to better help understand them. In Spanish these connections can be made through the examination of the root of certain words. The Spanish language is full of cognates, words that look and sound like their English counterparts. For instance, the words importante, inteligente, computadora, and examinar are all words that students can deduce meaning from without having to ever look up the words. I have been trained throughout my own education by the traditional “memorize model” but would like to try out some of Allens strategies in my own FL classroom. 

Millenials

Bauerlein and Howe’s interview discusses the authors’ two very different viewpoints on the Millennial Generation. Howe ,writer of Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation, claims that the Millennial generation is one of innovation similar to the GI generation. Howe believes that our generation has the ability to shape the nation into a better and safer society. Through developments in technology the Millennial generation has been provided with a plethora of venues for growth in communication and education, perhaps aiding in the steady incline of IQ scores.

Mark Bauerline presents his own views on the Millennial generation in his book, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future. As clearly as it is stated in the title, Bauerline believes the Millenial generation to be the least intelligent generation in history (RUDE!). He claims that our generation has no depth, as result of our access to unlimited social networking and gaming technology. Bauerlein also claims that the Millenial Generation is self obsessed and missuse their access to technology.

I enjoyed the interview and hearing both arguments about whether I, and my generation, are the nations saving grace or inevitable downfall. Oddly enough I agree with both sides of the argument. I do believe that facebook, twitter, halo, etc. have created a more self absorbed generation, yet these same networks allow us a window of communication to peers all over the globe! It is important as teachers that we use our knowledge of the millennials to better instruct and engage our students.

Website Review

http://www.hispanic-culture-online.com/Hispanic-culture-blog.html

Topic: Hispanic Culture

Target Audience: 6-12+

  Hispanic Culture Online is a wonderful website for students to explore the 

customs and traditions of the Hispanic world. I believe too often Spanish classes 

focus primarily on the language and do not focus enough on the Hispanic culture, this 

website provides students with the ability to really see how the Hispanic people live; 

what they buy, what the eat, what they believe.

The website includes a Hispanic Culture Blog which focuses on the traditions, 

culture, language and products of Spanish America. Students can interact with the 

website and other users through their use of this blog!

The site includes information on all things Latin American including:

Latin home and decorations, famous Hispanic people and interviews, jewelry, cuisine, 

cooking, and recipes, traditions and faith, hispanic holidays, and travel. 

The site is wonderful for all things cultural, but also provides spanish learning tools 

and software for struggling students to use at home. The website can be used by 

teachers and students alike to explore and investigate Latin American culture, while 

also being used as a type of inquiry based learning. 

Text Set

Anaya, Rudolfo A. Bless Me, Ultima. New York: Warner, 1994. Print.

This is a novel about the development of the American Mestizaje in the south west. The book discusses traditions, religion, and stereotypes of the Chicano people. 

Menard, Valerie. The Latino Holiday Book: From Cinco De Mayo to Dia De Los Muertos-- the Celebrations and Traditions of Hispanic-Americans. New York: Marlowe &, 2000. Print.

The Latino Holiday Book is the essential resource for everyone wanting to celebrate and honor the special traditions and celebrations of Hispanic Americans. For each celebration, Menard discusses their religious or social history, typical customs, special foods and activities, and gives recipes and instructions for making the authentic foods and crafts that particularly represent a day's traditions.

Ooki, Nancy. Hispanic Heritage Unit Study. Homeschool Learning Network, Inc.; Edition 1 edition 

This unit study uses age-appropriate, reviewed links across the web to further your knowledge on this topic. It is best utilized with an internet connection. Great for homeschoolers, teachers, and anyone interested in having fun learning more about this topic.

Poore, Marge. 1,000 Mexican Recipes.

Offering 1,000 recipes for traditional fare from all the regions of Mexico, as well as dishes inspired by the nueva cocina of today's top Mexican chefs, this cookbook covers what home cooks need and want to know about Mexican cooking. Throughout, the author shares the cultural and culinary heritage of the people and food of Mexico from her perspective as a traveler and impassioned enthusiast of the country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g4oksMinds

Hispanic Heritage Month

This video is a brief clip displaying many Hispanic traditions and practices. The video has a brief narration explaining the importance of Hispanic heritage month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RRJZ9B3eC0

This 13 minute video focuses on el día de los muertos in México. There are images of graveyards, singing and dancing rituals, along with the customary facepaint and dress. The video is very authentic and allows viewers to get a real sense of the festival. 

http://www.hispanic-culture-online.com/#axzz29mj3Dfsz

This website is chock full of Hispanic culture resources. Hispanic holidays, religion, travel, cuisine, and people all have their own pages to be explored. The website is updated monthly with news and resources pertaining to the hispanic calendar. 

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/resource_library/hispanic_resources.html

Smithsonian Education resource library provides resources and links to a plethora of Hispanic cultural topics and lesson plans for teachers to use in their classrooms. There is everything from the stories of immigrants to carnivals celebrating masks in Puerto Rico. This is an awesome resource for all Spanish teachers. 

http://questgarden.com/53/04/4/070721163927/process.htm

This webquest is titled Hispanic Heritage Month, it is an inquiry based activity that requires pairs of students to select and research a historical Hispanic person of their choosing. The students will gather required information and present to the class. 

http://www.scaruffi.com/history/latin.html

This website provides excerpts from “A History of Popular Music”, giving the descriptions and histories of popular Hispanic dances. 

The Motorcycle Diaries is a 2004 biopic about the journey and written memoir of the 23-year-old Ernesto Guevara, who would several years later become internationally known as the iconic Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. 

Frida is a 2002 Miramax/Ventanarosa biographical film which depicts the professional and private life of the surrealist Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. 

http://www.inside-mexico.com/index.htm

Inside Mexico offers in depth articles and news about Mexico, its amazing rich culture, history  and traditions. Arts/Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWdHafEdr-A&feature=related

This clip depicts a crowded street in Puebla, Mexico full of street vendors and customers celebrating Independence Day. The clip not only displays various traditional foods of Mexico, but also the daily life in the cities.

http://spanish4teachers.org/HispanicCultureAll.html

This website is specifically designed for Spanish teachers wanting to teach culture. The website provides worksheets, lessons, powerpoints, and links to Hispanic culture resources. This is a great website for teachers to visit in order to start generating ideas on how to present culture.

Sinatra Reflection

Sinatra’s article focuses on scaffolding learners to think, read, and write in varying content areas. Sinatra states that the teaching-learning construct incorporates three specific parts; examining text structure, concept mapping, and implementing teaching styles that help learners achieve reading and writing connections (Sinatra p 266). Understanding the organizational patterns within an expository text aids in student reading comprehension and understanding. Through examining text structures we are able to easily identify the main ideas and supporting concepts throughout the reading. The largest part of the article deals with concept maps and graphic organizers that can be used to help students better categorize and understand the text they are decoding. Sinatra emphasizes that it is important to not just give students the map to complete, but for the teacher and students to first work through the mapping process together so that the students will have a proper model as to how the mapping should take place. Teacher guidance and support is imperative for student understanding and mastery over the mapping strategy. 

I love the idea of the graphic organizer. Being a visual learner myself, I think they are a great way for students to physically see how a text can be broken down into specific categories. Although typically lower level language classes are not reading large or difficult texts, I do believe that these strategies could be implemented in a higher language literature class. I found this article to be interesting but not too helpful in my own content area.

CHAPTER 11

Daniels and Zemelmans chapter 11 focuses primarily on the difficulties students face in decoding texts across content areas. The chapter provides the reader with multiple strategies that can be used to help foster student critical thinking and understanding.

Read-alouds is one strategy mentioned throughout the chapter that I find to be very helpful within the foreign language classroom. This strategy involves instructors modeling the correct pronunciation and syntax of text along with the proper way of decoding the text into useful information. With the internet, smart phones, and wikipedia, students are forgetting how to think critically for themselves; Think alouds are an awesome tool in helping students to understand how certain inferences are drawn according to context.

Providing students with alternative forms of material is another suggestion that I find to be beneficial in all content areas. Students learn and comprehend material differently, and it is important as teachers to support all different learners by providing different means of materials and activities to engage our students. I found this chapter to be very informative on the development of reading skills and currently implement some of the mentioned strategies in my own foreign language classroom.

Reading Reflection 5

Tovani’s chapters 5 and 6 emphasize the need for teachers to provide clear purpose and expectation for content readings. By informing students beforehand on what they ought to be looking for, they are able to understand the reasoning behind what they are reading and why they are reading that specific content. Often times when students read without a specific purpose in mind they begin to skim the content, not truly processing what is being read. Providing purpose also allows students to practice different reading techniques that will help them synthesize specific information from the text, a skill that is necessary in all occupational and educational fields. 

I believe that Tovani’s reasoning can be applied to all content areas and all types of assignments. Many times students become exhausted with doing arduous worksheets and readings, I believe it is important for teachers to emphasize the purpose for ALL assignments in order to alleviate this frustration. With a concrete purpose or end goal, students are more likely to engage with the material. 

Reflection 4

Reflection 3

1. What was the chapter about?

2. What does this chapter tell you about teaching students

3. Can this chapter be applied in your content area?

This article focuses on the need for read alouds in classrooms of all age ranges. Read alouds are designed to promote student community as well as literacy learning. Many students, especially with lower reading levels, struggle so much with the actual decoding of the text that they are not able to take the time to comprehend what they are reading and fully immerse themselves in the imagery of the text. Along with fostering creativity and imagination, read alouds allow the teacher to model the correct use of syntax and grammar, enabling students to feel more comfortable with their own abilities to read aloud. A quote that I particularly enjoyed form this reading comes from Joseph Bruchac, “You begin to sing a song and when they know it, they begin to sing it with you.” This statement can be applied to all disciplines of education with no exception to reading. Once students feel comfortable with what is expected of them they are more willing to confidently participate in activities. 

I believe that read alouds should be implemented in the foreign language classroom as well as other common core subjects. Pronunciation and syntax are essential in the acquisition of a second language, two things that can be modeled and learned through the process of the read aloud.  

Reflection 3

Reflection 3

1. What was the chapter about?

2. What does this chapter tell you about teaching students?

3.Can this chapter be applied in your content area?

1. Chapter 5 of “Subjects Matter,” explores different strategies to promote student engagement in varied content readings. Daniels and Zemelman break down these strategies into five organized categories: Showing kids how smart readers think, activities that prepare students to read, helping students process ideas as they read, guiding students to reflect and share ideas when they are finished, and learning vocabulary. 
2. This chapter provides detailed instructions on 23 different teaching strategies in order to help students internalize what they read. The chapter emphasizes the importance of actively instructing students how to use the presented strategies. It is important for teachers to model the proper way to execute each of the strategies in order to provide students with clear and concise expectations. While working through the text it is essential that students are able to visualize, question, and make connections within the text.
3. All 23 of the provided strategies are very helpful and can be used across content areas. One strategy that I think would serve as a formative assessment as well as a way to allow students to reflect on what they have learned, are the Exit Slips. These exit slips can be as simple as a piece of scrap paper that on which the kids write down two of the main ideas discussed in a cultural reading. It is very important with the new teaching evaluations and common core objectives for teachers to integrate reading comprehension as well as assessments into lesson plans. I believe that these exit slips knock out both of these tasks while promoting student achievement! Go exit slips!

Website Review

ZacharyJones.com is a website created by Spanish teacher Zachary Jones, designed specifically for the Spanish content area. The website is very easy to navigate and is open to all students and teachers, no log in necessary. 

The website is very easy to navigate and is separated into three different categories; Zambombazo, Photo Vocabulary, and Trocitos Gráficos. The Zambombazo portion of the website features popular Hispanic music, film, photos, and literature. Students are able to explore Hispanic popular culture from all over the world, promoting relevancy and interest in Hispanic studies. The Photo Vocabulary section displays a “palabra del día” (word of the day) each day along with a corresponding photograph of the word. These photos are updated daily and are chosen from the top photographs from the day, exposing students to photography as well as allowing them to connect the new vocabulary to a hard image. Trocitos Gráficos displays a plethora of flyers, posters, newspapers, and articles about cultural events in the Hispanic world. ZacharyJones.com is such an awesome tool for students and teachers alike to explore the Hispanic world that we study. The site is packed with information that is updated daily, allowing for all kinds of inquiry based activities. Although the website is free to view and utilize in the classroom, their is also a store section of the website that allows teachers to purchase a variety of Ebooks pertaining to grammar and culture. I would recommend ZacharyJones.com to all Spanish teachers!

Reflection 2

1.     Chapter 3 and 4 of Tovani’s “Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? ” discuss multiple ways of integrating reading development into non-literary disciplines. Chapter three focuses on reading within the industrial tech and math classrooms, both of which do not require your traditional form of “reading”. Tovani encourages these special area teachers to make reading meaningful to their classrooms by focusing on reading materials integral to their own content areas.

2.     In chapter three, Tovani presents different strategies and ways to integrate “required reading” within a variety of classrooms. For instance, in the industrial tech class, which requires very limited textbook readings, she emphasizes the importance for these students to be able to read blueprints and directions that many non-vocational students do not possess the skills to decode. Although it is not always apparent, reading is practiced in all content areas. Experienced teachers are extremely familiar with their content areas and often forget to break down their thinking and reading processes for students who are not as comfortable with the material. Teachers should take the time to model reading comprehension for their students.

Reading and decoding are two very important skills in language acquisition. Although the bulk of lower level Spanish pertains to the building of basic vocabulary, it is important for students to be able to recognize cognates as well as understand the context of different text. In foreign language students frequently come across new vocabulary but often times are able to deduce the correct meanings through understanding the context surrounding the word. Along with context, cognates are very prevalent and helpful in understanding Spanish vocabulary. Students are often able to look at the stem of the unknown word and deduce the correct meaning based of previous knowledge of latin roots. For example, the word construir means to construct, a vocabulary word that many students would be able to decode without ever having learning the word. I would love to explore different ways to further incorporate common core into the foreign language curriculum.

Reflection 1

1.  Chapter Seven of Subjects Matter focuses on using social support within the classroom to promote students’ academic development. The article, based of research done by the Consortium on Chicago Research, defines social support by the teachers ability to: relate subjects to students personal interests, listen to what students say, know students well, as an individual, and believing they can do well in school. Having a classroom that facilitates social support also depends on the involvement of parents and of the community within the classroom. 

2.  The chapter emphasizes the need for teachers to create a classroom community that allows students to feel comfortable in their learning environment. It is necessary for students to feel respected and safe within the classroom in order to break through previously constructed self boundaries. By providing group work and situations for students to discuss and think through ideas rather that simply filling in the blanks not promotes higher order thinking, comprehension, pro-social development, and allows students to feel more confident while answering questions in front of the class. This type of instruction and analysis allows students to understand HOW and WHAT they read.

3.  This chapter ABSOLUTELY applies to the Spanish content area. In foreign language it is extremely important to create a classroom environment where students feel comfortable participating and speaking in front of classmates. Many foreign language students feel nervous speaking aloud in front of the class out of fear of mispronunciation that will result in embarrassment. Through encouragement and respect for my students I want to encourage them to speak and share ideas in the target language without the fear of failure. ANY participation, whether wrong or right is better than none.