Amy+Altamirano

I actually ran into some trouble planning these lessons without a smartboard... I felt a little like I was working double--planning something I couldn't teach and then having to plan the lesson I would be able to teach... anyway, for when I have a smartboard in the future, here we go!

The first two activities I planned I combined into the same notebook file. The first is a brainstorm session that I always do with my students in Spanish 6 before starting a new unit. Many of our units are culturally based and this one is on immigration. Normally students do the brainstorm in partners and then on the board. I imagine that with a smartboard, the students would be able to manipulate the ideas after they are all written on the board. I imagine students brainstorming with a partner, then choosing some of their favorite ideas to share with the class, writing them on the board one at a time. Once all of the ideas are on the board, we will then be able to categorize the ideas--separate them into truths and stereotypes or into ideas the students know a lot about and ideas they want to learn more about. Students will then move their ideas into the appropriate categories.

The second is an immigration quiz I give as a "pre-test". Normally this is done on paper and I simply read the correct answers with the additional information. I imagine that with the smartboard, the students will enjoy being able to get out of their seats and actually "reveal" the correct answers themselves. I know they will appreciate the additional information being in written format, since my students at this level are very concerned about their grades and their learning and seeing the information as well as hearing it will be helpful to them for taking notes. This took me way too long to create, by the way. :-)

The third activity is also for the immigration unit: a practice with vocabulary. In this activity students will practice with "mexicanismos" that they will have received on a list before the practice. They will start by categorizing the vocabulary into nouns, adverbs/adjectives, verbs and expressions. The second part of this activity involves more categorizing: students will individually choose one word that is easy for them to remember and one word that they are interested in practicing more. This seems to me like a fun way to manipulate and work with the words without always writing, writing and writing some more.

The fourth activity is also for the immigration unit: a song by "los tigres del norte". This activity allows for students to complete the lyrics of a song after listening. Individually, they will come to the board and write the words in the blanks on the board... normally this is only done on paper and I write the answers on the board. This allows for students to be more active throughout the activity as well as share answers with a class as individuals, rather than just shouting the answers to me.