Sunday 5 December 2010
El Cine: Culture in Film
Culture and film go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. Cine Latino Americano is a site that you can use to search for films in the Spanish speaking world. Each film has a short introduction so that the viewer can know about the story line. This site would be great for students and teachers. Students could browse films from the country of their choice and introduce them to the class. Teachers could use the site to find interesting movies to show the students, first previewing them to see if they are class appropriate. After, the teacher could give students prepared discussions questions about the film. This is definitely for advanced learners because content and richness of language can be very complex in movies, and context may be an important factor to consider. Giving students some background information so that they may better understand the plot might be in order. Film can reveal a lot about culture in other countries, so this is a valuable way of presenting it to students.
Saturday 4 December 2010
Las Noticias: Culture in the News
Culture and news are very much intertwined because culture affects the news and the news affects culture. One of the most popular news sites in Peru is El Comercio. It is a bit sensationalist, but it is good for learning about current events in Peru. There are videos about events, and it covers cultural themes like soccer, singers, and food. There is also a section about politics. This site would be suited for learners in advanced placement classes or college classes interested in the comings and goings of other countries. There are popular news sites in every Spanish speaking country. El Clarín is famous in Argentina, and El País is popular in Spain. Students can write summaries or present about a current event in class.
Popular Culture in Spanish
Actualidades: Learn Spanish through Pop Culture
This site is taken from Betsy's blog because I thought that it pertains to culture with a modern spin. It incorporates current music, TV, art, and film into lessons designed for teaching Spanish. Popular culture is as much about cultural competence as any other type of cultural aspect of a country because it also influences the way people see the world. I especially like the music and art sections of this site because there are cloze passages set to popular music in Spanish so that students can actively listen to fill in the blank, and there are many different Latin American artists represented so that students can get a taste of the variety of art that exists in the Spanish speaking world. I think this site is a real find.
This site is taken from Betsy's blog because I thought that it pertains to culture with a modern spin. It incorporates current music, TV, art, and film into lessons designed for teaching Spanish. Popular culture is as much about cultural competence as any other type of cultural aspect of a country because it also influences the way people see the world. I especially like the music and art sections of this site because there are cloze passages set to popular music in Spanish so that students can actively listen to fill in the blank, and there are many different Latin American artists represented so that students can get a taste of the variety of art that exists in the Spanish speaking world. I think this site is a real find.
Thursday 2 December 2010
Folklore
Folklore
This is a great site for resources dealing with dances, holidays, and festivals in Latin America. Put out by UT, it has a complete list of all Latin American countries and their respective cultural distinctions, especially with regard to folklore. This would be a great springboard for research papers or presentations for students interested in traditional dances and clothes in Latin American countries. Many of the descriptions are intermediate level and short exerpts could even be appropriate for lower intermediate students who are interested in this kind of topic. For other dance ideas, a teacher could find videos of dances or even teach a short demo dance class in Spanish. It would be a great alternative to traditional TPR methods of teaching because it would be in an actual context.
This is a great site for resources dealing with dances, holidays, and festivals in Latin America. Put out by UT, it has a complete list of all Latin American countries and their respective cultural distinctions, especially with regard to folklore. This would be a great springboard for research papers or presentations for students interested in traditional dances and clothes in Latin American countries. Many of the descriptions are intermediate level and short exerpts could even be appropriate for lower intermediate students who are interested in this kind of topic. For other dance ideas, a teacher could find videos of dances or even teach a short demo dance class in Spanish. It would be a great alternative to traditional TPR methods of teaching because it would be in an actual context.
Wednesday 1 December 2010
La Historia
History is a culturally relevant theme that allows us to understand where people have come from and why they are in the current situation. Sites like these would be good for research papers about historical events in different countries. This site is from Mexico. It outlines from the ancient times and the Mayas all the way to the elections of 2000. This kind of information should be for intermediate to advanced classes, and students should choose one time period of interest to write about. This is not the only site on history. There are so many Spanish speaking countries to choose from.
Historia Mexico
Historia Mexico
El Piáz: One Language, Many Cultures
Cultura Argentina: Arte, Deportes, y Alimentacion
This site provides information about cultural activities of Argentinians. It includes descriptions of typical art, music, sports, and food of Argentina. All of the explanations are in Spanish. This would be most suitable for an upper-intermediate class because of its advanced level of vocabulary and long explanations. I thought this would be a suitable site to choose from if students were to do a research project about culture. It would give them a lot of input to play with, and they could pick and choose the part of the culture that interests them the most so that they can become experts in that one area and have something to talk about that they enjoy. The following are also websites dealing with culture from other countries:
La Cultura - Generalidades
This site touches on basic culltural distinctions of Peru that make it a unique environment for travel and living. It primarily focuses on the art, architecture, music, languages, and holidays of Peruvians, but it also includes a section on typical cultural customs, literature, and handicrafts. The information presented in the site is extensive, and there are great photographs to go along with it. One possible lesson idea would be to get each student to report on a different country in Spanish and have them give presentations by taking pictures from websites like these and explaining them to their classmates.
Cultura Cubana
This site is about music, dance, film, literature, and art found in Cuba.
Todo sobre Espana
Everything about bulls, fiestas, flamenco, and food of Spain can be found on this site.
This site provides information about cultural activities of Argentinians. It includes descriptions of typical art, music, sports, and food of Argentina. All of the explanations are in Spanish. This would be most suitable for an upper-intermediate class because of its advanced level of vocabulary and long explanations. I thought this would be a suitable site to choose from if students were to do a research project about culture. It would give them a lot of input to play with, and they could pick and choose the part of the culture that interests them the most so that they can become experts in that one area and have something to talk about that they enjoy. The following are also websites dealing with culture from other countries:
La Cultura - Generalidades
This site touches on basic culltural distinctions of Peru that make it a unique environment for travel and living. It primarily focuses on the art, architecture, music, languages, and holidays of Peruvians, but it also includes a section on typical cultural customs, literature, and handicrafts. The information presented in the site is extensive, and there are great photographs to go along with it. One possible lesson idea would be to get each student to report on a different country in Spanish and have them give presentations by taking pictures from websites like these and explaining them to their classmates.
Cultura Cubana
This site is about music, dance, film, literature, and art found in Cuba.
Todo sobre Espana
Everything about bulls, fiestas, flamenco, and food of Spain can be found on this site.
Thursday 18 November 2010
La Literatura - Written Culture
Virtual Spain
Here is a comprehensive website for famous Spanish literature. It is best suited for advanced classes, though due to the variety of forms of literature, some of the material could be used for intermediate classes. It has everything from short love poems of the middle ages translated into simplified Spanish to biographies of authors in the period of modernism. Many authors are listed without websites, so for teachers who love this kind of material, you might want to find new authors in the list to read and share with students.
Here is a comprehensive website for famous Spanish literature. It is best suited for advanced classes, though due to the variety of forms of literature, some of the material could be used for intermediate classes. It has everything from short love poems of the middle ages translated into simplified Spanish to biographies of authors in the period of modernism. Many authors are listed without websites, so for teachers who love this kind of material, you might want to find new authors in the list to read and share with students.
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