Authentic videos are great to show culture and language at the same time. I’ve found that my students learn more from the video when I give them a quick activity to check what they understand.
“Circle it” is an EASY and QUICK activity to make.
1) Find a video. Let’s use this song by La Oreja de Van Gogh as an example.
2) While they watch the video, they circle what they hear. I put the phrases in the target language for novice learners and in English for more advanced classes. Tip: Sometimes I handwrite it because it is faster.
3) I’ve also done “circle what you see.” Then I write the words in the target language. See the “Super Bowl Commercials” post for an example.
Other Ideas for Videos and Songs
(Thanks to Julie G. for asking about this on Twitter!)
1) sing the chorus back
2) make an Album cover that represents the song
3) write 10 new words you learned (cognates count)
4) print lyrics and highlight words you know
5) summarize (either language)
6) add a verse
7) make a video to go with chorus or one verse
8) use lines from the song to create an original conversation (like a comic strip)
9) write a review in Spanish or English
10) analyze for literary devices (alliteration, simile)
11) use video star to make a karaoke video
12) use Megan’s Novice Interpretive form
13) their idea!
What do you do with videos in class?
I do a summary/follow-up I guess I can call “caption it.” I take screen shots and have students write a sentence or two for each one.
I like this! Does each student do the same screen shot?
I have given the same screenshots to all students, but I have also assigned a specific screenshot to a pair/group.
I like how this activity gives the students a clear purpose for listening! 🙂
My version: I have two or three columns with a statement in each column, only one of them in each row is factually supported by the video… students circle the one that is supported by statements in the video. It works better with self-help videos or other talk format than songs, but I can keep it 100% in the target language. Practicopedia is a good source for Spanish videos with this technique: http://practicopedia.lainformacion.com/ (but don’t open up the website in class… download the video because some videos on practicopedia are not school appropriate)
I’d love to see a sample! Can you email one? I can put it in the post above to share with others.
I’d love to see an example of this as well
Thank you SO much for posting this video source! I was searching and searching for an appropriate video about zombis (my new Spanish 3 unit!) and I found a great one about how to make a zombie costume. It was perfect!
http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/video-linda-guilala-un-millon-de-zombies-mas/
¡Mil gracias por el enlace! Ya tengo “Mi Novio es un Zombi” pero todavía busco más materiales. Dime si encuentras más 😉
Some things that I’ve tried with songs… http://martinabex.com/2012/04/01/song-activities/
I love this idea, but if you count it as a grade how can you be sure that the students aren’t simply circling words in order to receive points? Do you include false words too?
What do you mean by false words?
Words that are not in the listening activity.
I tried this listening activity the last two days and I did include false words. For my house unit, I added similar words. For example, they would hear “rojo” and nearby would be “negro” and “amarillo.” I also put words in a pattern so they could follow along and not freak out so much about where the words were on the page. Here’s what I did: http://sradentlinger.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/la-casa-escuchar-dream-home-spanish-tour-1-hgtv/
This may sound like a silly question, but how do you know that they aren’t just circling words for the sake of circling them or to receive points?
That’s why I said IF I grade them. Usually I do this as a warm-up activity. They know that these are practice for the listening assessment at the end of the unit. Since they are easy to do and give feedback, my students enjoy the challenge.
I love this idea! But where do you find your videos? Ploughing through YouTube can take hours if you’re looking for something specific and appropriate for use at school. Do you target the video to the unit topic?
Sad to say, but I’ve spent hours on YouTube looking for good videos. I have categories set up on there so if I find a good video for another unit, I save it.
Look on Zachary Jones Zambombazo for tons of videos from all different Spanish Speaking countries.
If you’re a member on Pinterest, check out there too. A lot of good video links posted (by Kara and others).
Hi All,
So I am pretty excited while searching around u-tube today for some inspiration I came across this wonderful 1938 Oscar winning clip for Ferdinand the Bull/El Toro Ferdinando, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Pp9-_Au80&list=PL732726B7FF28EAAD all in Spanish! It’s a super sweet artistic rendering of the Spanish childhood classic book and narrated beautifully so I decided that I will show it to my 7th graders tomorrow and ask them questions about it. They will write a short synopsis of the video in English and then answer some questions such as ¿Qué le gusta hacer Ferdinando? ¿A Ferdinando le gusta pelear? Es guapo el toro, es grade … ? and so on. I think it will be fun after the Oscars! Just wanted to share – as you all always have a ton of terrific ideas to share and I find myself checking in at least twice a week for lesson plan ideas and inspiration! Hope someone finds it useful/fun!
Ah, thanks for sharing Bianca! I guess I didn’t do a good enough search last semester…My level 2’s read Platero y yo and I wanted them to see Ferdinand to get varying ideas of bulls in bullfighting. Oh well…I have it for next time, now!
This is such a great idea! I am a huge fan of using music in my classroom. When I taught upper levels, we would listen/sing the same song for about 2 weeks and then they would have a fill in the blank quiz over the lyrics. I now teach Spanish 1 and I have shorter class periods. I just can’t seem to find the time to do a song everyday. This would be a great way to encourage the students to sing along or at least follow along with the lyrics and hold them somewhat accountable for it.
I sometimes let them analyse grammar in the songs. You can make groups of four and let each group analyse something… preposiciones, indefinidos, imperfectos etc. You can also use the verbs in the song and let them convert the verbs in a different tense. It’s kind of rewriting the song..