To wrap up the New Year’s topic, I ended with the Three Kings’ Day (January 6th). The first time I taught this, my high schoolers wrote a wish letter to the Kings. That didn’t quite excite them like I hoped it would. So I changed the focus to connect to the real world career of media/marketing, and supported the ELA standards. Here’s what I am planning…

Input first! I like showing them the commercials and ads associated with this holiday. Some pull at the heart strings, and others give a little chuckle. But all are full of cultural connections.

For more resources such as videos, apps, infographics and readings in Spanish, go to the Chispas page and click on the “Reyes Magos” tab.

I’ve done a similar lesson after the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day. However I’m thinking it will work much better with this topic at this time because there are so many more target language commercials and ads to use. So here’s how I’m going to do it…

Day 1

1. Show a commercial or ad to look at it from a marketing perspective.

2. Together we will go through these questions in the TL and replay the video as needed:

• What product is being promoted? What company?
• What persuasive techniques did they use?
• • Novice: I stuck to the two techniques in the image above.
  • Intermediates: lista de métodos y Persuadir para vender
• What aspects of culture stand out to you? Describe them.
• How did they connect to target audience? (Visuals, Acting, Wording, etc.)

3. Next I’m going to group them up and give them one commercial each to do the same thing.

4. Each group will quickly report their findings with the class (in TL).

I like to remind them that marketing is a real job! So let’s see if you enjoy doing something like this:

5. Challenge: Create a commercial for any store/business for Three Kings’ Day. Remember what we talked about that makes a good commercial.

Depending on your class length, set a time limit or it will go on forever. When we did this for Super Bowl,  I gave them the rest of class to plan (about 20 minutes) to turn in scripts (this cuts down on the translator temptation). That also gave them the night to gather any crucial props.

Day 2

6. Film it! Edit it! I usually set about 40 minutes to do this depending on how familiar they are with filming/editing. Maybe even bring in a techy teacher to help you on that day.

Day 3

7. They show their commercials to the class. They analyze each one again using the same questions and give some peer-feedback. I will give feedback only on the proficiency rubric.

8. Reflection. Simply reflect on whether any part of making commercials/ads (script writing, acting, filming, editing, researching consumers) is something they would enjoy doing as a job. If someone says yes, I want to guide him/her to someone that knows more.

Until next year!!

~ Kara