So, some people have asked me for my pirate song. Inspired by Thomas Young, I thought I’d make a video for my fellow teachers:
The lyrics are:
Somos piratas perezosos
Nos sentamos y acostamos
Y si nos piden que hagamos algo
respondemos, “¡No hacemos nada!”
I basically translated and modified the words from the Veggie Tales song, “Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything.” A lot of my kids really liked the song, and it’s lots of fun.
A Spanish teacher friend recently asked me about music from Argentina and Uruguay that I use in my class. Then someone else commented on a blog post asking more about the music I use in my classroom, so I thought I’d share here what I shared with my friend:
I focus on music from Argentina and Uruguay because that’s what I listen to and it’s what I’m passionate about. I mix in other artists all the time, but the majority of the music that my students hear will be from these two countries.
As for pop music, I don’t think you can beat Axel. I used his song “Verte reír” last year and it was my first this year, and the kids love it. Cheezy pop at its best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs9JJs1kmko
For some even cheesier pop, Valeria Gastaldi. I’m currently teaching her song “Inventario”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPlM95ouEeY
Next, I’ll mention Los Enanitos Verdes. I think the best way to describe them is like Argentina’s Maná– but don’t tell them I said that. I’m thinking about doing this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvwh_nq9pHY
For something with a little more chill, there’s Jorge Drexler from Uruguay (my all time favorite Spanish speaking musician). You should listen to everything he has written. Last year I did “Todo se transforma” and the kids liked it a lot, but the verses are tough. I did “Volando voy” this year and it hasn’t been as much of a hit. I might recommend “Inoportuna”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGFqd_-tq5Q
In the same vein, Kevin Johansen was born in the US, but his mom is Argentine and he moved there in his early teens (or pre-teen years). I took a risk and did “En mi cabeza” last year and the kids seemed to like it, and I somehow avoided issues with his referring to a girl as, “Mi negrita.” I just told them he was in love with a black girl and they seemed to accept it. I think this year I’m going to do “Ni idea.” If you did this song it would give you a cool opportunity to teach them about the “vos” form as the line “no tenés ni idea” is quite prominent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Ii8OxDzMM
Now, I absolutely must include los Fabulosos Cadillacs. They are super famous but their loud and fast latin rock/reggae usually serves better for music to play in between classes, as opposed to when the students are doing work. I’ve thought about teaching the following song, “Vos sabés”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pXsFQ_y4QE
I also recommend Bajofondo. It’s like techno meets tango, with musicians from Argentina and Uruguay. It’s great for some background music during bell work or any writing or reading that you assign. It’s fun instrumental, and when they team up with Mala Rodríguez or Julieta Venegas it’s really great pop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKG9v7W08uA
Some of the most popular artists that must be included in anything about Argentine music are Andrés Calamaro, Soda Stereo, Charly García, and Fito Paez. But I don’t have any particular songs that I’ve focused on from them because I don’t know that there is anything particularly suited for the classroom. I play their stuff sometimes during bell work. I’ve thought about doing Calamaro’s song “Todo lo demás también” mostly because I like Xoel López’s version. Here’s the Calamaro version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNW7e98OCa8&feature=related
A great background music guy is Astor Piazzola, found where Jazz and Classical meets Tango.
Another good artist for background stuff is Lisandro Aristimuño. Think Radiohead meets Sufjan Stevens. Not necessarily catchy or sing-a-long worthy. The lyrics are poetry and difficult to really get. But I love this guy, and I’ve been listening for years, even before I went to Argentina. His website is lisandro.biz and if I am going to recommend just one song… “Me hice cargo de tu luz” :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cGT5OQ6Pfk&feature=related
Recently, I’ve been playing some Xoel López (aka Deluxe). He’s a Spaniard but lives in Buenos Aires and his music definitely reveals the influence of Argentine National Rock. I love his music. I’m thinking about doing his song, “Tendremos que esperar”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGuY6gpUNrU
Lastly, I give them some Carlos Gardel, the most famous tango artist of all time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJjiFp2Vv4M
Well, that’s all for now. Should be enough to keep anyone occupied for at least a little while. Let me know if you want more!
My students write in their composition books at the beginning of class in response to many different prompts. Sometimes they are describing a friend in Spanish. Sometimes they are summarizing what they read during free reading, with the option of English or Spanish.
Today, I asked them to write in English or Spanish, one thing they like and one thing that they don’t like about our class. Below are some responses from my Spanish II students– and my thoughts:
“I like that this class is interactive and easy to understand… I don’t like the idea of enthusiasm because I am always tired.” I tell them that I expect enthusiastic responses and sometimes make them repeat when the response is not quite wholehearted.
“Una cosa a mi me gusta en la clase es la musica y un otro cosa me gusta es cancion. No a mi me gusta el novela nostros leimos.” I need to work on personalizing that novela. I should probably go review some of Jason Fritz. Personalization. Reader’s Theatre.
“A mí me gusta que hay mas energia en la clase. A mí no me gusta que nostros no puedo hablar en ingles.” I am really trying to keep the class energetic, and to be consistent about not letting them talk in English without permission.
“… Also it is very informative and a great place to learn. A thing that I don’t like is that sometimes it’s too upbeat…” I can think of worse complaints.
“Things I like in our class is listening to music. Also I like reading the books. Things I don’t like is singing. I also like to write in our journals.” I am pretty sure that by “books” she is talking about the free reading and not the novela.
“I like in this class that you talk in simple Spanish so that I can understand. What I don’t like about this class is that we haven’t seen any videos in Spanish.” That first part is like music to my ears. As for the second part, I’m working on getting my projector working and then I hope to be incorporating more technology.
“One thing I like about our class is standing up and pointing to things and learning vocab through actions because I am a hands on visual learner. I don’t like that we cannot ask a question in English. I like that we speak Spanish the majority of our class but I would like to speak English if I have a question.” He is one of the few to mention the TPR, but reading this response makes me glad I’m doing it. I think others appreciate it even though they didn’t mention it.
“One thing I like about our class is the reading. It does really help a lot. The one thing that I don’t like is the long Spanish talks because after a while, I will start to zone out.” Yea for reading! Ouch on the long talks.
“I like the group discussions, that we have in class. I don’t like that we can’t talk in English.” The overwhelming response… “We don’t like the no English rule!” Oh man.
“In Spanish class, I like the reading part. I don’t like speaking Spanish the entire time unless we have permission. I also like the part where we have to stand and do different things (TPR?). It’s a good class!” I honestly didn’t expect the overwhelmingly positive response to the reading. Awesome! And I’ve gotten a couple more comments on TPR now.
“I like that when we don’t understand something in class we can just punch our hand and you will stop and tell us what we don’t understand. I don’t like how we have to speak in Spanish the whole class.” She is one who helps me pace myself right.
“Me gusta mi clase de español porque la conversacion en español siempre muy bien. No me gusta yo tengo la clase en la mañana porque no muy despierto en la mañana.” I love that he chose to write that in Spanish! It has been great to see how many will try to write in Spanish even when I give them the option to write in English.
This weekend I’ll be reading the responses from Spanish III. I’m definitely glad I did this, they gave me some things to reflect on for sure.
I hear people say to “just talk to the kids.” They say that if you just give them comprehensible input and they are interested in it, they are going to learn. But when I do that I still find myself doubting.
Today we talked about what we did on our long weekends. We also talked about the kinds of music we like and don’t like. This was most of the class today.
But will a year of that really lead them to acquire as much as a more structured class? Are they really going to learn as much or more if they just listen well in my class, as they would in a tougher more structured and grammar oriented classroom?
I guess I’m just dealing with some doubts. I’m in the middle of the fourth week, and I feel like time is flying by. This year already seems shorter than my last.
I like just talking to the kids. And I know they are learning some. But I don’t have tons of my own experience to tell me that yes it works for kids to really start speaking Spanish well.
I have assessment on the brain… random thoughts…
This summer at the iFLT, I sat in on the second half of a session on assessment by Scott Benedict, and it really made me think. Shouldn’t we be assessing student ability to communicate? And isn’t half of that communication output?
I don’t think that my students are going to learn to produce language through practicing output. I believe that they will learn to speak through listening and they will learn to write through reading.
But even so, I’ve got to assess the outcomes that I am shooting for. And I want them to see their ability in the language. I want to lower the affective filter by allowing them to experience success in output. If I don’t test their ability to produce Spanish will they be able to sense my fear that they can’t produce? If I am testing output, is it just so I can appease my fear?
Today, I asked the students write nine simple sentences using the nine phrases and words we have focused on in class over the past three weeks. I told them I would be focusing on noun/adjective agreement in my assessment, which is something they should be fairly comfortable with now. I’m glad I did the assessment though, because it showed me that many still need work to be able to use those structures.
Also, students told me they were glad to do a writing activity, that they want to write. That says something too, I think.
Last year, I gave more credit for sheer participation than I am this year. But I think my students CAN communicate, so I want to find a positive way to assess that communication so that they can experience success with language.
Also, with assessments of output, I think we can encourage them to really be engaged without putting unnecessary pressure in class that will raise the affective filter. As much as I’d like to give participation grades and nothing else in theory, I don’t find I am really happy with the way I’ve done my class participation grades.
I guess I’m still trying to figure out what I think about all of this.
Any assessment insights will be appreciated.
