Patria y Vida

The song Patria y Vida is causing quite a sensation throughout the Spanish-speaking world. It is a fantastic resource to accompany the book Casa Dividida and a deeper dive into Cuba, especially with upper level students. Here are some resources to help teachers dive in to the topic:

A bit of background information for teachers:

Brief intro/overview

Alt.Latino podcast

Activities for students–aimed at students in upper level courses (approximately intermediate mid):

Interpretive reading–pre-listening: background before the song

Song activity pack–including running dictation pre-listening

patria-y-vidaDownload

Lyrics translation/matching (Formative activity)

Current Events in AP Spanish Language & Culture (now with French too!)

I’ve had students explore current events connected to our class periodically, but this was one of the activities that was the casualty of remote/hybrid/pandemic learning. As I bring it back this year, I wanted to revamp it and strengthen its impact. One feature that I’m adding regularly is small speaking/discussion groups based on what they’ve researched. This will also help us to turn our interpretive task into a mini IPA as we discuss the content and then can roll into mini presentations about connections and comparisons that they discover. I’ve also added sentence starters to spark deeper thoughts and sharing.

Here’s a copy of the handout that I’ll give students in my AP Spanish course. Scroll down for a version in French.

How do you use current events in your classes?

current event form 2021Download

current-events-form-2021-frenchDownload

Current events form 2021 [German]-2Download