I’ve always used a lot of music in my classes, knowing that it is a high interest topic for me and for my students. Back in the day using songs in class was synonymous with doing a cloze/fill in the blanks activity. It also meant buying one CD or cassette at a time and selecting songs off of those media–with none of the video and social media resources to go with them. However thanks to ideas from Sally Barnes’ amazing presentation at ACTFL 2020 and strategies from Breaking the Sound Barrier by Conti and Smith, I now have a wider repertoire from which to draw. While I continue to use targeted cloze activities–generally focused on the chorus and first verse so that we can enjoy signing along, I now also add content that explores each song in greater depth. While I want to explore each song more deeply, it’s also important that we not suck the joy out of the experience. As a result, there are times where we do all the activities that I’ve added to the activity pack while other times we pick and choose.
Here are two sample activity packs:
Bajo el mismo sol by Álvaro Soler based on ideas from Sally Barnes
César Chávez by Los Tigres del Norte–based on ideas from Breaking the Sound Barrier. Click on link below to access.
Hope you enjoy these! More to come…
Aventuras Nuevas 