Resources and ideas for language teachers

Using the material from the Ministerio de Sanidad, Política Social e Igualdad as a starting point the attached resources look at the issue of alcohol. This links into a bit of revision of the subjunctive analysing some of the key phrases from the advert and then a look at the issue of el botellón. This all ends with some examination questions.

I should point out that the botellón listening exercise comes from the excellent Español Segunda Lengua para Todos website.

POWERPOINT:  El alcohol  WORKSHEETS: SORTING ACTIVITY – el alcohol los efectos y los riesgos  READING el botellón y la ley OPINIONES  El alcohol España y Gran Bretaña LISTENING  Botellón PODCAST

Stress is the focus of the attached resources with some work on teaching the imperative. The PowerPoint starts with a text pointing out why levels of stress have increased in Spain. This is followed by a listening comprehension based on a Colombian video where stress is discussed. I then outline some of the main causes of stress and a novel way of dealing with it – la terapia destructiva. The reading task titled “El estrés y la ansiedad” is a point of entry into discussing the imperative in Spanish + you work through the sheet. Finally this all leads to a question from a part exam based on a “guerra de almohadas” in order to “liberar tensiones”.

Huge thanks to Irene Guzmán Huertas for your help with the reading text which ironically caused a lot of stress! Gracias.

POWERPOINT:  el estrés WORKSHEET: READING El estrés y la ansiedad

Although the resources posted above do not discuss alcohol, this is the next logical step looking at how people can turn to smoking, alcohol, drugs etc. to cope with stress. The video posted below is a nice introduction to the issue of alcohol and health in Spain.

WORKSHEETS: writing exercise ALCOHOL   Botellón

With the A level exams fast approaching this is a post on widening knowledge of vocabulary with a focus on synonyms and false friends. The PowerPoint starts with a resource from an earlier post which has been updated (+ two mistakes I noticed have been corrected). The crossword is to consolidate the presenation but I find it works better if you do the crossword together as a group. The PowerPoint then goes on to focus on synonyms. I go through the list of synonyms which is not the most exciting of tasks, but an important one. We then do some past exam paper exercises to put all of this into practice.

POWERPOINT: www.slideshare.net/njones40/false-friends-and-synonyms (file too big for this blog)   WORKSHEETS: false friends CROSSWORD  Sinónimos LIST FROM PAST EXAMS

This post is a lesson I taught last week building up to the students writing an essay for their homework with the title (from a past paper) of “Aislamiento o integración: ¿Qué camino debe escoger un país moderno?”. I start the lesson raising awareness of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain and how there can be issues relating to identity in the various regions. I ask the students themselves whether they relate more to their country, origins, city, etc. This is a universal issue and generated some really interesting responses. Then we looked at pictures (slides 4-8) where I ask them to see if they can identify the issue. This is not evident and takes some support with me drawing attention to the lack of a Spanish flag on the balconies of some town halls. This leads to the so-called “guerra de las banderas” which is still very much an issue for many people. We did a reading comprehension on this and then we widened the debate to look at whether we identify ourselves as European or not. After watching a clip in which David Cameron talks about his party’s policy towards the EU (with support of the transcript) we discussed the essay title and what the various arguments are. I was pleased with how it went as the issues are complicated and sometimes the students haven’t really developed their views on these issues. Luckily for me they didn’t lack views on this one!

POWERPOINT:http://www.slideshare.net/njones40/aislamiento-o-integracion WORKSHEET: LEY DE BANDERAS