ab Initio Unit: Cuestiones sociales

This unit is perfect to explore and compare with other cultures controversial topics such as gender role, homeless, stereotypes, public health care or justice.

The suggested topics are:

• Cuestiones de género
• Desempleo
• Desigualdad
• Discriminación
• Drogas
• Estereotipos
• Matrimonio
• Personas sin techo (sin casa)
• Reglas y reglamentos
• Salud pública
• Sistema judicial

Start off reviewing/learning some vocabulary with Quizlet:

Gender equality is more than a goal in itself.
It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.

- Kofi Annan

Lunaprofe 9/02/2018  1 comment

Ab Initio Unit: Tecnología

In this unit we usually assess reading comprehension and oral language production, as they are very common on the exams and easy to bring up in conversations.

The suggested topics are:

• Relaciones cibernéticas
• Seguridad cibernética
• Juegos
• Internet: entretenimiento, compras, etc.
• Comunicación móvil
• Redes sociales
• Uso de la tecnología: escuela, ocio, trabajo, etc.

Start off reviewing/learning some vocabulary with Quizlet:

Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is most important

- Bill Gates

Lunaprofe 5/07/2018  No comment

How to score highly: Latinismos

If you are looking at acquiring a higher level in a foreign/second language and or if you want your students to score highly in a test this is a great source to increase their language performance in a higher level.
A latinismo is a word from Latin used in another language (Spanish, English, French...) It seems that these words are old and not use in today's language but if you take a closer look into modern languages you'll find them all over the place de facto.
Among other things we don't want our students to miss how to write a latinismo. The rule is pretty straight, they must be written in italic (cursiva)
Along with this post I've prepared a few documents to help our students internalize and acquire these terms, you are more than welcome to use them and also remember that possibilities are endless and the best you can do for your students is adapting your materials to their needs. Make your class special personalizing your resources.

Resources:

• Definitions [PDF]
• List of "latinismos"
• Latinismos en la prensa
• Ejercicios con latinismos [completar huecos / desarrollo comunicativo]
• Paper 1 - Reading Comprehension activities

He who laughs most, learns best.

John Cleese

Lunaprofe 5/11/2015  No comment

Acquiring vocabulary through opposites [Antonymy]

The way our brain works is through connecting ideas, concepts. Everything we storage in our minds is connected, categorized, related to some other knowledge. That's why is really important not to present the vocabulary to our students standing alone, disconnected or out of context. The natural way we learn is by the context, so we want to apply that to our language classes. The factors implied in the acquisition of vocabulary in a language are multiple, so, again, the more we bring to the table in the same activity the better for our students to learn that key vocabulary.
In this case, this image helps understand the vocabulary through visuals, antonymy and context.
This image is a piece of a unit about Daily routines, which includes reflective verbs. Through different colors and pictures illustrating the actions we try to make the acquisition of this difficult concept easier for our students.
The last thing I have incorporated into the visual is the concept of opposites, which is one more connection reinforcing the learning of the concepts.

Check out more resources for Daily Routines in Spanish that I've compiled in this folder in my Google Drive.

Don't limit a child to your own learning, 

for he was born in another time.

Rabindranath Tagore

Lunaprofe 3/31/2015  No comment

Specific vocabulary: Internet

Hello all again!
Today I want to share a couple of images containing specific basic vocabulary to use on a daily basis: Internet. 
I know it sounds too easy but I have found out that sometimes this is that obvious that it doesn't get covered in any Spanish class. 
When can this specific vocabulary comes in handy?
The first time I realized the importance of it we were going through a web quest for my Spanish class. One of the requirements for my students were to cite their sources and they all turn to me when they reached that point of the task. 

Yes, our students usually have to cite their sources for their projects/essays... and nowadays almost every single source is on line, so that is what they use it. Therefore if we want our students to be ready for that we need to teach them this essential vocabulary.
I hope these two visuals come in handy to use them for your classes and also feel free to take the brief quiz below to check if you already mastered this specific vocabulary.

Check your answers here ;)

“Five years from now on the Web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world. 

It will be better than any single university.”

– Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft (2010)

Want to expand your knowledge?

• Vocabulary list in English and Spanish
• Computer and Internet words
• A comprehensive list with audio

Lunaprofe 10/21/2014  No comment