IB Spanish text types: el informe

This type of text has to be concise, accurate, refer to exact information, rigorous, data driven, impersonal and objective, although sometimes you can find some persuasive elements. 

How do I write in a impersonal way? For this purpose we can use passive voice, using verbs as nouns, describe the situation in a general way never referring specifically to a person.

Sometimes you can find a personal opinion in some reports, usually an expert expressing his professional opinion.

Essentially reports are not meant to be expressive, so everything superfluous is banned. These texts are functional and have to follow very clear goals. Some well-known examples are PISA reports on education.

A typical structure for reports is:

• Summary
• Introduction
• Body
• Conclusion
• Appendix 

Expand your boundaries:

• El informe [website]
• Características del informe [pdf]
• Informe del español en el mundo (2015) [pdf]
• Summary of a report on "Spanish in the world" (2013) [website]

Lunaprofe 11/28/2015  4 comments

IB Spanish text types: Blog

Changing our perspective on what we have known is essential to approach this type of text: the blog. What is it? It can be said it is a digital text. What again, what "digital text" really means?  
It means that the format is digital, is telling us where can we find these texts. The digital world is too new for us yet, and this is what is giving us trouble categorizing a blog. Let's step into a quick activity to find out what a blog really is.

Instructions: Base your answer on the table above. What type of text would you say a blog is?
Use the table above to answer this question. Provide at least two evidences to support your answer.

What type of text is a blog?
	Sí	No	Porqué
Narrativo
Descriptivo
Dialogado
Expositivo
Argumentativo

After completing this activity you should have realized that blogs step in some different types of texts. So, what's the next question? 

What makes a text a blog?

Answer:

In a telegraphic way, if you are writing a blog, don't forget to include:
• Date, time and username
• Title
• Use the first person when writing (yo)
• Awareness of your audience (make it easy, make it direct, start with a paragraph mentioning your audience)

• Register (usually informal, but pay attention to the specific instructions of the task)

As you probably have noticed we are modeling in this post how to guide our students through this tough concept to gain this knowledge by themselves.

At this point, if you want to share the main characteristics or some interesting thoughts on blogs you can use this summary.

Don't forget to link this knowledge with their writing paper and the rubrics they have to use. To make sure you don't miss anything, check out the related posts underneath.

Related posts:
- Spanish B Rubrics & more
- Spanish ab Initio Rubrics & more

Expand your boundaries:

• Text types [Wikipedia]
• Connectors [online activities] [list with clarifications]
• Texts bank [Site]
• Examples with key [site]
• Blog features [pdf]
• Image source: Cosquillitas en la panza [site]

Develop a passion for learning.

If you do, you will never cease to grow.

Anthony J. D'Angelo

Lunaprofe 11/19/2015  7 comments

Using technologies to enhance interactive learning: Edpuzzle

This is a Spanish interactive visual activity I've created for an IB unit. I found out about Edpuzzle last year, since then, I have been using it with amazing results in my class. You can just copy and paste and URL from a YouTube video and make it interactive for your language class.
You can make multiple-choice questions, open-ended, comments and also record your own voice making a question/explanation on a particular action on the video or just clarifying something that was on the video. 
Believe me, it is real simple to use, if I can use it everyone can.
This activity has been designed to introduce the concept of old technologies and get perspective on how unknown are for new generations.
At the same time the students will work through different structures and skills like comparing, justifying their opinions or using patterns to learn or practice subjunctive along with conditional.
I like to start units making predictions, and for that, we use the image on this post comparing a type writer and a laptop to make students wander about the theme of the unit. They make predictions on how the unit is going to look like, what the topic is going to be, what grammar topics are going to be covered, which verb tenses are going to be used...
Before watching the video we do this activity to activate prior knowledge introducing the unit along with essential questions to inspire, motivate and make them start thinking about the unit.

Find below some activities to use along with this video:
- Pre-activity for the video [pdf]
- Writing skills [pdf] 

Some skills that can be develop with this activity are:

Skills:  comparar / pretérito imperfecto / perfecto / indefinido / condicional

[if you click on this keywords you'll get to my GDrive where you will find varied materials/resources to learn/practice these skills]

Fact: Using videos along with EDpuzzle super-powers to engage students improve their grades by 17%!

Learning is not a spectator sport.

Anonymous

Lunaprofe 11/02/2015  3 comments

IB Spanish text types: Article

Writing skills have to be combined with text features deep knowledge to have the opportunity to score highly in your exams. Being a great writer also means knowing the specific features of each type of text to be able to reach the expectations of your readers and to make sure your intentions materialize on paper. That is the perfect combination to score highly in your Paper 2 and Written Assignment. 

The article is a very open, and therefore complicated, text type. It can be very heterogeneous in terms of features, audience, communicative goal and structures. But basically, you can divide this text into three different sections with two different intentions: 

1. Communicate information to inform your audience [objective] 
2. Express and opinion trying to persuade your audience about something [subjective]

There are so many different good resources out there that's why in this post besides attaching my documents I've made a compilation of what I think are the best resources available online. 

Types of articles

Goal: To inform a targeted audience. [Texto expositivo/informativo] This type of text is constructed to tell or advise you on something. Useful links: Essential information [Educastur] Structure [Cuaderno de Lengua] Example

Goal: To debate/discuss ideas. [Textos expositivos y argumentativos] To be able to debate ideas and convince people you will need to present the information and provide different perspectives, contrast information and express your opinion. Don't forget to include advantages and disadvantages, positive and negative sides of the argument... You will need to combine both types of texts and their features.

Goal: To express an opinion and/or have an impact on somebody's opinion. Artículo de opinión. [Texto argumentativo/persuasivo] Usually this type of text is written to make you do something: persuade about something, buy an item... Useful links: Structure Example Example of justifying your opinion [Educastur] Theory and Practice [University of Puerto Rico]

Expand your boundaries:

• Artículo [Wikipedia]
• Types of texts with activities [Lenguaparaeso] [pdf]
• Essential information on Articles [Antonio Luna] [pdf]
• Different types of texts [BBC]

Develop a passion for learning.

If you do, you will never cease to grow.

Anthony J. D'Angelo

Lunaprofe 10/26/2015  1 comment

Gerund in Spanish

This is a tough one in Spanish. Most of the times all the mistakes come from transferring the English language into the Spanish one. With this post I am going to try to give a few, simple and direct tips to avoid the incorrect use of this verb form in Spanish for beginners.
First thing we do in my class is using the visual provided here to deduce the rule for gerund in Spanish. Putting this responsibility upon students shoulders is a great strategy to develop autonomy, critical thinking, logical thinking skills. They get used to be detectives in my class. Actually they wear so many different hats in my class, but isn't it real life like that?

One big idea when using gerund in Spanish:

The action expressed by the gerund MUST happen before or at the same time as the action of the main verb, NEVER later

Correct:	Incorrect:
Paco aprende español cantando canciones.	Preguntó al profesor ayudándose de las ayudas visuales.
Thinking activity:  Looking at the first example, when is the action happening? is it previous, simultaneous or later?  In the second example, previous, simultaneous or later?

The following sequences can help us to establish and settle authentic pieces of language highlighting the concept of gerund. Pay attention to how two first sentences get combined into the third one: 

Sequences of gerund:

Llegó muy tarde a clase de español. Pidió permiso para entrar. Llegó muy tarde a clase de español pidiendo permiso para entrar.

Observó atentamente la imagen. Preguntó una duda. Observó atentamente la imagen preguntando una duda.

Quiso aprender español después de la escuela. Preguntó al profesor que podía hacer. Quiso aprender español después de la escuela preguntando al profesor que podía hacer.

Do you want to check if you've learnt something? Yes?
Complete the Google form below

Some of the ideas from this post have been borrowed from Proyecto Aula 

Want to know more?

• Usos del gerundio [Fundación del español urgente]
• El gerundio. Grammar [El juego]
• Continuous tense. Grammar [El juego]
• 7 worksheets [ISL Collective]
• Correct and incorrect use of the gerund [Borradores]
• Intensive grammar [Ministerio de educación]

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest

Benjamin Franklin

Lunaprofe 10/23/2015  1 comment

Feedback through social networking

Looking at my students and trying to be at somebody else's shoes came up with the idea that I could use what they love: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram... to motivate them to keep learning Spanish after school.

After that I got to the feedback stage... How do I give them feedback in a nice and effective way  that they don't feel that their teacher is correcting them in public?
Mmmm, I tried to think in my self, how would I feel if somebody does that on one of my pictures? 
First of all I understood that advising them to create a new account for educational purposes would be a great idea because doing this the student (and the teacher) doesn't get involved in getting to make friends through a social network and can still (everyone) keeps his/her privacy. 

As a teacher:
We want to provide our students with a correct example of a piece of language, maybe a structure, maybe a verb conjugation... and at the same time we want to use the feedback as a positive thing, as an opportunity to motivate them. It is the perfect situation to set up a healthy, friendly and motivational on line source of information for our students. Everyone likes to be congratulated so let's take advantage of it. 
Sequence:

1. Give directions for an activity [if you need some ideas check out this post]
2. Check your student's performance and make a comment using the structure you want your student to pay attention to but not correcting what he/she said, just open up a new topic using that same structure or come up with something connected to that.
3. Make your students respond to your comment using that same structure properly to check that the desired learning took place.

[check the posters below for visual clarification]

As a student:
Your teacher is providing you with valuable feedback on your learning process. Your teacher values you as an active learner and want to help you develop your curiosity and searching skills.
Instead of correcting you, telling you what is correct or incorrect, your teacher is going to make a comment giving you a correct piece of the language you need to look at. This means that you have to put your detective hat and inspect your teacher's comment (s) to find out what you should be reviewing.
For a visual example of this process, please refer to the image on this post. 
[check the posters below for visual clarification]

Visual resources:

• Poster in Spanish
• Poster in English

Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.

Chanakya

Lunaprofe 10/05/2015  1 comment

Learning Spanish through songs: Lyrics training

Teenagers love music. Teachers love learning. Make a cocktail and you obtain Lyrics training.

You can use your Facebook account to sing up and get a free account in this site.

Once you have made your students sign up they will have to choose their level:

- beginner
- intermediate
- advanced 
- expert

and two modes:

- write: they will be typing the words [this can be interesting to set up a Spanish keyboard in your computer and get some practice]
- choice: they'll get to choose from one out of four options. 

Apart from this, the site offers two more activities to do along with the song:
- karaoke
- new exercise [just for teachers] what you can basically do is just change the words and select write or choice mode.

So far, I have been using it with my students for out-of-class practice. If they like Enrique Iglesias they can spend a full evening listening to the song in Spanish.

If your students like music, this is a great way to go, they will improve their listening/comprehension skills, pronunciation, memorize phrases...

A short selection of similar sites to learn languages with music:
- http://www.lyrics.com/
- http://tubeoke.com/

Interested in music for a language class?
Check this out!

If you want to get laid, go to college.
If you want an education, go to the library.

Frank Zappa

Lunaprofe 10/01/2015  No comment

Spanish B rubrics & more

We all have the IB language guides and we all have the same thought: It would be way easier to have this in a table or at least in a different format. 
Yeah! I had that same thought until I got bored of it and started just putting everything in a easier format to work with.
Then I couldn't stop myself there and I kept creating resources to complement the rubrics. Along with the rubrics I have been working on more documents that come in handy for multiple purposes.

Assessment outline: This document is a simple summary of the assessment. 

Clarifications: these documents come directly from the IB, just to make easier to have a big picture of the paper. 

Connection home-school: this documents have a brief explanation of the paper (or exam), key information that families and students must know and more useful information like the word count or if they can or can not use dictionaries. Their purpose is to inform families and students at the beginning of Year 1, making sure they know the structure of the program and what our students are going to be required to learn and be able to do at the end of the program.

DP Unit Planner: a template with guidance that fits the IB format.

Descriptors for final scores: [Google doc] On this document you will find the descriptors from the IB to get to know better how a 7 looks like. 

IB Profile: Simple, here you'll find the IB Profile in Spanish with links to visual resources and activities ready to take to class. 

Tips for papers: thoughts, tips based on my own and my students experience.
 

Paper 1 Home-school connection 20 potential questions you can get in a Reading Comprehension task	Paper 2 Home-School connection  Rubric for paper 2 [Spanish] Tips on Paper 2
Written assignment Home-school connection Rubric for written assignment Station: student's input on Do's, Dont's and best practices How to write the rationale Assessment criteria	Individual Oral Rubric for IA [Oral]  Rubric for Interactive Oral Home-school connection  Tips for the Oral exam Thoughts on choosing a topic for a presentation Useful Spanish phrases Walk through template [feedback]

How to use these documents?
1. Click on the link to open the google doc.
2. Make your own copy [you need a google account for this]

You can leave a comment on the Google doc or in this post if you have any trouble making a copy or don't know how to download the document into your computer.
If you have any documents that could contribute to this post, please, send them through!
Spanish teacher? Teaching ab Initio too? Check this post out!

Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach.

Albert Einstein

Lunaprofe 9/28/2015  2 comments

Spanish ab Initio rubrics

We all have the IB language guides and we all have the same thought: It would be way easier to have this in a table or at least in a different format. 
Yeah! I had that same thought until I got bored of it and started just putting everything in a easier format to work with.
Then I couldn't stop myself there and I kept creating resources to complement the rubrics. Along with the rubrics I have been working on more documents that come in handy for multiple purposes.

Scope and Sequence: sometimes it is good to see how other colleagues plan their year out. 

Objectives & Assessment criteria: Just a list of them. 

Clarifications: these documents come directly from the IB, just to make easier to have a big picture of the paper. 

Connection home-school: this documents have a brief explanation of the paper (or exam), key information that families and students must know about it and more useful information like the word count or if they can or can not use dictionaries. Their purpose is to inform families and students at the beginning of Year 1, making sure they know the structure of the program and what our students are going to be required to learn and be able to do at the end of the program.

Descriptors for final scores: On this document you will find the descriptors from the IB to get to know better how a 7 looks like. 

IB Profile: Simple, here you'll find the IB Profile in Spanish with links to visual resources and activities ready to take to class. 

Syllabus: graphic organizers, schemes with the prescribed themes.

• Paper 1 Writing Connection homeschool  Rubric Tips on Paper 1 Rubric with suggestions by Álvaro Grana	Paper 2 Reading Comprehension 20 potential questions Connection home-school
  Paper 2 Listening Comprehension How to start out with listening comprehension tasks Important information for students and parents	Internal Assessment Individual Oral Rubric Rubric with suggestions by Álvaro Grana

If you have any documents that could contribute to this post, please, send them through! Spanish B? Check this post out!

Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach.

Albert Einstein

Lunaprofe 9/16/2015  6 comments

Aprendiendo español a través de la música: Youtube

La música es una poderosa herramienta usada en todas las culturas para expresar, entre otras muchas cosas, información fundamental que se trasmitía de generación en generación. La lengua comparte muchas de esas características cruciales con la música.
Podemos acercarnos a una cultura y aprender mucho sobre ella a través de la música. 
En una clase de español también podemos utilizar la música para mejorar/perfeccionar nuestra comprensión, podemos aprender vocabulario, podemos presentar en nuestra clase los conceptos básicos de la poesía y las rimas...
Los beneficios de utilizar la música en nuestras clases de español son indiscutibles y, normalmente, los efectos en los estudiantes inmediatos, porque si está correctamente incluida [atendiendo como principio fundamental a la motivación de nuestros alumnos] aportará un clima más distendido, creará un espacio donde el alumno y el profesor se encuentran en un contexto mucho más relajado y pueden interactuar de un modo mucho más cercano y enriquecerse de esa atmósfera más relajada, y [para mí lo más importante] nos hace más felices.
Para comenzar podemos realizar una actividad muy simple: sólo escuchar música del canal aleatoriamente disfrutando de las melodías, sin hacer nada más. Así, sin más. No necesitamos hacer nada más en este primer paso. No hay prisa, sólo escucha la música y disfrútala. Esta puede ser una actividad fantástica para usar al principio de la clase, mientras que los alumnos llegan, se acomodan y se preparan para su clase. De esta manera lo que estamos haciendo es exponer, poner en contacto a nuestros alumnos con música en español y con su cultura al mismo tiempo, sin pedirles nada más a cambio, tan sólo que escuchen y se diviertan.
Un segundo paso puede consistir en escuchar las canciones y leer los subtítulos, con el propósito de entender la idea principal de la canción que estamos escuchando y después discutir la idea principal en clase brevemente.
Otro posible segundo paso, sería escribir el título y el/la autor/a de la canción, hacer una mini-investigación y realizar una mini-presentación en clase. Puedes dividir la clase en grupos para esta actividad y encargar a un grupo cada semana estas mini-presentaciones.

Si te ha gustado, sígueme en mi canal de Youtube

Secuencia:

1. Escucha la canción

2. Lee los subtítulos mientras escuchas la canción por segunda vez.

3. Realiza una pequeña investigación sobre la canción, el autor y el estilo de música. Por ejemplo, himno de Andalucía, Enrique Morente, flamenco.

4. Compara algún estilo de música propio de tu país, una canción y un autor con los que has investigado. Puedes usar el diagrama de Venn.

5. Haz una presentación en tu clase y comparte lo que has aprendido.

Recuerda: la música te ayuda a mejorar tu pronunciación, tu memoria y tu gramática. También te ayuda a mejorar tu estado de ánimo, con la música disfrutamos y también nos motivamos [¿o los alumnos no escuchan música mientras hacen los deberes?]

Lunaprofe 9/07/2015  2 comments