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Advice for teachers -
Spanish

Teaching and learning activities

Unit 4

Unit 4 – Area of Study 1: Interpersonal communication

Theme: The Spanish-speaking communities
Topic: Cultural heritage
Sub topic: Music and dance

Outcome 1

Share information, ideas and opinions in a spoken exchange in Spanish.

Examples of learning activities

  • Watch a documentary about festivals of music and dance in Spanish-speaking countries. Research to find major festivals (or the most famous ones) from several countries in the Spanish-speaking world. Individually, choose a festival and a country to research.
  • Individually, research the festivals and complete a class table that lists the following information about a range of festivals: name of festival, dates when it is held, what it celebrates, country and city where it takes place, type of music, invited musicians or dancers, and other characteristics.
  • Make a PowerPoint/Prezi presentation of a chosen festival, including the use of photos with captions to illustrate the event.
  • After listening to the class presentations and seeing photos of the festivals, discuss with a partner which of the festivals you find most appealing and why.
  • Write an advertising brochure to convince tourists to participate in the chosen festival. Include key information such as: what to wear, how to get there, where and what to eat, and how to participate and have a good time.
  • Watch a film about one of the main festivals of the Spanish-speaking world and prepare questions about it. In pairs, swap questions and answers and then share the information with peers.
  • Discuss, in small groups, the types of songs and dances that you enjoy. Listen to a song, write down its lyrics and discuss the meaning with the class. Share this with the group, explaining why you like the song, its meaning, and what you know about the singer (where they come from, and so on).
  • Write a 250-word newspaper report about the importance of festivals, music and dance in the Spanish-speaking world. Give examples of festivals to support your argument.
  • Present the report as a PowerPoint slideshow and a three-minute speech.
  • Listen to the latest news about a festival in one of the countries where Spanish is spoken and produce a 100-word summary of the news item.
  • Listen to a podcast featuring interviews with tourists who have participated in a musical event. Note any expressions used to describe their experience.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Drawing on the material studied, write a 250-word email to your family, reflecting on your experience when you attended a festival of music and dance. In the email, explore ways in which the experience has changed your perspective about the music and/or dance.
Example icon for advice for teachers 

Detailed example

A 250 word personal email reflecting on an experience of
a festival of music and dance

  1. List vocabulary related to this topic from all material studied so far.
  2. Practise useful expressions and grammar in Spanish.
  3. Become familiar with features of informal Spanish language conventions suited to personal writing.
  4. Discuss the expression of emotions by listening to extracts of conversations and reading examples of reflective and personal texts.
  5. Read an account written by a dancer/singer from the Spanish-speaking world regarding his/her experience. Answer a series of comprehension questions.
  6. Draft a personal letter that explains your response to the music and dance. Reflect on your personal response to it. Incorporate language elements specific to the informal, personal form in Spanish.

Unit 4 – Area of Study 2: Interpretative communication

Theme: The world around us
Topic: Global and contemporary society
Sub topic: Access to tertiary education

Outcome 2

Analyse information from written, spoken and viewed texts for use in a written response in Spanish.

Examples of learning activities

  • Watch a documentary about access to technical or higher education in the Spanish-speaking world. Choose one Spanish-speaking country and list the main institutions or universities.
  • Research statistics from the country of your choice to discover the number of students who enrolled in tertiary studies in a given year or year span.
  • Read an article about the education system and the number of students who have access to tertiary education in the Spanish-speaking country of your choice.
  • Research information about one university or institution in terms of size, number and type of buildings, faculties/studies offers, and any other relevant facts. Prepare a poster about the institution to highlight its major features.
  • View a series of captioned illustrations that depict information about access to tertiary education and analyse them.
  • Listen to an interview about the differences between private and public universities. Make notes about aspects such as cost, entry requirements, issues of access, etc.
  • Read a story about a Spanish-speaking student who was unable to enrol in tertiary study. Consider the reasons for them not having access, such as family situation and place of residence. Write a summary of the story.
  • Conduct internet research about the tertiary education situation in Australia and investigate how it compares with the story. Share this information with classmates by giving a short presentation of your findings. Answer questions from other students.
  • Write an email of 200 words to a friend, discussing access to tertiary education in a Spanish-speaking country and comparing it with Australia.
  • Choose a tertiary institution from a Spanish-speaking country and compare it with an Australian university that shares some similarities.
  • Write an informative article on a chosen university in a Spanish-speaking country.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Listen to a conversation between tertiary students who talk about their experiences at university; read an article about tertiary education, and then answer a series of comprehension questions, some of which require paragraph responses.
  • Participate in a class debate on the topic ‘Should tertiary education be freely available to everyone?’ Half the class should argue from the affirmative point of view and the other half from the negative. (In the Spanish-speaking world there are some countries where university access is free for everyone.)
  • Following the debate, write a 200-word evaluative article, where you explain your position on the topic ‘Should tertiary education be freely available to everyone?’
  • Brainstorm as a class the importance of tertiary education in the Spanish-speaking world. Discuss the many possibilities in relation to this topic.
  • A young person said: ‘If I have a degree I will have more opportunities for employment so I will have money which I need to help my family to have better health care and a better life.’ Discuss this comment and write a list of pros and cons of tertiary education.
Example icon for advice for teachers 

Detailed example

Responses to a series of questions based on listening and reading texts about education in a Spanish-speaking country.

  1. List general vocabulary related to tertiary education.
  2. Discuss in class how each class member tackles reading an article. For example: Do you read it through once to get the gist? Do you read it and highlight unknown words? Do you look up every word in a dictionary? Do you translate the whole text? When do you read the questions? Do you read them first and then only look for clues to them in the text? Which of these would work best when there is a time limit?
  3. Do the same with a listening text. Discuss how different class members take notes while listening. For example: Do you try to write every word? Do you write how some words sound so you can look for them in a dictionary later? Do you just listen and take no notes the first time you hear the text and then write some notes the second time?
  4. Each student finds a 200-word article, or a three-minute talk/conversation on the topic of tertiary education and prepares questions to share with classmates for study and/or practice.
  5. Brainstorm effective ways to formulate a paragraph answer, with appropriate use of linking words, the use of evidence and examples, and the successful sequencing of ideas.
  6. Prepare answers to a set of questions individually and in the following lesson, discuss the answers as a group. Correct your own work and note areas that need attention.

Unit 4 – Area of Study 3: Presentational communication

Theme: The world around us
Topic: Communication and media
Sub topic: News media and its influence

Outcome 3

Present information, concepts and ideas in evaluative or persuasive writing on an issue in Spanish.

Examples of learning activities

  • Conduct research into newspapers and magazines from a Spanish-speaking country. List all the titles and types of publication available in the country of your choice.
  • Research online to discover how the media attempt to influence public opinion in a Spanish-speaking country. Find an example from a newspaper and compare it to an example from an Australian newspaper.
  • Read an article about print and digital media in a country from the Spanish-speaking world. Answer questions about the article.
  • Listen to Spanish-speaking people discussing their reading habits. Write a list of their opinions and note their preferences for reading hard copy or digital forms of print media.
  • Read a newspaper or magazine with a classmate. Consider the following questions: How much of it can be understood without using a dictionary? What is of interest to the readers ? How does it compare to similar newspapers or magazines in Australia? Do you consider the newspaper somehow biased in order to influence the society in a specific way?
  • Write an email of 200 words to a friend persuading them to read the printed version of a paper to see its influence on people’s views more clearly. Use the conventions of a persuasive article.
  • Discuss the quality of Australian newspapers and magazines and write a 100-word informative summary. Finish it with a statement of why you read newspapers and magazines, or why you do not.
  • Read two blogs by different people. One of them loves newspapers and magazines and the other one dislikes them or is indifferent to them. Write a list of reasons for and against the reading of newspapers and magazines.
  • Discuss, as a class, the role that newspapers and magazines play in today’s society. Discuss media bias, censorship and its influence on many aspects of society including political views.
  • Give a two-minute speech persuading the class to read more newspapers and magazines.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    In groups, draw on the texts studied to hold a class debate on the topic ‘Fast online consumption of news is bad for society’.
  • Write a 200-word summary of the debate including your position on this topic.
Example icon for advice for teachers 

Detailed example

A debate on the topic ‘Fast online consumption of news is bad for society’

  1. Visit the website of a newspaper or magazine and read the comments left by its users. Create a table of pros and cons associated with the use of this type of news media, as well as vocabulary, expressions and grammar used by the commentators.
  2. Examine a series of newspapers and create a table listing the pros and cons of print media.
  3. In a class discussion, share ideas about how to use supporting evidence, how to develop an argument and evaluate a concept or an idea. Analyse some persuasive texts and consider the techniques and the language used to persuade.
  4. Create a class poster with everyone’s comments about how they will prepare for the debate. Collate drafts of brainstormed ideas, including the use of evidence and examples to persuade an audience.
  5. Discuss the culturally appropriate conventions for refuting an argument or for effectively presenting a counter argument. List the Spanish grammatical structures and vocabulary that are appropriate for the task.
  6. In teams, conduct the debate in class.