Wanted: Ecuadorian Animals; No Acting Experience Required
Help me give my students a cast of stuffed animals with which to act out the scenes of the novel El Capibara con Botas (The Capybara with Boots), better enabling them to visualize and recall each scene.
In my 20-year career, my alma mater that was quasi-suburban, mostly white and affluent has become much more diverse both racially and socio-economically. Still, my high schoolers always expect me to teach them Spanish - most for the first time ever. They trust me to meet each of them where they are academically and emotionally and expertly guide them along the path to proficiency. I trust them to give me their full-attention, (fake) enthusiasm and best effort each class period for 80+ minutes.
Mutual trust enables my students to thrive in a class where 90-95% of teaching and learning is in Spanish.
Together we act out stories, interview each other, discuss videos, listen to music, play games, read, write and joke - all in Spanish.
My students expect to learn Spanish, but they don't expect the sense of community that results from these activities that encourage personal engagement with the language and from opportunities to help via classroom jobs. It's that sense of community my students love the most.
My Project
Last year was the first time I taught the novel El Capibara con Botas (The Capybara with Boots) to my Spanish 1 students. It received rave reviews because it was engaging and comprehensible. It also really increased my students' confidence in their abilities as novice Spanish-learners. However, when it came time for the test over the entire novel, my students had a hard time remembering the details of and order of events.
I want this cast of plush characters to enable small groups of students to act out and video-record each chapter of the novel.
This will give students TWO big advantages. First, it will enable them to be a part of several scenes of the novel. This first-hand experience with the text will improve their memory of it. Second, I will post the best video from each chapter on Google Classroom for students to use to review. These visual representations of the text, accompanied by subtitles of the text itself, will also improve students' memory of the events, their comprehension of the Spanish text and the correct order of events.
I hope you will help me increase my students' comprehension and retention of an engaging, educational text!
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