I just returned from iFLT and have so many ideas swimming around in my head. I sat in on many amazing sessions by some super talented and creative folks like Kristy Placido, Martina Bex, Michele Whaley, Rachelle Adams and Anna Gilcher, and sooooo many more!
So, what’s the first thing I do? Sit on the couch and stalk people on Facebook to see what they’re doing, of course! And what did I find? None other than good friend Christy Lade, Spanish teacher at a Center for Inquiries School in Indianapolis, posting this video about a woman who recycles cans and then donates the money to schools for supplies and projects!
My first thought is, “O. M. G.!!!! This amazing woman is in Indiana!” Then, a few minutes into the video, I am struck by another thought… This ties in so well with Martina Bex’s Los Guajeros de Guatemala that we used as a cultural study last year in Spanish 2.
I love, love, love culture and I like to go a little deeper than I find in most lessons that I purchase or borrow. With that in mind, I usually create a ppt that guides our discussion and learning of specific lessons. I can’t share my ppt lesson because the story is Martina’s and I don’t want to infringe on her copyright, but it has lots of images of guajeros and schools from Guatemala.
Now, I am noodling ways to get my students involved in a recycling project. What can we recycle? How will we use our money? Can we pay it forward like Mary, The Can Lady, does? I am very fortunate to work in a school that is thoroughly supported by the community and we have very few needs… What kind of project will get their interest?
Then, I remembered Kristy Placido’s iFLT session Teaching Upper Levels and her mention of a Kiva project. That’s it! We can do a recycling project that then funds someone looking for a micro-loan through Kiva! We can wrap the entire unit nicely in the AP theme of Global Challenges.
This is a FREE unit from Placido Language Resources!
We can also tie in Costa Rica’s vast recycling efforts with some AuthRes articles that I turn into embedded readings. This will be my first attempt at creating a true embedded reading from authentic materials. Costa Rica is on my mind a lot this summer because we took a class trip there. See my posts here and here for more info.
Using the AuthRes we can transition to Mar de Plástico by Carrie Toth. I followed her progress on this unit last spring and have wanted to work it in. Wow! The possibilities are endless when you teach language through content! Simply endless!
Did I just plan out my semester??? I think maybe I did!
