Señora Jota Jota

Teaching content and culture through proficiency-driven instruction

I am so excited about Nailed It, Mexico!

I have been on the hunt for a comprehensible TV series that I can use in class and I finally I found it! (You can read about why I am sooooo picky about what to show in class here – let’s just say, I’ve been burned!).

This show is fun, witty, comical, whimsical, CLEAN, and chock-full of Mexican culture! We watch about 1/2 an episode each Wednesday, Movie Talk style (pausing every so often to discuss the action and make it comprehensible).

I show it in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. Double the input for my students!

My favorite part of Nailed It, Mexico!? The all out belly laughs… even from the most stoic students! It is so compelling that students are riveted to the screen. The language is so comprehensible for my level 3’s that I do little explaining. In fact, after learning the most basic kitchen vocab, I have paused fewer and fewer times. I pause even less for my 4’s.

Ways I have used it in class so far:

  • Compare and contrast original cakes to their “copies”
  • What would you do if…? questions (subjunctive/conditional)
  • Learn cooking/baking/kitchen vocab
  • What’s your favorite…? questions
  • Who will win? (future)
  • Who won and why? (past)
  • Learn about everyday Mexican culture!! 
  • What problems do you see? And, why is it going to be a problem? (ir + a + infinitive) Who is it going to be a problem for?
  • Could you bake that? Would you bake that? (conditional)
Students have already asked if we can have our own Nailed It, Mexico! competitions.
Why, yes, I think we can!

9 Comments

  1. I watched this with my family and my kids loved it, even though they couldn´t understand it. I wondered how I could use this in class and your blog has given me ideas. I think I might just start having Spanish 4 kids watch it and see where we go from there. Thanks for the idea!

  2. Hola Sra. Jota Jota,

    I am a new teacher, and I would like to show this program to my Spanish 3 students.
    Do you have resources or a step-by-step guide? I am willing to purchase materials. Thank you so much! Rebeca.

  3. I did not create any resources, but instead used this as an opportunity to introduce the conditional (what would you do if…) and the future (who will…?). We learned key vocabulary like judge, blender, oven, icing, etc. for the first episode. I just wrote the structures on the board that we were going to discuss. I used this as an opportunity to express and defend opinions. Students loved it and still comment on it in level 4 this year!

Comments are closed.