USEFUL EXPRESSIONS



ASSIGNMENTS & ACTIVITIES

1. Discussion: Gender Roles

• What are the traditional gender roles in Latin American society? How are they changing among Latinos in the U.S.?

• Two films, Tortilla Soup and Mi familia/My Family, offer characterizations of Latino families in the U.S. How are family relationships and responsibilities as well as gender roles depicted in these two films? Are there any stereotypes that they perpetuate? Are there any stereotypes that they challenge? Why? How?

• What differences in customs and traditions do you find between “anglo” and “latino” families? Does language play a role in determining these differences?

2. Participants’ Self-Assessment: Rate yourself on a scale from 5 to 1 (5=excellent; 4=very good; 3=good; 2=fair; 1=insufficient) In today’s activities, I

• Asked for clarification if I did not understand,

• Actively participated in discussions in English,

• Actively participated in discussion in Spanish,

• Was prepared for class.

3. Descriptive Adjectives Make a list of the adjectives you think would describe the members of the Naranjo family and the members of the family you created. Describe both their physical appearance and their personality traits.

4. Family Tree Complete a family tree for the Naranjo family, using your imagination to fill in the missing members of the family. Use the outline provided below.

LOS ABUELOS

| |

|Nombre: |

|Apellidos: |

|Edad: |

|Profesión: |

|Descripción: |

| |

|Nombre: |

|Apellidos: |

|Edad: |

|Profesión: |

|Descripción: |

LOS PADRES

| | | |

|Nombre: | |Nombre: |

|Apellidos: | |Apellidos: |

|Edad: | |Edad: |

|Profesión: | |Profesión: |

|Descripción: | |Descripción: |

LOS HIJOS

| | | | |

|Nombre |Nombre |Nombre |Nombre |

|Apellidos |Apellidos |Apellidos |Apellidos |

|Edad |Edad |Edad |Edad |

|Descripción |Descripción |Descripción |Descripción |

| | | | |

|(pasatiempos) |(pasatiempos) |(pasatiempos) |(pasatiempos) |

5. Una ficha biográfica (Biographical Data Card)

|FICHA BIOGRAFICA |

| |

|Nombre y apellidos: |

|Edad: |

|Fecha de nacimiento: |

|Nacionalidad: |

|Lugar de nacimiento: |

|Dirección: |

|Teléfono: |

|Profesión: |

|Educación: primaria, secundaria, universidad |

|Descripción: |

|Pasatiempos favoritos: |

| |

6. Ejercicios de gramática (Grammar Exercises)

• Using the passage about the Naranjo family, identify all the verbs in the passage. Classify each one as follows: conjugation (first, second, third), state whether it is regular or irregular, stem changing, reflexive, in the infinitive or the present indicative, and identify the person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and number (singular or plural).

• Using the passage about the Naranjo family, locate all adjectives and state: the noun modified, gender, and number.

• Using the passage about the Naranjo family, identify all conjugated verbs and their subject and state the person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) and number (singular or plural).

7. Situations and possible role plays

• Pair Exercise: Ana Naranjo goes to talk to the school counselor about José Luis. Invent a short dialogue that details their conversation. Remember Ana is still learning English and her listening comprehension is not the best; the counselor speaks adequate Spanish at the Novice High to Intermediate Low level but also has difficulties with listening comprehension.

• Pair Exercise: Using a good bilingual dictionary, describe, in Spanish, a member of the “group”, or fictitious, family. Present this description to the entire class. Can the rest of the class understand you?

• Role Play: Imagine the first day of school for Leticia Naranjo when she began fourth grade. Her mother’s English is still limited and she meets the teacher and describes her daughter’s academic abilities in Spanish. She is trying to be certain the teacher and the assistant principal understand that Leticia is a very good student and should be tested for the gifted program that a neighbor has told her about. Write a short conversation among these three individuals and present it to the rest of the class.

• Vocabulario—Las cosas en el salón de clase. This is a whole group exercise. Introduce the vocabulary using objects in the classroom. Select a number of moveable (light) objects and present them as part of the vocabulary lesson. Give each object to a participant, name the object, ask them to repeat the name of the object and give it to another participant. That person must also name the object and put it in a large shopping bag that you can place in the middle of the classroom. Repeat this procedure for each object. After all the objects are in the shopping bag, you tell the class they must now name all the objects in the bag, in Spanish. As they name an item correctly, remove it from the shopping bag and return it to its original place in the room. The exercise ends when they have correctly named all the objects. If there are one or two they simply can’t remember, you might give them verbal or visual cues until they guess correctly. If all else fails and time runs out, remove the remaining items and ask them ¿Qué es esto?

• Situation: you have a Spanish-speaking student who is not doing his/her homework. Although the student’s English is satisfactory, the student is falling behind in the class. What do you say to the parent (in Spanish) to appraise them of the situation and to ask for their help?

• Writing (a cinquain poem, a five-line poem). This exercise can be done individually, as a pair exercise, as a small group exercise, or as a whole group activity, provided the whole group is a small one. Participants will write a poem, in Spanish, according to the following outline:

Line 1: a noun that states the subject of the poem

Line 2: two adjectives that describe the noun in line 1 OR a noun and an

adjective

Line 3: three verbs in the present participle that describe the subject in

line 1

Line 4: four words that express an emotion about the subject

Line 5: a noun that restates, i.e. is a synonym of, the noun in line 1

Below is a rather flexible example of a cinquain poem in English.

Tree

Green branches

Growing, living, reaching

Your shade protects me

Peace*

*Alice Omaggio Hadley, Teaching Language in Context, 3rd edition. (Heinle & Heinle, 2001), p. 288.

Other examples and explanations cinquain poetry can be found in:

Shrum & Glisan, Teacher’s Handbook Revised—Contextualized Language Instruction, 2nd edition. Heinle & Heinle, 2000.

Allen & Valette, Modern Language Classroom Techniques, 2nd edition. (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1977), pp. 321-322. [pic]

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