This beautiful song is perfect for practicing using the subjunctive for expressing wishes/hopes.
Also, the creativity in the metaphors gives students plenty to interpret (I have them work in small groups) while expanding their vocabulary. At the end of this activity sheet, students can put that creativity to practice by writing another verse to the song.
I posted an earlier, much simpler version of this song activity back in 2012, but here is an improved activity sheet with the discussion questions on the actual handout.
This song activity is great for aDía de muertos unit! Also, for my more advanced students in a Spanish Conversation and Composition course, I used this activity together with the story «El otro círculo» by Luis R. Santos (as featured in our textbook, Revista). We compared our analyses of both the story and the song to discuss different cultural perspectives about death presented through literature, art, music, etc.
This activity is so fun! Students learn/practice Latin American country names, flags, and nationality terms while enjoying the upbeat song «La Gozadera.» You may choose to use only one part of this activity in your class, or all of them!
2.Watch «La Gozadera» music video. As students watch the video, they should be listening out for their country to be mentioned. Each time their country is mentioned, they raise their flag.
3. Students complete the activity sheet by writing the nationality terms next to each country name.
4. Review answers and discuss lyrics and video.
5. Conversation: Students walk around the classroom with their flags to practice the following dialogue:
A: «¿De dónde eres?»
B: «Soy de (país) .» -o- «Soy (nacionalidad) .»
Let me know if you try out this activity in your classroom! I´d love to know how it goes!
Hello Seahorse! is one of my favorite bands, and they have released their beautiful «Te abrazaré» just in time for this semester´s finals review time! See the PDF below for a cloze activity with the lyrics, a conversation prompt, and a short writing activity based on the song. The cloze activity is a great intro to review the future tense endings, while the ethereal music (may) inspire students for the following speaking and writing activities.
I am including a youtube video with the song below, but I would recommend listening to it on SoundCloud because you can read along with the comments other listeners have made! A great extension for the activity could be for students (or the class as a whole) to make comments in Spanish as well, adding another level of authentic language use to the activity! If you do interact with SoundCloud, let me know how it goes in the comments. I am really interested in using it with my students!
I love this song and video!!! It is so fun and really speaks to my inner child. See below for a free PDF worksheet and answer key for practicing with the subjunctive (and more).
Update! I just found this video on Youtube that shows another brilliant way to use this song in class! Posted by Youtube username Connor Nebesky, it seems that students have illustrated each line in the song. ¡Me encanta!
Another update! This video was made by one of Sra. Jacob’s students (Blog: Cultura y Civilización). She uses this song in her «Los miedos y las leyendas» unit. Visit her blogpost here for lots of great resources and ideas!
This fun, creative music video by Chilean singer-songwriter Francisca Valenzuela, who has been dubbed «la princesa del rock chileno,» is sure to be a hit with your students! Here you will find a free PDF worksheet with which your students can get creative as well! I would recommend this activity for beginner and intermediate-beginner levels. It could be used at the beginning of the semester, which from my experience usually features a unit on the verb ser and descriptions. The activity begins with simply watching the video. I show it twice (or three times if requested) to give the students time to both enjoy the video and follow along with the lyrics, which are provided on the worksheet. As you can see, the lyrics have plenty of cognates, and I´ve provided translations of some other words verse by verse. After discussing the video and lyrics, the students fill out the bottom part of the worksheet in which they rewrite the first verse to describe their own personality. Special attention is drawn to agreement between possessive adjectives and the nouns they describe.
One thing to mention in the class discussion is that the singer´s description of herself is quite candid and includes some negative traits. She states that she feels she needs to change, while in the end we hear that the recipient of the song does not think she needs to change at all. Here we find the message of the song, that it is dedicated to someone who loves the singer for just who she is, the good and the bad. Students may want to take this angle to writing their own verses, but it´s just one option. Any sort of description will be fine!
As always, feel free to leave a comment with any suggestions. I love getting comments! Also, if you try this activity in your class I´d love to know how it goes!
Note: Currently on the video there is a pop-up annotation that takes you to another music video for the song «Buen Soldado.» Just a heads up, that video is not school-appropriate!
Here’s a gallery of some examples of my students’ work. We did this activity on the second day of class, so while checking them I got to know a little bit of each student’s personality. The students participated really well, and we got the semester off to a great start!
The lyrics to the song “Latinoamérica” by the Puerto Rican musical duo Calle 13 are replete with cultural and historical references, so much so that this song could inspire a semester´s worth of classroom discussion! Furthermore, the music video [see below] is a sequence of stunningly beautiful clips depicting the people and land of Latin America. This blog post describes how I use this song as the base of a task-based cultural enrichment activity with my students and provides you with the materials to do so as well. This activity would go over best with intermediate-advanced, advanced, and heritage learners.
This pdf document: PDF «Latinoamérica» Lyrics contains a handout with the lyrics to the song. There are 7 verses which are underlined, in bold, and color-coded. First watch the video as a class and ask the students their thoughts. I begin discussion by asking for students’ interpretations of the chorus. Now the task-based part. The selected color-coded verses are seven different references to Latin American culture and/or history, as follows:
“el amor en los tiempos del cólera” – The novel by Gabriel García Márquez. You may have students research just this novel, or a more broader presentation on the autor and his works.
«soy la fotografía de un desaparecido» – Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo who began their protest during the Guerra Sucia (1976 – 1983) in Argentina in hopes of finding their children, who the Argentine government claimed had «disappeared.» These brave women continue their protest to this day. Their white shawls have become a symbol for the fight for human rights, the denunciation of the barbarities committed during the many dictatorships of Latin America, and the remembrance of all those who suffered during such times of political injustice.
“soy Maradona contra Inglaterra anotándote dos goles” – The 1986 World Cup. Follow link for more information: Info about 1986 World Cup
“la espina dorsal del planeta es mi cordillera” – The Andes Mountains – Students can research not only the mountains themselves, but also the ways of life of the people who inhabit this región.
«Los versos escritos bajo la noche estrellada» – «Poema XX» de Pablo Neruda
Haciendo rituales de agua bendita.
El viento que peina mi cabello. Soy todos los santos que cuelgan de mi cuello. – Religions practiced in Latin America. Not only Catholicism, but also syncretic religions such as Santería.
“La operación cóndor invadiendo mi nido” – Operación Condor
Divide the class into 7 groups and have each group pick a selected verse to research and present to the class. I give my students one class period to work on this in class in the computer lab as well as additional days outside of class to prepare the presentation. The students use Powerpoint or Prezi to create a visual.
This is my first blog post of this nature, so I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions. For now, enjoy this breath-taking music video!
[UPDATE]: I would like to give a huge thank you to all of you who have commented! I really appreciate your feedback, and your suggestions have helped me to greatly improve this activity! The activity sheet is now in its third version.
This beautiful song is perfect for practicing using the subjunctive for expressing wishes/hopes.
In this activity, students practice using the imperfect subjunctive in indirect speech, including a writing prompt to add verses to the song.
This song activity is great for a
This activity is so fun! Students learn/practice 
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