Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Mi Vida Loca - Spanish Mystery Series

**We will be in the lab: el martes & el jueves (4/12 and 4/14)

This week you will need to complete the following every day:

1) Episodes 6-10 of Mi Vida Loca.

2) At least one of the extra activities listed below.

3) EMAIL me stating which extra activity you completed before you leave class today.

4) Turn in the comprehension questions handout for Mi Vida Loca.


Please remember that once you finish the video series, you must complete an additional activity or your computer lab privileges will be suspended for the week!!!

No YouTube, NBA, or other non-class related websites.


Extra Activities:

1) LEARN MEXICAN SLANG - http://www.mexicoguru.com/mexican-slang.php


2) GO TO SPAIN - Take an interactive tour of Spain!http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/journey/


3) READ THE NEWS - Choose a topic that interests you and see how much you understand, or look up words you want to know - http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/news/topic/

4) HOW DO YOU SAY....? Learn practical spanish for different scenarios (parties, talking on your cell phone, shopping, etc.)





6) PLAY GAMES -












Hoy es jueves, el 31 de marzo. Tu trabajo para hoy:

1. Watch episodes 4 and 5
2. Complete "Spanish Steps" 1-3 (on the BBC SPanish language home page)
3. Complete Comprehension questions (handout)
4. Finish one of the activities listed at bottom of blog for finishing early. EMAIL me with the activity that you completed. (senorahovestol@gmail.com)







Hoy es miercoles, el 30 de marzo. Tu trabajo para hoy:


1) Watch Episodes 2 and 3 of Mi Vida Loca


2) Complete the Comprehension questions


3) Go back to the BBC Spanish Language home page, and do Spanish Steps #1.


4) Then you can complete one of the games, or puzzles at the bottom of the page.



Bienvenidos! Please listen to the Voki animation and READ the instructions below CAREFULLY!!!!



Mi Vida Loca – http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish Every time we watch the episode you will follow these same instructions:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1) <!--[endif]-->Watch the episode, practice the key phrases out loud, and follow along with your guide.


<!--[if !supportLists]-->2) <!--[endif]-->At the end of the episode, click NEXT to go to the learning section with key words, grammar and practice, and complete ALL THREE the interactive activities (Vocabulary, Grammar, & Practice).


<!--[if !supportLists]-->3) <!--[endif]-->GO back to the BBC Spanish Language homepage (link on the blog and at the top of every handout), and locate the link for “Spanish Steps” to watch a slide show of various conversation scenarios.


<!--[if !supportLists]-->4) <!--[endif]-->Complete ALL of the interactive activities.


<!--[if !supportLists]-->5) <!--[endif]-->Complete the handout that I give you, and turn in before the end of class.


<!--[if !supportLists]-->6) <!--[endif]-->If you finish early, check the links at the bottom of the blog entry to see what else you can do.

FINISH EARLY? Log on to the following websites for more fun, and interactive Spanish practice! 1) LEARN MEXICAN SLANG - http://www.mexicoguru.com/mexican-slang.php





2) GO TO SPAIN - Take an interactive tour of Spain! http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/journey/

2) CROSSWORD PUZZLES - http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/tv/SPANISH CROSSWORDS - http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/news/crossword/flash/ 3) READ THE NEWS - Choose a topic that interests you and see how much you understand, or look up words you want to know - http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/news/topic/
4) HOW DO YOU SAY....? Learn practical spanish for different scenarios (parties, talking on your cell phone, shopping, etc.)





6) PLAY GAMES -






Sunday, March 13, 2011

Your assignments for Monday and Tuesday

Today you will need to finish any and all assignments from yesterday. If you need a reminder, click here for your instructions. If you finish early, you may go onto voki.com and create your own voki message in spanish!




Tuesday's Assignments:
1) Both self-check quizzes: http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/avancemos_1/get_resource.htm?ci=4&rg=online_review&at=self_check_quizzes

2) Word Factory game:
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/avancemos_1/get_chapter_group.htm?cin=5&rg=online_review&at=games&var=games

3) Unit 4, Lesson One flashcards:
http://www.classzone.com/cz/books/avancemos_1/get_resource.htm?ci=4&rg=online_review&at=flashcards

4) Create your own voki animation en espanol! http://www.voki.com/create.php


Monday's Assignments:

1) Conjuguemos.com verb conjugatgion practice: Complete each activity following the links below, then EMAIL your scores to me when finished.

a) present tense verbs: http://conjuguemos.com/home/docs/php/list.php?type=verbs&division=verbs&language=spanish

b) adjective/noun agreement: http://conjuguemos.com/home/docs/nologin/spanish_fillin_grammar_32.html

c) interrogatives: http://conjuguemos.com/home/docs/nologin/spanish_fillin_grammar_41.html

2) Quia.com exercises

a) Sentence translations - http://www.quia.com/cb/540152.html

b) er/ir verb practice (when finished start new game) http://www.quia.com/cm/76387.html?AP_rand=946037000


TUESDAY:
http://www.plainedgeschools.org/ddesiderio/webquest.htm

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Spain Webquest

Can You Find Your Way Through Spain?

A WebQuest for High School Spanish I & II students

Designed by:
Sra. Hovestol


DAY TWO: Your assignment for today is to:

1) Write your own journal entries (in English)

2) For every city the lost exchange student visitied, you need to write 4-5 sentences about what you learned, or anything you found interesting, about the city or the famous places there. You must write about ALL 11 of the cities!!

3) You may submit the journal entries in one of the following formats:

- Post on the blog: you can only do this if you have a GMAIL account. Go to the bottom of the blog page and type you journal entries in the box titles "POST A COMMENT" Be sure to save it!! (You can also copy and paste into the comment box from a Word document, so tha tyou do not lose your work if the internet fails)

- Type the journal entries in a Microsoft Word Document. Then attach and email to me at senorahovestol@gmail.com.

4) THe journal entries are due by tomorrow at the end of class. We have a short day tomorrow, so if you do not make it to class you need to be sure I have you rpost or your email by 9am!!!

5) This is a project grade by the way (30%)!!!





Introduction Task Process Evaluation Conclusion Credits

Introduction
You hold the key! A traveling exchange student has gotten lost while touring Spain. Your help is needed to find this student and then return home safely. Show that you have what it takes, and quickly! Use your skills and follow the clues left in a travel journal to rescue this lost student!

The Task:

One of the lost student’s former travel companions happened to still have the lost student’s travel journal in her own backpack, and she presented it to you. You must follow clues you find in the lost student’s travel journal to track the student’s path through Spain and eventually reconnect with the lost student.

However, beware the travel journal suffered some damage when a bottle of water was spilled on it, so you’ll have to do some research to fill in the gaps, where the ink is no longer visible.

Use the journal’s clues, coupled with your own research, to create a map of where the student went each day, as well as the city in which you eventually find the poor lost traveler. You’ll also track landmarks, sites, and/or artifacts you saw in each Spanish city while searching for the lost student.

The Process:

1. READ:

a. Take time to truly read each one of the lost student’s journal entries, one at a time. It’s full of the great experiences students like you were having on their trip in Spain! However, for each entry there will be some missing information, due to smeared ink incurred by a spilled bottle of water.

b. You’ll have to use the clues which you read to research the name of the city visited each day. Time is of the essence! So use websites and/or books that have already been made available to you to do your research. You may use the websites listed below to aid you in your quest, however use of all websites is not necessary.

c. Use your own personal preferences to choose whether you’d rather search by city, or work backwards and search types of architecture, art, etc., based on what you read in the travel journal.

d. Look below at the suggested websites for the journal entries.

2. MARK THE MAP:

a. Once you’ve figured out the city visited each day, you need to mark that city on your map of Spain.

b. Put the number of the day of the trip on which the city was visited and circle that number.

c. For example, if Madrid was the city the student toured on the first day, you’d find Madrid on the map and put a circled number one next to it. If Zaragoza was toured on the sixth day of the trip, you’d put a circled number six beside Zaragoza.

3. Attach your map to a large sheet of white paper/posterboard. Along with the number of the tour-day, you must also include a picture of a landmark, special site, or some type of realia* that the lost student saw in EACH city visited.

a. While in the travel journal the student may list a variety of places and things seen in each city, you only need to illustrate one landmark or realia*per Spanish city visited.

b. For example, if the student’s travel journal says that both the Alfajería and the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Pilar were visited in Zaragoza on day three, you would only need to include an illustration of one of these two locations, not both.

c. Somehow link each illustration to its city (such as by connecting the illustration with a line to the city on the map, connecting illustrations and cities with string, numbering the picture to correspond with each numbered city on the map, putting some smaller pictures right on the map with its city, etc.).

*realia= demonstration of real life object or activity (such as pictures or samples of location, clothing, dances, celebrations/special events, customs, foods, artifacts, etc.)

4. JOURNAL: You also need to keep a brief journal of your quick tour through Spain.

a. You need to POST ON THE BLOG at least three facts that you learned about each city through which you tracked the lost exchange student.

b. Be prepared to share the ideas written in your journal with classmates, as they share what they learned with you.

c. While posting what you learned, after each city, also make note of ALL of the website(s) from which you obtained your information.

Helpful websites:
Barcelona, Spain Seville, Spain Completed Spanish Cathedrals
Córdoba, Spain Toledo, Spain Partially-Constructed Cathedrals
Granada, Spain The Alhambra Spanish Mosques
Madrid, Spain Spanish Art Spanish Universities
Mérida, Spain Classical Spanish Art Roman Ruins in Spain
Pamplona, Spain The Art of Sword-Making The Running of the Bulls
Salamanca, Spain Spanish Castles
Segovia, Spain Spanish Royal Palaces Search- Google It

Travel Journal Entries
1) Day One -Day 1

Today we’re going to the city of ______.
I’m very excited, as I’ve heard so much about this wonderful city. The bus is nearly there, so I’m going to pack up my things now. I’ll write more later on our way home tonight…

Today we went to___ , and it was even more incredible than I had hoped and imagined! We saw the Roman aqueducts, which still carry water into town. They are ENORMOUS—over ten stories tall! Talk about feeling dwarfed!

We saw the glorious Gothic Cathedral with it’s many small chapels inside. The Cathedral looks right out onto the main Plaza, where all the people, food, and shopping seem to be!

My favorite thing was the Alcazar, which means castle or fortress. I heard that it served as the model for Disney’s Cinderella castle! This was the first official castle of Spain, as it’s where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabelle married and united Spain as a country. It’s also where they told Christopher Columbus that they’d support his voyage to the new world! We even climbed the tower and got a beautiful view of the city and the surrounding mountains. One of the mountains looks like a pregnant woman lying down to sleep, and they even call her the “Lady of the Mountain”.


2) Day Two - Day 2

Today we went to the city of ___. There isn’t all that much to do in this town, unless it’s the Festival of San Fermin. Our tour guide even sang us the Spanish song “Uno de enero, dos de febrero, tres de marzo, cuatro de abril, cinco de mayo, seis de junio, siete de julio, ¡SAN FERMÍN!…” San Fermín is the week long festival where they have the Running of the Bulls, and crazy people actually try to run and beat the bulls to the bull ring without getting marred! I can’t imagine having the guts to do that! Unfortunately, now isn’t the festival time—that’s in the second week of July, so we didn’t get to see any running bulls or bull fights. It was still fun to learn how it all happens though.

I did enjoy our tour of the Museo de Navarra, which taught me about art, architecture, history of Spain, etc. I only miss home a little bit, but I’m still having a GREAT time soaking up this experience!


3) Day Three - Day 3

Today we toured___ ! It was so INCREDIBLE! I think this may be one of my all-time favorite cities ever! I feel like I could spend an entire week just here, let alone the rest of Spain! There is so much to see and do here! We were running all day…

First we saw the Olympic Stadium from when Spain hosted the 1992 Olympics. We got an incredible view from the city up there too!

Then we saw the coolest park ever called Park Güell; it’s named after the architect who designed it. It was so full of colors and life. I loved the colorful tiled dragon fountain! It also has these really cool running benches where you can just hang out and get a view of the entire city! I cannot wait to show all my friends pictures when I get home!

From the Park we walked through a strip called Las Ramblas. It’s supposed to be great for shopping, although we didn’t shop for very long. It’s really cool because it’s full of all these street performers—mimes and magicians, musicians and people pretending to be statues, and on and on. It was the most happening place to be with a constant buzz of people!

Finally we toured the absolutely coolest church I have ever seen, and it’s not even finished being constructed yet! They’ve been working on building it for over one hundred years—since 1882! It’s being funded entirely by private donation, and it’s to be absolutely glorious when it’s done! There aren’t words to describe how large and beautiful it is! I remember seeing a picture of it in my Spanish book once, while the picture was cool, it just didn’t do the church justice!

I MUST return here someday!

4) Day Four - Day 4

Today is day four of the trip, and somewhat unfortunately we have to move on to another city. It’s not that I don’t want to see more of Spain, but I had such a great time yesterday in that it’s hard to want to travel onward to another location so soon! Just the same, today we’re on our way to ______, which should also be very cool because it’s the capital and the largest city in Spain! Our tour is about to begin, I’ll write more later today when I have more to report!

I’m back! I love this city too! The Plaza Mayor is cool—even better than the one in from the other day. That’s a concept I think Americans should catch on to… a fun place to just hang out with your friends and family, surrounded by shops and restaurants, but in the open air and sunshine, often filled with musicians… and drinking a café con leche! So fun!

We went to a couple of famous art museums today. We went to the Prado, which has more of the older and classical paintings. We mainly looked at the Spanish artists’ work, like of Goya and Velázquez. I really liked “Las Meninas” by Diego Velázquez because he painted himself into the picture, and I learned about more of the people and symbolism in that painting. Although Goya’s painting of Charles IV and his family was funny once we learned that Goya was actually making fun of the royal family being centered around the queen, rather than the king!

After the Prado we went to the modern art museum, called the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. We saw a few of Salvador Dalí’s paintings, but we focused the most on this gigantic painting by Pablo Picasso called “Guernica”, about the Spanish Civil War. I always thought Picasso’s work was sort of out there but didn’t realize how talented he truly was.

After that we walked by the Plaza de España, with its statues of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza (from Miguel de Cervante’s classic) on our way to the Hard Rock Café before some shopping at the Corte Inglés and calling it a day.


5) Day Five - Day 5

Today we toured the city which is home to the oldest university in all of Spain, the city of . We saw lots of fun things in this town—maybe it is the influence of all the cool, young college students! On the main façade of the university, along with the medallion of the Catholic Monarchs, there is also a carving of a hidden frog. It is believed that if you can find where the frog is, you’ll have good luck! In time, I found it, so that must mean I’ll at least have good luck this trip!

We also saw the cool Cathedrals here. They built a brand new larger Cathedral right next to the older smaller Cathedral, back in the 1500’s to try and impress the likes of intellects like Christopher Columbus, Cervantes, and Hernán Cortés. The “new” Cathedral also has an interesting carving. When they restored one of the outer Cathedral walls a couple of decades ago, they also updated it some. The side had depictions of various people and professions, trying to teach illiterate people of the 16th century through pictures, inviting that everyone was welcome in this church. When they updated the wall, they added a modern day astronaut to continue the trend!

I guess this really is the city of cool carvings on buildings. We went by a noble palace call the “Casa de las Conchas” or “Shell House”, so called because of the 365 stone shells carved out of the side of the building.

We also sat and had something to drink in the Plaza Mayor. It’s quite grand! It may even be better than Madrid’s! Why don’t we have plazas in the United States? I need to remember to buy a good luck frog to take home with me too!


6) Day Six - Day 6

Today we toured the Spanish city of ______. It’s not a huge and happening town, but it has lots of history. Most of what we saw today were Roman ruins. You think about Roman ruins being in and around, well, Rome, but not as much in Spain. But, sure enough, there were ruins that were pretty well kept and restored even! We saw ruins of common living areas (including primitive bathrooms!), temples, theaters, etc. There’s this cool Temple to Diana, which was one of the goddesses the Romans might have worshipped. I have no idea what she was the goddess of though, but she was cool enough to have a temple dedicated in her honor; maybe the townspeople wanted her to protect their city or something.

I really enjoyed seeing the arena stadium. It had part of it’s dirt floor in the center of the arena sunken lower than the rest of the floor. It’s believed that they filled it in with water and had the smarts to play water games there! That was also where they would have had gladiators face lions (without the water pit though).

My favorite today, though, was the amphitheater. It still has Roman statues in it and all! It looks like a real amphitheater—partially because some of it has been renovated, but still it’s amazing. They still hold concerts for the community there; I wish we could have seen one! That’d have been amazing!


7) Day Seven - Day 7

Today we came to the city of that famous barber! You know, the Barber of ______? Yep, that’s a real city, ______ , or in Spanish . We’re now really starting to delve into the south of Spain. This was a pretty cool city too. I guess I’m just loving all of Spain!

I’ve seen some pretty impressive cathedrals on this trip, but none so majestic and immense as this one! It’s the third largest in the world!! I even had time to climb the 40-story Giralda tower attached to it. That was pretty awesome because you could see the top of the cathedral and all of it’s architectural glory, not to mention see the bells in the tower, and then take amazing pictures of the entire city! This cathedral is one of the believed possible burial sites for Christopher Columbus! I hear that this city has the best Holy Week celebrations and processions of anywhere in Spain, and maybe the world. It’s a shame that I only get to see pictures and am not here at a time when I could witness the real thing.

There wasn’t a bullfight today or anything, but we did get to tour the bullfighting ring (Plaza de Toros), which was pretty fascinating.

We also walked by the Torre de Oro, or Tower of Gold, which ironically enough wasn’t built with anything gold on it. They added a small gold dome to the top of the tower in the 1700’s though.


8) Day Eight -Day 8

Today we saw the Mosque-Cathedral. I don’t think I ever realized such a thing could exist, but it was pretty cool and made for some good pictures. I enjoyed the red and white striped horseshoe arches, so typical of Muslim architecture of the period. I also loved walking admist the orange trees and fountains that can be found just outside the Mosque-Cathedral.

The gardens and fountains found in the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos are just glorious! The gardens are also where we saw the statues that represented King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel welcoming Christopher Columbus.

Today I survived my first trip on a Spanish bus, going to a Plaza for a snack. In the afternoon, during siesta, we enjoyed some tapas near the Plaza de España. I really like the Spanish tortilla (really it’s like an omelette with potatoes and onions, not at all like in Mexico!), and I surprised myself when I also liked the calamare (fried squid). Spanish jamón isn’t like th e ham I expected from the United States—if you look in a grocery store you can even see it sold by an entire pig’s leg!

This afternoon I was daydreaming about how I wish we had time to go to the Balearic Islands—I’d love to see where the lovely black pearls I’ve been seeing in jewelry come from.

Anyhow, visiting today has been quite delightful as well!


9) Day Nine - Day 9

I cannot believe how quickly this trip is going and that I’m already over halfway through touring Spain! My how the time flies when I’m having fun!

Today we toured the Alhambra. It’s so big! We just kept walking and walking and walking. It turned out okay though because we later found out that there isn’t much else to do in this city of ______ , besides tour the Alhambra. It is impressive though. The Alhambra is a preserved Arabian Palace and all of the grounds to go with it! I saw the famous Patio de Los Leones, with the famous lion fountain. I saw more Moorish (specific to the Muslim culture) architecture—I love when you can still see the colored tile! The cathedral on the grounds is also impressive; I suppose when you’re a rich person in power you can afford to have your own cathedral at your disposal anytime you want! I also thought it was cool that one of the rooms we toured had a plaque that announced the room where Ernest Hemmingway did much of his writing, which helped to make Spain so popular with tourists today even. The view of the city of white-washed stone houses and buildings is also quite impressive. It always amazes me how much Europe has managed to cram into such a tight space!


10) Day Ten - Day 10

Today we’re in the town of ______. Spain that is, still, not to be confused with it’s sister-city in Northwestern Ohio. I think it’s cool that this city has a street named after it’s Ohio sister-city. Calle , Ohio.

This is a great historic town. Talk about a city that crammed everything together! It’s considered a Renaissance city still because of the layout of it’s narrow and twisting streets. We only got lost a couple of times though! The streets are truly so narrow! If a car is driving down a narrow street, you actually have to duck into door ways of nearby buildings to avoid getting hit or crushed into a wall of a building! There’s just nowhere else to go!

We took a tour-train around the city today. It’s not an actual train on tracks, it’s one that drives around the city pointing out places of interest. I didn’t realize that this city was Spain’s original capital prior to Madrid, obviously several hundred years ago. It was also the home to the famous painter, El Greco, for much of his adult life. We saw several of his works today, but my favorite was “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz”, which is in the Church of Santo Tomé. This city has many churches, sinagogues, and mosques. It must have been one of the first true “melting-pots” of the world where so many diverse cultures coexisted peacably.

The Alcázar of Toledo has an impressive story of how it has continually been rebuilt (after envasions by Napoleon, surviving at least three fires, and being almost completely destroyed when it was used as a fortress during he Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s).

We got to do some shopping today, near the Plaza de Zocodover. I enjoyed watching the artesans do damascene work on jewelry and swords. They’re so beautifu; what a craft to have a talent in!

11) Last Entry, Earlier This Morning - Day 11

I’m very excited for today’s tour! We’re touring El Escorial in the Sierra de Guadarrama (a mountain range northwest of Madrid). The Escorial served as a Royal Palace and monestary. It holds the crypt which contains almost all of the deceased Spanish Monarchs since Carlos the V.

Then we’re going not far from there, to a Spanish Civil War Memorial, although some Spaniards believe it more to be a Franco Facist theatricality that does the complete opposite of honoring the deceased. It also happens to be where Francisco Franco is buried. Nevertheless, it’s a glorious monument with the largest memorial cross in the world atop it. Oh I do wish I could remember what this place is called… I guess I’ll have to consult my guide book and try to remember where we’re going.


Conclusion
¡¡FELICITACIONES!! Congratulations, you did it! You helped rescue a fellow student while getting to see glimpses of Spain for yourself. But did you really have enough time to see what you wanted to while rushing through Spain? Wouldn’t you like to see even more? Then don’t stop here! Take time now to check out the following websites, or continue to researching on your own! Spain doesn’t have to be an airplane ride around the world away, it’s at your very finger tips right now!

Bullfighting Spanish Music Sports in Spain
Spanish Food Spanish Dining Transportation
Spanish Festivals History of Spain Search- Google It