Phew, we made it to February! Did January feel like it lasted an entire year?! Good grief!

Have you seen the short film, Amor de Lata? It’s hilarious, perfect for for Valentine’s Day and gives students a fantastic look at the products, practices and perspectives of an elementary school in Mexico. I’ve got resources for your upper level and novice students!

But first, you have to watch!

(But Kathryn, please don’t watch and stop reading! This will be our next Movie Talk for our online Spanish class and I want it to be a surprise- I think you’ll love it!)

I’ve taught this as a Movie Talk in my Level 4 and Heritage classes for a few years and I use it to introduce a few AP tasks, so when they get to AP with me the following year, they’ll already be familiar with the Cultural Comparison, Simulated Conversation and Email.

I’ve compiled all my Upper Level resources and they’re on sale February 4-5 over at Teachers Pay Teachers. Use code FEBSALE25 for 25% off! If you’re unfamiliar with the format of the AP exam, not to worry, I include an introduction to each task and instructions for AP students and Pre-AP students, to set everyone up for success!

I have not taught Amor de Lata to my novice Little Darlings, but I put together a few resources for you! Since it’s pretty long, I recommend dividing it into a few segments over several class periods. The best thing about breaking up a Movie Talk is that you’ve got plenty of opportunities to review and recycle that beautiful input. If Movie Talk is a new strategy for you, here are details and instructions.

Here are a few (free!) resources for Novices:

• Vocab to focus on and story, written out
• Quizlet Set to play Quizlet Live
• Flippity Manipulatives to sequence story
• Flippity Manipulatives Scrambled Sentences Students sort tiles by color, then use all the same colored tiles to recreate sentences.
• Notetaker for Products, Practices and Perspectives about Elementary Schools, in Mexico (observed in the film) and in the US (their own experiences), filled out Write and Discuss style.

Happy Valentine’s Day, my dear friends!