Oh my goodness! How is the AP Spanish Language and Culture test right around the corner?! We have done a lot of heavy lifting all year long and I’m feeling pretty confident that my AP Little Darlings are in good shape. For the last few classes before the exam, I like to plan a little culture, a little fun and a little personalized time for students to focus on where they most need it. Here’s another post I wrote about the weeks and days leading up to the AP Exam.

In today’s post you’ll find lots of free resources, a few paid resources (Hello, Lucky Trivia Games- on sale at TPT from May 6-8!) and a handful of Amazon Associate links. Disclaimer: If you purchase from one of my Amazon Links, it won’t cost you any thing extra, and Amazon will send me a teeny, tiny commission. I’m supposed to tell you that!

The very wise AP teacher Jane VanderBeek, from Holland, MI, gave me great advice my first year. She recommended to save the unit “Vida contemporánea” for last, because it’s the most fun, and after working hard all year, it’s nice to wrap up with that right before The Bug Day. I followed her advice and so all these resources fit nicely into “Vida Contemporánea” We’ve got 90 minute block, every other day, and here’s our plan. We’ll focus on a cultural element of a country for the first half of class and then the second part, they have time to focus their attention on what they need to be successful on May 15. I assigned a whole of mess of My AP Classroom practices for all the tasks and let them pick and choose how they want to spend their practice time. While they work independently I meet with students to assist.

Colombia: El festival de Yipao

The aforementioned and extremely generous Jane VanderBeek shared this lesson and graciously gave me permission to share with you. It’s so fun and the Little Darlings are amazed. I always feel the need to add the disclosure in class “DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME”.

Here’s the Slideshow  + Reading Worksheet and we make as many comparisons as we can with our own community. Of course, they have to design their own Yipao:

And for a little treat while they’re working, we sample Pasta de Guayaba con queso fresco. Shoutout to all my Facebook friends who answered my late night Guayaba y Queso questions! I don’t always buy treats for my AP Little Darlings, but this class is especially small (only 10!) and especially precious (I’d adopt them all and bring them home with me if I could- they’re just such a fantastic bunch!) and so treats I shall!

To wrap up our time, we played a few rounds of the Lucky Trivia Game: Colombia …the language in the game is really simple, I wrote it for my Spanish 1 Little Darlings, but each Trivia Fact has an authentic YouTube video that we watch and discuss.

Argentina: El mate

We watch La leyenda del mate and make comparisons with legends that are important in our community. We watch ¿Qué sabes  del Mate?  While student watch, jot notes on our PPP Notetaker.

Then students read ¿Qué significa el mate para los argentinos? Of course we have to try mate, so 2 volunteers follow along as we watch Cómo preparar el mate . I buy mate from our Latin Market but I didn’t have any authentic mates (cups), but Amazon does, so that’s what we’re using until I can get to Argentina to buy real ones!

Shoutout to my Argentine Facebook friends who said that Mate Cocido was the way to go so everyone could easily try mate, without passing around the single cup. Gosh, wouldn’t that be awful to get the entire class sick for their exam?!😳

Here’s a Lucky Trivia Game: Argentina to wrap up the fun.

Perú: El cuy

We start this one with Describe and Draw, one partner look at an image on the board while the other partner (who is facing away from the image) listens to the description and illustrates it on a mini whiteboard. Then we talk about the Productos, Prácticas and Perspectivas that we can identify in each image.

My dear friend Kara Jacobs has a great resource with a reading and lots of YouTube videos El cuy, mucho más que un animal simple.

Don’t worry, we don’t sample cuy…but Trader Joe’s has giant choclo snacks and I found Inca Kola at my Latin Market, so that’s what we’ll sample. Here’s a fun Inca Kola commercial and here’s another.

And of course, here’s a Lucky Trivia Game: Peru, and this one is free!

España: Toros y Tapas

Slideshow: Cómo tapear while students complete PPP notetaker. Good old Trader Joes has a frozen Tortilla Española that I’ll cut up into little trocitos for my Little Darlings to sample. We’ll make comparisons between how people spend time together in our community and what we learned about the Tapas tradition.

We’ll switch gears to brainstorm temas polémicos en the U.S. and I’ll introduce the question: ¿Se debe prohibir las corridas de toros? We’ll discuss the arguments of the Taurinos and Antitaurinos.

José Díaz’s book AP Spanish Preparing for the Language and Culture Examination, has an essay asking the question ¿Se debe prohibir las corridas de toros? Rather than writing a full essay, I’ll have them read the sources, write an intro then play the Claim Game. Gary DiBianca created the Claim Game and here is how we play it in AP.

And why not, here’s a Lucky Trivia Game: España.

México: El tren maya

I was hoping to teach this topic for the first time, but with this year’s snow day, I am going to have to save it for next year. Here’s an awesome and free esource, created by Forum by Prométour: Class Debate, Tren Maya Project. Students read a few articles, watch a few videos, then debate the pros and cons of Tren Maya, that connects the Yucatán.

And if you’re looking for yet another Lucky Trivia game, I didn’t want to let you down: Lucky Trivia Game: México

Guatemala: Las Quitapenas

The class before The Big Day, we talk about Los textiles de Guatemala and the tradition of Worry Dolls or Quitapenas. During the slideshow they complete one more PPP notetaker, then I gift every Little Darling a Quitapena to put under their pillow (and put in their pocket during their test, if they want!) and we make comparisons with our own superstitions. I’d love to support Guatemalan women making Quitapenas, and as soon as I get to Guatemala, I will buy a whole suitcase full to last the rest of my teaching career, but in the meantime, Amazon to the rescue.

Wishing you and your Little Darlings lots of AP success on the test!