senoracmt

Bullfighting with Bianca Nieves chapters 1&2

On Monday we read the story El Toro Ferdinando and yesterday we watched the dubbed Disney short Ferdinand.  We followed the video with chapter 1 of the novel Bianca Nieves y los 7 Toritos in which we meet her bull Ferdinando! We made some predictions about the novel based on what we saw when we watched the 2011 movie Blancanieves and from reading the story Snow White… What are some key elements of a fairy tale?  What elements make a fairy tale more like Disney and which make it more like Grimm!  As level 2 students they can make great connections!

Mine have decided that the novel is going to be more like Grimm!  We shall see!  They have also started a “Burn” chart where they are keeping track of Bianca and Salomé’s spats.  I think they’ll be surprised how infrequently Bianca gets the upper hand!

Today we read Chapter 2 which talked about the ranch property size and the budding relationship between dad and Salomé (not-so-lovingly nicknamed Salami). We followed with an activity from the teacher’s guide called “Picasso of Plates”!   

   They had a great time trying to draw the ranch!  
 

Published by senoracmt

I began teaching Spanish in Illinois in 1994. I have taught levels 1-4 in a small rural high school, 8th grade introductory Spanish, Biology 1, and 101 and 102 at the community college level. My Spanish classes are partnered with the community college to offer students 8 semester hours of dual credit on completion of Spanish 4. In 2011 I met Carol Gaab and Kristy Placido and have since co-authored the book "La hija del sastre" with Carol Gaab and authored the novels "La Calaca Alegre", "Bianca Nieves y los 7 toritos." "Vector," "48 horas","Bananas", "Sostenible", and "Papálotl" through Fluency Matters. In 2006 I became National Board certified and I have been serving as a mentor both for candidates seeking certification in world languages other than English and a virtual mentor for candidates in all certificate areas. I completed my Masters degree in Spanish education in 2011 and did my research on the use of Understanding by Design to create meaningful cultural units for the language classroom. I am a frequent presenter on this topic, please consider me if you are interested in a workshop on backward design. In 2013 I was named the ICTFL Foreign Language teacher of the year and in 2014 I was selected as CSCTFL's teacher of the year. In November of 2014 I was lucky enough to be one of the five finalists for the ACTFL National Teacher of the Year in San Antonio, TX. What a "Cinderella" experience! You can reach me via email at carrie at somewheretoshare dot com.

4 comments

  1. I love the idea of using novels to bring more of everything cool about learning a language into the classroom, and over the years I’ve used a couple of them with varying success. This past August, I’d submitted a grant request to be able to purchase class sets of some of the newer novels, but it was denied. I wondered if you had your students purchase their own copies or if you used the audio cd, or a doc cam projecting it for them to read as a class? I’m toying with the idea of having my students purchase personal copies of a couple of novels- putting it on my syllabus as a required material- this would be for my Spanish 3s- who are taking the class above the requirement for graduation. Do you have any thoughts or advice on this?

    Reply

    • Hi!!! I have slowly built up my class sets! One novel per year! I started with novels that would be great for all levels! Easy enough for novices to read and then added challenge in the intermediate discussions!! I HAVE had kids buy their own! And the added perk is that they often donate them back at the end of the year! Which adds to my novel collection! ❤️

      Reply

    • Both the audio CD and doc cam are totally legal since you aren’t reproducing the materials so they’d be a GREAT stand in while you decide your best move!

      Reply

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