senoracmt

El Salvador Centers

In Spanish 3, I do a film and reader based unit on El Salvador and its Civil War. It is ESPECIALLY timely as the current situation at the border has its roots all the way back to this period in the 80s-90s!

We begin by watching the film Romero (it’s in English but I put on Spanish subtitles and we discuss in Spanish). We need to understand how his death really catapulted the country into war. Then we watch the film Voces Inocentes. We discuss the child soldiers in El Salvador and how it would feel to be taken. We talk about what WE were doing when we were 12 and compare that with Chava and his friends.

Then I do these centers – El Salvador Centers Share.

The centers let me quickly review all of the things we learned in the film study portion before tackling the reader based study of Vida y muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha 13 from Fluency Matters.

This reader (and TG) are one of the most engaging we do in all 4 years of study. Every single chapter is packed with surprises and action!

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" "Vector," "48 horas", "Bananas", "Sostenible", "Tucán", and "Papálotl" through Fluency Matters and Wayside Publishing. In 2006 I became National Board certified and renewed in 2016. 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. Please contact our info@somewheretoshare.com account with any questions you have about the curriculum or PD@somewheretoshare.com with questions about professional development opportunities.

3 comments

  1. This is so timely! I just started this unit today (with Casas de carton) and trying to decide where to go after this. Are there any scenes in Romero to be aware of? P.S. For others who also have Amazon Prime, I found it there!

    Reply

    • There is ZERO nudity or f bombs but there is a strong scene when Padre Osuna is being tortured in the next room and Romero is forced to listen from his cell. I do warn them that this is coming. You see nothing but you can totally imagine what’s happening.

      Reply

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