My Spanish 2 students ended a very successful novel unit with Fiesta Fatal by Mira Canion. I did a one week introduction on a Quinceañera and then spent around 5 weeks with the actual novel. The vo…
I remember when "graphic organizers" was the buzz word and at the school district in which I worked, if the teacher had "g.o." on his/her lesson plan, the principal was happy. I didn't like them at that time because they were basic and generic. Boring blocks or circles with spokes coming out of them that looked like bicycle wheels. The dull graphic organizers of the past are gone. I now see their value and use them often when reading novels with my students, and create ones that are specific to the text. When I start reading a new book with my students, my goal is to help them fully understand the characters, the problem, the tensions, etc. When that information is pulled together in a graphic organizer, it helps the students to connect to the characters and draws them into the story. Below are examples of graphic organizers that I use for the first chapters of several books. (my disclaimer: My artistic skills are challenged and the idea in my mind always looks better than what ends up in the paper.) FIESTA FATAL Download HERE LA GUERRA SUCIA Download HERE Robo en la noche Download HERE Vida o muerte en el Cusco Download HERE Robo en la noche (ch1-3) FInd the download HERE La vampirata Download HERE Two additional graphic organizers I use are from Martina Bex found on the link below: El nuevo Houdini - chapter 1 esquema Esperanza - chapter 1 esquema Information on many of the books listed above is used with permission by TPRS Publishing, Inc.
Play Sentence BINGO in language classes to expose students to language in context and give them opportunities to interpret contextualized language.
Resources for teaching the novel Fiesta Fatal in Spanish class. A Spanish unit focusing on Mexico, quinceñeras, and the past tense.
Chapter 7 - Fiesta Fatal As I have probably stated before, when I read mini-novels with my students, I want the students to understand the...
If you aren’t familiar with Mira Canion, you should be! She has written many novels that are available either through TPRS Publishing or on Mira’s website. I had the pleasure of spending an evening with Mira at ACTFL last year in Orlando after attending her session, and she is as brilliant as her novels are excellent! (She’ll be at…
La fiesta fatal - Examen, 49 true false questions...
"Mónica" in the book, Fiesta Fatal I've been reading the book Fiesta Fatal, written by Mira Canion, with my Spanish 2 students. Mira's goal, when writing the book, was to create a book that was level appropriate for second year Spanish students and she succeeded in accomplishing that goal! If you're looking for a comprehensible level 2 book that has an interesting storyline, this is one book you should strongly consider. Today we read the last chapter of Fiesta Fatal. Some students volunteered to read the lines for the main characters in the chapter. I always look for ways in which students can interact with the text, so after reading, I projected the below sketches onto the board. We reviewed what happened as students said sentences in Spanish that matched the sketches. If they were uncertain about what to say, I allowed them to refer to the book. Find the download of the worksheet to the left HERE. After the students were familiar with the sketches I paired them up with a partner and distributed squares of paper that had the same sketches on them and gave them the following instructions: 1. Put the squares on the desk face down. 2. Randomly choose two cards and turn them over. 3. Decide the order of the two cards. 4. One partner says a sentence in Spanish to describe the sketch that they decided happened first in the chapter. The second student says a sentence to describe the second sketch. 5. The students choose a third paper, turn it over, and say a sentence to describe the sketch. 6. They they decide if that sketch is before the other two, in between the other two, or at the end of the first two sketches. 7. When the 3 sketches are in the correct order, they take turns saying a sentence for each of the sketches. (Student A describes sketch #1, Student B describes sketch #2, Student A describes sketch #3.) 8. Students continue turning the papers over, one by one, putting the new card in the correct place, and taking turns once again to say a sentence for each sketch. 9. When they were finished, they called me to their desks and I listened to their retell of the story. To download the two sheets of sketches shown below for the retells, click HERE. (The sketches on the sheets below are not in any particular order. Feel free to substitute any, or all, sketches that you are able to sketch better than I have done.)
I recently stumbled across a website named Pictotraductor. On the Pictotraductor website, you can type in a sentence in Spanish and it will generate the sentence using a mix of sketches and words for things that cannot easily be illustrated. (See below for link of paper shown on the left.) I can think of several uses for this, but since my students are currently reading Fiesta Fatal, a novel by Mira Canion, I created an activity to use after reading chapter 6 of Fiesta Fatal. I read Fiesta Fatal with my Spanish 2 students. I am doing increasingly more grammar pop-ups on the ellos form of verbs, which means I point out the verbs that show the action of Vanesa and Julieta, and the two men that pursue them. All of the sentences on the Picto-Frase activity include the ellos form of verbs. I have two classes of Spanish 2, so after the first class, I changed a few things, and after the second class I changed a few more things to improve it. Below are the instructions on how I used it: 1. Read chapter 6 of Fiesta Fatal. 2. Showed examples Picto-Frases of other sentences from chapter 6 of Fiesta Fatal on a power point. Students said the sentences in Spanish. 3. Distributed the above Picto-Frases paper (find it HERE). Students looked for the sentences in chapter 6 and wrote the Spanish sentence below the pictures. - Next time, I will ask the students to highlight or circle the word that shows the action that two or more people did. After we read chapter 6 I realized I forgot to do the sentence Bingo game that reviews Chapters 1-5 of Fiesta Fatal. Mira Canion talked about this idea at CSCTFL this spring and then Martina Bex created the game which you can find HERE and download for free. I love this version of the game because it uses sentences rather than single words.
I am really excited to use Fiesta Fatal by Mira Canion this fall in Spanish II. It will be their first novel in the past tense, and how what I will start with when I return from maternity leave in Nov
Play Sentence BINGO in language classes to expose students to language in context and give them opportunities to interpret contextualized language.
I recently stumbled across a website named Pictotraductor . On the Pictotraductor website, you can type in a sentence in Spanish and it w...
Looking for the latest trends in home decor? Find inspiration and details on how to decorate a femme fatale bedroom - inspired by famous film-noir archetypes.
Delphine Blast photographed 15 young Colombian women in the ballgowns they wore for their quinceañeras.
Looking for the latest trends in home decor? Find inspiration and details on how to decorate a femme fatale bedroom - inspired by famous film-noir archetypes.
