One of my favorite tunes to teach during the month of February is Celia Cruz's classic song "La Vida es un Carnaval". In teaching Celia's tune during the month of February, teachers in immersive classrooms are able to integrate the storied tradition of "Carnaval" festivals, which are an important part of Cuban culture, and also were a large part of the traditions of southern Spain when I was living in that region. Teaching students about "La Reina de Salsa" (The Queen of Salsa) through one of her most iconic tunes is also a great way to teach students about Afro-Latino heritage, and the rich and wonderful contributions that inspiring stars such as Celia have brought to the Latino community. Not to mention, US-Cuban relations are a hot topic right now, and students will appreciate getting to hear more about this fabled island that Americans have had limited access to over the last fifty years. If you're interested in teaching Celia Cruz's tune "La Vida es un Carnaval" to your students, please click here for the song warm-up lesson plan! If you'd like to give students the summative song exam, which I recommend after teaching the song warm-up for seven days, click here. If you're curious about how to teach songs as warm-ups in your immersive classroom, click here. Enjoy!
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Have you had a chance to check out Natalia LaFourcade’s new single, “Tú Si Sabes Quererme”? Released on January 27th, 2017, this gorgeous and upbeat tune has had my students happily singing along for the last two weeks. If you haven’t had a chance to check out her new tune, please follow this link to see my insights on the song, as well as a free song warm-up resource to make your life just a little bit easier. Click here to see the song warm-up lesson plan. Last Thursday, after studying this catchy tune for two weeks, my students took the Summative Song Exam I created. This is a great exam for any classroom, and also corresponds nicely with the “Criterion B” rubric for all you IB teachers out there. Natalia also released her official music video for the tune last week, just in time for the end of our song warm-up cycle. Thanks Natalia! It’s a beautiful glimpse into her artistic process as a singer-songwriter with Los Macorinos. Check out the official music video here. Take a look (and a listen!) I know you’ll fall in love with the tune just as quickly as my students and I did. Click here to find the Song Exam Resource on TpT – The Immersive Classroom. Happy teaching! Welcome! Thank you for visiting my website, The Immersive Classroom! This site started as a blog to share lesson plans, service learning projects, and travel stories from my experience as a high school Spanish teacher. It will continue to function in that way, but now it is even more organized!
You will find fancy links on the top that organizes my past and future posts by Lesson Plans, Service Learning, and Travel. Within each category are subcategories. Hopefully this will make it easier for new visitors to find great lesson plans from topics ranging from teaching with music to teaching social justice as well as read about unique aspects of our student trip to Cuba. Don't worry, all of my old posts have been moved to this new site. I will also continue to make posts on this blog, and any new content on the site will be listed here in addition to its page on the site so as to make it easier for repeat visitors to see what I have updated. Please use the contact me feature to give me any comments or ask any questions. Thank you! |
HEY THERE! NICE TO MEET YOU!I'm Katherine Lupton: language teacher and author. I live in the lovely state of Oregon. My favorite things include my energetic dogs, music and books (both reading and writing them). Blogs I follow
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