So, I found out today that I'm probably going to be teaching Intro Spanish next year. These kids will have never taken a Spanish class before and will speak no to very little Spanish. I was told that I have $500 that I can spend on resources. The rub is that it needs to be spent by the end of the month or the money goes away (where, I don't know :lol I was thinking about buying simple readers, but now I'm not wondering if the money would be better spent on movies and music that could be used in the classroom. So, my question: what are some movies that I could look at getting that are age appropriate (the students would be 14-15. I'll be able to show PG-13 movies), fun and wouldn't be too difficult for them to understand? Anything that I NEED to get? Any music that your kids love? Obviously, $500 on movies is a lot, so if you have any other ideas on what I could buy, I'm open to suggestions!!!
One movie we watched in Spanish was Don Quixote starring Jon Lithgow. http://www.amazon.com/Don-Quixote-John-Lithgow/dp/B0000541V7 http://cgi.turnerlearning.com/tntlearning/donquixote/teach.html
Honestly, for Spanish 1 students nearly every movie will be difficult for them to understand. Google Senor Wooly and look at buying his CD. The kids will love his stuff, and should be able to understand a great deal of it by the end of the first year. I would recommend you spend at least some of the money on some cheap video cameras; maybe some flip/usb ones. They could be used for student projects, but you won't cry too much if one gets broken. I also use an infocus/projector quite often. It would eat up most of your budget though, so hopefully you already have one available. A document camera like an ELMO can also be really useful. Good luck! If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.
Thanks for the advice, but we have those things at school that I can sign out. I'm really starting with nothing but a textbook, so I'd rather us the money that can get me some type of resource in the language they'll be learning. I respectfully disagree about their ability to understand. I also teach French and I find it extremely valuable for them to hear the language in a natural situation. Do I expect them to understand every word? No. But they should be able to pick up the general theme of the scene, tone, and specific words.
I completely agree with you about the value of them being able to hear the language in natural situations, but you specifically asked for something that "wouldn't be too difficult for them to understand." Almost everything that is specifically made for Spanish-speaking audiences will be difficult for Spanish 1 students to comprehend. Once again, I agree that authentic material is great and should be used and they should be able to understand as you explained in your post i.e. theme of the scene, tone, specific words etc. I think our definition of "understand" just differed a bit. With that being said, you might be able to show the students "el Norte", though you may want to preview it beforehand. I have heard good things about "Bajo la Misma Luna" but have never seen it myself. I really enjoyed the movie "Nueba Yol" and it could probably be shown to your students. "Y no se lo trago la tierra" (please excuse the lack of accent marks) is also good, but there are at least 2 scenes that you would need to censor out. "La Casa de Bernarda Alba" is also ok and would probably be considered appropriate.
I watched movies in my first Spanish class, but my teacher usually did movies that we had seen before. We watched Shrek and Finding Nemo in Spanish and since we knew the context, we could understand. Sometimes she would put the subtitles on too so we could read the words. I think its a good way to hear the language.
Another movie we watched was The Lion King. Disney movies are good to watch in spanish. Most people have seen the disney/pixar films.
