Explore Place Around The World Through Gez.la

It's no secret I love websites that help you explore the world! And I found another one GEZ.LA

This website is similar to Google Earth or Google Street View, in fact it uses some of the same technology. However the search feature and ability or filter by country or type of place (museum, nature, or historic site) is really neat. 

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, then complete two of the tasks below.

1. Pick one of the places and describe it in detail. Where is it? What is it? Why is it important? Who made it? When was it created? Why did you pick that place?
2. Which place would you like to visit? Explain your answer.
3. Which place would you not like to visit? Explain your answer. 
4. Compare two of the places with 2 similarities and 2 differences.
5. Do you prefer to visit nature, museums, or historical places? Explain your answer

WindowSwap

There is a really neat website called WindowSwap where you can click and see outside windows from different parts of the world. 

Window in Singapore

Window in United Kingdom

Window in Japan

Window in France

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, then complete one of the tasks below.

1. Click through 4-5 windows on WindowSwap, take a screen shot of each window. (Just like I did above). Be sure to include the location in the top right of your screen shot.
2. If you don't want to take screen shots, click through 3 windows on WindowSwap and describe each photo in detail. What do you see in the house? Outside the window? Where is the photo taken?
3. Click through 4-5 windows on WindowSwap and list where each window is. Which window would you want to look out the most? Explain your answer. 
4. Submit your window! Read how to do it here. Email the video to your teacher too.

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

I've posted a lot of posts about exploring the world through Google Earth. 

Time to play a game exploring the world!

Click here to play Carmen Sandiego The Crown Jewels Caper 

or Carmen Sandiego The Keys to the Kremlin Caper

or Carmen Sandiego Tutankhamun's Mask Caper

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, play one of the games above, then complete one of the tasks below.

1. Play one of the games and post your score. 
2. What are 3 tips you'd give someone who would play the game next?
3. List 5 things you learned through the game.
4. Play all three and rank the games. Explain your reasoning. 
5. How does this compare to playing the "original" Carmen Sandiego?

Looking at Food Through Google Earth

I'm always a fan of a food post! Keeping with the Google Earth theme let's look at a few of their explorations about food.

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, then complete two of the tasks below.

1. Learn about Mexico City Street Food and describe 3 new things you learned. 
2. Which food from the  Mexico City Street Food would you want to eat? Explain your answer.
3. Learn about Global Markets and describe 3 new things you learned. 
4. Which place in Global Markets would you want to visit? Explain your answer.
5. What is a new food you learned about? Would you try it? Explain your answer.
6. What's your favorite and least favorite foods? Explain your answer.

Explore How the World Celebrates

We're coming up on end of the year holidays so let's take this opportunity to learn about many different celebrations all around the world. 

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, then complete two of the tasks below.

1. Learn about how Easter is celebrated about and describe 3 new things you learned. 
2. Learn about how Eid al-Fitr is celebrated about and describe 3 new things you learned. 
3. Learn about how Holiday Food Around the World is celebrated about and describe 3 new things you learned. 
4. Take the Holiday Traditions quiz and take a screen shot of your score.
5. Take one of the holidays you learned about and compare it to how you celebrate it. 
6. What holiday is your favorite? Explain your answer. How do you celebrate it?

Where Is The Best Theme Park Around The World?

We've looked at Google Earth's This is School and Google Earth's This is Home. Now let's look at theme parks around the world.

Check out Google Earth's Theme Parks Around the World

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, then complete two of the tasks below.

1. Pick one of the theme parks and describe it in detail. What are the attractions? 
2. Which theme park looks the best? Explain your answer.
3. Which theme park would you NOT want to visit? Explain your answer.
4. What is the best theme park you've ever been too? What made it so great?
5. What's your favorite ride at Kennywood? How many times have you gone? 
6. Compare two of the places with 2 similarities and 2 differences. 
7. List 3 new things your learned from one of the places. 

Explore Scary Places Around the World

We've looked at Google Earth's This is School and Google Earth's This is Home, now let's take a creepy turn, just in time for Halloween. 

Check out Google Earth's Around The World in Haunted Houses

or

Haunted Places Around the World

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, then complete one of the tasks below.

1. Pick one of the places and describe it in detail. Where is it? What is the history? Describe the inside and the outside.
2. Which place would you want to visit? Explain your answer.
3. Which place would you NOT want to visit? Explain your answer. 
4. Where is the scariest place you've ever been? 
5. Do you like going to haunted places or do you avoid them? Explain your answer.
6. Take the Quiz on Spooky Spots and take a screen shot of your score. 

Explore Cities Around the World

Google Earth has made exploring amazing cities of the world possible from your computer. They are categorized by different areas or topics. 

• Seville, (Spain)
• Havana, (Cuba)
• San Juan, (Puerto Rico)
• Barcelona, (Spain)
• Cancun, (Mexico)
• Santiago, (Chile)
• Mexico City, (Mexico
• Catalonia (Spain)

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, then complete one of the tasks below.

1. Pick one of the cities and describe 5 of the places you visit in detail. Why did you pick that place?
2. Compare two of the places with 2 similarities and 2 differences.
3. Explain how climate and culture might impact the home. 
4. Rank your top 3 cities and explain your reasoning. 
5. List 7 things you learned about a Spanish speaking place. Why did you pick that place?

Explore the World through Google Street View

Even though we're not able to travel around the world for a while, luckily you can still explore it! 

The photos above are from the places in the world mapped below.

Here are 23 places mapped above you can explore

and

here are 15 of the most popular places to explore in Street View.

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, then complete two of the tasks below.

1. Compare two of the places with 2 similarities and 2 differences. 
2. Which place would you like to visit? Explain your answer.
3. Which place would you not like to visit? Explain your answer. 
4. List 3 new things your learned from one of the places. 
5. Which place have you never heard of? 

Chichen Itza, Famous Mayan Ruins of Mexico

Chichen Itza is a well preserve ancient ruin site of the Mayan civilization. It is located in Mexico.

You can explore the pyramid or other areas of the ruins. 

 

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, then complete two of the tasks below.

1. Explore the link about the Maya and explain 3 new things you learned.
2. Explore the links about the Chichen Itza pyramid or other areas of the ruins and explained 3 new things you learned.
3. Would you want to visit Chichen Itza? Explain your answer. 
• (Here are some photos of when I went).
4. Color the famous pyramid and take a screen shot of your creation. 

The New Seven Wonders of the World

I shared information about the Natural Wonders of the World and the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. In 2007 there was a big movement to identify and vote on the NEW Seven Wonders of the World. 

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, and answer two of the following questions in complete sentences in English.

1. Which place have the heard the most about? Where did you hear this information? 
2. Which place would you be the most interested in travel to? Explain your answer.
3. Which place(s) have you never heard of before? What do you think of them?
4. Which place would you not want to travel to? Explain your answer. 
5. Which place have you been that you consider to be a "wonder of the world"? Explain your answer. 
6. View Interactive 360 photos or 360 videos of these monuments. List 5 new pieces of information that you learned. 

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

I recently highlighted the Natural Wonders of the World. Did you know that there are the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? 

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, and answer two of the following questions in complete sentences in English.

1. Which place have the heard the most about? Where did you hear this information? 
2. Which place do you wish you could travel to? Explain your answer.
3. Which place(s) have you never heard of before? What do you think of them?
4. Which place would you not want to travel to? Explain your answer. 
5. What is the "oldest" place you've ever been? It could also be the oldest thing you've ever seen in a museum. Explain your answer. 
6. Read more about one of the wonder here or here and write 5 new pieces of information you learned.

Housing Differences From Around the World

During the Shelter-in-Place order in Spring of 2020 we were in our houses a lot. This made me wonder about how houses are different around the world. I found this video and thought it was really interesting!

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, and answer two of the following questions in complete sentences in English.

1. List five new things you learned from the video. 
2. Based on the video, which country would you MOST prefer to have a house in? Explain your answer.
3. Based on the video, which country would you LEAST prefer to have a house in? Explain your answer.
4. Which piece of information struck you are the most interesting or most odd? What country was the house in? Explain your answer.
5. Which piece of information was something you didn't know before but makes a lot of sense to you? Explain your answer.

Natural Wonders of the World

As you can tell from previous posts, I'm a fan of travel videos. Even though travel seems uncertain for the foreseeable future, we can still enjoy the beauty of this world through videos. You don't actually have to visit a place to appreciate it! I recently watched this video and was amazed at how awesome each of these places looked.

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio (or send an email to your teacher), title it the same as this blog post, and answer two of the following questions in complete sentences in English.

1. Which place have the heard the most about? Where did you hear this information? 
2. Which place would you be the most interested in travel to? Explain your answer.
3. Which place(s) have you never heard of before? What do you think of them?
4. Which place would you not want to travel to? Explain your answer. 
5. Which place have you been that you consider to be a "beautiful natural wonder"? Explain your answer. 
6. Watch another video from MojoTravels and summarize it.

100 Billion Words

For the Superbowl this year Google made an advertisement. Check it out below.

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and answer 2 of the following questions in complete sentences based on these images.

• Check out Google Translate phone app. What are 3 different features you could use the app besides just typing in words?
• Try out one of the features and share how it went.
• Select a time in this video and explain where you think it takes place. What evidence do you use to make that guess?
• According to the ad, what are the most translated words? Why do you think that is?
• Do you think this is a good or effective ad? Explain your answer.

Greetings Around the World

In Spanish there are very many different ways people greet each other, just like there are many different ways people greet each other in English. It can depend on how you grew up as well as the region you are from. Check out these videos that talk about different ways people greet and say goodbye to one another around the world.

This video is about ways to say hello and goodbye in different Spanish speaking countries.

This video is about different ways people greet each other around the world.

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and complete one of the following tasks based on these videos.

• Create a chart with two different columns of all the different ways people in the first video greeted and said goodbye
• Make a chart with the second video of with one column being the country or region the person is from, the 2nd column being the way they greet someone, and the 3rd column the English translation.
• Find another video that demonstrates how people greet each other around the world and publish it to your blog with a summary.
• Explain different ways you greet different people. For example, do you greet your grandparents different than your teachers? Do you hug some people when you greet them, shake hands with others, or do something else? Consider the following different groups:
• cousins, aunts/uncles
• parents, siblings
• peers, friends
• friends of friends who you meet at a concert or sporting event
• someone who is interviewing you for a job
• principal, boss

Great Travel Videos

When I found the links on the post about Mexican cuisine, I came across this great Vimeo channel, The Perennial Plate. This channel is fantastic at showcasing the value of traveling!

Travel Is from The Perennial Plate on Vimeo.

Check out this video about food from Spain.
(It makes me miss jamon serrano and pulpo a la galega soooo bad.)

A Spanish Roadtrip from The Perennial Plate on Vimeo.

Hot Tamale Activities - Complete one or more of these activities as a advanced/Hot Tamale blog post. Title your post the title of this blog post.

• Respond to one or both of these videos - what stands out to you? Does it inspire/scare you? Explain your answer.
• For the "A Spanish Roadtrip" video take a screenshot of the food that looks that tastiest and of the food that looks the least tastiest. Include both images in your blog post along with the video. Explain why you feel the way you do.
• Find another video on The Perennial Plate channel that you enjoy. Embed it in your blog post and explain what you like about it.

New York Times Travel Videos

The New York Times has a series of short videos about spending 36 hours in different places in the world. The video they released this past weekend was about Cartagena, Colombia, where I went last December. It was really neat to see places that I had been and see what they said about the food/culture of Cartagena.

• Watch any of the videos about international cities by clicking here. Share what you learn in a blog post or email to bordner@cityhigh.org. Would you want to travel there? Explain your answer.

How Kids Get to School

Children cross the river using pulleys on their way to school in the outskirts of Modena, Italy, 1959.

Many of our City High staff and students have quite the trek to school everyday. Let's look at how other students get to school. Look at How Students Go To School then answer one or more of the following Hot Tamale Activities in a blog post or email to bordner@cityhigh.org.

• Create a map and insert the images into the different countries they represent on the map. Embed the map into a blog post or email the link.
• Which way looks the hardest and why? 
• Rank the top 5 most difficult ways.
• What else do you notice about the photos? 
• Describe the surroundings.
• What are the school children wearing?
• Look at other pages of this website. What is this organization about? Share 5 other things you learned about the world through this website.

Ms. Bordner Update

Hola estudiantes!

Students are updating their Spanish blogs letting me know what they've been up to since we were last together so I thought it might be a good idea to let you know what I've been doing!

This August break I went on a bike trip in Spain! I spent about two weeks traveling around Spain. I spent six days biking 200 miles in Spain and it was awesome! I also got to go to Morocco in Africa for a day.

I also spent the April break in Costa Rica with students from the class of 2015 (now seniors!), and I spent December break in Colombia (the country in Latin America). Though I've traveled a lot to the Spanish speaking countries my next international trip will be to somewhere in Asia! Either Thailand, Japan, or China. I want to go there because I'm really interested in exploring their traditions, ancient ruins, and their large cities. I plan on spending some time in a big City like Bangkok or Tokyo, visiting ruins like the Great Wall of China or Angkor Watt, and of course going to a beach!

Something I'm really excited about this trimester is our focus on Hispanic music. I love to listen to lots of different genres of music in Spanish (and English) and when I learn about the instruments and the historical/cultural context of the songs it makes me like the music even more! One of my favorite genres is female Hispanic hip hop artists. One of my favorite artist is Ana Tijoux from Chile. I also really like Los Rakas, another hip hop group from California and Panama.

I'm also looking forward to talking about different foods from Spanish speaking countries! I love Spanish food like ham with melon and octopus! I love the fresh juice in Costa Rica and pancakes with plantains! I loved drinking the juice straight out of the coconut in the street in Colombia! And I love love love chilaquiles with mole sauce in Mexico!

To end this letter I just want to say that I'm really excited to see all my students again, pick up where we left off, and keep learning about the world around us and how to communicate with others in it! Lets have a great year!