Spanish Landmark Quiz

I just took a 10 question quiz about Landmarks in Spanish speaking countries and got a 6/10! Can you do better? Click here to take the quiz. Take a screen shot of your score and email it to bordner@cityhigh.org or put it in your blog with a brief description of what you learned!

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.

Cultural Norms in Other Countries

Fasten Seat Belts is a website that explains cultural norms of different countries, along with quick survival phrases. Pick a country (it does not have to be a Spanish speaking country), watch a few videos and summarize what you learn in a blog post or email to bordner@cityhigh.org.

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.

How Do Languages Evolve?

For those of you who are interested in learning WHY there are so many languages that are spoken in the world and HOW MANY there are, watch this short video then complete one or more of The Hot Tamale Activities below in an email to bordner@cityhigh.org.

• Summarize the video in your own words. What are three new facts that you learned? 
• What are the main branches of languages? 
• Why is it hard to say how many languages are spoken in the world?
• Go to the Endangered Languages website. Learn about a new language spoken in the world and share what you've learned in a blog post/email.
• Want to learn more? Go to this website from National Geographic and summarize the information provide on the main page. 

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!