Driving Tests Around the World

Learning to drive can be a big deal! Have you ever thought about how different countries handle driving? Check out this infographic about different driving tests around the world then complete the following activities.  

You can also find more infographics at Visualistan

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 this infographic.

• Which country do you think has the hardest test? Explain your answer.
• Which country do you think has the easiest test? Explain your answer.
• Not considering age requirements, do you think you could pass these test? Explain.
• Do you plan on getting your drivers license? If yes, when? If no, why not?

Photos of Kids Around the World

It can be very interesting to look at photos from around the world and think about how people live in different countries. A few photographers have been taking photos of different aspects of growing up around the world. 

First we have photos of young people in their rooms.

Mexico

India

Russia

See more photos here and here.

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.

• Select 3 photos (from here and here) and describe the rooms. What country do they live in? What things do they have in their room? 
• Create a Venn Diagram comparing your room to a photo. Then take a photo of the Venn Diagram and add it to your blog
• Take a photo of your room and label 10 items in Spanish.
• Compare and contrast how other young people might live around the world to how you live. How are you similar? How are you different? Provide 3 specific examples. 

Next we have photos of young people with their toys.

Nicaragua

Costa Rica

Mexico

See more photos here.

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.

• Select 3 photos (from  here) and describe the toys. What country do they live in? What toys are their favorite? 
• Compare and contrast how other young people might live around the world to how you live. How are you similar? How are you different? Provide 3 specific examples. 
• What was your favorite toys as a kid? What about your siblings/cousins?

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

Canción para viernes 11/10

Each Friday we'll listen to and watch a music video of a Spanish speaking country.

Here is another example of a Colombia "salsa choke" song

Create a new blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and answer at least 2 of the following questions.

• Describe the video in your own words. What happens in the video?
• Did you like the song? Explain your answer.
• Did you like the video? Explain your answer.
• Write a brief biography in English about the artist. 
• Find the lyrics in Spanish and summarize them in English.

Animals Around the World

Animals are everywhere! Here are a few animal-related pieces of information that compare animals around the world.

Most common pets (black is Europe, yellow is U.S).

This article looks at how pet ownership differs 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 activities in complete sentences based on these links/videos.

• Check out the article about pets around the world and explain one of the other charts. (Pick a different one from the photo included in this post).
• You can translate the article if your need to!
• Pick one of the animals from the video and create a chart of how that animal's noise is different for all the languages in the video.

Cancion para viernes 10/27

Each Friday we'll listen to and watch a music video of a Spanish speaking country.

This is another video with a cute story.

Fonesca is from Colombia

Create a new blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and answer at least 2 of the following questions.

• Describe the video in your own words. What happens in the video?
• Did you like the song? Explain your answer.
• Did you like the video? Explain your answer.
• Write a brief biography in English about the artist. 
• Find the lyrics in Spanish and summarize them in English.

Steph Curry Top 10 Plays in Spanish

A teacher made a video in Spanish about the 10 best plays of Steph Curry described in Spanish!

Check it out, I bet you can understand quite a bit!

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and complete the following task based on the video.

• Make a list of 5 words or phrases you heard in Spanish and what they mean in English. Listen for cognates, words that look and sound the same in Spanish and English. 

Geography Games

I'm a big fan of learning about geography and the history of the world, and there are plenty of websites to play games and practice! Here are a few that I've recently found.

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and play one of the following games. Take a screen shot of your score and explain what you thought of the game.


Where in the world is a quick game where you try to figure out where in the world the Google Street View photo is taken. It gives you 3 options to choose from and the ability to select what kind of places to focus on.



My Name is Hunt is a "choose your own adventure game" using Google Street View! Play the first chapter and explain what happens!



Urban Opticon is similar to GeoGuessr in that you try to pinpoint on a map where a Google Street View image is. It has a Pittsburgh version, but you can also pick different cities from the United States or around the world! Take a screen shot of how well you did on the Pittsburgh version then choose a different city!


Unrelated to geography but still fun,
Quick Draw!

Canciones para viernes 10/6

Each Friday we'll listen to and watch a music video of a Spanish speaking country.

Today I have two videos from an amazing Colombian group ChocQuibTown 

Create a new blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and answer at least 2 of the following questions for one of the songs

• Describe the scenery in the videos in your own words. What happens in the video?
• Did you like the song? Explain your answer.
• Did you like the video? Explain your answer.
• Which song/video did you like more? Explain your answer.
• Write a brief biography in English about the group. 
• Find the lyrics in Spanish and summarize them in English.

Building a Human Tower in Spain

Every year in early October in Spain teams of people compete to see who can build the largest tower made out of humans!

Members of "Vella de Xiquets de Valls" fall as they try to complete their human tower during the 26th Human Tower Competition on October 2, 2016. #

See more photos here.

Watch this video to see one being built in action.

Here is an another article and video about the human towers.

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and answer 4 of the following questions in complete sentences based on these images.

• What are the human towers called?
• Where does this take place? What is the region of Spain?
• How many people does it take to make a tower?
• What is the history behind this activity?
• Would you ever participate in this competition? Explain.

Songs About Immigration 2017

Many musicians write songs about the effects of immigration, I posted some here a few years ago, but it's time to share some more recent songs. 

Create a new blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and select one of the songs to answer at least 2 of the following questions. 

This song is about a man leaving his family for the United States.

• Describe the video in your own words. What happens in the video?
• Did you like the song? Explain your answer.
• Did you like the video? Explain your answer.
• Write a brief biography in English about the group. 
• Find the lyrics in Spanish, translate and summarize them in English.

This song is about the 11 million immigrants that come to the United States.

• Describe the scenery in the video in your own words. What do you see in the video? What instruments do you see?
• Did you like the song? Explain your answer.
• Did you like the video? Explain your answer.
• Write a brief biography in English about the group. 
• Find the lyrics in Spanish, translate and summarize them in English.

Here is an older song from Kinto Sol, La Bestia, which talks about how many immigrants from Central America travel through Mexico on trains known as La Bestia, or the beast. These trains are known to be very dangerous to navigate. 

This song is about the children of undocumented workers (many of the children are born in the United States).

• Describe the video in your own words. What happens in the video?
• Find the lyrics in Spanish, translate and summarize them in English.
• Explain the social, political or economic effects of immigration based on 2 or 3 statistics that are stated in the video.
• Did you like the song? Explain your answer.
• Did you like the video? Explain your answer.
• Write a brief biography in English about the artists. 

Canción para viernes 9/15!

Each Friday we'll listen to and watch a music video of a Spanish speaking country.

Here is the first video

These artist are from Colombia!

Create a new blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and answer at least 2 of the following questions.

• Describe the video in your own words. What happens in the video?
• Did you like the song? Explain your answer.
• Did you like the video? Explain your answer.
• Write a brief biography in English about the two artist. 

Canciones para los novios

Es el mes de febrero, y escuchamos música en la clase de español.

Here are some romantic songs with great music videos are catchy lyrics to celebrate el amor and impress tu novi@!

The best music video!

Also a great music video!

A super catchy song from a boy band!

"Por fin te encontre" means "I finally found you"

Nice lyrics to repeat to someone you really.

Another great video!

Create a new blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it the same as this blog post, and answer at least 2 of the following questions.

• Which song do you like more? Include the video & explain your answer.
• Which music video do you like more? Include the video & explain your answer.
• Pick two of the videos that have a story (not just lyrics or video of people performing) and explain what happens in the video.
• How do you celebrate Valentine's Day? Which romantic song in English is your favorite?

el día de San Valentín

Valentine's Day is approaching and if you really want to impress that special someone then say something special en español!

source: Speaking Latino

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio and complete the following task 

based on the information above.

• Create a card using one of the phrases above. You can create it
• electronically using Publisher or Photoshop
• online
• by hand and take a picture of it.
• Embed/Insert it into your blog post!