Lección: El tiempo futuro y el Poema "Novia del campo, amapola"

Last week we had a wonderful class on using literature in our language classes.  We talked specifically about poetry, narrative, plays, and essays.  And then on Friday we each presented a lesson to our classmates to share what we had learned.

I don't know who might be reading this blog, but I figured I would share my work here in case anyone might find it useful.  There is a lesson plan (in Spanish), a PowerPoint, and a student activity sheet.  The PowerPoint has the poem itself, links to vocabulary slides so students can resolve vocabulary issues without resorting to English translations, and a brief grammar guide to the future tense.  It is not meant as an introduction to the tense, but rather an activity to enhance your teaching of the tense or to recycle it so students keep it fresh in their minds.

Here is a link to the lesson plan:

Common Core standards don't really align here so I did not include them.  Your state standards for foreign language will vary, of course.  As far as the ACTFL Standards go (my favorites!), this lesson touches on a couple of them, especially Interpretive Communication and Language Comparisons.


Here is a link to the PowerPoint:

And here is a link to the student activity sheet that accompanies the PowerPoint and the lesson (above).

It was curious to see how similar the lessons were in terms of design and use of multimedia among the three American teachers in the class: Cathy, Mike, and myself.  We focus on keeping things moving, varying activities, color, and fun while learning.  We have to keep our students motivated and involved, which is sometimes no easy task.

The lessons by the European teachers in the class reflected a very different cultural viewpoint and were put together quite differently.  It is safe to say that here in Europe there is an academic and societal expectation that students will actually learn the language and gain proficiency in it.  In the US, we foreign language teachers seem to be the only ones on board with that philosophy.  (Consider: How many times has a parent told you that they studied Spanish for years in school and now they don't speak a word of it?  What message does that send to the child of that parent?  What societal values are being espoused in that statement?)

Remember that the future tense shows up on the National Spanish Exam at level 2 (and above).

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK