ES S20 INT/ADV Literature/Idioms

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed : Literature & Idioms

Goal of the class 

• To practice literature related vocabulary
• To become familiar with Spanish speaking authors and popular titles
• To recognize common idioms

Class structure

• Warm-up: Questions about reading taste & habits (Do you like reading? How often do you read? What was the last book you read? Who is your favorite author? Which one is your favorite book? Do you have any favorite character? Do you have any reading routine?) 
• Activity 1: I show students the book covers of 6 Spanish literature classics. After randomly reading  the back cover of the books, students have to match them to the book cover and come up with a title for the books. At the end students comment on which book seems the most interesting for them.
• Activity 2:  Santiago en 100 palabras: I show students a Micro-stories. After reading 2 examples,  in groups, using a template provided by the organization in charge of this contest, they have to write a micro-story.  (https://www.santiagoen100palabras.cl/web/#libros)
• Activity 3: Don’t judge a book by its cover. Students have a list of idioms commonly used in Spanish. In groups they have to guess the meaning of each idiom. I explain what the real meaning of each idiom is before jumping onto the next activity.
• Activity 4: Using story cubes,  in groups, the class comes up with a short story where they put the idiom in context.
• (extra) Activity 5: Childhood texts stories. I tell students a story about how this children story that marked me greatly when I was a kid. They do the same. 
• (extra) Activity 6: Students are randomly assigned one of the idioms we have been using all along the class. They have to write the idiom for their classmates to guess, but only using emojis.
• (extra) Activity 7: Students watch a video where you have to guess new idioms based on emoji phrases.

Resources used

• PPT
• Youtube
• Story cubes
• “Santiago en 100 palabras” handout

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

• The class worked well. Even though we didn’t go pass activity 3, they seemed quite engaged when reading and commenting on the books’ blurb.

Annex

Santiago en 100 palabras handout