Module organization
- Portada
- Project day
- Nuestras estrellas
- Lessons
- Guided discussion
- Vocabulary and grammar overview
Portada
Like the first page of a newspaper, la portada provides a quick introduction to the whole module. This page includes the learning objectives, a few discussion questions, some pictures, and an infographic related to the topic of the module. Discussion questions and graphs were included to make this page dynamic and to allow the students to start using the language even while learning about the content of each module.
Project day
Each module will include a formative assessment in the form of a task-based project. Each project should be introduced to the students at the beginning of each unit. Ideally, students will keep developing these projects during the span of a few weeks. While completing these projects, students will use the target language in all three modes of communication. All projects will help them develop professional and critical thinking skills.
Nuestras estrellas
These pages are dedicated to our stars. This textbook uses a series of videos based on a series of interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and parents living in the U.S. but with a Hispanic or Latino background. Each section of Nuestras estrellas introduces one of them with a series of activities that can be completed in a 1-hour lesson. Each module will have either one or two Nuestras estrellas sections.
Lessons (A, B, C)
Each module will include 3 main lessons. Each lesson is designed to be taught during two or three class sections of 50 minutes or during a full 3-hour class.
Each lesson is designed around a few authentic artifacts (e.g. videos, infographics, written stories) and includes a variety of communicative activities. While grammar is not explicitly taught, most activities are carefully designed to help the students first notice, and then develop in a more natural way, the grammar competencies targeted by each lesson.
Guided discussion
A way to conclude each module with a discussion about the main topics. This section begins by preparing the students to read a quite large text in Spanish related to the topic of each module. Before diving into the actual text, the students are tasked to complete a series of activities that will help them develop the vocabulary needed for the discussion. The following activities will help them develop ways to discuss these important topics in different settings (e.g. online, in the classroom). In the end, the students will be able to have an in-class discussion and reflect in Spanish about the topics of each module.
This section is highly adaptable to the needs of each classroom and could be used in different settings. For example, in a hybrid / flipped course, parts of the guided discussion could be assigned as homework with only the actual discussion left to be completed in class during the last day of each module. Another option could be to assign all of the guided discussions at home and use a discussion forum or a video platform (e.g. Flipgrid) for the actual discussion. In a more traditional setting, the guided discussion could be a stand-alone day of activity culminating with an interesting classroom discussion between the students.
Vocabulary and grammar overview
These last two sections include explicit grammar videos explanations, in English, and the content-specific vocabulary introduced in each lesson.
In a hybrid or flipped classroom, the videos could be assigned as homework before each lesson. In a more traditional class, the instructor could recommend the videos as a way to review what the students have learned in class.
