BBC Mundo addresses topics from the Third International Congress of the Spanish Language held in Rosario, Argentina November 17-20 2004. As part of its coverage, BBC Mundo reports. The site has as its main goal to provide the user with a rich insight of the Spanish language via interviews, notes, games and forums.
Type of Material:
Collection
Recommended Uses:
The topics of the articles are ideal for developing reading and listening comprehension, or as points of departure for speaking practice in a conversation course. The site's cultural content is also ideal in gaining a deeper understanding of the Spanish language in all of its richness. The materials provide a historical background, the common and unique nuances of the language, and geographical demographics regarding the popularity of Spanish in the 21st century.
Technical Requirements:
Real Player Audio for downloading files.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
The major learning goals are to view Spanish as a language that defines and is defined by its peninsular and non-peninsular cultural heritage. The evolution of Spanish as a language in today's world can be introduced through the use of the listening and reading skills.
Target Student Population:
High School, College, Graduate School, Professional
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Intermediate and advanced listening and reading comprehension. Students should have completed the equivalent of at least first year college-level Spanish.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The content is authentic, rich and varied, and it lends itself in helping to develop all types of language skills. The topics are current and relevant to both speakers and learners of Spanish. The site includes an inteview for reading, a listening section with five themes that include a contrast between English and Spanish as global languages, the increasing impurity of Spanish due to different ways of expressing similar ideas with resulting different interpretations, the growing need to learn Spanish as a foreign language in order to succeed in the business world, the defense of regional vs global use of Spanish in journalism, and the effect of the internet among its users - two percent of the Spanish-speaking population of 400 million. There is also an excellent summary of the history of the Spanish language using images to capture the chronological events. The site also includes adddtional readings, a quiz, a dictionary of regional expressions, and a forum.
Students, who worked with the materials, particularly enjoyed Spanglish: "se deliveran grocerías, Historia del castillano, and the radio BBC series, Español, lengua mestiza.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
These materials are ideal for intermediate and higher levels of Spanish language and cultural instruction. The content lends itself easily to adapt it to courses for Spanish heritage learners. The site could be best used as an outside reading and/or listening assignment, then students could come to class or reunite in an online chat or forum and respond to either written or spoken questions about the material. In a conversation class, students could access the materials outside of class, formulate their opinions, and then further discuss the topics and opinions in the classroom setting. Students have found that the site "would be good for classroom activities because it is very informative about the culture."
The page,
"¿Cuál es su palabra favorita?" provides an interesting forum of users expressing what their favorite word is. This activity allows for interactivity in reading other messages and responding in a written format. A similar activity can be incorporated between members in a class. Another section, "Yo digo lo que tú callas," is ideal in analyzing how words have different meanings and uses throughout the Spanish-speaking world. This section is very valuable in developing concepts among heritage speakers that language, as it is used in a community, has its own intrinsic value. When learners are taught to value their manner of speaking, they are also taught self-worth, and self identity. It is through this activity that learners can also be taught to value the need for expanding their language beyond their own regional use of Spanish for the purposes of communicating with the rest of the Spanish-speaking community at large.
The interview "La globalización afecta el idioma" with Pedro Barcia, Presidente of the Academia Argentina de la Lengua highlights the conflict that exists between a need to unify Spanish as a language, and need to recognize and maintain its uniqueness regarding regional and dialectal differences in light of globalization trends worldwide. This interview can be developed into a writing activity for the purposes of arguing opposite sides of the discussion presented in the article. This same activity can be expanded into an oral presentation. Whether as a writing or speaking activity, an instructor can very successfully introduce or review functional expressions at the discourse level for comparing and contrasting points of of view.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The site flows easily with all working links regardless of the type of Internet connection used. It is rich with audio and images that support the content of the material. Students have described the site as "clean,
not trashed up, colorful, very attractive, and user friendly."
Creative Commons:
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