I’m getting ready to teach La Llorona de Mazatlan by Katie Baker for the very first time, and I intend to begin working with material associated with it during the first days of school. While I will be using videos with the MovieTalk method to introduce México, Mazatlan, and the legend of La Llorona, I also will need to assess and identify what these new students know or remember. I don’t want to “review” in the traditional sense of review, but I know that I need to wake those summer brains so that they remember present tense and past tense. AND, I need to make sure that those verbs that are so crucial for storytelling are cemented in with the new groups of students. I am only going to know about 20 of my 115 students this year, and they will be coming from many different Spanish instruction styles. Looking at the Super Seven and Sweet 16 list that Mike Peto posted in this blog entry, I found a song that has many of them. Additionally, the song will eventually fit in with one of the storylines in La Llorona, although in a slightly different way.
CD9 is a “boy band” from Mexico, very similar, in my opinion, to One Direction. The five young men are all between the ages of 17 – 19, and should therefore be quite interesting to many of my students. I created a series of seven different activities to be used with their song “Me Equivoqué“. I first heard the song when they released a really cute lyric video for it a little over a month ago, and knew that I was going to use it this year. Today they released the official video for the song. I will probably use the lyric video first, playing it as students enter the room. I will spend several different days working through the activities for Me Equivoqué por CD9 de México. Only after we have finished those activities will I use the official video. It is significantly different in the arrangement or ordering of the song. Below are the various activities that I will be using,
- listening for verbs remembered; identifying past/present (without viewing the video)
- cloze
- reading comprehension/questions
- paraphrasing
- Arrange lyrics in order
- Pair English/Spanish lyrics
- Free Write “Me Equivoqué……”
Me Equivoqué por CD9 de México
I. Escucha sin mirar el video (3 versos) y escribe 7 verbos
¿Presente o Pasado? Identifica tus verbos.
II. Completa
______________________________ otra vez, con la ausencia de tu voz
y ___________________________________, con mis manos tu silueta amor
Si te _______________________ no __________________________,
si te _________________ nunca ______________________________
Nena __________________me una oportunidad
Mis días se _____________________ noches, si no ______________________
Sin ti la vida, ya no __________________________ igual
Te ________________________________ en mis brazos, me ______________________ aceptarlo
Me ____________________________________ie ie ie eh
Mis manos ________________________________ tu calor
Quisiera que escucharas mi canción
Te __________________________________ en mis brazos, me _________________ aceptarlo
Me _____________________________ ie ie ie eh
Me _____________________________
Me _____________________________
III. ¿QUÉ ES CD9?
CD9 es el grupo conformado por Jos, Alonso, Freddy, Alan y Bryan, amigos que unieron sus talentos para formar una gran propuesta musical. Mientras se encontraban desarrollando (developing) su proyecto, no querían que nadie se enterara (find out) de lo que estaban planeando, por lo que implementaron el Code 9, que es un código que se utilizaba entre los jóvenes en los chats, para advertir (warn) que había alguien cerca y que no podían hablar del tema; Code 9 es la manera moderna de decir: “hay pájaros en el alambre”. Así, cuando los chicos hablaban al teléfono o estaban enviándose mensajes o chateando, si alguien se acercaba decían o tecleaban CD9 (que es el acrónimo de Code 9) e inmediatamente dejaban (stopped) de hablar del tema.
Al final, cuando los chicos se encontraban buscando un nombre para el grupo, pensaron en una infinidad de posibilidades, sin darse cuenta (realizing) que el nombre
perfecto había estado allí todo el tiempo. “CD9 refleja lo que somos; cinco chavos que hemos guardado en secreto nuestra música, pero que ahora estamos listos para mostrársela al mundo”, comentan. Fuente: http://www.cd9.mx/bio
Contesta las preguntas en inglés.
1. ¿Quiénes son CD9? ______________________
2. ¿Qué es Code 9? ¿Por qué lo usaron? ________________
3. ¿Por qué es CD9 ideal para ellos? ___________________
4. What do you think “hay pájaros en el alambre” could possibly mean? _____
5. ¿Qué es el sinónimo para “chicos” que está en esta lectura? ______
IV. En tus palabras, qué significan (quiere decir) ……
A. Desperté, otra vez, con la ausencia de tu voz
y pinté, con mis manos tu silueta amor
B. Si te llamo no contestas, si te busco nunca estás
Nena dame una oportunidad
C. Mis días se hacen noches, si no estás
Sin ti la vida, ya no sabe igual
D. Te quiero en mis brazos,
me duele aceptarlo, Me equivoqué ie ie ie eh
V. Pon las letras en orden (1 – 8)
_______ pero llamo y no contestas, si te busco nunca estás
_______ ¿Te fallé? Y tal vez, no merezca tu perdón
_______ Me duele aceptarlo
_______ Mis días se hacen noches si no estás,
_______ Soñaré que has pensado en olvidar lo que pasó
_______ Nena escucha solo una vez más
_______ Te quiero en mis brazos,
_______ Sin ti la vida ya no sabe igual
VI. Empareja
A. Dejemos todo atrás, volvamos a empezar
B. No sabes cuánto me arrepiento
C. Sin ti no sale el sol, no late el corazón, no
D. La vida ya no tiene color
E. Mis días se hacen noches si no estás
F. Sin ti la vida, ya no sabe igual,
G. Te quiero en mis brazos,
H. Me duele aceptarlo
I. Me equivoqué ie ie ie eh
Me equivoqué Me equivoqué
J. ¿Te fallé?
K. Y tal vez, no merezca tu perdón
_____ 1. I made a mistake
_____ 2. Life is colorless
_____ 3. Without you, life isn’t the same
_____ 4. I made a mistake, I failed you
_____ 5. I want you in my arms
_____ 6. You don’t know how sorry I am
_____ 7. My days become nights without you
_____ 8. Maybe I don’t deserve your forgiveness
_____ 9. It hurts me to accept it
_____ 10. Let’s leave everything behind, let’s start again
_____ 11. Without you, the sun doesn’t rise, my heart doesn’t beat
VII. Me equivoque cuando…………………….. (Escribe un cuento de cinco oraciones)
elmundodebirch 
Thanks so much for posting this! I am going to use some of your activities posted here, if you don’t mind! The song is very catchy! I think my students will love it too!
I just stumbled upon your site from Pinterest. Great to find another TPRS blog!
You are amazing! And so kind to offer your well designed ideas for others to see. This is my first time with Esperanza and I have always created my own things but seeing your ideas are wonderfully helpful. I get trapped in my “go to” same-old same-old methods… I have been a frequent flier checking out our stuff and have been wanting to thank you!
Thank you for your kind words. My kids really liked Esperanza, and I loved creating for it! I’m glad that you found something useful.
Thanks for sharing all the great activities you come up with!
I’m curious about what level you did La Llorona with. I’d like to do it with my Spanish III this semester, but wonder if it’s more geared to a lower level. These students have never read a Spanish novel before though, and I’ve never taught one, so I’m thinking it might be ok to start with lower rather than too high. What would you suggest?
I used it with Spanish IV as the very first unit of the year. It worked very well. The great thing about the TPRS books (other than the fact that they are just plain amazing), is that they are easily adaptable to multiple proficiency levels.
I love how you’re leading them into the novel without them realizing it! I like this, because starting the year with an upper level class and trying to get everyone “back in the same ship” is a task! I was thinking of doing something similar with “Robo en la Noche” or another novel that I have class sets of in my library.
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