Mexico & its Environmental Issues
One of my ninth grade classes, 9B, began reading an article today from the "Ahora" magazine (Scholastic). The article dealt with Mexico City and its environmental issues resulting from automobile pollution, etc. They learned that Mexico City has the most pollution in its country and is one of the most polluted cities in the world!
Here are some websites I found that can provide you with more information on what Mexico is doing to resolve this problem:
Energy Information AdministrationBBC News: Mexico City Pollution EmergencyBBC News: No Let-up for Mexico City PollutionMIT: Air Pollution in MegacitiesGAIA Case StudyAir Pollution in Mexico CityPulse of the PlanetColby.edu: Air Pollution/TransportationTaking Care of Air Pollution in Mexico City
Colonial Cuba
After reading the article "Memorias de Cuba" from the December 2005 issue of "Think Spanish" magazine, my eleventh grade students were assigned a project on "Colonial Cuba." So this post can be of interest to anyone, but is very relevant to the project my eleventh graders are completing this week.
Here are some websites that have additional information that may be of use:
Cubafacts.comCuban ImmigrationCuba & Cuban Americans on the InternetCubaGenWebI-Cuban.comInstitute for Cuban & Cuban-American StudiesThe Florida Newspaper ProjectWikipediaEnjoy!
Blogs en español
I did a Google search tonight for "Spanish blogs" and found some great ones!
The best site I found was the
Spanish Blogger Directory. It categorizes Spanish blogs by subject and by country. I hope they start adding more blogs to their list.
Here are a few of the others I found:
About.com - Blogs en españolBlog CaféHispanic TrendingLatino PunditLearning Spanish TodayLibro de notasMerodeandoPedro Jorge RomeroSpanish Learning BlogVictor's cuaderno de bitácoraHave a great time reading!
Spanish-Word-A-Day
What a useful tool!
Spanish-Word-A-DayJoin the mailing list at "Spanish-Word-A-Day" to receive a new word in Spanish each weekday! According to the site, the service includes the following:
-A word of the day.
-Audio example of how to pronounce the word.
-An example sentence showing how the word is used.
-Sinónimos.
-A nice picture taken in Spain.
-Occasional jokes, riddles and other things out of a Spanish life!
-Monthly book/film reviews.
Enjoy!
Recipes: Chef Melissa de Leon
I just landed on a great site with Latino recipes by Chef Melissa de Leon! She posts these recipes in Spanish on her blogs which can be found here:
The Cooking DivaTasty Recipes**
Hint: This should be very helpful to my 7th grade students who have a recipe project they are working on this weekend.**
Great Government Site for Children "en español"
Just as I was publishing my last post, I found this great site for children in Spanish. It includes links to many topics from science & math activities to learning resources from the United Nations... ¡Todo en español!
FirstGov en español¡Qué disfruten!
"Cartoons" en español
This post was written with my 7th grade students in mind, but could be used by children of all ages. Thanks to Ms. Amy Bowllan, our LibraTech Director, I was able to find some more online resources in Spanish for my students. A few are listed below:
Cartoon Network from VenezuelaThis site includes games as well as information in Spanish about cartoons you might recognize from American television. (For example, Yogi Bear and Scooby-Doo)
Los KitosAnother fun site for a new cartoon called "Los Kitos." Also includes links to the comic strip. This site is bilingual (English & Spanish).
Enjoy the cartoons!
"Bandidas"
For those of you who read the "El Sol" edition of the Scholastic magazines we use in class, you will remember that we read about an upcoming movie entitled "Bandidas." The film stars Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek who portray Mexican bandits.
For more information on the film, check out the
IMDB site. It provides you with information about the cast, pictures, and a message board to discuss the movie.
Enjoy!
Back from a hiatus...
This blog is finally back from its hiatus!
Our students sure have been busy in their Spanish classes! They have been busy with some fascinating activities! First of all, several classes are participating in a penpal exchange with students from a school in a suburb of Madrid, Spain.
Second, our 10B class took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Telemundo Studios in Fort Lee, NJ last Thursday. They were fortunate enough to meet with the anchor, Pedro Luis García, the weather lady, Betty Sermeño, and even the General Manager! The students also watched the 11:30am news broadcast live and see the hard work that is involved in producing a show! I will post pictures from this fabulous trip asap. Many thanks to Patti Schust, 7-12 Division Head, for joining us on the trip and to Silvia Santiago of Telemundo for taking us on such a great tour!
For more on Telemundo, please view their site at:
www.telemundo.47.comFinally, our 10th grade will be seeing a flamenco performance in April!
Stay tuned for more fun happenings from our Spanish classes at KF!
