Strategy 10- Providing Opportunities for Student Choice (Critical Literacy)

Providing opportunities for student choice, is defined as "Students select books based on interest and then conduct research based on a theme or the context of the novel. While reading chosen novels and discussing the historical or political context of the novel, students can evaluate why the author chose to write in a particular manner and hypothesize why the author may have privileged certain themes. " 

Bibliography: "Critical Literacy." Critical Literacy. Learn NC, n.d. Web.

This should be used because student choice in any type of research has long been seen by constructionists and critical pedagogues as an effective way to involve, encourage, and empower students to actively participate in the construction of knowledge. By letting students choose they approve students interest. It is not critical though unless students are looking at the problems "involved in society and how the conditions of society created the problem." This strategy can be used at any point where there are different social matters on the table. An example of this would be studying something like immigration and the different points of views. Students can have a choice of what texts to they choose to analyze this matter and what the author is trying to portray. 

Strategy 9- (Critical Literacy)

One of the strategies that I found on "Learn NC" was reading multiple texts and this is defined as  "Incorporating multiple texts based on similar literary themes offers students the opportunity to critique the values or voices that are being promoted. Furthermore, this practice challenges the idea that meaning is fixed and encourages students to use evidence to support their interpretation. Students can evaluate the social, cultural, and historical frameworks of texts by analyzing differing perspectives of a single event."

This strategy can be used when presented with an event that is typically remembered a certain way or something that students believe something happened in a particular way by only getting one perspective. They gave an example of using To Kill a Mockingbird and other books from that time to compare perspectives of people of different background from that area. I didn't think about it then but my teacher in my film class last year used this strategy. We read a book and saw two movies of "La noche de Tlatelolco", of when hundreds of Mexican students were killed in the plaza by the goverment because of their protests. It was interesting to see different views because the book described it as a horrible event, which it was, but the movie gave it a more optimistic view, as it focused on the unity of students that happened instead of focusing on the fatal night. This was good because I didn't leave this unit with such a bitter note as I would've if I would've only read the book. 

"Critical Literacy." Critical Literacy. Learn NC, n.d. Web.

Text 10- Diego (Gender, culture)

This book is a narration told by Diego himself of how he began to become interested in art. He describes this process as he is growing up. He then says a few things about when he was older and goes on to describe some of civil rights views.

Bibliography: Winter, Jeanette, and Jonah Winter. Diego: In English and Spanish. New York: Knopf, 1991. Print.

I used Frida Kahlo as one of the options for gender and using Diego Rivera as a male option is not a bad idea. I often believe that it is important to talk about women because I believe we are overlooked in many areas, but now I'm doing the same with males. It's also not a bad idea because they were married and I believe it would be interesting to compare both. It is also not very common to be an artist as a male in a macho world (also known as Mexico) but Diego finds a way to fight this and show that his paintings go beyond that. He sends civil rights messages through his hands and through his drawings and he didn't care what others thought. This sends a cultural message at the same time talking about the most famous and acclaimed mural artist of Mexico.

Text 9- Oso pardo, oso pardo, ¿qué ves ahí? (Brown Bear and Friends) (ability, ESL)

   This book goes through a series of questions that different animals are asking each other. First the bear is asked what he is looking for. Then he says he is looking at a red bird that is looking at him. Then the red bird is asked what he is looking at and he says that he is looking at a blue horse and so forth from that.

Annotation: Carle, Eric. Oso Pardo, Oso Pardo Que Ves Ahi. New York: Henry Holt, 1967. Print.

This book consists of easy practical vocabulary. This is a book that can be used in the beginning stages of learning a new language. Even though when speaking the language it is not very accurate, it is important to build up confidence enough for them just to say anything. This book does a good job at presenting colors, animals and the first tense in a very simple way but still presents very useful adjectives for future use. As my professor told me, our students are like toddlers learning how to speak, but of course another. And its the simple things that will always work the best.

Strategy 8- Web Quest (Assessment)

   As described by Pastore, "WebQuests are meaningful web-based activities designed to challenge the learner's problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills.  WebQuests have become popular with teachers because they help them integrate the Internet into the curriculum through a 6-step model that has been field tested and proved successful through a wide range of grade levels and subjects." These assessments can be used in different ways at different times.  


Bibliography: Pastore, Raymond S. "Finding, Creating, and Using WebQuests." Http://teacherworld.com/webquest.html. N.p., n.d. Web.

    When I would use a Web Quest as an assessment would be after we have studied something cultural and its something that I believe students would be interested in exploring the subject further. Students are using 21st century skills by using technology but also looking and trying to more than what is presented to them in class. They have the ability to discover new things and even teach the teacher about their findings. An example would be of when I gave a lesson about "La Alhambra" and my trip there. I explained several interesting facts and at the end as the ticket out the door I asked students to write down three things they learned and if they would visit La Alhambra one day. My last request was for them to write down any questions or final thoughts about La Alhambra. To my surprise there were many more questions than final comments. This would be an ideal time to further explore La Alhambra. I would compile a list of questions that they asked me and make take them to the computer lab so they can find the information and then their assessment would include a presentation about the new findings. They would also have to search for something similar to La Alhambra in the United States and state the similarities and the differences.

Strategy 7- Assessment (choice boards)

Choice board would typically be assigned at the end of a unit when they have had enough skills develop to successfully develop each assessment. Students are given a board with different choices  of assignments and they can pick the one they want to do.

This would be most appropriate at the end of unit, because like said above, students by then have gathered enough skills successfully complete each task. They will have a much higher chance to complete it with high success if they already have developed the skills necessary. This would be appropriate in any classroom because all our students are different. This should be used for assessment because it fits with different types of learning and abilities for students. If crafted carefully, this has the potential to fit everyone's needs. Some students that are more artistic can choose the activities that require something artistic and a student that prefers to write can construct something the has to do with word. An example of this is when I was taking AP English 11. We had to use 100 words that would most likely appear on the AP Exam. She gave use different options and I choose one outside of the choice board and she approved. I did a paper quilt using 100 of the words and in the back there was the definition and an example of the use of the word. Now that I look back, maybe it wasn't the easiest way to study these words but it sure let me use my creativity at that time.  I believe even though these may be harder to grade, they are a good way to see and get to know students. 

Text 8- Qué cosas dice mi abuela (Gender, culture)

   This book goes through a series of common phrases in the Spanish language. A boy is narrating the what the grandma does for him and his siblings and along with this he mentions all the popular sayings like " con el tiempo y la paciencia se adquiere la ciencia", something that a Latina Grandmother would say. He mentions that she wakes them up to go to school and helps his little brother put on his clothes. He then mentions that she helps him get on the bus. They get home from school and then she has the food ready fro them. She then helps them with homework and other tasks. And again, with all this, she is giving them advice along the way. 


Annotation: Galan, Ana, and Pablo Pino. ¡Que Cosas Dice Mi Abuela!: Dichos Y Refranes Sobre Los Buenos Modales. New York: Scholastic, 2011. Print.

T          This is a very simple book but I believe it has very important lessons from it. First students get to see the importance of women in the a Latino society where it is primarily patriarch-tic. Often times we have the idea that Latin American countries is like "macho land" and this is true but I believe that women play a very important role in the family and this book does a good job demonstrating the importance of women. Besides this, students also get to compare the difference of what their grandmother does for them in the United States or other countries and what grandmothers in Latin American countries do and believe in as well, something that my OSTE has told me that is crucial in doing. She told me that there was a standard that required this and bringing in books like this would be beneficial for them. I believe that sayings send an important message of what society believes in, in other parts of the world. 

  

Text 7- El arbol generoso (ability)

    This book is fairly popular in English. It is The Giving Tree. The book starts off when the boy talks to the tree and plays with the trees branches but as he grows older, he needs more things. He decided that he needed things so she let him sell her apples. When he becomes an adult he needs a house and she tells him he can use her branches to build the house. Then he wants a boat and cuts her trunk. Then he just needs somewhere to seat and uses her stump. These were all in different stages of his life and after everything the phrase "And the tree was happy"

Bibliography:
Silverstein, Shel. El Arbol Generoso. N.p.: Evil Eye Music, 1964. Print.

     I believe this is a beneficial book to read in Spanish class for several reasons. It is simple and it students can identify with the book because they have read it before. This will give them a background reference and can help them decipher the meaning of the book or certain phrases. There are also very useful illustrations that can be very good context clues. But the most important thing of all is the being able to distinguish between the preterite and the imperfect. This is something that can be hard to understand for native English speakers and this book does a very good job at helping students distinguish between them. It the end of the day, the ability to do this in Spanish class will be essential and helping them by giving them something they are familiar with is even better.

Strategy 6- Diverse learners

As described in the Culturally Responsive Instruction, being able to reach out into the community and to families and bring back this cultural information would be greatly beneficial for students, especially diverse learners.

This should be done as much as possible because I believe this helps tremendously with diverse learners. We learn about other cultures and we don't ignore them as much because we know that maybe one of our students represent this culture. It is helpful to do this too because when teachers are able to build that connection with students, they feel more comfortable to raise their hand to ask a question or give their opinion of some sort. When a student identifies with the content, that gives them the power of knowledge, that then turns into motivation. It shows that you care enough to put in this extra effort to get to know families and communities. When I was in high school, every time they said something I would pay extra attention to, no matter if it was good or bad. I heard it the msot in my Spanish class. Mrs. Leiva would constantly talk about hispanics in a positive way, something that I wasn't used to hearing back then. Sometimes I would hear connotations in the hall such as "beaners" and "wetbacks" that hearing positive things from Mrs. Leiva about my culture made me feel good and made me want to come to class. She didn't go on to meet my mom but a couple times that year, but the fact that she knew Spanish like me also made me feel comfortable. So reaching out is not a waste of time, you are actually just making a diverse learner learn a little more. :)


https://sungardk12.com/nine-tips-hosting-successful-parent-teacher-conferences/

Strategy 5- Diverse learners

Definition: On page 51 in Meltzer's text it states that, “to help students learn more from texts, instructors should explicitly teach the “decoding” of discipline-specific text type.” This includes the forms and the patterns of writing something that a mainstream student is already used to but something that a diverse learner may not be used to. There are also text features like, graphics, chapter headings, glossaries, and chapter summaries that can be very useful for diverse learners if they knew what they were for and how to use them.

I believe this strategy of decoding and helping students understand should be used in almost all occasions. Often times as described in Meltzer's text, teachers tend to assume that everyone knows how to use a glossary or what to use it for. We tend to forget to remind students that they find specific topics with the index and so on. This is because we are in a "mainstream" classroom in which sometimes diverse learners are ignored because standards are set lower and believe they will never learn these things. I believe this is one of the easiest things to do for all students because it is basic knowledge, that if repeated it won't hurt anyone, but reinforce it. Not only teaching that glossaries exist, but also that there is a pattern usually to stories; beginning, middle (plot climax), end. Although it would also be important to point out that not all text follow this same structure. An example of this would be when my cooperating teacher introduced the textbook the class would be using for the year. She made sure to go over different repeated activities they would see and the extended glossary of words they could potentially have problems with. She indicated where they could find a short summary for a couple text that students might have the most difficulty with. I believe this was helpful because she had at least one ELL student in her class and maybe they knew these existed, but maybe they didn't. So going over the different features of the textbook they will be using for the whole year would be helpful for all students and would not be singling out any particular group.

Text 6- Frida (Gender, culture)

  This book tells the life of Frida Kahlo in a very innocent way. She really enjoyed painting. She was living a normal life as a teenager until she was in a horrible accident that left her almost without being able to walk. She went through different surgeries that made worse or better her pain. She would then paint her depression and her feelings until she had the courage to show these paintings to the most famous painter of the time, Diego Rivera. She would then go on to marry him.


Citation: Winter, Jonah. FRIDA. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1 Feb. 2002. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

    I believe that the life of Frida is important for many reasons. Not only was she a very famous painter, but she was also a women activist. She wasn't afraid of being different in a very macho Mexican country. She was the one in a family picture that would dress as a man out of all her sisters and her dad was okay with it. I don't know if I would mention this in class, depends on the maturity of the class, but she was also bisexual, even when she was with Diego Rivera. Today we are so caught up with what we can and cannot wear as a woman or as a man too. I saw recently that they were making fun of a little boy because when asked what he wanted to be for Halloween he said Elsa. I see nothing wrong with that. I just believe that society imposes so many things on us because they believe a gender should act a certain way and I believe we all think like that at times. She also really suffered because she couldn't have children. This was important because it is said that if you can't have children then you are worthless as a woman. You can see her suffer because of this in several of her painting. And even though she was a more "liberal" woman she still valued the opportunity to have children.  She is such an interesting woman that breaks the norms in several aspects and does so much even with her limited ability to move. But Frida, with this book, gives the essentials of her life without going into too many details, only the ones that I would pick and choose to share to the class. 

Text 5- Don Quixote (ELL, Gender, Culture)

     The story of Don Quixote is about this mid 50's Spainard (75 year old male in todays age), that has read so many books about "caballeros andantes" (knight) that he wants to become one even when they don't exist anymore in Spain and he is nearing a late stage in his life. Everyone thinks he has gone crazy but no one can stop him from taking off with Sancho Panza, his escudero (squire). They go on to find adventures that sometimes don't even exist in order to protect the honor of his Dulcinea that he has never even seen before. He goes on and fights some molinos (mills) that he thinks are dragons, even after Sancho has warned him that they just mills. But he did everything for his beloved Dulcinea.

Citation : Garcia Gonzalez, Luis Ignacio. "::: El Caballero Don Quijote : La Aventura De Los Molinos :::." ::: El Caballero Don Quijote : La Aventura De Los Molinos :::. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.


   I believe this story can be hard to read if you are reading the old Spanish version, because I read it this way and it was difficult. There are some words in there that no longer exist today, but its still a very fun story. I wanted to use this book, but I didn't know how to make it easier to understand with language that we use today until I stumbled upon this link. I believe this link is great because it gives you the essence of the story without adding too many extra things. I think this would be great for an ELL student because the text is provided but so are pictures to aid with comprehension. When ELL students know their language and are still learning English, learning a third language can be very challenging. That's why being able to use this extra help will help everyone in the classroom. If students still need additional help, the link can be provided for them to explore and play a couple of the games that are appropriate, like the ones recognizing characters, ordering scenes and just general questions. I know I have a student in class that is an ELL learner and has an IEP as well and when she see's only words she becomes scared and thinks it is too difficult to follow and that's why a story like this would be good for her to see and build confidence as well. I believe Don Quijote also teaches culture because "caballero andantes" is something that was very popular in Spain. Don Quijote is legendary and is a book that was considered a best seller for years and years. Everyone today has heard of at least the name of the book I'm sure, because it is that famous. This also represents the values of the culture and also the value of women. Dulcinea was Don Quijote's prized imaginary possession. It shows the value of  women in this stage of Spain's society. Women were people that didn't do much if they belonged to upper or even middle classes. Women were supposed to be beautiful because you will never read a book written in this time period  that talks about an ugly women or even prostitutes. Women were thought of being sacred, but Cervantes did start breaking this ideal because he wasn't scared to add prostitutes as characters or women that lost their virginity. Because if you loose your virginity and you're not married then you lost your honor and everything that you have in life and you might as well die as my professor Dr, Lopez would say. This could then connect to maybe why some Hispanics cultures still think this way of not having relationships till marriage and why my mother still thinks that why too...

(I only know this because I took SPA 502 and it was all about Don Quijote and I wrote a 10 page paper about women in this time period)


http://nea.educastur.princast.es/quixote/index2.htm

Strategy 4- Comprehension (context clues)

As described by Kelly, comprehension can be further enhanced with the intentional use of context clues. While they are reading, students can be asked questions such as "Does that make sense? How can we make it make sense?" If the passage did not make sense, ask students to 1) read it again, 2) read to their partners, 3) stop and think, or 4) talk to their partners. Monitoring for meaning is a skill that struggling readers need in order to strengthen their comprehension of text.

This strategy is more like a scaffolding at the beginning because the teacher is monitoring the comprehension of students by asking questions that would help would understanding. They also have the opportunity to understand this a little more because apart from having help from the teacher, they are also receiving help from peers. Studying another language can be very overwhelming and one word makes the paragraph have a completely different meaning that's why it is essential to have these questions to make students look at the text again and make sure they are heading the right direction. This can be used anytime that the teacher believes the text is more difficult to understand or just anytime you get blank faces after reading a text. As a facilitator back in the day I often had students read legendas (legends) with me when it was close to Halloween. I would ask question after several questions and then I would get a general idea whether they were understanding well enough or if we had to revisit the paragraph with any clarifications of vocabulary. At the end students would share with their peers what they understood and then we would all join as a class. 

Kelly, Crystal, and Linda Campbell. "Helping Struggling Readers (Comprehension." Johns Hopkins School of Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.

Strategy 3- Comprehension

One of the things that Kelly Mentioned with one of the keys to comprehensions is that struggling readers "lack the ability to quickly recognize sight words". This lack of rapid word recognition limits comprehension for struggling readers. A strategy for this type of comprehension would be teaching or reteaching common words.  As also described in class, this strategy can also be used by having functional chunks, password phrases, and language ladders. This could be done by places key words that are used on the daily basis or that will be used in the following unit.

I believe that having the possibility to see these key words up in the classroom will be beneficial for the students. It is said that by seeing a word over and over again you learn it. When I go to my internship there are common words that students should know by Spanish 2, but unfortunately not everyone does. I believe these words would be beneficial as a reference for students to have. These functional chunks or words what are most common will allow students to figure out that sentence that they are struggling with while doing classroom. I find that students give up because they believe they don't know what it means. After I help them break it down they then realize that its not as hard as they believed it was. I believe also having the list of vocabulary at hand would help. This is because they will be able to reference it and remember it. Although it should be removed as the unit progresses because they shouldn't be dependent of this either. I believe the whole list should be up at the beginning and as the unit progresses, start removing some words and mention it so they can keep track of it.


Kelly, Crystal, and Linda Campbell. "Helping Struggling Readers (Comprehension." Johns Hopkins School of Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/literacy/articles/helping-struggling-readers/

Text 4- Froggy se viste (Ability, ELL)

   This is story in Spanish that narrates the story of a frog on a snowy day. He wakes up and it is snowing and he is very excited. He gets up and runs outside and starts playing in the snow. But he forgot to put on all his winter clothes. His mother yells from afar and asks him to come back inside and put on his clothes. Froggy goes inside and puts on some of the clothes but forgets very important outside weather clothes. His mother calls him again and he comes in and puts on more clothes. But his mother calls him one more time because he forgot his underwear! He comes back in again and then be becomes tired and decides to take a nap because he is really tired.

London, Jonathan. "Froggy Se Viste." Froggy Se Viste. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.

    This is a really great book in different ways. This book focuses on the reflexive verbs in Spanish which is the unit that we are currently studying with in student teaching. This is a very simple book that has very good visuals to accompany the text with. These visual cues are very helpful to help students understand the story to a better degree. The book is for ability because it is book material that has many cues for struggling readers and even ELL. Because even if some words in Spanish don't make sense, the pictures help with figuring out what is going on. This book also serves to help students break in to groups and provide a student that is more proficient to be the dictionary person and the other person to read, and you are grouping by ability, but more of a helping role to the student.

Text 3- Libro de la vida (Book of Life) Movie (Ability, Culture)

     The Book of Life is the story starts off in a museum with a group of children that are then transported to the Land of the Remembered. It is here where Manolo goes through a journey in which he has to choose between his families expectations and going with what his heart dictates. Before he chooses what he does he goes through an adventure in three different unique worlds in which he had to encounter his biggest fears in life. This story also focuses on "El dia de los muertos" that is celebrated in Mexico and other cultural Latin customs and songs.
   
"The Book of Life." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.

This story was recommended by one of my professors. I think it is a great cultural reference. This talks about "El dia de los muertos" which is something often thought as being something funny to celebrate because you are essentially celebrating the dead. This gives students still the same cultural reference but lets them see it in a much more fun in creative way then just seeing a power point of reading about it in a book. I believe this also helps in ability because this is something more visual and not something to read so more needs of students can be met. This differentiated instruction could help students better understand the concept of el Dia de los Muertos in a much more fun way that is also a very 21st century way of teaching with the different effects of the movie. The movie would be shown with subtitles to for students that could be struggling with keeping up with the story line, especially for the lower levels.

Strategy 2- Variety of reading (stuggling readers)

            I think this is one of the most important strategies for struggling readers and goes hand in hand with texts that we have to choose for the Top Ten Toolkit. Teachers should be using a variety of reading. Beers states that this is that "teachers who encourage a wide range of reading, who give their students plenty of opportunity for sustained, silent reading, who read aloud to their students on a regular basis, who provide ongoing opportunity for sustained silent reading, who read aloud to their students on a daily basis, who provide ongoing opportunities for students to discuss." This strategy can be used at all times when reading or assigning a different book. This strategy would be beneficial for many reasons. I have had Spanish classes here where we only read about slavery the whole semester. Not to say that I hate talking about slavery, but its also not a topic that I would like to talk about for the whole semester. I managed to hang in there, but many students tuned out and even dropped the course. I believe being able to use a variety of readings helps students become interested and makes them feel empowered as to what they want to read. Even if the teacher picks the book, they shouldn't always pick the same genre or length because this will just expose them to the same vocabulary and style. Being able to have a variety helps by also "developing a positive attitude towards reading. I think this also goes along with choosing 10 different types of readings for this class for our future students. This is already showing us that we shouldn't have the same type of books or style for everything and they need to include certain things.  

Strategy 1- Direct and Explicit comprehension (struggling readers)

         One of the strategies described by Beers is Direct and Explicit comprehension. This would be defined by directly explaining to students strategies of comprehension. Then the teacher models and explains this . After this the teacher lets students practice this and apply it to different types of texts. This would be done by the teacher coaching students or any other more skilled reader. This should be accompanied by more examples and also and offer less help as they start understanding the strategy more.  Some say that this shouldn't be taught directly, but others believe that students could benefit from this type of instruction (Beers 37).  You can use the strategy whenever you believe it would benefit your students.  I believe my 8th grade teacher used this. I remember she told us to underline places and circle names and numbers. She would also tell us to write a note or two beside each paragraph so that we would remember what that was about. She would tell us to read the questions if there were any to keep a look out on them while we were reading. This was actually really helpful, because as a young struggling reader myself (still learning English) it was so easy for me to get lost and lose track of what I was reading. And even if I was reading I would not remember what I had read.

Text 2- House on Mango St. (gender)

A. Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage, 1991. Print.

B.  The house on Mango street is a story told by Esperanza, a Mexican-American female that comes from a low socioeconomic status and is moving from place to place until she lands at the house on Mango St.This is where she starts narrating stories of neighbors and her siblings in this particular neighborhood. Esperanza puts special attention and an emphasis and women in her community. She recognizes the struggle of women having to stay home and take care of their kids. She even mentions that her mom wants her to keep on going to school because her mom never got the chance. She starts the book by saying that she doesnt really like her mane because “Esperanza” means hope in English and she doesn’t like the connotation behind hope. This is also a book in which Esperanza is transitioning from childhood to adolescence and is trying to find an identity and discover who she is. It's a really “real” book in which she is also ashamed of being poor and faces this struggle like any other would

C. This book hits many important topics that are important to me and that identify. I am a women, I am Mexican-American and I come from a lower socioeconomic status. For me her same struggles I also faced. I still faced today trying to go to college and being a women. I was told why I wanted to go if I would just end up getting married and staying home and taking care of the house. It is not my fault my culture thinks like this, but even if they do I still don’t care. They still haven’t believed that I’m almost done with school. The house on Mango St. allows for me o show my students the struggle of being a woman in the Hispanic community without having to tell my story. I believe this book is very realistic and relatable because “machismo” is something that happens in other cultures as well and not only in the hispanic community. This book also serves in expanding the knowledge and being able to allow students to identify what Latino’s value and what they consider important.

Text 1- Diarios de Motocicleta (Motorcycle diaries) (culture)

A. MLA: Motorcycle Diaries -. Dir. Walter Salles. Perf. Gael Garcia Bernal. 2004. DVD.

B. Original summary- Motorcycle diaries describes and walks us through the journey of the almost doctor Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Alberto Granado. This trip was initially just for fun and to celebrate Alberto’s 30th birthday that was coming up. They would only use a almost broken down motorcycle that was called “La Poderosa” (All mighty) to travel all over South America. They never did realize that this would change their lives completely. As they traveled more and more, this helped them realize that life isn’t as perfect for everyone else out there. They saw people dying from no medical attention in Chile. They saw people that were homeless in Peru because the government decided to take the only piece of land that they owned and used for farming. In Brazil they saw how even the people that had multiple lentigines were not treated at the same level by the nuns and the doctors their. Even though they had the attention, they didn’t have the dignity they they should have. This ultimately inspired “Che” to revolutionize and demand. The movie ends by say “Yo ya no soy yo, por lo menos ya no soy el mismo yo”. (I am not myself anymore, at least I’m not the same myself anymore)
-->Translation doesn’t sound nearly as pretty as it sounds in Spanish.

C. Explannation- This movie serves in many ways for my classroom. The first time I saw this movie, it was in AP Spanish in high school and I was 17. I didn’t think it would impact me as much as it did. Since then, I  have watched it more than 10 times. This was probably one of the reasons why I studied abroad. I had been stuck in Greensboro for the last 21 years and I needed to see the world outside of this city. I think “Che” does a good job reflecting the importance of traveling and what surprises we find if we do so. Apart from being so inspiring I believe this movie is also very cultural and representative of the latino community. Even though there is not too many resources, family still remains together. This will also allow my students to start seeing the scenery of South America. This will allow students to become more conscious of their surroundings to a certain extent. Not everyone has life as easy as it may seem. I believe it is important to start planting the seed of wanting to know about other ethnic backgrounds and this movie even though it all takes place in South America, it shows diverse groups of South Americans. In one section, there is also a group of indigenous Peruvians that don’t Speak spanish and they reflect upon this with the translator and they state the struggles of not being able to speak Spanish. This will also help students understand the difficulties of not understanding English in the United States and how sometimes we shouldn’t be so quick to judge and yell “Speak English”.