Himno a la alegría - Great song for Spanish language learners

Escucha, hermano, canción, alegre, nuevo, día, ven, canta, sol, vive, estrellas: these words could come from any picture book or a basic vocabulary list, but they are the key words in a classic Spanish song.

Miguel Ríos recorded the song Himno a la alegría in 1969. It became popular all over the Spanish-speaking world and has since been recorded by many artists. Choirs of all ages still sing this song at many different kinds of events, and it is one that most Spanish-speakers know. Amado Regueiro Rodríguez wrote the song and based it on the last movement of Beethoven’s 9th symphony. The familiar tune and common vocabulary make it a good song for Spanish-language learners. The song is considered a general call for peace, although the words can be interpreted to fit with Christian beliefs that are a part of the culture of Spain and Latin America.

The link is to a video of Miguel Rios, Ana Belén, Victor Manuel, and Joan Manuel Serrat singing Himno a la alegría. These are four of the most famous artists in Spain. There are performances by many others, and many children’s choirs available online, too.

Himno a la alegría

These are the lyrics and a translation. The translation is word-for-word, with no attempt to conserve the rhythm or rhyme of the song. I provided it for meaning only, because it is helpful if you are learning Spanish.

Escucha hermano / Listen brother
la canción de la alegría, / to the song of joy
el canto alegre del que espera / the joyful song of one who waits for
un nuevo día. / a new day.
Ven, canta, sueña cantando, / come, sing, dream singing,
vive soñando el nuevo sol / live dreaming the new sun
en que los hombres / in which men
volverán a ser hermanos. / will be brothers again.

Ven, canta, sueña cantando, / come, sing, dream singing,
vive soñando el nuevo sol / live dreaming the new sun
en que los hombres / in which men
volverán a ser hermanos. / will be brothers again

Si en tu camino solo existe la tristeza / If in your path there is only sadness
y el llanto amargo / and the bitter cry
de la soledad completa / of complete loneliness

Ven, canta, sueña cantando, / come, sing, dream singing,
vive soñando el nuevo sol / live dreaming the new sun
en que los hombres / in which men
volverán a ser hermanos. / will be brothers again

Si es que no encuentras / If you don’t find
la alegría en esta tierra / happiness on this earth
búscala hermano más allá / look for it brother beyond
de las estrellas / the stars

Ven, canta, sueña cantando, / come, sing, dream singing,
vive soñando el nuevo sol / live dreaming the new sun
en que los hombres / in which men
volverán a ser hermanos. / will be brothers again

El medio ambiente

In my third semester class we have started a unit on the environment. This video includes public service announcements, commercials and an interview. I made a cloze exercise with the first public service announcement and the interview. The commercials that follow are very short, with no dialog, so I had my students describe each of them in a few sentences. I used this video as homework, but it could easily be adapted for use in class.

Making cloze exercises it is important to keep in mind that students cannot hear and identify words that they do not know. The first public service announcement is packed with vocabulary from our text for this unit. It was tempting to use those as the missing words in the cloze exercise, but I reminded myself that doing that would create frustration, not a learning opportunity. Even with a word bank, the value of that type of exercise is very limited.

Instead, in addition to common nouns, I removed familiar words that reinforce vocabulary and grammar points we have covered this semester. For example, para before an infinitive to express in order to, hay que, and different verb forms. The activity let me re-enter material, expose my students to the new vocabulary in context, and gave me springboard for class discussion and other activities using that vocabulary.

The first service announcement is also a great example of the present perfect.
The transcript follows the video.

Anuncio
El hombre es extraordinario. Hemos logrado las hazañas más increíbles.
Hemos hecho cosas impensables. Hemos conseguido hacer posible lo que parecía imposible. El hombre...
Hemos cambiado el clima. Hemos aumentado el nivel del mar.
Hemos acabado con numerosas especies. Hemos levantado ciudades donde solo había bosques. Hemos cambiado las migraciones de las aves. Hemos conseguido abrir un agujero en la capa de ozono. Hemos creado nuevas enfermedades. Hemos transformado selvas en desiertos. Hemos contaminado el agua, y el aire. ¿Quién sino el hombre es capaz de agotar los recursos naturales? ¿Quién sino en hombre puede cambiar esto?
Desarrollo sostenible. Cambiemos el mundo sin cambiar el planeta. Podemos hacerlo.

Entrevista
¿Qué respuesta daríamos nosotros. Nosotros entendemos que estamos en un momento de crisis y de cambio. Un momento de crisis porque tenemos que salir de los combustibles fósiles. Tenemos que dejar de utilizar petróleo, tenemos que dejar de utilizar carbón, y tenemos que dejar de utilizar energía nuclear porque son energías que son contaminantes, que son problemáticas pero que son las que nos han, nos han, movido desde la revolución industrial es que llevamos dos siglos en una sociedad dependiente de estos combustibles, ¿no?
Y para cambiar pues hay que crear o saber utilizar nuevas fuentes de energía ¿no? Simplificando mucho, porque el tema es muy complejo, simplificando mucho, yo diría que la respuesta está en el sol. Es decir que tenemos que aprender a imitar a la biósfera, en utilizar la energía del sol y si aprendemos hacerlo, esto será nuestra garantía de éxito.

Una imágen vale más que mil palabras

Photographs are one of the best ways to provide a context for language tasks in the classroom. Five Card Flickr lets you select five photos to create a "photo story." You can add text, and the story can be saved and accessed again through a permalink. Right now, my students are simply recording descriptions of five photographs for the oral component of an exam, but there are many possibilities for activities. Just a note, Five Card Flickr only works with Mozilla Firefox.

Las partes del cuerpo

There are some wonderful You Tube videos of children showing that they know the body parts. The videos make a great review of body parts as native Spanish speakers pronounce the words clearly and their children show that they understand. These are a few of my favorites.

Las partes del cuerpo - niño de 2 años

Partes del cuerpo - niño
Partes del cuerpo - niña