I start most classes with music.  We listen to songs, complete cloze activities and complete many activities with the lyrics.  We spend about 5 minutes on it at the beginning of class before moving onto the activities for the day.  Every once in awhile, I like to substitute with a different type of authentic listening activity (an interview, a newscast, a commercial).  The students much prefer the songs, but I’ve found a lot of value in the other sources of authentic language.  Here are a few ideas that we are using now with this video:

I distributed the following sheet and we completed these steps:

Anuncio – Los Graduados

1. Start with a Spanish summary of what the students will see in the video.

2. Play the audio while students follow along on the top of side 1.  The entire transcription is in front of students.  Their task is to “keep up” and follow along with the speaker.

3. Play the audio again and pause at random moments.  Students must prove they are keeping up by saying what the next word will be.

4. Fold the paper at the line.  Now, students look at the bottom paragraph and cannot look at the top.  There are certain words in the written text that are different from what is spoken.  As they listen, students put a line through any word that is different.

5. Play audio again while students write the correct word over the crossed out words.

6. With help, students translate the text – individually, in parts or as a class.