Module 5 Discussion: Mi familia

Purpose: You will practice your presentation skills and your ability to describe others in Spanish by introducing a “family member” or “family members” through a video presentation. You will practice your listening skills by watching a Spanish instructor describe a member of her “familia” and then by watching and responding to the presentations of two peers.

Task: This activity has four parts:

Part 1. Watch a Spanish instructor introduce and describe her “family member and pet.”

Part 2. Use a computer or a smartphone to record a short video in which you describe a “family member(s)” in Spanish (if you make mistakes, it is okay and expected; start over from the beginning of the sentence and keep recording). This can be a real family member or a pretend family member. You will need to have a visual prop (photo, etc.) of this family member(s) that is visible in your video as you describe them in Spanish.

Part 3. Watch the video presentations of two of your peers and respond with one follow up question in Spanish.

Part 4. Answer the questions your peers posed to you about your original video post, thank them, and sign off.

Criteria: The components of this activity add up to 100%.

Parts 1 & 2. Watch the video example of a Spanish instructor introducing and describing her “family member and pet.” Record your own video introducing and describing a “family member(s)” in Spanish (if you make mistakes, it is okay and expected; start over from the beginning of the sentence and keep recording). You and the visual prop of this family member(s) will need to be visible in the video. You must use at least 7 descriptive adjectives (5 % each/ 35% total) and you must identify the family member’s relationship to you (25%).

Part 3. Choose two peers and watch their presentations. After watching your your peers’ presentations, record and upload one follow up question about the family member who you “met” in the video. The follow up is worth 20%.

Part 4. Answer the questions your peers asked you about the person(s) or pet(s) you presented as a family member. Record a unique response to each peer as a video comment, thank them, and graciously end the conversation. Upload each video to the discussion board. Each video is worth 10%: 6% for answering the question, 2% for thanking each peer, and 2% for graciously ending the conversation.

Ejemplo:

John watches the video of the Spanish instructor introducing and describing her family member and pet. He notices that she uses the phrase te presento a to introduce her family members, and he decides to use that in his video. John records a video in which he introduces his peers to his father, Darth Vader, and his child, Chucky. John makes sure that both himself and the figurines of his “family members” are visible in the video he records. John uses mi padre and mi hijo to identify his family members and earns 25 points. He then uses peligrosoespantoso, and fuerte to describe his father and malotraviesopequeño and joven to describe his child. He earns 35 points. John watches the videos of two classmates and asks each classmate a follow up question: ¿Cuántos años tiene tu hermana? and ¿Te llevas bien con tus padres? and earns 20 points. He then watches the follow up questions his classmates left for him on his video and responds with a video in return. In his videos, he answers the questions, thanks each peer by name, and says hasta luego. He earns 20 more points. His grade for the assignment is 100/100, in spite of a couple of errors he made during recording.