Nancy Dominguez-Fret
  • Home
  • About
  • Teaching Resources
    • Technology
    • Immigration
    • My Identity
  • Additional Resources
  • Reviews
  • Contact
  • Blog
‘Ni de aquí, ni de allá'

Las experiencias de una maestra de Heritage Spanish. 
Picture
Picture
Picture

How can we involve our students when creating curriculum? How can we keep them engaged ?

5/9/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
The questions in the title of this blog always run through my head as the beginning of each school year approaches. Many of us try to guess what topics, readings and or activities would attract our students. But why don’t we stop guessing and start asking?  What has worked for me in the past is creating a survey and giving it to my students at the beginning and at the end of each school year. Like this, I find out what their interests are and I try to incorporate them into their curriculum.
    The first year I gave my students a survey it was by projecting 4-5 questions on a power point slide, but now with google sheets, everything is much easier! You can give your students the survey and within seconds you will have your results! This is a powerful tool to use in your classroom if you want to really incorporate your students’ interests when creating materials for the classroom. Here is a link to a survey I created to use for these purposes:
Heritage Spanish Survey
Feel free to use it :) Also, here are some of the topics my students suggested should be included in a heritage Spanish curriculum:
  • Immigration
  • Fantasy/myths
  • Injustices/corruption
  • Politics
  • Education and Latinos
To end this blog, something that I have learned about teaching in general is that one has to be flexible. You can't go in with the mentality that the curriculum is set in stone. Being flexible and allowing space for change will make your curriculum more engaging. As the end of the school year approaches, take the time to survey your students and use that data to make changes for the next school year.
Hasta la vista,
Nancy Fret


0 Comments

Mi nombre es Nancy Domínguez no Nancy Dominiqez. 

4/13/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
As a child, I remember most of my teachers pronouncing my first name correctly. Nancy. It's not a difficult name to pronounce. But, when it came to my last name it was like opening a Kinder Surprise egg; you didn't know what was going to come out of the teacher's mouth. My last name is Dominguez. Some pronounced it like Domingo, Dominique, you name it. When I was younger I just ignored it. However, when I got to high school it started bothering me. How hard can it be to pronounce Do-mín-guez. And why was it okay for my name to be mispronounced but Michael Roberts got all his syllables pronounced correctly? My name is who I am. My name defines my identity. My name is Nancy Domínguez.

​Have you ever lived a similar experience ? I'm sure your students have. As a Heritage Spanish teacher I discussed this topic frequently with my students. Through these conversations I found that they too have lived similar experiences. They dislike when people mispronounce their names but sometimes they are to shy to speak up. The way I approached this was by exposing them to literature, videos and different activities that made them research the roots of their names and the importance it has on the formation of their identity.
Here are some of the activities I used. I hope they are of help in your classroom if this topic ever comes up ( I hope it does):
  1. One of my favorite activities to use for this topic is the chapter of The House on Mango Street called "Mi nombre” (Link) . In this chapter the author questions why she got that name and shares her feelings about having this name.
  2. My name is Joaquin by Joaquin ‘corky’ Gonzales. In this poem he expresses what being Chicano in the United States means to him(Link).
  3. A poem by Zachary Caballero on the mispronunciation of his name (Link)
  4. A video about a reporter who got criticized for pronouncing words of Spanish origin with a Spanish accent when speaking in English (Link)
  5.  This link consists of memes that address the struggle of name mispronunciation  ( Link ).
  6. Just Try Saying My Name Right!(Link)
  7. A comical short story (in Spanish) about the importance of having a name (Link).
  8. My Name my Identity Initiative-(Link) This video is a project for an organization that promotes the value of one's name (Link).
  9. 25 Latino Names You’re Pronouncing Wrong(Link)
  10. ​My Name, My Identity - My Name Is Jorge (Link)
You can utilize these resources as a starting point and create a research assignment where students investigate the origin of their names. Another fun activity is to ask them to create a poem about their name (Link). Lastly, I wanted to suggest some questions you could use if you want your students to reflect on this topic/theme:
  1. ¿Cual es el origen de tu nombre?
  2. ¿Sabes por qué tus padres escogieron ese nombre?
  3. Tu nombre,¿ tiene valor para ti? Explica detalladamente.
  4. ¿Alguna vez alguien ha pronunciado tu nombre y/o apellido mal? Como te sentiste?
  5. Si pudieras, ¿cambiarías tu nombre?¿Por qué sí o por que no?
  6. ¿Crees que las palabras de origen español se deben de pronunciar con ese acento cuando una persona está hablando ingles? Explica tu respuesta.

I hope this is helpful! Please feel free to comment and add any other activities and or resources you have utilized for this topic. 



0 Comments

Spanglish: Cuando empiezo en un idioma and I finish in another.

3/24/2017

2 Comments

 

¿Te ha pasado alguna vez, que you begin writing or speaking in Spanish and end up hablando o escribiendo en inglés? A mi esto siempre me pasa. It happens more when I am around my bilingual friends, pero también me ha pasado con mis monolingual friends. When that happens I get red and say "I'm so sorry!". No sé por qué me disculpo si no es mi culpa que ellos no sean bilingües. Creo que lo hago por cortesía (that comes from my Mexican culture). Bueno, creo que lo que me pasa a mi, también le pasa a muchos de nuestros estudiantes así que I compiled a list of actividades que pueden usar en su classroom con ellos.
En mi opinión, la clase de Español para heritage speakers debería incluir actividades sobre la mezcla del español e inglés (que algunos llaman el Spanglish). No sería el enfoque principal, pero es una herramienta que se puede usar para captar su interés en la clase.  Además, la mezcla de los dos idiomas define su identidad latina. ¿Para qué tratar de devaluar o evitar esto? Es mejor discutirlo y explicarles que aunque en el salón de clase no se usará mucho, el Spanglish es algo maravilloso que los define.
Espero que les ayuden and that these activities empower your students y los motiven to be orgullosos de hablar en sus dos languages y de su cultura latina :)
​


Actividades:
El poema titulado Bilingüe por Alma Flor Ada Enlace
Infografía sobre los cognados falsos  Enlace
Una pruebita sobre el Spanglish y el Español Enlace
This poem is a powerful reminder of what it means to be Latino American Enlace
27 Tweets About Being Latino That Are Way Too Real Enlace
What is a Pocha? Enlace
Tigres Del Norte - El Bilingue Enlace
When You Speak Fluent Spanglish - mitú Enlace
¿Podrá sobrevivir el bilingüismo hispano en Estados Unidos? Enlace
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
2 Comments
Forward>>

    Nancy Domínguez-Fret

    Educator.  Spanish. Heritage Language. Spanglish. 

    Archives

    June 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    August 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • Teaching Resources
    • Technology
    • Immigration
    • My Identity
  • Additional Resources
  • Reviews
  • Contact
  • Blog