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T6
1.
A motivating story
1.
Español Santillana
tells a story of travels
and challenges.
Four pairs of enthusiasts of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture want
to explore the Spanish-speaking world: its people, its cities, its regions,
and its cultures. Because of this, they have decided to create the
Fans del
español
website and to travel to different countries in order to discover and
show unique aspects of each place. In each country, the four teams compete,
taking on different
desafíos
, or challenges, that they must complete.
The community of
Fans
has grown, and in Levels 3 and 4, new fans will take
on all-new challenges with the same objective: to get to know the places, the
cultures, and the lifestyles of Spanish-speaking countries.
2. The challenges present exceptionally
motivating situations and fascinating places.
Each unit presents several challenges (four in Levels 1 and 2; three in
Levels 3 and 4) related to the people, the regions, or the cultures of a country
or geographic area. For example, the teams participate in the ritual of the
voladores de Papantla
in Mexico (Level 1), act in a
telenovela
in Buenos Aires
(Level 2), prepare a typical dish of
ropa vieja
with a recipe from the Canary
Islands (Level 3), and participate in the ritual of preparing and drinking
mate
(Level 4).
3. The students decide which team wins
the challenge in each unit.
In Levels 1 and 2, students discuss the challenges at the beginning of each
unit, and make predictions about which pair will win. At the end of the unit,
students take a vote to decide the winners of the challenge according to a
previously established criterion: the most original, the most fun, the most
relevant, and so on.
In Levels 3 and 4, students get to choose one of the pairs’ challenges in
order to perform a task related to it.
Active participation in the storyline promotes student involvement and
motivation.
Key Ideas
The
Tu desafío
section that appears
on certain pages of Levels 1 and 2
is intended to motivate students
and promote independent work.
Upon accessing the
Fans del español
website to do the proposed activity,
students earn points, which they can
accumulate throughout the year.
In Levels 3 and 4, the students’
challenges are linked to the
challenges that the three pairs take
on in each unit.
TU DESAFÍO
Unit Overview
4