Spanish movies

[baires83]

I start teaching HS Spanish in September. Anyone know of any movies for a HS Spanish class that won't bore the kids and myself to death? I'm looking to show these movies before breaks (instead of starting a new chapter which they'll forget in their week off) or after midterms. Any suggestions?

[Unregistered]

for the lower levels try something silly like "spanglish" my high school kids loved it...
there is a movie called "blue diner" that's also great...
check them out!

[baires83]

thanks for the info!

[Unregistered]

there is a series called Destinos and it is for spanish comprehensive learning! It is like an ACTUAL soap-opera and all the kids love it! They all ask " when are we going to watch Destinos again?" I highly recommend it to any Spanish teacher!

[Unregistered]

There is an Argentinian movie called Valentin which is fabulous. Most of my students liked it. I have also seen Pan's Labrynth and think the students would enjoy it. A good one about festivals in Spain is called Fiestas Primaveras.

[Unregistered]

Hard to find, but El Cid with Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren will be WORTH IT! It's about 3 hours, so it will take more than one class/block. If you start with a bit of historical background so they know why he's the national hero of Spain. Explain how the movie isn't exactly the same as history, but poetic license is involved. This is justifiable in your lesson plans. My APC won't approve Disney movies in Spanish unless I can explain WHAT VOCABULARY it is reinforcing! I mean, to ME, listening to Spanish is just as justifiable as reinforcing vocabulary!
You can find it from a private seller at Amazon.com. I got mine from Video Rarities and they even made me a free back-up CD!
$89.95 + $2.98shipping New
Seller: video_rarities
Rating:98% positive over the past 12 months (122 ratings.) 164 lifetime ratings.
Shipping: In Stock. Ships from CA, United States Expedited shipping available International shipping available See shipping rates
Comments: THIS IS IT, the "El Cid" DVD you've been looking for! This is *NOT* one of the cheap Chinese or Korean bootlegs that have rightfully received numerous warning reviews of bad video quality. The rare and sought-after Sonneberg digital remastering, long out of print. Far better than the disappointing Miramax remastering done by Martin Scorsese for the old Pioneer LaserDisc format, which have appeared in bootleg DVD's and also have received warning reviews. BRAND-NEW AND FACTORY SEALED, in perfect, pristine condition. Beautiful video quality and awesome, rich sound, with English soundtrack and presented in its original widescreen Cinerama format. This DVD will not be re-released in the U.S. due to protracted rights issues. We have a VERY limited stock we were able to import from Germany, and when these are gone, they're gone! Will play in all U.S. players, and you may order with complete confidence as your satisfaction is guaranteed. Same-day, immediate shipping! ( « less )
Comments: THIS IS IT, the "El Cid" DVD you've been looking for! This is *NOT* one of the cheap Chinese or Korean bootlegs tha... ( » more )

[veronica_rubilar]

Usen de todas maneras "el laberinto del fauno" es una pelicula fácil de entender debido a su lenguaje formal (la época). Además, es bastante entretenida lo cual puede ser beneficioso por el interés que pueden mostrar los estudiantes. Todos sabemos lo importante que es crear interés a la hora de enseñar.

I'm an english teacher but also latin...

Greetings from Chile

[Unregistered]

I'd never use "Pan's Labyrinth" because its extreme violence and grim atmosphere. There are at least 3 executions point blank in the movie (the pair of farmers, the girl, and the murderous captain, at the very end). Although the topic seems to be for young teenagers, I found it overwhelmingly crude and violent, I don't find any reason to expose teenagers to such crude images.
On the other hand, Valentin is beautiful and poetic. I could recommend 2 very good: "Luna de Avellaneda", from the director Campanella, and "Nine queens". I also teach Spanish HS, and Nine queens is a smart, fun, and quite entertaining movie. I also use a telenovela titled "El cuarto misterioso", the kids love it. You'll find that the acting is so bad and lame that is really hilarious. If you want to bring some social issues, you may want to check "La Toma", documentary filmed in Argentina by the Canadian producers Naomi Klein and Avi Levin (or Lewis).
Hope this helps.

[vero_rubilar]

Probablemente no sea recomendable para estudiantes de nivel básico pero para quienes tengan una edad mucho más avanzada, quienes puedan diferenciar la realidad y la fantasía, sea interesante. La ficción existe.

[Unregistered]

Solia ser instructor de Espa;ol en College. Y algo que utilizaba en algunas ocasiones eran peliculas que los estudiantes conocian y que podia cambiar el audio (al espa;ol) y subtitulos en ingles, si eran necesarios. Era divertido ver peliculas como Sherk, que aunque no educativas. Tenian demasiados "slangs" y aspectos culturales.
Saludos

[Unregistered]

I would like to view different ways to get the alternative students interested in learning Spanish. Can someone help? Thanks.

[Unregistered]

A movie called "Casi Casi" that came out last year- its about a bunch of Puerto Rican teenagers, and its absolutely hilarious!!! I strongly reccomend it.

Also, you can buy a book of pre-made lesson plans from filmarobics.com and you can find a few other really great spanish movies on that site!
good luck!

[Unregistered]

My students enjoyed watching Bring It On in Spanish

[Unregistered]

The teachers in my school use clips from youtube.com to start the classoff almost everyday, or the play a song

[Unregistered]

Discovery education has a series called Extra!, completely done in Spanish (filmed in Spain). My kids love it. I download it from our subscription to United Streaming (perhaps your district has something similar). Be very careful with videos that are not directly related to your curriculum. Valentin is rated R I believe, so you might need to edit or get parental permission to show that. Cartoon movies, while fun, don't teach proper Spanish. Check to see if your textbook adoption came with DVD's or videos to support chapter activities.

If you do use videos/DVD's, make sure you have an activity to go with it (such as having students do a summary, write words they recognize/don't recognize, etc.).

Celeste

[Unregistered]

I show my students "In the Time of the Butterflies": this is an amazing movie dealing with the Dominican dictator of the 1920's! Excellent film to watch now with the change over in Cuba!

[Unregistered]

HS students love to watch Selena the best. Also, you can show them Quinceañera, Mi Familia, El Zorro, and cartoons in Spanish that you can tape off Univision or Telemundo.

[Unregistered]

i used to show American Disney cartoons in Spanish. It's great because the kids love the story already and know many phrase. this works best and only if you put up the subtitles. You can change among sound and subtitles in combinations of English and Spanish. With advanced kids it's good to use Spanish sound and Spanish subtitles. Of course you need some kinds of activities to go along.

[Unregistered]

I teach Spanish 2 and 3. One that I use in Spanish 2 is "The Three Amigos". We discuss stereotyping, the use of irony, homonyms, etc. in the movie. I even test them over the movie and discussion. Another one for Spanish 2 is "Man of La Mancha". We discuss the Spanish Inquisition, Don Quixote, "The Impossible Dream", etc. I never show a movie just to show a movie. I justify it by building a unit around it.
One that I would recommend for older (Jr. Srs.) students is "The Mission". The photography is fantastic. It was filmed in South America. I also show "Evita" to Spanish 3 classes.

Hope this helps.

[cmcj]

When teaching about conquistadors and Aztecs-- a topic of interest to most students, the Kevin Costner movie "500 Nations: Mexico" is one that was well done (accurate, except like many, it doesn't mention the role of Dona Marina "La Malinche")
Students like "Selena" the movie, starring J Lo, but better yet is the documentary of Selena, available through many resource catalogs.
I find that students often respond better to any video if we have done some preliminary study on a topic. This was brief, but hopefully you can add it to other suggestions.

[Yaritza Tijerina]

I start teaching HS Spanish in September. Anyone know of any movies for a HS Spanish class that won't bore the kids and myself to death? I'm looking to show these movies before breaks (instead of starting a new chapter which they'll forget in their week off) or after midterms. Any suggestions?
i think that you should show the spanish class the movie sangre por sangre. that movie show from wrong to write in life.

[Unregistered]

I got the movie Cinco Amigas from Teacher's Discovery and the kids absolutely loved it! It comes with a packet of materials for the students to complete so you can easily build a unit around it.

I also recommend (as others have) Valentin. Someone said they thought it was rated R but I would be very surprised if it was. It is a sweet story about a little boy.

[Unregistered]

El Norte is a wonderful movie and can be used to discuss the very important issues surrounding immigration. It is somewhat difficult to get a hold of but I believe that it is now being sold through Teacher's Discovery. If not, I know that I've seen it in other magazines that are endlessly sent out to teachers. That's how I ordered the DVD. Another powerful movie is The Official Story. Again,it's important to talk about the issues that were going on at the time in order to set students up for success. These are both pretty strong movies. But they're also wonderful. I only use them in my upper levels where I think that kids are mature enough to handle them. Hope that helps.

[Unregistered]

Okay so I know this is a teacher board and I'm a student, but I saw something about Destinos and I have to say DON'T SHOW DESTINOS!
At my school they showed it to us through spanish 1 and spanish 2 and it's VERY BORING unless we sit there making fun of Raquel.
Usually no one watches it. We usually just talk or get a head start on our homework. So really don't waste your time showing it.

[Unregistered]

Que me dicen de Nacho libre???

[Unregistered]

Here is a list of movies that I have shown before in classes that the kids really enjoyed:
“Sweet 15”
“Machuca”
“La fonda azul” (“The Blue Diner”)
“Selena”
“Almost a Woman”
“Imagining Argentina”
“Real Women Have Curves”
“Casa de los babys”

They present so many great topics and points of history to discuss, especially in the upper levels!

[Unregistered]

Under the Same Moon
Bella

[Unregistered]

I start teaching HS Spanish in September. Anyone know of any movies for a HS Spanish class that won't bore the kids and myself to death? I'm looking to show these movies before breaks (instead of starting a new chapter which they'll forget in their week off) or after midterms. Any suggestions?

I reward them with Disney animateds like Shrek, toy Story. Just set it up for Spanish or English with Spanish subtitles or English with Spanish subtitles. If it is only spanish, have them write down every spanish word they recognize on a list to keep them paying attention.

[bablingua]

Bablingua is a new website, made by teachers, which offers a wide range of resources to enrich your class. We focus on audiovisual materials, easy to download directly from our website or to receive by ordinary mail.
You can watch some of our videos on-line for free and without registering. There are also free teaching activities that you can implement in your classes.

We are currently offering materials for Spanish teachers, but we believe that our teaching activities can be useful for any foreign language teacher. Our videos are filmed in Spanish-speaking countries, so your students will learn about the culture of the different places while improving their Spanish.

I hope you find it useful:

www.bablingua.com

[Unregistered]

These films are wonderful and my students have enjoyed them.

Butterfly (La lengua de las mariposas)-. A beautifully touching story of a young boy and the friendship he develops with his leftist teacher as Spain is entering the Civil War. There is one sex scene in the film can be fast forwarded easily.

Valentin-A humorous coming of age story about a young Argentinian boy during the late 60's.

Under the Same Moon-A great film for all ages; a young Mexican boy sets out to reunite with his mother in LA.

Viva Cuba-A journey of a young girl and her best-friend who backpack across Cuba in search of her father.

Machuca-An emotional story of an affluent boy and his poor friend in Chile during the early 70's. There is some
violence at the end and it does have a sad ending.

Innocent Voices-A funny and sad film about a young boy growing up in the middle of the El Salvadorian Civil War. This film has a lot of violence (none of it graphic) and a happy ending.

Cautiva-A film about a young Argentinian girl who discovers that her biological parents were desaperecidos. This film has one scene of full frontal nudity, but no sex or violence.

Motorcycle Diaries-A visually stunning film about two young men traveling across South America.

El Bola-A young boy lives with his abusive father. There is some domestic violence that may be too graphic for younger students.

[Unregistered]

The Maldonado Miracle is an excellent movie to show to any level Spanish class. It is in English, but there is plenty of justification for using it in a Spanish class. The Princess and the Barrio Boy is also cute. I also agree with the teacher who mentioned Cinco Amigas. It is interesting for even teenagers, and if you have native speakers, there is still something new for them because the characters speak Argentine Spanish.

[Unregistered]

la katrina

[Unregistered]

I have shown my students a really corny movie called the Quincinera. I had never heard of it before until my friend, another Spanish teacher told me about it. It's cute and it shows kids a little bit of Chicano culture. Also El Cuarto Misterios is good for comprehension practice and as another person said the acting is so bad that the kids laugh. I have shown Stand & Deliver about Chicano students in East L.A. They liked it. I have shown them some scenes for Globe Trekker Argentina, Spain and Chile. I wanted them to see parts of those countries.
I hope this info. helps.

[Unregistered]

Mi vida loca is a 20 episode interactive mystery series that is presented by the BBC. Just google mi vida loca. I just finished showing it to my 8th grade class and they enjoyed it. It is in Spanish and has English subtitles. It covers many of the thematic lessons in most Spanish textbooks at this level.

[Unregistered]

i just finished showing The Mask of Zorro with Antonio Banderas...they really enjoyed it and it has some historical relevance. I have also showed Bajo la Misma Luna and you can hear a pin drop in my high school classroom from how enthralled they are!!

Gracias por todas las sugerencias...tengo una lista largisima de peliculas por ver!! :)

[Unregistered]

Yo recommiendo:
Selena
Fools rush in
El matador. Documentary
Voces inocentes
Apocalypto

[Unregistered]

"Under the Same Moon# is an excellent movie to show. My students enjoyed it, as did I. If I were to recommend any movie-- this would be my choice.

[Unregistered]

im not a spanish teacher.... but i am fresh out of high school, and i took spanish all 4 years and 2 movies i loved that my teacher showed were maria full of grace and tortilla soup

[HS Freshman]

I've taken almost 4 years of Spanish and a couple of years ago we watched Selena, which I'm sure has already been recommended here, but it's a really good movie so I'm going to also recommend it. :)

There's another movie that I loved called Casi Casi; it's entirely in Spanish but has English subtitles. I recommend it too.

[Unregistered]

Que me dicen de Nacho libre???

Nacho Libre is a fabulous, PG-rated movie to show in Spanish class. It's in English, but is peppered with Spanish. There are a lot of stereotypes, which can lead to good commentary on aspects of Mexican culture, such as food, clothing, religion, landscape, etc. Also, the characters do a good job overplaying their Spanish accents, so I was able to point out a lot of grammar things. The movie is hilarious, and the kids love it!

[wildcat14]

I remember watching Destinos in high school and it was excellent. I could tell from watching it the first time in the semester to the last I had learned to listen for key words. Its a good individual test of a students knowledge, and the good thing is they don't have to play the "dork card" and publicly understand it!

[Unregistered]

If you have a subscription to united streaming you can watch the TV series EXTRA which is designed for about a Spanish II level class. It is like the tv show Friends.

[Unregistered]

I teach four levels at the high school and use video (or major clips) for all of them. I possibly use:
Zorro,
Zorro 2,
Stand and Deliver (freshman favorite), (my favorite - we describe all characters in spanish adjectives)
Selena (with Jen Lopez),
Spanglish (cut bed scene- just before scene, use DVD skip button),
Dance with Me (with Chayanne & Vanessa Williams),
A Walk in the Clouds (with Keanu Reeves),
Under the Same Moon
or random sesame street, dora, thomas the train video for kids in total Spanish

I always have a movie guide and questions while watching it. Usually students have to write a paper about the cultural differences represented, with specific scene and dialogue examples. Sometimes, like a movie review in spanish. I usually treat these as cultural studies and allow the lower levels to write a 3-5 page paper in English. Advanced grades get to write 1/2 - 2 pages papers in Spanish.

[Unregistered]

El Angel #10 (2006) w/ Hector Bosque and Luis Alberto Romano A+ family and teen entertainment. Comedy.
A teenager dies during a soccer game, having told his Dad he won't forgive him if he doesn't let him play. Afterwards, he comes back and only his teen brother can see him. He has to find a way to bring the family back together since his death caused such discord. Kids begged to see it again. One of my students suffering from her mother's death seemed to be helped with it.

[GefCarve73]

Subtitles are a GREAT way to improve your language while watching a movie. Of course DVDs are and excellent tool. I liked to watch US movies, change the language to Spanish and use Spanish subtitles.

One of the silly things I found is that the person who translated the movie for the actors to deliver the lines in not the same person who translated the movie for subtitles. And they dont compare translations so subtitles do not match the dialogue of movies which were originally presented in English.

I have maybe 15 DVDs here and when we watch one as a family I always put on English subtitles which help them understand the dialogue since their English isnt perfect.

[Unregistered]

There is an Argentinian movie called Valentin which is fabulous. Most of my students liked it. I have also seen Pan's Labrynth and think the students would enjoy it. A good one about festivals in Spain is called Fiestas Primaveras.

I have been searching everywhere for the movie about the festivals. Where can I locate it?