Inside: The Book of Life in Spanish class. Free novice Spanish movie guide for The Book of Life or El Libro de la Vida.
The Book of Life in novice Spanish class
When this post was first published on April 13, 2015, it was in the middle of our Tumba unit in Spanish I. I was planning on watching and discussing the cute animated film El Libro de Vida or The Book of Life in Spanish. It is a fun animated movie that I knew my students would love. I actually had the chance to take my Spanish club to it the movie theater for a field trip in the fall of 2014. It is full of the culture of the Day of the Dead and Mexico.
Kara Jacobs shared her awesome upper-level guide in Spanish here. Her guide is all in Spanish and would be perfect for an upper-level class.
Book of Life Novice Spanish Movie Guide
Since I wanted to use this film in Spanish 1, I knew I needed a more simple guide in English. Just like I did with my novice guide for the movie Canela, adapted from Kara, I have made a novice guide for the Book of Life. I shared this novice adaptation with Kara’s permission. Some classes may not need the questions in English to help follow along. But, my particular Spanish I class at the time worked better with something in front of them to keep on task at the end of the school year.
My novice guide for The Book of Life with English questions could also be used with the movie as a substitute lesson plan for a non-Spanish speaker.
In the years that followed this post, I have used my novice guide for The Book of Life many times. It was especially used in my exploratory Spanish classes. This guide was my go-to end-of-the-quarter activity.
**Update – Here is a Character Introduction slideshow for The Book of Life characters created by Sr. Wood
Beyond The Book of Life
Check out the Best Movies to Teach the Day of the Dead.
In the years that followed, I also started using Coco in multiple levels of Spanish. I have a guide for Coco that could work for any level you teach. It is in both Spanish and English. The Coco guide has character descriptions and matching, versions in Spanish and English, as well as post-viewing questions and matching, which could be used as an assessment. I have used versions of this one guide with every level I taught, Exploratory through Spanish 4. *At the bottom of this post you can get Coco bonus activities too*
More resources for the Day of the Dead & Halloween in Spanish Class
- You can find more resources for the Day of the Dead in THIS BLOG POST
- Day of the Dead Find Someone Who with variations that could be used in any level of Spanish class. **Using the TPT Digital tool, you can assign this online for students to complete socially distanced or all online. Read this post to learn more.
- Day of the Dead Para Empezar Google Slides – 3 weeks of class warm ups for Spanish
- Novice Spanish Reading – Mexico & The Day of the Dead.
- Get everything above in the Day of the Dead Bundle
- Halloween Dance Videos
- Tierra Incógnita in Spanish class – a new show that is perfect for Halloween
originally posted 4.13.15 by Allison Wienhold – updated 9.21.21
YESSSS!!! Thank you so much for sharing both of these resources
Thank Kara! I am just adapting on one of the best sharers out there!
Mil gracias!!!!!
Will you show the movie in English or Spanish?
I show it in Spanish with English subtitles for novice classes. If I were to use it with higher level students, it would be Spanish with Spanish subtitles. Enjoy!
Thank you for sharing these resources! I hope to be able to use this for Day of the Dead with my Spanish I classes. Can I ask what kind of cultural themes you teach with the movie and/or extension or follow up activities you do? It is a little bit more difficult to use it at the novice level .
I actually use this movie as a part of my unit with the book Tumba by Mira Canion. I would recommend Martina Bex's day of the day unit which can be found on TPT.
Enjoy!
Muchas gracias!!!!
where can i find the spanish version of this movie?
I have the DVD and it has a spanosh version!