We are going to take a little break from the Tumba-thon to talk about what we are currently reading in Spanish II, Felipe Alou: Desde los valles a las montañas. It is a great novel from Carol Gaab about the true story of Felipe Rojas Alou, available in Spanish, French, and English. Felipe was a baseball player from the Dominican Republic, who came to the U.S. during the civil rights movement. If you are going to teach the novel in class, you have to get the teacher’s guide & audio book. Besides scouring the teacher’s guide, I also like to look around at what other bloggers have done with a novel for inspiration.
Resources for Felipe Alou in Spanish class
- Here are a couple of great resources that got the juices flowing:
- Cynthia Hitz’s Felipe Alou Pinterest Board & Felipe Alou Blog Posts
- Dustin Williamson’s Felipe Alou Blog Post
- teacher’s guide (now from Wayside Publishing)
Teaching about the Dominican Republic
We started the unit completing Martina Bex’s Spanish Reading: The Dominican Republic. I was actually home with a sick little boy, so this was a great reading with comprehension questions that could be completed with a substitute. If I was there I would have divided up the topics, one for each group to do a little bit more research on, and to present their finding as experts in Geography, Merengue, etc to the class.
Videos to Introduce Felipe Alou
The next day we watched quite a few videos to show the Dominican Republic, the relationship with Haiti, and the era of Trujillo & the Mirabal sisters
- Video – DR – rico – to show that it is a beautiful country
- Video – DR – pobre – in English, but gives a real picture of the level of poverty
- Video – Haitian exploitation in the Dominican Republic
- This video demonstrates that even with the level of poverty in DR, Haiti is far worse as the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
- Since I teach in an agricultural area, we compared how much our students make a day detasseling, picking up rock, or doing other farm related labor, to the $3 for 15-18 hours of labor they make in the sugar cane fields. This is when I think it really hit home for some of them that at 15 years old they are making $10/hour in the fields, but an an adult is making $0.20/hour doing far harder work.
- La Era de Trujillo – Parte I & La Era de Trujillo – Parte II – A total of only about 3 minutes in Spanish with footage of the time of Trujillo, which is good to explain movie talk style.
- The Story of the Mirabal Sisters | AARP – A good 10 minute documentary about Mirabal sisters.
- Tiempo de las Mariposas – Trailer – Trailer for In the Time of Butterflies.
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Movie to show with Felipe Alou
Pelotero – A documentary about baseball prospects in the Dominican Republic. There is a small reference to Felipe Alou & his brother playing on the Giants in the 1960’s. *Update in 2022* This is my #1 suggested film with my movie guide. I showed this documentary for at least 6 different years and students loved it!
Sugar – A fictional movie about a young baseball player who leaves the Dominican Republic to play in the U.S. minor leagues with the hope of making it big. I showed this movie my first couple of years with the book. They thought it was pretty cool that he comes to Iowa and was filmed about 2 hours away. I stopped showing it & just used Pelotero instead since it went over a lot better.
In the Time of Butterflies – This movie was inspired by the true story of the Mirabal sisters who were murdered in 1960 for their part in a plan to overthrow the dictator Trujillo. Dustin Williamson shows this movie before starting Felipe Alou. (I have never actually used this film. It looked a little too slow/boring for my students).
The Perfect Game – This PG rated baseball movie is based on the true story of a group of boys from Mexico, who are the first non-U.S. team to win the little league world series. (I bough this movie to use, but found out I only had the English version, so I just used it one time).
After reading chapters 1 and 2, and discussing questions from the teacher’s guide, we completed this activity about schools around the world.
What resources do you use while teaching Felipe Alou?
Hi Alison,
Did you do a summative or final exam/project with Felipe Alou?
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Can I also see the final exam/project for this? [email protected] 🙂
[email protected]
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Thank you so much for posting all these resources they are very helpful. I am currently reading the novel with my Spanish 2 students. I spent the month of August talking about the olimpics that way I thought most of the sports vocabulary. I also did mini stories about dreams and nightmares because the main two themes in the novel are dreams and nightmares. For instance eating a burger for the first time and playing major league baseball is a dream. In contrast segregation, Trujillo and not knowing the language was a nightmare. I am also from the Dominican Republic and I share some of my childhood pictures and expriences with them.
That sounds like an amazing introduction!!
I would love to see what you give as an assessment as well. My email is [email protected]. Thank you!
Another video of the Dominican Republic. My students really liked it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-BKX3G0BpQ
Do you think the novel would be too much for level 1 students?
The novel is technically marked as a level 1 book, but the lowest I have personally taught it is level 2. I think it depends on a lot of circumstances such as how much CI the students have had and if they have read novels before. The book is all in past tense, so your students would need to be comfortable with reading it too. While I think it could be possible with the right group, I think there are better novels suited to level 1(Brandon Brown series, Tumba, etc). I personally would rather start easy to build confidence. I am actually starting Felipe after Christmas with my level 2s, and love how deep of discussions it brings upon with Civil rights and discrimination.
Let me know if you have more questions!
Allison
Oh my gosh! I used to live on the same street as he did when I was 5! I don't remember interacting with him very much, but my dad tells me that one day he was out mowing his lawn when I and the gang of rowdy 3-5 years old were running by. Evidently, he stopped, and asked us if we wanted a Coke! Now I have to get this book! (Coincidently, when I was at Florida State, his son, Moises played for UF, so I got to watch him play in college–and I found out that our birthdays were exactly 1 year apart!)
That is so cool!!!
Is the final assessment no longer available on your TPT?
send me an email!
I would love your assessment too. [email protected]
Hi Allison. Your assessment for Felipe Alou doesn't seem to be on TPT any longer. Can I find it anywhere else? Thanks! Just in case: [email protected]
Saludos!
Would you be willing to share your final exam. [email protected]
I have made several activities and would be more than welcome to share them with you in exchange. Gracias,
-Doug
Doug I sent you an email!
Hey Allison!
I couldn't find your assessment on TpT anymore. Would you mind sharing it at [email protected] or let me know how can I purchase it. Thanks! As always, pure inspiration in your page.
Hola! What a great page. I was curious if you used comprehension questions throughout the book, and if so, if you have those somewhere (tpt or elsewhere) and might be willing to share? Mil gracias.
I purchased them from the official TG
Hi there! I love all of your materials. I am looking for an assessment option for the Felipe Alou novel on TPT but can't seem to locate. I am adding my email like some of the others in comments in hopes that you will share:) Thanks for all you do!
send me an email!
May I have your final assessment on Felipe Alou?
please send me an email!
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please send me an email!