In my Spanish 1 expansion course this trimester, culture & civilization, I sent out a Google form with many culture ideas that we could investigate and learn about as a class. One of their top choices was the Guerra Sucia in Argentina, so this is how we started the class.
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We started with this comprehensible culture unit from Martina Bex about the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo. We went through the discussion questions, Spanish language cultural reading, comprehension questions, listening activity, and slide show. We also did the song activity for Maná – Desapariciones. (We saved the interpersonal discussion questions and writing activity for the end of the unit assessments).
Since the students seemed to be craving more in relation to the topic, we investigated further with Guerra Sucia Stations by Kristy Placido. They made for good independent work for students while providing more material and opportunities for discussion.
We then watched the 1985 movie La Historia Oficial with subtitles in English and used movie questions in English to keep students focused, and provide more discussion. It is rated R for some languages, but all students and their parents signed a permission slip for class. It is a little slow but does show the perspective of the Desaparecidos from another side.
If this was an upper level class, we would have read the Wayside Publishing novel La Guerra Sucia, but it is too far out of the language range of this particular class. Also, our plan is to investigate many mini cultural units for only about a week or two each.
For assessments, we used materials from Martina Bex’s unit . Students used the interpersonal discussion question cards as an informal assessment, while I circulated and listened. Then individually they did the writing activity, where I just wanted them to write in Spanish about anything they learned from the unit.
What are your favorite resources for teaching about La Guerra Sucia?
Here are some other mini cultural units that I have used in the past or plan to use this year.
