Hispanos famosos
Want to learn more about famous Hispanics? Check out these little videos:
http://www.sparkenthusiasm.com/los_hispanos_famosos.html
They might give you some ideas for your Extra Credit project if you’re doing one!
Real Carnaval content
http://fiestas.practicopedia.com/carnaval
Here you’ll find tutorials in Spanish related to Carnaval! The Practicopedia is a How-To site in Spanish that gives us lovely exposure to the language and cultures of Latinos!
Colombia es pasion
Colombia has problems for sure–but its people are still proud of rich traditions and their land! Do you hear that acordion?–that Vallenato, that Cumbia??? :) Check out the diversity of musicians/singers in light of everything we’ve learned about diaspora.
El Materdor (from Pixar)
We spend some time on Bullfighting in Spanish classes, and here’s a lovely way to get the topic rolling!
Where Children Sleep
Where Chilren Sleep is a new design book by James Mollison. It’s phenomenal–you see the picture of the child (children pictured from around the world and very different realities) next to a picture of the place (s)he sleeps. This is particularly relevant to us when we consider conditions in Spanish-speaking countries along with other parts of the world. The link below takes you to a virtual version of the book.
http://issuu.com/chrisboot/docs/where_children_sleep_by_james_mollison
Las hijas del sol
Here’s a music video by a popular duo in Equatorial Guinea, the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa.
African Diaspora
We do a lot with discovering Native Americans and with European influence on Latin American Cultures and Language, but we pay too little attention to the African influence, in my humble opinion. Here are some resources that better equip us to understand this area.
An overview over at Cultural Diplomacy dot org
Another overview from Colorado College.
Music! AfroMix
Carribean Culture Center African Diaspora Institute or CCCADI (You can find out a lot about upcoming celebratory events.)
Royal Geographic Society‘s Journeys Site. (Wonderful collection of photos here.)
The African Music Encyclopedia. (Very important to Latin American culture/music!)
Records of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Voyages. You can even explore their African Names database.
UNESCO’s The Slave Route publications.
York University in Canada has a great digital library of studies in African Diaspora (history).
LANIC from The University of Texas has a wonderful list here. They include The Miami Herald‘s 2007 Project called A Rising Voice which is very well-done. There are movement-oriented organizations like the Afro-Latin Project. AfroPresencia is great for news on related topics and current information. If you scroll down past the first menu, they have a list of links by country. Let’s raise our consciousness about the huge importance of African influence on the cultures we’re studying so dilligently in our Spanish classes!
In a general sense, during Black History Month, it’s also great to know about resources that deal with our own local history. Ever visited the Civil Rights Digital Library? Or UVA’s related electronic text center? For a nice world-wide approach that pays special attention to media, visit VoxAfrica!
Thanks to FotoSearch for the clip art!
¿Un vicio inocente?
Using the video at the following link, please answer the two questions below.
http://www.youtube.com/user/spanishben#p/u/5/Mb2hBk3jCc4
Do you have a “vicio”? If so, look it up and Spanish and jot it down. :)
What are some things you might want to learn on your own (the way Ben and Marina do with their books)?
See more from Ben at Marina at Notes in Spanish!
