Refer to a Spanish lesson you have developed and discuss what influenced your decisions to

select particular activities according to the theorists

Germaine C. De Verteuil

Postgraduate Diploma in Education

Centre for Education Programmes, The University of Trinidad and Tobago

EDUC5011: Nature and Practice of the Discipline

Dr. Desrian Wilson

26th March 2022

 Refer to a Spanish lesson you have developed and discuss what influenced your

decisions to select particular activities according to the theorists

“Sports in the Hispanic World” was a Spanish lesson created to highlight the most

popular sports in Hispanic countries as well as their importance to the culture of these nations.

The lesson was structured using the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach in an

attempt to cover all the four skills of reading, speaking, listening and writing. In addition, it

incorporated modern trends of ICT integration in education to enhance the teaching and learning

experience in the classroom.

Video Based Learning was one of the ICT strategies used in the lesson. The lesson

contained authentic material in the form of a video filmed in Buenos Aires during the 2014

World Cup final. The video was used to generate a class discussion in Spanish about the attitude

of Argentines towards football. It portrayed a real-life situation that was directly linked to the

content of the lesson. A Youtube video was used to display the importance of sports in Cuba.

This video gave the students a clear insight about the significance of sports in Cuba and the

students were given a True/False completion exercise based on it. The third video item was also

taken from Youtube and focused on the Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona. This video

was again used to generate a class discussion in Spanish about the significance of this event to

Spanish culture. Students were required to give adjectives to describe the event. Videos help

students to become active learners and they can analyse gestures and facial expressions along

with the verbal/auditory output. The use of videos was also done to appeal to the visual learners

which is in keeping with Howard Gardner’s theory of Mulitple Intelligences. All of the videos

were in alignment with the Content Based Language Teaching Approach which purports that
language be taught within a context and not in isolation. Video Based Learning in foreign

language teaching and learning is a widely accepted e-learning trend in education that maximises

learning outcomes (Briggs, 2019).

In keeping with the CLT approach, games were used in the lesson to make the lesson

more fun and engaging for the students. One of the games was a simple matching game that

included pictorial stimuli for the students to match with the identity and nationality of the

sportsman shown. An online summary game was created using Kahoot to review what was

taught in the lesson. Gamification of learning improves student engagement, motivates learners,

improves knowledge retention and promotes cognitive development (Golovnya, 2021). Game-

based learning also helps to reduce student anxiety to earn grades. In addition, the students can

view learning as an exploratory process instead of just memorising facts (Emma, 2020). As a

result, the games were included in the lesson as they serve as critical learning tools.

The use of music in foreign language learning is highly recommended as it creates a

relaxed atmosphere in the classroom. Its benefits range from the psycho-affective, cultural,

pedagogical, social and cognitive (Arleo, 2000). Audio material was also incorporated into the

lesson by the use of songs such as “Lárgate Jack”, “El Matador” and “Wavin’ Flag”. The

official introduction to the lesson was done using “Lárgate Jack”. It helped to create a relaxed

classroom ambience. The introduction of the “Wavin’ Flag” theme song was used in the set

induction of the lesson to attract the students’ attention to the day’s lesson. The students

immediately recognised the song and figured out that the day’s lesson would be based on sports.

The song’s introduction was used to generate a class discussion in Spanish about World Cup.

Further into the lesson, the parts of the song that were sung in Spanish was used to facilitate the

completion of a listening activity. The “El Matador” audio was used to set the stage for a
discussion about bullfighting in Spain. Music has always been used to create a more engaging

class environment. It contributes to “pedagogical diversity and effective learning” (Arleo, 2000).

In this light, the use of music to attract and maintain student attention and to complete listening

activities are in keeping with the CLT approach to help students develop functional use of the

target language.

The combined use of the Communicative Language Teaching approach and the inclusion

of ICT strategies in the lesson helped to achieve the objectives of the lesson. Both strategies also

ensured that the students were actively engaged throughout the session. The variety of audio-

visual material catered to differing learning styles in the classroom thereby making the lesson

student-centred.
 References

Arleo, A. (2000, June 4). Music song and foreign language teaching. Les Cahiers de l’APLIUT,

19(4).

Briggs, S. (2019, December 16). Trends in Educational Technology for 2020.

https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/edtech-integration/trends-educational-

technology-2020/

Emma. (2020, January 6). 5 Educational Technology Trends for 2020. https://learnsafe.com/5-

educational-technology-trends-for-2020/

Golovnya, S. (2021, April 13). Learning apps that use gamification: Examples and features

overview. https://riseapps.co/gamification-in-learning-apps/