Course: SP 112 Spanish II (ONLINE)
Prof. Zaida Godoy Navarro
Spanish II is the second semester of Beginner Spanish. As students gained some speaking fluency, I asked students for more in-depth analysis and critical thinking.
Semester: Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Lesson Plan Title: “Mujeres de la limpieza y Hollywood” (Cleaning Women and Hollywood)
How it is used: Spanish II is the second semester of Beginner Spanish. The online version of the course is divided into 7 units. We use the book Exploraciones by Mary Ann Blitt; Margarita Casas. The vocabulary of chapter 8 (studied within Unit 5) is about “cleaning” and it is quite detailed and specific. As part of their Unit 5 assignments (weeks 9 and 10 in the semester), there is a discussion board that shows the trailers of two chick flick movies: Maid in Manhattan (2002) and Spanglish (2004), and then some questions for students to reflect on the stereotype of cleaning as a common occupation among Latinx population in the US. The class is divided into 2 groups so that the responses don’t become too repetitive.
Discussion, assignment, etc—some contexts (freshmen versus advanced learners, etc)
Description of your activity/interaction with students:
This is what the instructions for the Discussion look like in Blackboard:
¿Conoces las películas “Maid in Manhattan” (en España se llamó “Sucedió en Manhattan” y en Hispanoamérica “Sueño de amor”, 2002) y “Spanglish” (2004)?
Maid in Manhattan
Spanglish
Mira los trailers (click on the pictures) y contesta a estas preguntas. Comparte tus respuestas con tu grupo y comenta también en la participación de una/uno de los miembros en tu grupo:
- ¿Cuáles son las similitudes entre las protagonistas de las dos películas?
- ¿Qué dificultades enfrentan mujeres como Marisa y Flor en la vida real?
- ¿Qué estereotipos refuerzan estas películas?
- ¿Existen esos estereotipos hoy día o crees que las cosas cambiaron?
- ¿En qué otras películas, series, libros, etc. podemos ver esos mismos estereotipos?
<English Translation>
Watch the trailers of these movies (by clicking on the pictures) and answer to the following questions. Share your answers with your group and comment on the participation of one of your classmates’ posts:
- What are some of the similarities between the main protagonists of both movies?
- What difficulties do Maria & Flor face in their real life?
- What stereotypes do these movies reinforce?
- Do these stereotypes exist these days or do you think that things have changed?
- In what other movies, series, books, etc can we see those same stereotypes?
Instructor’s reflections including challenges
Most students criticized the stereotype that Latinx people work in the cleaning services. Some students corrected other students who said that both protagonists did not speak English well enough to have a different job (Marisa/Jennifer Lopez spoke English). At first I only had the first 3 questions. I added #4 because I realized that not all students agree on whether things are better these days or not. Questions #5 engages students’ experiences as viewers. Interestingly, their answers have changed a little every semester because there are newer shows that discuss the topic. This updates the activity.
This is a beginners Spanish class so it is difficult to have present cultural elements while expecting students to also think critically. The focus of all our discussions is not on the language and they are allowed to answer in Spanish, English, Spanglish.
Since it is an online class and students have plenty of work to do, there is not a chance for me to get back to their answers or to discuss any of it together, as a group. I send a general email after they finish each Unit and I add some comments about what they wrote in the discussions. They might or they might not read those comments and I have to be quite vague and general. For example, some students have offered “Modern Family? as another example of a TV show in which these stereotypes can be found. But as far as I know the only Latinx women in that show is a housewife, but not a cleaning lady. I wish I could ask them to further explain some of their answers.