Combining authentic resources

“Beach strewn with plastic debris.” US Fish and Wildlife Services. (Spet. 2009)

While I enjoy being able to really milk one authentic resource, I also like being able to combine different authentic resources for students on one topic.  I saw a textbook do this successfully, and I liked it.  This will give them a well-rounded view of the theme.  We are discussing the environment in my Spanish III class which is an immense topic.  I want to give my students a few topics to explore in depth.  One topic is the sea of plastic in the oceans.

First, I gave my students an infographic to take general notes.  This gives good graphics and statistics on the information.

Next, my students looked at an article about the main countries that contribute to the island in the Pacific.  This article is pretty dense, so I gave my students some guiding questions.  They are:

1. ¿Cuáles son los países que tiran la basura en el mar?
2. ¿Qué tiran las personas?
3. ¿Cuánto plástico tira la gente de Argentina?
4. ¿Cuánto plástico estará en el océano en 2025?

Finally, my students completed a Zaption using a video that talked about the sea of plastic.  This gave students more questions to complete to understand the video.

Once my students looked at all three sources, they summarized:

1. What happens with all of the plastic and where the plastic islands are
2. Who contributes to the problem
3. How this problem affects the sea life

Then, students will write questions from each article to have a discussion in class.  This will allow them an interpersonal part of the discussion.  I like the support that these authentic resources give my students while allowing them the opportunity to see new words.