Sara-Elizabeth started #authres August. Authentic resources are resources that are made by native speakers for native speakers of your target language. I have seen some true engagement by my students over authentic resources because they are proud that they can understand it. Many times, authentic resources also have a lot of culture embedded in them. But, they can definitely be difficult to find! There have been times when I have been hitting myself over the head late at night watching video after video trying to find the perfect video for my class. Although I have shared many of my authentic resources on my blog (with accompanying activities) and on Pinterest, I wanted to create another list here. I will also add other resources that I have found recently by category. I did list some twice if they would work in multiple units.
Updated for 2017! I have added even more of the resources that I used last year. Also, Sara-Elizabeth mentioned authentic resources for true novices in her post. I have created a new section for novices along with how I would use them. (Hint! A lot of it involves editing!) Although you also have to reflect on your first unit and then find some that work for you. I really emphasize cognates in the beginning of the year in both Spanish I and II, so many of these help students start to recognize cognates.
- General favorites
- Muy interesante news
- Casi creativo videos about different topics in song form
- Magazine for women
- Pictoline here or on Facebook for some great and timely infographics (sometimes they are funny, too!)
- Novice authentic resources
- Use a TV schedule: Many of the TV shows are similar or the same to English. Then you can easily ask about the time or day as many teachers include that in the first few weeks.
- The same goes for a movie website! Students should be able to navigate around this website with minimal help from you to find some cognates and compare what movies are showing in the US versus Spain.
- Another schedule that would be easy to use is the NFL schedule on Fox Deportes. This also would be engaging for your students early in the year.
- I love these infographics about what I like about fall and five things that I like with plenty of pictures of help bolster understanding.
- Turn the Weather.com website into Spanish early on to incorporate into your daily weather routine. It has great graphics to boost understanding and you can discuss the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit. We used to guess what we thought the conversion would be which was fun. Also, it is so easy to focus on one country a month and pop over to see their weather. I really encourage JUST picking out the information you need, screenshot it and ignore the rest. There can be a lot of overload.
- Super pop is gone! I loved using the fichas on the website. I have found these new fichas, but they are much shorter. They could still be used for beginning students.
- Finally, I was skeptical about finding some videos for beginning students, but I found some cute videos that revolve around very little language on McDonald’s España! Plus, they are pretty funny! These would be VERY motivating for students that they could understand them. I would recommend these as a starting activity one day. This one involves getting a tattoo (but it would still fly in most schools) and this involves a man trying to impress a lady… until she orders a salad! (I can relate!) For the last one, I would stop it early because the end is not crucial to understanding.
- Introductions/describing yourself
- On the exam this year, I gave my level 1 students a video like this of Master Chef Juniors describing themselves. Students had to write down facts that they could understand from the videos.
- This video is also easy for novices to understand.
- Clothes unit
- Paris department store in Chile
- Dress code video series on YouTube
- Fashion blog
- Hola’s articles on Fashion Week in Madrid
- Commercial from Kohls
- A fashion vlog for men
- Check out Amazon reviews on clothes.
- Technology unit
- Infographic on how young people use social media
- An article on how young people use the Internet
- Supermercado Wong (also sells technology)
- Video: Are you addicted to your cell phone?
- The real meaning of emojis
- Favorite emojis in Spain
- Video: What is WhatsApp?
- Video: What is on my iPhone and how to use Instagram
- A Snapchat infographic!
- Environment unit
- Infographic on the island of trash in the ocean
- An article about the island of trash
- A YouTube video about the island
- Articles and infographics about reforestation in Mexico
- Ecotourism infographic
- Medical unit
- An article about how to prevent the flu
- An article about problems with texting and hand pain
- An infographic about the flu
- Listening exercises from the University of Texas describing an ailment
- Song: Aldrey’s La Lista which takes place in a hospital
- Infographics about healthy living
- Stroke video
- Uncomo article: How to cure a cold
- Los osos Berenstain visitan al médico video
- Celebrations unit
- This document has a list of different links for planning a birthday party with different stores/websites.
- Iberia Christmas commercial
- Articles about how to celebrate your birthday at different ages
- Infographic about New Year’s Eve celebrations
- Video for 12 grapes: New Year’s Eve
- Uncomo article on best movies for Halloween with a Google form with questions
- Food unit
- Supermercado Wong (Peru)
- Reviews of restaurants in Bolivia
- Supermercado La Torre (Guatemala)
- An infographic about how to behave at the table
- Recipes in pictures
- A plate version of the food pyramid
- The website for MasterChef Chile
- School menu
- A Youtube channel with Spanish food commercials
- An infographic about fast food restaurants in Spain
- Plaza Sesamo: Archibald and the hamburgers
- Youtube channel: Cocinemos juntos with videos cooking including a lot of food from Nicaragua
- Upper level food video: What to ask for at Starbucks (also if your students like this, check out the similar recommended videos!)
- City unit
- A map of Valencia, Spain to use when giving directions
- A guide of Parisian neighborhoods for Spanish tourists
- A list of fines for pedestrians
- An infographic about a marathon through Mexico City
- The YouTube site for Corte Inglés Travel
- Article on 48 hours in Santiago, Chile
- Another YouTube site for traveling around Spain
- School unit
- School supplies list/infographic
- Another infographic for school supplies
- Student schedule
- School year calendar for Mexico
- School menu
- Ad about returning to classes
- Ad about returning to classes and Nutella 🙂
- Plaza Sesamo: Gaby’s first day of classes
- Video about what one girl bought for back to school (You can search YouTube for a lot of these videos.)
- Likes and favorites unit
- Favorite fall items
- Plaza Sesamo: I like you
- To recap favorites and other intros, I really like these 50 cosas videos! Gibby is younger; Karol is older and easy to understand. (I edit these on EdPuzzle, so they aren’t as long!)
- Daily routine unit
- Survey: What type of perfume are you?
- Also I use this website for hygiene products.
- Daily routine vlogger
- Night time routine video by Pautips (TIP! Search YouTube for rutina diaria mañana/noche for updated videos! Each vlogger seems to come out with a new video detailing her daily routine every season!)
- Uncomo article on how to wake up happy in the morning
- Travel unit
- House unit
- Tour of vlogger’s home
- Video: Top5 mansions
- Article on decorating your home
- Website to allow students to find furniture to outfit their home (Also, you can read how I used it in class here.)
- This magazine has great pictures and short captions to use even in level 1.
- I love using AirBnB to look a home/apartment listings in Spain.
- General pop culture for class discussion
Hope that these helped you! Recently, I also wrote about how I find authentic resources. If you have an authentic resource to share, hop on over to Musicuentos to share yours! Also, if one of my links is incorrect or broken, please let me know, so I can update it!
Maris Hawkins 
Oh my gosh this is a goldmine. Thank you for posting and sharing!!
This is AWESOME! Thank you!! ❤💯☺
So glad that this is useful for you and that you found it! 🙂