MLA Projects 2015-16

1. Sharing time with Bala Perdida
Deysi Yazmin Aguirre Parra
Edinburgh
Short description of tasks
• Two pupils, whose mothers were from Cuba
and Spain respectively, read “Bala Perdida”.
This book is divided into small chapters and
the girls worked on different comprehension
activities. They later created a shadow play
with accompanying script based on the book.
Aims and Objectives
• increase motivation
• improve language learning skills
• Increase vocabulary and improve Grammar
• Share information about our countries
Language: Spanish
Target Pupil Group: S1
Number of pupils involved: 2
Start and Finish: January – March 2016

2. Relevance to CfE capacities
Successful Learners, who can reflect on how they have
acquired and learned their first language and how this can
assist them in further language learning
Confident Individuals who, through experiencing
success and support, can interact with others in real-life
situations, talk about topics of personal interest and deliver
presentations in their new language
Effective Contributors who can work in individual, paired
and group situations, and establish and maintain contact with
other speakers of the target language.
This project helped students to become:

3. Quotes from
learners/teachers
• “It is wonderful”
Head Teacher
• “It was a different way of
learning about another
culture”
Pupils
• “It’s a ludic way of learning a
language”
Teacher
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4. Additional Details
• It was amusing to compare some expressions used in the Cuban,
Spanish and Colombian culture. The pupils found similarities and
differences e.g. “Qué guay”, “genial”, “Qué chévere”
• Using the contents of the chapters as a starting point, we talked
about food, horror stories and traditions from our countries.
• Pupils learnt how to write a script and include these elements in
the process of writing their version of the chapter.
• It was interesting to me to see how engaged the pupils were in
reading, learning about other’s cultures and preparing the shadow
play (the script and the set). This kind of project would be useful
when a pupil already has some fluency in an additional language
and wants to improve his/her knowledge of it.
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