MisCositas.com index Email us!
 
Los tres reyes: Music of Protest and Social Commentary for Students of Spanish
 
  Ruben Blades     Juanes     Juan Luis Guerra 
Artists left to right: Rubén Blades (Panamá), Juanes (Colombia), and Juan Luis Guerra (La República Domincana)
 
The lyrics of target language songs have always been an excellent source of language, culture, and content in the language classroom. Three performers in particular, Rubén Blades from Panamá, Juanes from Colombia, and Juan Luis Guerra from the Dominican Republic, sing songs filled with social commentary and political messages that both educate and engage students about the issues facing their respective countries and Latin America in general. In this presentation, participants explore several songs and learn a variety of activities designed to exploit the rich material in this contemporary music. We consider ways in which songs of protest and social commentary can be used in our own classrooms as a means of accessing contextualized language and cultural products, practices, and perspectives.
 

Resources for teaching Spanish through music: