Page contents > Research | Screenings | Resources Development | Blog (in Spanish) | Organisers & Contacts
Spanish in Motion focuses on the use of documentary films and cinema techniques in the acquisition of Spanish for specific purposes (i.e. the social, political and economic sciences). The project has four complementary areas:
Research
We focus on how the use of cinema techniques, used in the making of documentary films, can contribute towards enhancing motivation and learning during the acquisition of Spanish as a modern foreign language for specific purposes (i.e. social, political and economic sciences). The activities created, using cinema techniques, are published in our blog under the section called Con una cámara. The research will include the compilation of a database of documentary films related to the Hispanic world. In our blog, this section will be called Docuteca.
Screenings
The Spanish in Motion Team organises three screenings| per academic year of documentary films related to the Hispanic world. Each screening is followed by a discussion in Spanish with filmmakers or experts on the issues presented. As well as LSE students, the screenings are open to the general public and are well publicised amongst different institutions related to the Spanish-speaking world. Some of our screenings are organised jointly with the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies and all of them are organised in collaboration with the LSE Students Society of Cinema.
Resources Development
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The Spanish in Motion team creates language material to be used in the classroom before each screening to help students understand the social, political or economic context of the documentaries shown as well as to facilitate their linguistic comprehension. The team creates a student booklet and a teachers’ guide. For each screening, two sets of activities are created: one for level A2-B1 and one for level B2-C1 following the Common European Language Framework.
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The activities produced include video interviews with film directors or experts and audio material produced in-house.
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All those materials are sent via email to our mailing list which includes teachers of Spanish in universities and secondary schools. The material is also available at this web page (see Screenings) and they are also posted on our blog.
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Splash into Spanish/Cinema. This is a new activity for the Spanish in Motion Team. A section called Splash into Spanish will be introduced in some cinema events in London (such as the London Spanish Film Festival). In this section, the Spanish in Motion team will develop linguistic resources related to the documentary films presented in those events with the aim to create a link of communication between both cinema culture events and the Spanish classroom.
Blog (in Spanish)
A platform to publish and disseminate research and activities, to facilitate interaction with other teachers/students of Spanish (both in Higher Education and Secondary Schools) www.spanishinmotion.wordpress.com|. The blog includes the following sections: Docuteca (data base of documentary films), Con una cámara (activities based on cinema techniques) and, Ojo crítico (space for students to publish essays). The blog, a more flexible tool than a web page, allows us to receive feedback which will help us to measure our performance and impact.
Organisers & Contacts
Forthcoming events will be advertised here and via LSE Public Lectures and Events| but for further information please feel free to contact the Spanish in Motion Team (Lourdes Hernández-Martín|, Rafael Peñas-Cruz| & Roser Martinez-Sánchez|) please email languages.spanishinmotion@lse.ac.uk|.