Bringing Spanish to Life provides an innovative and refreshing cross-curricular approach to teaching languages in primary schools, combining art, design and foreign languages with various aspects of the National Primary Curriculum such as Literacy, Numeracy and PE. This unique practical resource comprises an engaging storyline about a day in the life of two Spanish children and gives an opportunity for learners to re-enact their day, using finger puppets, handmade crafts and exciting games to practise new language. Each of the 14 sections begins with a short accessible dialogue in Spanish and is followed by suggestions for using the new vocabulary in pairs, small groups or as a whole class. The main story is accompanied by fun craft activities linked to the story (one for each section, ie 14 in total) for children to create in class using the templates and instructions provided. A wide range of further activities follows, consisting of lively games, songs and opportunities to communicate simple ideas. Language extensions are suggested, focussing on imaginative writing and reading ideas linked to the theme of each section. Written to support the new foreign languages programme of study, the book also includes: * Cross-curricular links to numerous subjects including Literacy, Numeracy, PE and ICT * Classroom games and activities * Photocopiable resources and templates for fun classroom activities and projects * Language extension activities. Bringing Spanish to Life can be read on three levels to suit a variety of classroom situations. First, the story can be told ‘straight’ with the whole class participating in the dialogues. Second, the story can be combined with the craft activities after each main section. 14 doing and making activities match the storyline and provide a colourful, eye catching display and learning focus in the classroom or for Open Days or Assemblies. Teachers can use as many or as few as they wish. The resultant crafts can be used for very effective classroom displays/open days/assemblies etc. Finally, the language extension activities can be used alongside the art/craft/design activities as desired. The aim of these activities is to extend the target language in a relevant context through a variety of methods such as songs, playlets, simple communicative exchanges, games with numbers etc.

Bringing Spanish to Life provides an innovative and refreshing cross-curricular approach to teaching languages in primary schools, combining art, design and foreign languages with various aspects of the National Primary Curriculum such as Literacy, Numeracy and PE. This unique practical resource comprises an engaging storyline about a day in the life of two Spanish children and gives an opportunity for learners to re-enact their day, using finger puppets, handmade crafts and exciting games to practise new language. Each of the 14 sections begins with a short accessible dialogue in Spanish and is followed by suggestions for using the new vocabulary in pairs, small groups or as a whole class. The main story is accompanied by fun craft activities linked to the story (one for each section, ie 14 in total) for children to create in class using the templates and instructions provided. A wide range of further activities follows, consisting of lively games, songs and opportunities to communicate simple ideas. Language extensions are suggested, focussing on imaginative writing and reading ideas linked to the theme of each section. Written to support the new foreign languages programme of study, the book also includes: * Cross-curricular links to numerous subjects including Literacy, Numeracy, PE and ICT * Classroom games and activities * Photocopiable resources and templates for fun classroom activities and projects * Language extension activities. Bringing Spanish to Life can be read on three levels to suit a variety of classroom situations. First, the story can be told ‘straight’ with the whole class participating in the dialogues. Second, the story can be combined with the craft activities after each main section. 14 doing and making activities match the storyline and provide a colourful, eye catching display and learning focus in the classroom or for Open Days or Assemblies. Teachers can use as many or as few as they wish. The resultant crafts can be used for very effective classroom displays/open days/assemblies etc. Finally, the language extension activities can be used alongside the art/craft/design activities as desired. The aim of these activities is to extend the target language in a relevant context through a variety of methods such as songs, playlets, simple communicative exchanges, games with numbers etc.

A sweeping, authoritative history of 16th-century Spain and its legendary conquistadors, whose ambitious and morally contradictory campaigns propelled a small European kingdom to become one of the formidable empires in the world “The depth of research in this book is astonishing, but even more impressive is the analytical skill Cervantes applies. . . . [He] conveys complex arguments in delightfully simple language, and most importantly knows how to tell a good story.” —The Times (London) Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus's first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers that took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares. In their own time, they were glorified as heroic adventurers, spreading Christian culture and helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. Today, they stand condemned for their cruelty and exploitation as men who decimated ancient civilizations and carried out horrific atrocities in their pursuit of gold and glory. In Conquistadores, acclaimed Mexican historian Fernando Cervantes—himself a descendent of one of the conquistadors—cuts through the layers of myth and fiction to help us better understand the context that gave rise to the conquistadors' actions. Drawing upon previously untapped primary sources that include diaries, letters, chronicles, and polemical treatises, Cervantes immerses us in the late-medieval, imperialist, religious world of 16th-century Spain, a world as unfamiliar to us as the Indigenous peoples of the New World were to the conquistadors themselves. His thought-provoking, illuminating account reframes the story of the Spanish conquest of the New World and the half-century that irrevocably altered the course of history.

In 1803 in the colonial South American city of La Plata, Doña Martina Vilvado y Balverde presented herself to church and crown officials to denounce her husband of more than four years, Don Antonio Yta, as a “woman in disguise.” Forced to submit to a medical inspection that revealed a woman’s body, Don Antonio confessed to having been María Yta, but continued to assert his maleness and claimed to have a functional “member” that appeared, he said, when necessary. Passing to América is at once a historical biography and an in-depth examination of the sex/gender complex in an era before “gender” had been divorced from “sex.” The book presents readers with the original court docket, including Don Antonio’s extended confession, in which he tells his life story, and the equally extraordinary biographical sketch offered by Felipa Ybañez of her “son María,” both in English translation and the original Spanish. Thomas A. Abercrombie’s analysis not only grapples with how to understand the sex/gender system within the Spanish Atlantic empire at the turn of the nineteenth century but also explores what Antonio/María and contemporaries can teach us about the complexities of the relationship between sex and gender today. Passing to América brings to light a previously obscure case of gender transgression and puts Don Antonio’s life into its social and historical context in order to explore the meaning of “trans” identity in Spain and its American colonies. This accessible and intriguing study provides new insight into historical and contemporary gender construction that will interest students and scholars of gender studies and colonial Spanish literature and history. This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses and the Association of Research Libraries—and the generous support of New York University. Learn more at the TOME website: openmonographs.org.

Witness the chilling chronicle of colonial atrocities and the mistreatment of indigenous peoples in 'A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies'. Written by the compassionate Spanish Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas in 1542, this harrowing account exposes the heinous crimes committed by the Spanish in the Americas. Addressed to Prince Philip II of Spain, Las Casas' heartfelt plea for justice sheds light on the fear of divine punishment and the salvation of Native souls. From the burning of innocent people to the relentless exploitation of labor, the author unveils a brutal reality that spans across Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba.

The early years of the Franco regime saw the formation of a strong governmental propaganda apparatus. Through expansive press laws that solidified state control over public and private media outlets alike, the Franco government directly influenced what information was made available to the public. While music critics and journalists were by no means free from government control and direction, music criticism under the Franco regime did not adhere to any official party "line" on music. Indeed, music criticism often demonstrated a diversity of opinion and ideological belief that runs counter to many common assumptions about journalism under fascist regimes. In Music Criticism and Music Critics in Early Francoist Spain, Eva Moreda Rodríguez presents a kaleidoscopic portrait of the diverse and often divergent writings of music critics in the early years of the Franco regime. Although she does not shy away from the thorny issues of propaganda and censorship, Moreda Rodríguez considers other factors that shaped the journalistic discourse surrounding music. Political rivalries, ideological diversity within musical "conservatism," as well as the explicit and implicit expectations of the Franco government all influenced the diverse landscape of music criticism. Moreover, the central issues that music critics were concerned with during Francoism's early years-modernist music, Spanish early music, traditional music, and music's role in organizing the state-had already been at the center of debates within the press for several decades. Carefully selecting contemporary writings by well-known music critics, Moreda Rodríguez contextualizes music criticism written during the Franco regime within the broader intellectual history of Spain from the nineteenth century onwards. The first critical study of the musical press of Francoist Spain in the broader cultural and social fabric of the regime, Music Criticism and Music Critics in Early Francoist Spain is an essential resource for musicologists interested in 20th-century Spain, as well as Hispanists interested in the early Franco regime.