This is a great song that I found on Señor Jordan’s blog. It is excellent practice for the structures “tengo” and “vale más que”. Below are some basic lesson plans; you can purchase a much more complete lesson plan bundle that includes readings, slideshows, and additional activities and assessments here.
Here is the lyrics and activities sheet that I created:
Lesson Plan:
Day One (15-20 minutes)
- Introduce the terms “tengo” and “vale más que”. “Tengo” was review for all my the classes, but “vale más que” was a new expression for them. I did not do a full-on vocabulary introduction at this point, but instead chose to wait until tomorrow.
- Have the students keep a tally of the number of times that they hear ‘tengo’ and ‘vale más que’ as they listen to the song for the first time. I think that there are 33 “tengos” and 7 “vale más ques”, but I keep losing count of the tengos with the chorus repetitions! Let me know if you think that 33 is right or wrong.
- Play the song again and have them check their numbers to see if they get the same count.
- Explain the rules for “Trading Up” and give everyone a paperclip.
Day Two (Full class period)
- For the Campanada, start with these questions: (1) ¿Un carro Mercedez vale más que un carro Dodge? (2) ¿Qué tienes en tu casa? (Students write responses in complete sentences, then we review them.)
- Debrief “Trading Up”
- Distribute lyrics sheets. Listen to the song again, and have students tap the table with a finger each time they hear/read “tengo”, and raise their left hand each time they hear/read “vale más que”.
- Have students complete the reading comprehension questions on the back of the song lyrics sheet.
- Collect the papers (if you are using it as an assessment) or don’t if you’re not.
- PQA: Start with an example that Sie7e writes in the song, like “El tiempo vale más que un Rolex” (Time is worth more than a Rolex). He is talking about intangible things being worth more than tangible things in many of his examples. Ask questions like «¿El dinero vale más que el amor?» (Is money worth more than time?). Here are some things to compare: friends, family, money, time, pride, intelligence, wisdom, character, respect, faith.
Day Three (5 minutes)
Listening assessment: Write a short first-person narrative about what someone has/doesn’t have and what they value, and have students listen and take notes.
Hi Martina,
I have no idea how to do accent marks on this ancient keyboard I am using at home..
But I did this lesson plan with my Spanish II class. It was great! One day (after playing them the song) I passed them cut outs of random objects as they waked in the door. I wrote the name of the object on the back so that they would know what they had (inteligencia, educaccion, casa grande, familia buena, un gato, chocolate, un libro, un billete de avion, etc.) Each of the students had a different item. They had to walk about the room and ask “Que tienes?” and record each other’s answers. They then had to decide “Que vale mas?” After, they had to decide out of all of the items what thing “vale mas que todo.” I held up the various items 2 at a time and ask a class we talked about which was worth more and when they could “Por que?” The topic that REALLY got them talking was “Vale mas los amigos o un novio/novia?” Also “vale mas ser guapa o ser inteligente?”
I love the activity with the random objects. My lower level kids had a hard time explaining reasons for the value of concepts, so I think they would have had more success with concrete objects. I will definitely use this next time I do the lesson. THANKS EMILY! Also, my ex-students totally love you 🙂 I keep having visitors that talk about their wonderful new Spanish teacher and how thankful they are for you!!
Love this!!
Gracias Martina!
I did this song the two days before Thanksgiving. We tied it into family values and being thankful for non-materialistic things. I love the song and enjoyed all of the activities you recommended. One thing I did differently was for the Campana exercise on day two was I put maybe 15 nouns from the lyrics on the board and had my students write 4 sentences where they attached values using “vale más que”. They were getting exposure to the vocab while thinking deeply about qualities as well as some less manstreem objects.
Thank you!
PS… How do you find the time to do all that you do???? And teach and grade and…
Very cool! It was smart to use vocabulary from the song in the Campanada so that they are getting more exposure to it, like you said. I will steal that as a part of the song activities next time I teach this lesson 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Did this lesson today! Sooo fun!! Thank you so much!!!
Hi! I’m looking for some good, catchy, up-beat, and clean songs for my level 1’s. I really like this song, but am worried about the line with “table dance.” Has this been an issue for anyone? If so, how do you get around it?
I am VERY careful about the music that I use in my classes, even though my students are far more comfortable than I am with anything crass. I had no issues using this because of the way in which it is used: love is worth more than a table dance. Even with my younger students (both in age and in maturity), they were able to grab hold of the thought that a loving, committed relationship is more valuable than a fleeting kiss. And frankly I didn’t spend any time on it unless the kids brought it up!
Hi Martina!
At iflt, you presented a PPT with Tengo tu Love. Is that available on TPT or here on the site?
Hi Martina!
At iflt you presented a PPT for Tengo tu Love. Is that available on TPT or on this site?