At this time of the the year one of the most common songs in Spanish classrooms has got to be Eres Tú.  The Spanish singing group Mocedades launched to fame in the U.S. in the 1970’s with this simple tune in Spanish filled with images of affection.  I remember learning this song in junior high Spanish class.  Eres Tú  is still popular at weddings in the Spanish-speaking world.  Here is a YouTube of the original song with lyrics in Spanish:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMomB_39o40.

Ah yes, its Valentine’s Day.  A day filled with candy superstitiously snarfed in class, giant teddy bears and flowers delivered to classrooms (!?), oh yeah, and Mylar balloon bouquets clogging the halls.  Makes me sick, so here is an activity for the 99% that do not have a steady boyfriends/girlfriends at this time of the year.  Now its their chance to strike back at the smarminess by creating a version of Eres Tú for their ex.  Occupy Valentine’s Day!

I have provided scaffolding for the song and given lists of recommended vocabulary for students to create a somewhat uglier version (Let’s be mean, but keep it clean, kids!).  It is free for download as a service to the common weal at this special time of the year: http://www.brycehedstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/EL-AMOR-APESTA-Mean-Version-of-Eres-Tu1.pdf

At all levels we are obviously focused on delivering comprehensible input during class time, but I like doing output activities like this one every so often.  This particular activity has always been self-motivating, self-differentiating and wicked fun for my students.  Here are a few comments by teachers about this tender activity:

“OMG! You have changed my teaching life for the better!!!!!  I have the video ‘Tommy Boy’ and will show that segment where they sing Eres tu before we start the lesson. ¡Muchísimas gracias!”  –Catalina Kozy

“Brilliant!  I love it!  Thanks!”  –Susan B. Johnson

“Ummm……. AWESOME. LOL”  –Eliza Rivas

“¡Bryce…eres un genio y comiquísimo, arriba de todo!  Mil gracias.”  –Viviam Clark

“Thank you for sharing this, Bryce. Very funny.”  –Skip Crosby

If your students do this activity I would love to see YouTube versions of it.  I am going to ask my students to post theirs.  Here are a couple of karaoke versions of the tune to get them going:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfvBS1v1Olo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRQnQ3weWZg