Latin Music DVDS

I highly recommend showing one of  two videos to give your students a knowledgeable perspective on how latin music has influenced the music we listen to today:
 Latin Music USA 
 From Mambo to HipHop.

Which one should you consider showing...?


Advantages
  • You can watch/show it free online through the PBS website.   (Which gives you the option of assigning parts to watch at home or in a computer lab w/speakers)
  • This is a very well done and entertaining documentary. 
  • It can be viewed in English or Spanish (for upper levels).
  • PBS includes some online teaching materials in both languages.
  • Available for $29.95 plus S&H on Amazon.  Last time I checked, there were some used copies available for $19.95.
    Disadvantages
    • It is four hours long and takes up too much class time.  It is probably more detailed than it needs to be for a high school Spanish course.   You can, of course, show only selected parts.  The difficulty with this is knowing which parts to edit. 
    • I would not recommend this for middle school or younger due to the mention of drug use and a few choice words here and there.  At some point I will go and try to find exactly where they are so teachers can fast-forward if they think it is better to do so. 


    Advantages
    Disadvantages
    • Not available in Spanish
    • Not availble for free online (at least not that I've found).  You can watch it on YouTube (five minutes at a time), but what I found wasn't good quality.
    • I have ordered this but have not personally viewed it yet.  It has great reviews, but I cannot personally comment on the content, specifically if there is any inappropriate language.