I have really loved reading the message board for a long time, yet never posted before now! I was just offered a new course to teach called "Contemporary Spain". I am THRILLED yet I know it is a daunting task. It is a senior elective in the high school I teach at. I can approach the topic any way I would like to...it is all up to me. I need to find a good text book (if there is one!) and also think of an interesting syllabus. It is a one semester course. I would love to hear other's ideas and suggestions for the course as I am planning it. It will be in September, so I have a good amount of time to plan. some basic questions:
What movies would you suggest represent contemporary Spain?
What music?
Should I start with the Civil War as a backdrop?
Etc.
I hope to make this a fantastic couse...I know I will LOVE talking about Spain everyday...Just hope the seniors will too...(senioritis is what is scring me I guess...) Sorry for rambling on. I really respect all of your opinions. I feel like I have come to know you all in a spiritual way as I have been reading all of your thoughts and yearnings for Spain. Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions. Hasta luego. Marilena

Hello marilena and welcome to our Spain-Loving group!

I would think any student which takes this course as an elective must/might have SOME interest in Spain already, no? I would think you'd have PLENTY of material to share with them. Where in the world (i.e. USA, Russia, Antarctica?) are you teaching this course?? Your location isn't listed in your profile. I was just curious.

We have MANY educators here on the board and many Spanish teachers as well. Maybe even some of our Spaniard friends here would have suggestions.

Good luck and enjoy the course! Saludos, MadridMan

Marilena writes: U.S. High School 'seniors' will view the Spanish Civil War as ancient history; although you might reference it from time to time in your course. Contemporary Spain, in my view, begins with the death of Dictator Francisco Franco and beginning of a Parliamentary Monarchy with a King & Queen (like the U.K.).
I don't know of a good, English language textbook on Contemporary Spain; there may be one somewhere.
You'll undoubtedly have to include some Physical and economic geography. Your seniors may not be interested in the highways and railroads but when you get to Spain's 1,500 or so miles of beaches, that might get their attention. If they don't like the beaches, try the ski slopes. You may also stress that tourism is one of Spain's major industries.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could take the class to Spain at the end of the semester?

For a contemporary view of Spain, the movie: Todo para mi Madre comes to mind. I may have that title wrong: The words Todo and mi Madre are in the title and I believe it won a best Picture award at the Cannes film festival a few years ago. It's a bit raw, probably rated 'R' here in the U.S. I liked it because it depicts a totally contemporary view of Madrid and Barcelona
Let's see what other people suggest ...
You'll want to keep some classical guitar music going in the background for some of your lectures (but Spanish Popular music is not all that different from U.S. popular music.

If I come up with an idea for a text, I will add it to this post. ¡Suerte!

Hi.

If you want to show a spanish movie that shows what kind of movies we like, you should choose ... TORRENTE

Yes, I know that all of you are going to say that this is a rubbish but, it was the spanish film that got the highest amount of revenues of all our history until "the others" movie came. Ah!, by the way, the main actor in TORRENTE is Santiago Segura and appears in the new film BLADE II!!!. Soon he will be more famous than Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas in the U.S.

Before TORRENTE movie was finished, the spanish film with the highest movigoers was "AIRBAG", another fool and funny movie. :p

I want to remark that maybe, those two films are not the best movies that our country has created, those films are just the two spanish films most seen in our country (before "the others" appeared), so I suppose that they are showing what the spaniards want to see.

bye!

Thanks for your ideas so far. Eddie, I also think that the Civil War is the start...I was thinking of La casa de Bernarda ALba by Garcia Lorca to show the repression as a start off point. I agree that I can entice them with the cultural aspects of Spain, but I have to get into the nittygritty, so a textbook would be helpful. I am in search of one, so if anyone has ANY ideas...thanks
As for movies: I haven't seen Torrente yet, so I will preview it soon.
I know Almodovar is popular, yet I don't think I would want to show more than one of his films. There are so many other good ones.
As for taking them to Spain at the end of the semester...ojala
BTW...i am in NYC, so there are lots of cultural opportunities too that are right here.
Keep your ideas coming and GRACIAS
mari

marilena,

I tend to agree with Eddie, but at the same time, I think the situation that caused the 1931 revolution, and the Civil War which began in 1936 will give a great background as to why circumstances played out the way they did. Franco's era would also be important. Not to be neglected.

There are a wealth of online areas which deal with the civil war era. It's possible that era could be dealt with through selected sources online, to insure that you have all sides of the issues properly represented.

As far as a specific text, I don't know that I can say there is one that is offered, but you might check for a college level course that offers a text for "Modern Spain," circa 1960 to present, to get a true comparison of the two distinctly different types of governments, and business practices, that exist. Here's one reference that may be of interest to you though, since it takes a third party point of view of the transition period...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0...6149479-6514205

Hope this helps! I think you may be starting a fantastic course for young people who can start to understand a wonderful and interesting culture that has affected our own US culture in so many ways.

Wolf

Wow! What an exciting opportunity. I wish I could teach that course! I just took some graduate courses on FL instruction last summer and one of them was on that very topic. Most of the info was "review" for me but very interesting nonetheless. I think you must speak of the civil war to give the students some perspective of the changes that take place in the second half of the century. One way to combat senioritis would be to focus on la movida towards the end; I can't imagine any teen not taking an interest in that time period. I can look at the syllabus we used for the course (I'm away on business right now but I'd be happy to search for it when I return home). I can send you a copy of the materials we used. Granted, it was all in Spanish, but you could get some good ideas. Is your course going to be taught in English or in Spanish? Just the thought of it is getting me excited.

I guess Wolf was on the same wave length as me!

You might try The New Spaniards by John Hooper as a textbook. It's a good read and sound enough introduction to modern Spain. By the way, a quick search through good old google turned up a lot of info on such courses. Of course I'm not suggesting you rip off someone else's syllabus, but have a look and get some ideas. Here's one for example I just saw:
http://www.stedwards.edu/hum/randle/cfstudy.htm
A good civil war movie for example is Ken Loach's Lad and Freedom. While a fascinating subject in itself, try not to get bogged down too much in the Spanish Civil War. That conflict would easily make a course in itself, and indeed needs one to do both it, and those who fought for the Republic, justice.
Anyway, best of luck

A good example of today's Spanish cinema is the movie 'Abre los ojos', the original version of the American film Vanilla Sky. Another good one that takes place in the Spanish war times is 'La niña de tus ojos'(sort of a musical), or the award winning 'Belle Epoque' starring Penélope Cruz too. One that's a good example of the most modern style is 'Los Amantes del Círculo Polar', ....

Gee! I can think of many recent good movies, but most of them I guess aren't suitable for you to show your H.S. students!!!

I tought a similar course (more focused on literature, though) to this as a mid-level college course. I started with the generation of '98. It's always the chicken and the egg thing: if you want to cover the civil war, you have to get into the causes of it, which means going further back, etc.

I would definitely give the students an overview of Spain (maybe 1-2 weeks) up until your official "start period." Mark Williams' _The Story of Spain_ is a very accesible overview of all of Spanish history. It is somewhat "light", but should be ideal for high schoolers. Raymond Carr's books (especially _Modern_Spain) are excellent textbooks for the period in question, but more academic than Williams. He also has general overviews. Hooper's _The New Spaniards_ is an excellent account of the post-Franco period.

Literature and philosophy: I would hit Unamuno, Lorca, maybe Galdos, Ortega y Gasset, Azorin, Cela, and, if you want to get a little more edgy, Carme Riera and Terenci Moix. More conservative would be Gironella.

Movies (yes, Torrente!), Almdodovar, Saura, etc. Bunuel's films are also interesting. Some Franco-era cinema would be a good contrast.

"La movida" makes an interesting topic in terms of the emergence from dictatorship.

At any rate, it should be a lot of fun for both ou and the students. Good luck.

shoot, I forgot the Civil war entirely. I agree that it would take a course in and of itself. There are several excellent textbooks on it from which you could draw excerpts. A collection called "Blood of Spain" provides a fascinating series of first person accounts. An intelligent and suitable recent movie is "The Butterfly." Orwell comes to mind as well.

Michener's _Iberia_ is a good travelogue, and excerpts from it would be useful as well.

Spanish Civil War from the Loyalist perspective, as a third party - George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia .

For good pictures, the online collections by Robert Capa. They can be found everywhere.

From a third party, Republican perspective, Comrades by Harry Fisher, Pete Seeger, is a good view. It shows the US involvement with the International Brigades, but you have to remember that the views expressed are equated with the Communist Party in the US. I think that's what makes it an interesting read, and gives a good POV. There's also the anarchist point of view but I wouldn't bother going with that. But it is interesting how the anarchists fought, but had a real problem following orders.

Wolf

I know, it's the wrong thread, but I don't altogether agree with the wise Wolf on this one. The anarchist and socialist, and indeed anti-Stalinist, anti-Communist party, position makes for a very interesting read. Remember they fought totalitarianism on two fronts. But that's another story and will take us away from the point at hand. That's why it's a bit tricky trying to cover the complex conflict in a short course.

hombre_gizon, "Airbag" rocks! I hacked my DVD so that I could watch DVDs from Europe just for that movie!!

Back on topic, I happened to like reading some of Hemmingways books that involved Spain and his newspaper reports from Spain during the war as well.

I did not recommend The Spanish Civil War as a beginning topic for your Contemporary Spain course. I did say that H.S. Seniors would consider it as 'ancient history.' Just the posts you have seen here should give you an idea how easy it is to get mired in controversy about that conflict.
Spain is more than Bullfights and Flamenco. The national sport is soccer (Futbol). They work out their regional hostilities on the football pitch (with the help of players from las Americas, Italy and the Czech Republic). Spain hosted the Summer Olympics in 1992 and the President of the Olympic Committee is a Catalonian from Barcelona.
Spain is a large, geographically diverse country: still considered la Madre Patria by many Hispanics. As a N.Y. High School teacher you undoubtedly have students of the Hispanic persuasion. But Spain is a European country, a member of the European Union and NATO. The Euro is now used (no more pesetas). They had a train (AVE) like the Acela (just put in service on the northeast corridor) since 1992. IMHO, Spain did not get a 'fair shake' in their bid to provide that service using Talgo technology: a technology developed in Spain for high speed service in mountainous terrain based on the design of the undercarriage rather than railbed replacement. Instead, U.S. lobbyists & politicians scoffed at Spanish Technology as an oxymoron (although Spain was ready to deliver) and bought the older French technology so that (railbeds had to be replaced) implementation was delayed more than 2-years. In many ways Spain is more advanced than the U.S. 'Quality of life' for the average person in Spain is better than that of the average American; and they are, for the most part, much more civilized ...

Re. Federico Garcia-Lorca: When I lived in Madrid in the 1960's there was someone on Madrid Radio who would read Garcia-Lorca's poetry on the air with such passion: Garcia-Lorca was a great poet; but he was also an homosexual and it is said by many that's why the Guardia Civil killed him. To dwell to much on his life & times might not be a very good idea for H.S. Seniors. (BTW: I have the complete works of Garcia-Lorca, in Spanish, on my bookshelf).
P.S.
I am a native New Yorker. I went to High School at 164th & Walton Ave. in the Bronx; but that's also ancient history ...

WOW! What a great response... You guys are WONDERFUL...I am off to a quick weekend get away, so I cannot respond right now in depth...Only one thing: The course will be taught en español ,nevado...and I would love your ideas When I get back from the weekend I will get in touch. Talk to you all on Monday Mil gracias...

There is some great music in Contemporary Spain. A great suggestion for any class would be the poems that Paco Ibanez sings on his album En El Olympia, recorded in France during the time of Franco. When Paco sings Rafael Alberti's Balada del que nunca fue a Granada and A Galopar, you feel the experience of those who were outside of Spain because of Franco. Palabras Para Julia de Goytisolo is incredible too.

Other music recommendations:

Mecano, Joan Manuel Serrat

Yes! Some music groups worth checking out are Mecano, Radio Futura, Gabinete Caligari, or La Oreja de Van Gohg. I would stay away from others like Estopa, too much slang can be quite confusing for your students, in my view.

Saludos,

p

P.S.: Girls specially might appreciate the music of Ella Baila Sola

Hi everyone
I just re-read everyone's ideas...and they are so thought- provoking.
About textbooks: I, also, thought of Williams' The Story of Spain and Hooper's The New Spaniards as good introductions. Yet , I should not have them read too much in English. (it is a Spanish language course!) I haven't read Raymond Carr's Modern Spain--but I will. I am also very interested in Blood of Spain. I hadn't heard of it before--and it sounds interesting. I also hadn't thought of Roberet Capa's photos. So, thanks. I was at a language teacher's conference in Manhattan on Friday and I saw some possible books in Spanish...one especially caught my eye: España, ayer y hoy by Carmen Mora. It seems simple and direct; perfect for high school.
About movies: I will llook at Land and Freedom, Torrente and Los amantes del círculo polar. I have seen the others you all mentioned and I have to choose. Being a one semester course we don't have time to see so many movies in class. (although I know they would love to spend senior year watching movies !!!) So, I may suggest them to see as extra credit assignments.
Butterfly is one of my favorites. I will have them read the short story by M. Rivas first.
Cooter, you are so right about the "chicken and egg" syndrome...they do need to know a little of what was happening before to understand the Guerra Civil and all of the implications...yet I don't want to focus on it too much ( I may "lose" them!)
nevado, La movida will DEFINITELY interest them, so can anyone suggest any books or articles on it. thanks for offering the syllabus you used; I would LOVE to look at it. I will email you soon.
As for literature: has anyone read Angeles Mastretta's Mujeres de ojos grandes or Almudena Grandes' Modelos de mujer?? Should I consider them for high school...I have not read them yet. Any thoughts?
Pim, I would love to hear Ella baila sola...do you think I can find them in the States? caminante, Paco Ibañez is one of my favorites...so I will defintely be using his work.
well, thanks for your ideas so far and keep thinking...

I agree that the Civil War is a good place to start. As a teacher I see loads of ways to integrate that with other subjects. You could do a literature tie in and read For Whom the Bell Tolls, which I think is an amazing book. You could also do some art history (Guernica). The possibilities are endless. It would be hard to find an appropriate film for high school students. Most of the ones I know that are available over here with subtitles are rated R. I know in my spanish class we loved watching the ones that were dubbed into English. I remember watching Star Wars in Spanish and thinking that was hilarious. This is a great time to teach a course on Contemporary Spain. It seems with the post September 11th mess Spain has been in the American papers quite frequently for rounding up terrorists and that might be a good way to get into the political system.

I think an Almadovar movie would be the best social backdrop to "understand" Spain. I think the confusing confliting yet real aspects presented in many of of his movies would draw moth/flame senioritis killing interest and thus would give you a basis to begin the Civil War and then you could end class with another Almadovar movie. Your course theme could be: Modern Spain: Traditional yet Contemp, Regional yet National, Liberal yet Conservative, old yet new, and yet.... none of the above.

Being a teacher, I think you would have a hard time getting away with showing an Almodovar film in an American high school. Almost all of the ones I have seen are rated R and Tie me up! Tie Me Down! is an NC-17. Although I agree that would be a good way to start/end a course I think you may have some problems with parents/administrators. Also you need to keep in mind that all high school seniors aren't 18 or even 17. I had a late birthday and was 16 when my senior year started.

There is no problem showing Almodovar's films...it is a VERY liberal school and I can really choose just about anything. I know this group has already seen (and liked) Mujeres...
I don't want to show any American films dubbed in Spanish...Not authentic! I am grateful for your ideas. Thanks.

I'm currently reading "The New Spaniards" by John Hooper as mentioned above. It was stolen from my public library so I ordered it from Amazon for $12.

Good book and lots of detail. I especially enjoyed the section on the Spanish royal family. Juan Carlos is and interesting man.

I second (or is third) the Hooper book The New Spaniards. Sorry there doesn't seem to be a Spanish version.

I taught in public schools for five years and although I personally do not watch those films that are rated "R", I did screen "Women on the Verge..." for my AP students during the final sememster of school. I ran the permission slip, got administrative approval with my supporting explanation, and they bought into it. The end result was a class of Spanish students who FINALLY were able to see a movie, in Spanish, that was well-made, hilarious, and gave them a different perspective on Spain.

We had discussions on what was and wasn't appropriate for Spaniards under Franco (absolutely no pornography on the streets vs. today's glut of it), and the film provided a springboard into numerous other topics. That is probably Almodóvar's tamest offering to date (language and innuendo, but little nudity other than Carmen Maura in a see-through bra).

Additionally, we got into the philosophy of whether Spain is better off today with all of its "freedom" vs. the rigid rule of Franco. (That's not the topic of my thread, and reread this: I made NO comment as to when they were better off...so don't even go there!! )

I also agree that "contemporary Spain" has its roots in the intellectual renaissance brought on by the "Generación del '98". You can easily segue into Camilo José Cela, etc. (watch your langauge Don José...) and others who were influenced by those of '98. This also provides you with a multitude of "texts" from which to draw, as Lorca, Unamuno, and others produced some of the greatest novellas, poetry and thoughts, period.

I envy you...I envy your great opportunity...and none of us will ever talk to you again if you don't post your syllabus for all to see and enjoy!!

¡Te deseamos un mogullón de suerte en esta aventura!

I am getting very excited about the course and it is still a few months away. I ordered a copy of Ella baila sola, and one of the latest from La oreja de Van Gogh. I also orded a copy of Raymond Carr's book. I saw it for a great price on half.com
Nevado, if you have found that syllubus yet..I would love to look at it for some ideas. Thanks so much for the offer! Also,Madridman, I received the video today...and I am REALLY looking forward to seeing it. THANKS and a special thank you for the little surprise you sent with it! Thanks to everyone for your ideas and good wishes.

well everyone, we are now into the semester a bit so I decided to let you all know how things are doing...

I am having a blast! ( As I expected...how could I not, being able to focus on Spain and all things Spanish every day )

I gave them a quiz to see how much they already knew on the first day of classes. Of course I didn't grade the quiz. It was good to see what I was starting with. I then gave an intro to the geography and early history of the country and its people. They seemed to enjoy that a lot.

We, of course, are listening to music every day! Today was Ana Belen singing the poetry of García Lorca.

We started speaking about the Spanish society and the land hierarchy ...and we viewed the film " El abuelo" Excellent choice!! It was a great background piece. Fernán Gómez is great in this film. The students really were able to have a good discussion on the value of "la honra".

I then got into the history surrounding the Civil War. I had a friend of mine ( a history teacher who is very well versed on the Asturian miners protest of the Civil War.) come in to really give them a good basis.

We just finished seeing "Ay Carmela" this week and it was also well received. Having a good background on the war really helped them understand the emotional outbursts by Carmela ( Carmen Maura).

And now, I am moving on to Federico García Lorca I adore Lorca! We will be reading some poetry from "Romancero gitano", and then "La casa de Bernarda Alba." We will even get to see the play here in NY a Repertorio Español . They always do wonderful productions.

Sorry to go on and on; but I wanted to just let everyone know that things are going very well and Muchas gracias por vuestras ideas y opiniones...

I'm glad that all is working out for you, and although I could never teach a class as the one that you are doing for lack of interest in culture and history, to each his own. The main thing is that you stimulate the students and keep their interest and it seems that you are doing that well. I made chicken fajitas and quesadillas in my class and the kids loved it. Food is something else that you can introduce to your class. I had everyone bring something and I made the food right there.

Keep posting and letting us know how it goes.

Shawn

SO glad to hear all is going well!!! That's great news. Just wait 'til you get them addicted to Eserejé , the Las Ketchup song!! hehehe.. Please keep us posted!

Saludos, MadridMan

marilena,
You sound like the kind of teacher we all wished we had been lucky enough to get! Sounds as if you are instilling a tremendous love of Spain, its culture, history and language in your students. Good for you!

your class sounds wonderful!
I took a class on Modern Spanish History in college, and another on the Literature of the Civil War. They were fantastic, and really gave me a good grasp on Spanish life when i decided to study abroad in Sevilla.
Have you seen the movie Bienvenido Mr. Marshall? I thought that one was fantastic!

Some suggestions on the syllabus if you go any of these routes:

RE: new spaniards, make sure you use the revised edition which was (relatively) recently updated.

RE: cinema: there are actually quite a few books on spanish cinema: from my library are the following:
by Pedro Almodóvar: Patty Diphusa and other writings
A spanish labyrinth: The films of Pedro Almodóvar
by Mark Allison, publisher: I.B.Tauris, 2001
Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar
by Paul Julian Smith, 2nd Ed., 2000
Out of the Past: Spanish Cinema After Franco
by John Hopewell, 1986

I also have quite a library of DVD's that I bought at Corte Ingles and eBay which I believe I can record onto VHS for educational purposes only (although since most of them aren't available in the US no copyright laws would be violated by sharing for coursework). I think de la Iglesia's work is interesting, and especially Amenabar (Tesis, The Others, Abre Los Ojos); Almodóvar, while I think he´s great, may not be the "best" representation of modern Spanish culture/cinema, however you choose to define it. Also, Solas, as I belive someone recommended. There are also gay-queer-indie cinema titles, and I have titles on that as well, some of which have been released here on region 1, actually.

re: "cultural studies" (again, however you define it), I can recommend some collections on this subject, as follows:
Spanish Cultural Studies: An Introduction
Edited by Helen Graham and Jo Labanyi, Oxford Press 1995
Understanding Spain, Julián Marías, trans. by Frances M. López-Morillas, Univ. of Mich. Press, 1992
Contemporary Spanish Cultural Studies, by Barry Jordan and Rikki Morgan-Tamosunas, Oxford Press (via Arnold), 2000
Cambridge Companion to Modern Spanish Culture, edited by David T. Gies, Cambridge Press, 1999
Contemporary Spain: A Handbook, edited by Christopher J. Ross, Oxford Press(via Arnold, again), 1997

Good luck formulating the syllabus. If you are REALLY curious on the included essays, if you can´t find them anywhere, let me know and I´ll send you the indices, or if you have a specific focus, I can look through and see which chapters may apply. I´m at druship@yahoo.com

To be fair, I must confess I haven't read all of these, but they are sitting on my shelf, yelling at me to read them before my next trip (Dec/Jan = Sol and grapes!!!!)

Dru

Ok, wiping the egg off my face, I see this is a bit in the too-late-to-be-useful category...anyway, for what it's worth, there it is. And thank you for teaching a class on this topic.

Druship, thanks for posting. I'm sure there are many here who can benefit from your contributions!

Marilena,
I have to apologize for not having sent the materials you requested. I moved in June and still haven't received all of my things, school materials among others, sorry. Having said that, it looks as though you are doing a fantastic job. Your course seems amazing. I'm going to hit you up for YOUR ideas! If you're still interested in some additional resources, let me know and I'll dig them up once the slow boat from China gets here! lots of luck, Nevado

Dru, thanks so much for your additional ideas and resources...I know what you mean about having amazing books on your bokshelves just calling out to you to read. I will look into some of them. The movie suggestions are really appreciated too.
Nevado, thanks for not forgetting me...I understand about the move...Happily, I AM doing okay, and I can say that I know I would have loved to take this class when I was in school.

I do have a problem that I know all high school teachers can understand. Senior apathy ( senioritis! ) and I bet next semester will be worse. Right now they are so involved in thinking about college applications that they are not REALLY with me half the time in class.

Anyway, thanks everyone!

thought you might like to "take " this pretest I will be giving to my students next semester to see their knowledge and thoughts on Contemprary Spain:
Me interesa mucho averiguar cuánto ya sabéis acerca de España. Respondad a las preguntas que podéis. Si no sabéis la respuesta, más vale adivinar (to guess). (una adivinanza razonable)

· España se encuentra en ____________________.
· La capital de España es ____________________.
· Algunas otras ciudades de España son _______________________________________________
________________________________________________.
· La lengua oficial de España es el___________________. Otros idiomas que se hablan son ________________________________________________.
· La forma del gobierno español es _____________________________________.
· El presidente de España se llama________________________.
· La religión predominante es____________________________.
· Su dinero se llama __________________________________.
· La formas más populares del ocio( entertainment) son ________________________________________________.
· ¿Puedes nombrar unos artistas, escritores, directores de películas o músicos (pasados o actuales) ? _______________________________________________ ________________________________________________
· ¿Puedes nombrar unas obras literarias, pinturas, o películas españolas?
__________________________________________________
· ¿El problema social más grave?_____________________________
· ¿Los temas políticos más importantes?_______________________
· ¿Los problemas económicos más graves?_____________________
· ¿Los productos que se importan a los EEUU?________________________________________
_______________________________________
· ¿Qué crees que valoran más los españoles?________________________________________
· ¿Se puede obtener un divoricio en España? Si; No; No Sí
· ¿Cuántos niños tiene el promedio(average) de los matrimonios? ¿Menos de dos ? ¿2? 4? 6? ____________
· ¿Pueden practicar cualquier religión ?____________
· ¿Tiene ejército (army)? _______________
· ¿Es España miembro de las Naciones Unidas (United Nations)? ________ ¿OTAN (NATO)? ______ ¿La Comunidad Europea (C.E.E.) ? ______

hmmmm....you're gonna have to accept a few answers for some of the questions, no?

Seriously, do any of your students miss the first four? I would horsewhip 'em if they were mine...