Danielle Prahl

							Danielle Prahl
EDUC 413 – Methods and Models of Instruction for Language Minority Students
Dr. Michael Genzuk
March 3, 2008
T.V. PROJECT

Journal Entry #1
Title – Contra Viento Y Marea
Date of Viewing – Friday, February 29, 2008
Time of Viewing – 6:00 pm
Length of Viewing – 30 mins
Source – Telenovela Download
Language/Culture – Spanish

(a) The first viewing of the first episode of Contra Viento y Marea introduces the characters and

sets up the back-story of the plot and the events that lead up to the present plot. The story takes

place in various towns in Mexico. Natalia, the main characters, is first shown as a young girl

who has had to leave her mother who has died. Natalia is traveling on a bus through a tropical

countryside, where she is taken to other relatives. They are a married couple who seem to be her

aunt and uncle, and while the woman is very kind and welcoming towards Natalia, the man is

bitter angry. They go home, where they have dinner, and Natalia is timid and fearful of her

uncle. She excuses herself and goes to her new room, crying over a picture of her mother. The

woman comes in and comforts Natalia. The next set of characters introduced is two young boys

who are friends. Eduardo is the weaker, more shy friend who is bullied on the beach, until his

friend Sebastian comes to his rescue. Eduardo’s mother comes to the beach, and she is very

protective of her son, yelling at Sebastian and blaming him for the incident. The next set of

scenes shows the children at their respective schools. Natalia is with her friends, lamenting her

situations, and Sebastian and Eduardo are part of a fight on the schoolyard. Eduardo’s mother

again comes to the scene and takes Eduardo away from the supposed bad influence of Sebastian.

Eduardo has an asthma attack and is rushed away. A sub-plot is introduced through an evil
woman conspiring with her mother. Her daughter has just received a pony from her father and

runs in to tell her mother, who immediately yells at her and throws her out of the room. These

scenes have just set up the background story of the main characters. The next section shows the

characters years later in the present tense. Natalia is in her early 20’s and performs as a dancer.

Her relatives are watching her perform, and the uncle meets another man off to the side who

offers him a deal concerning Natalia. In the next scene, the uncle, drinking heavily, finds Natalia

on the patio writing in her diary. He grabs her and chases her around the house, cornering her

and trying to rape her. This causes her to run outside, where the man her uncle met up with

earlier is waiting in a car with his partner. He goes inside to pay Natalia’s uncle, and the partner

in the car sees Natalia and the two men together offer her a ride to safety. They take her to a bar

that also runs a prostitution. Natalia is locked in a room, and the woman who runs the brothel

tells Natalia that she must live there and work for her. Natalia finds a way to escape out the

window, but the partner who drove her there is leaving at the same time and sees her running

down the road. He chases her and holds her back, where the scene ends. During this time, the

character of Sebastian is seen again as he is older. He is putting up a sign outside a store with a

friend while two women below guide them. The sub-plot involving the conspiring woman

continues with suspicious phone calls and soliloquies.

(b) Watching this show in a language I’ve never practiced or understood before had a factor of

anxiety to it. I found myself watching very carefully for fear that I would miss something

important if I didn’t strain my ears or watch every movement of the characters. The first episode

is especially difficult because of the introduction of many new characters. It is sometimes even

difficult to become situated while watching a movie in English, let alone a language I do not

understand. The characters speak very quickly, and I can only recognize proper names and
words that sound similar in English. I felt stressed and frustrated because I did not have much

time to think or absorb any information or make any inferences before the next scene began and

the plot continued. I did not want to stop watching because I felt that with more viewing I would

eventually be able to piece the plot together. Yet there also remained the fear that, because I do

not understand Spanish, one of the characters could have said something very significant that I

needed to know to fully understand. Having only visual clues to work with, I felt very

overwhelmed and unprepared.

(c) Spanish telenovelas and soap operas are very enriched with clues due to the exaggerated

drama of the plot and the characters. I watched the characters facial expressions and body

language very carefully because both are very telling of the characters’ moods and emotions.

The music helped a lot during times of more speaking and less action. Sometimes characters in

Contra Viento Y Marea simply look into the distance while spouting a soliloquy, and without the

dramatic music clues I would not have been able to tell whether or not the character was

contemplating a situation or conspiring against another character. The show displays setting

names every time there is a change of location in Mexico, which helped me to realize that there

was a new scene and a new period of time so that I could separate thoughts and sub-plots.

Journal Entry #2
Title – Contra Viento Y Marea
Date of Viewing – Saturday, March 1, 2008
Time of Viewing – 12:00 pm
Length of Viewing – 30 mins
Source – Telenovela Download
Language/Culture – Spanish

(a) As the plot of Contra Viento Y Marea continues, the partner of the man who bought Natalia

into prostitution catches up with Natalia and tries to take her back. Yet she convinces him to

help her run away. They go to a restaurant where Natalia and Sebastian cross paths without
meeting one another. Natalia and the man who is helping her have a deep conversation, and he

takes her to clean up in a hotel nearby. The next scene shows Sebastian talking to his friend,

who may or may not be Eduardo. He is upset about something he found out at the restaurant.

Back at the hotel, Natalia and the man are talking and becoming friends, when the man who

bought Natalia and another partner show up. They are working with Appolonia, the woman who

was previously conspiring with her mother and having secret soliloquies. They meet her on her

boat, have an interaction, and then proceed to track down Natalia. Appolonia is having an affair

away from her rich husband, for she has set up a candlelight dinner for two on her boat, but no

one shows up. Her husband suspects something is wrong, but she lies to him. Meanwhile, the

men after Natalia break into her hotel room and fight with her protector. She runs away through

the window, and he is shot to death. Natalia takes a bus back to her aunt and uncle’s town, but as

soon as she gets off the bus, she finds out her aunt has been sent to the hospital. In the previous

episode, her uncle pushed her aunt over and she was unconscious. Natalia runs to the hospital

and bumps into Sebastian who is also there. A boy carrying flowers is knocked over, and the

flowers form a heart around Natalia as she falls. Her and Sebastian make eye contact and smile

at each other, implying love at first sight. They have a brief interaction, but then Natalia runs off

to her aunt who is on her deathbed. She is speaking to Carlota, Appolonia’s mother, about some

money. When Natalia comes in, they talk, and then the aunt dies. Carlota is seen walking out of

the hospital with an envelope, and Natalia waits outside in mourning for her aunt’s ashes. The

next scene shows Sebastian holding one of the flowers that spilled upon his meeting Natalia, and

he talks to Eduardo about his fascination with this girl. Carlota takes Natalia to her new family

where she is introduced to Serano, Appolonia’s husband, and their daughter, Sandra. Appolonia

is clearly upset that Natalia is there, but Carlota comforts her, keeping the envelope secret to
herself. Appolonia goes to meet one of her conspirator friends who tells her that her lover has

died. Her lover appears to have been the man who partnered with the man who bought Natalia.

He was killed when they tried to capture Natalia at the hotel.

(b) The second viewing the day after the first was still frustrating because I had left the day

before without knowing all the characters and how they were related. It felt like I did not have a

nice foundation to begin watching the second episode, so I was still confused. I noticed while

watching that I had a sense of helplessness, not knowing the language. When characters are

merely conversing without much action, I have to wait for the next scene and for time to go by

before I can develop an idea of what is going on. I am used to watching moves and television for

relaxation and a stress-free environment, but when I have no grasp of the language, I find that I

am constantly on edge, wanting to write down my plot observations immediately so I can focus

my attention on the next scenes without forgetting the previous ones. It is hard to keep track of

my thoughts when I do not know what is concrete understanding and what is inference from the

clues. I am anxious about there being too much complexity in the plot. Every time I can finally

grasp a concept, a new conflict arises and a new character is introduced.

(c) This episode had a lot more conversation between characters and less action, so I found

myself looking elsewhere for clues and relying more on music and facial expression than pure

action and movement. I still do not know Appolonia’s full story yet, but suspicious, eerie music

always plays when she is acting in a scene. Seeing characters come together in scenes helps to

establish their relationships to one another and is connecting what seemed before to be a variety

of random character sub-plots. Just having more viewing time helps to slowly piece the plot

together. Sebastian does not have a very active role yet, and his interactions only really include
conversations, so I have been relying on music for him as well, which is slow and somewhat sad,

suggesting a sad background story that I cannot understand from pure dialogue.


Journal Entry #3
Title – Contra Viento Y Marea
Date of Viewing – Saturday, March 1, 2008
Time of Viewing – 6:00 pm
Length of Viewing – 30 mins
Source – Telenovela Download
Language/Culture – Spanish

(a) This episode begins with the two women, an elderly and a younger, who are the caretakers of

Eduardo and Sebastian. They are discussing the two boys. The next scene shows the two boys

playing soccer on the beach at night. Eduardo steps in front of a car, almost getting hit, and

upsetting the driver who gets out to fight them. They knock the driver down and run away,

leaving behind the soccer ball with Sebastian’s name. A homeless man comes by, noticing the

unconscious driver who has an expensive ring on his hand. The homeless man throws a rock at

his head and steals the ring. The police then show up at Sebastian’s home with the soccer ball as

evidence, investigating the murder of the driver. Sebastian ends up in jail, getting visits from his

grandmother. Meanwhile, Natalia seems to be working by doing chores with the maids of

Serano’s household. She becomes friends with his daughter, Sandra, who takes her shopping

and brings her to her University for classes, introducing her to her friends. After this montage,

the plot apparently reaches the present tense, at Sandra’s 22nd birthday. Appolonia still looks

upset after the death of her lover, but finds a new one at the party. While Serano announces that

Sandra is pursuing Equestrian sports after graduation, Natalia’s friends talk to her about how

Eduardo is pining after her, in love. He admits his love for her after class, but she says she loves

him as a friend. Sandra leaves on a plane to fly elsewhere to pursue her equestrian skills.

Eduardo soon goes to pick up Sebastian who has just gotten free from jail. As they travel back
home, Eduardo tells Sebastian about his love for Natalia, not knowing that Natalia is the one

Sebastian fell in love with at first sight. Everyone embraces and welcomes Sebastian, except for

his mother who is angry. Appolonia calls Natalia angrily on the phone demanding that she come

to her, where she is parked near ships at harbor. Natalia is driving when Sebastian’s friend’s car

full of rowdy guys drinking and swerving chases after her. They force her off the road and one

of Sebastian’s friends gets her out of the car and pulls of her skirt, revealing her bathing suit and

barely clothed body. Sebastian and Natalia recognize one another and stare, at each other as the

episode ends.

(b) With time and viewing, relationships between characters become clearer. Without knowing

the language and terms for different relatives, it takes a much longer time to observe and infer

who is related to who and how so. It took me three episodes to understand that Eduardo and

Sebastian are brothers, and the elderly woman is the grandmother, while the younger woman is

their mother. I find that I am constantly trying to piece relationships and connections together,

but it is so much more difficult when terms are unknown. I have started to realize though that I

am beginning to become familiar with some words that are recurring throughout the dialogue,

and it’s easy to catch certain words and cling on to them when they have meaning. I am feeling

more comfortable with the viewings, able to relax a little more and actually try to enjoy the plot

know that I can see some sort of direction and am not constantly wondering who is who and how

they are related.

(c) This episode was made easier for me by the montage in the beginning. Like many montages,

it was only music and interactions, without conversation and dialogue between characters. This

made it very simple to understand because the show itself was not relying on language but

actions, so any language speaker, Spanish or not, would be able to understand the plot from the
mere images. The behaviors between characters, like Sebastian, Eduardo, their grandmother and

their mother, enabled me to finally completely understand their relationship. Recurring

vocabulary starts to stand out, and even if the word is not yet translatable to me, I am able to start

to attach meanings to certain words. I still rely a lot on facial expressions for guidance on

emotions, as well as inflections in the voice. The over-exaggerated drama is still very helpful in

understanding the plot.


Journal Entry #4
Title – Contra Viento Y Marea
Date of Viewing – Monday, March 3, 2008
Time of Viewing – 8:00 pm
Length of Viewing – 45 mins
Source – Telenovela Download
Language/Culture – Spanish

(a) The episode opens with a protest against Appolonia, who is down by the docks doing

something that will affect the labor force. Natalia, who was on her way before Sebastian’s

friends chased her off the road, is saved by Sebastian, and they speak to one another. They leave,

but he realizes he introduced himself without asking her for her name. The scene shifts to a

bullfight where a young man, Armando, is fighting and his friend, who is dressed as a boy but is

actually a girl, is cheering him on. When the bull attacks him, she runs out to hold him in the

arena and then kills the bull, tearing off her disguise and revealing that she is a woman to the

crowd’s surprise. Armando dies in the hospital and the young girl, Regina, has to bury her

brother. Meanwhile, Sebastian is having trouble at home, and he goes to a bar with his friends

who tease and mistreat him, one of them showing that he has a pistol. Eduardo comes to help

him and they return home. The rowdy guys leave together to rob an electronics store of

televisions and stereos but they get caught by the police. Sebastian decides to leave home on
some trip, making his mother secretly happy that he will be gone. On the place he bumps into

Natalia again who is on her way to Mexico to visit Sandra with Serrano.

(b) When a larger period of time passes between viewings, it takes more time to re-familiarize

myself with the plot and the drama. I find that I struggle a little more than usual to resituate and

remember how to focus on the clues. Yet, once I understand the basic plot and have gotten used

to using clues and facial expressions again, as well as action and movement to infer what is

happening, I have more time to listen to actual conversations. This has become my focal

frustration point now because I can never understand what exactly two people are saying to one

another. Now that everything else is slowly being figured out, I realize how much of the actual

language I’m missing because I do not understand it. When Sebastian and Natalia speak to each

other, I can only catch one word here and there that sounds familiar, but not until they act, or

move, can I put together what might be going on in the scene.

       During this episode, a new set of characters and plot arose, separate from the one that has

been developing so far. This made me anxious because I knew I had to fit them in to the overall

plot and focus more to figure out who the characters were and what role they played relevant to

the other characters. New situations mean more thought and focus and irritation with the

inability to understand immediately what is going on.

(c) This episode was difficult for me because a larger period of time passed between viewings

and I had to focus closely. It was a very frustrating episode as well because new conflicts are

arising with new characters, but through brief scenes of solely dialogue. I was forced to infer

from music and voice inflection. I can tell from this that things are about to come together, but I

can only know what is going to happen once the action occurs. My plot summary is much

smaller this time because of all the conversation and less visual clues as to what is happening.
I still rely on the dramatic music to take meaning from words, phrases and interactions that I

cannot understand. Wide eyed, shocked faces and loud, sudden music are the only way I can tell

that something bad or intense has happened. The names of characters also serve to guide my

comprehension of the telenovela. When Armando, the new character, mentioned the name

Appolonia, I knew to connect him to her and look for that connection later in the plot. Places are

also very helpful when trying to figure out the sequence of events in the plot and their

importance. Sebastian goes to the bank and the dramatic music suggests there is a problem with

money. The airport at the end of the episode demonstrates how Sebastian and Natalia are going

to come together again for the next sequence of events in the following episode.



Reflection

        This exercise was a very powerful way of experiencing a situation through a language

minority student’s perspective. Never having been a language minority in the classroom, I had

no way of knowing the focus and frustration that goes in to trying to understand a language

through clues and hints along the way. Watching the telenovela with no previous instruction on

Spanish was very stressful at first, knowing I had to write a summary that showed some sort of

understanding. In the classroom, students do not have the leisure time of slowly being exposed

to the language and developing understanding. Instead, they are forced into a class taught in an

incomprehensible language and they are expected to produce answers and responses without any

time to just listen and situate.

        I noticed that the time that elapsed between episode viewings played a significant role in

my comprehension of the drama. I watched two episodes in one day and then waited two days

before my next viewing. Watching two episodes much closer together allowed for more
exposure time to the unknown language and enabled me to become comfortably accustomed to

understanding and inferring through visual and behavioral clues. Yet, when more than one full

day elapsed between viewings, I had not been around any Spanish, so I had to focus a lot more

and try to find that comfortable level I had reached the day before after more hours of exposure.

Language minority students are forced to abruptly transition into another language in the

classroom than the language they are used to hearing socially on a daily basis. This exercise

helped me to realize the anxiety and stress that must go in to having to abruptly immerse oneself

in an atmosphere of an entirely different language in which understanding is reached only

through clues and guessing.

       I did find that I understood Contra Viento Y Marea much more than I expected to.

Exposure and daily viewing definitely helps to slowly develop a method of compiling clues to

reach greater comprehension. I started to know characters and identify plot and conflict, as well

as recognize Spanish vocabulary that was commonly recurring. I would not have been able to

produce anything in Spanish, but I did start to understand some of the language. A common

mistake in language minority immersion classrooms is that students are expected to start to

produce the new language before they have been allowed enough time to just absorb and bank

information.

       Watching a dramatic soap opera in a different language helped me to realize the strategies

that will need to go into teaching in a language that is not every student’s first language. Soap

operas are exaggerated and intensely dramatic, amplified by facial expressions and music. With

all these clues I was able to develop an understanding of the plot and characters. Yet classrooms

rarely provide that many clues. As a teacher, if I expect to help students grow and develop in
another language, I am going to have to provide extensive visual clues and over-exaggerate my

performance in order to guide minority students towards comprehension.