La radionovela (I2)

After reading the legend from Guanajuato, “El callejón del beso”, students had the opportunity to read at least two other legends from Latin America from the book ‘Cuentos y leyendas de América Latina” by Gloria Cecilia Díaz. Students chose from the following:

Las Cataratas de Iguazú from Brasil
La Llorona from Nicaragua
Tau y Karena from Paraguay
La Ciguapa from República Dominicana
La Sayona from Venezuela

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After choosing, reading, and reflecting on principal characters and plot point of one legend in a FlipGrid, students were grouped according to their choice of legend. Within these groups they were tasked with creating the episode of a radionovela, in which they adapted the legend.

“Why a radionovela?”, you might ask. Two reasons guided the decision for this specific product. First, stories like “El callejón del beso“ were originally transmitted orally. It is such an important tradition that still, nowadays, in the city of Guanajuato, legends are shared orally in callejoneadas (walking serenades). Secondly, radionovelas played an important role in the transmission of stories both in Latin America and in Spain, having their golden age from the 1920’s until 1940’s, when they were eclipsed by telenovelas.

Students worked on four main tasks, as part of the creative process and end product of their radionovela. After researching and reading other versions of their legend of choice, in groups they wrote an escaleta (running order) for their story. These documents include the main events of the plot, as well as, sounds effects, music, and the timing for all wanted elements. Once this document was revised, each group wrote an original guión (script) for their radionovela, set in one episode. The scripts had to incorporate several required elements: vocabulary from their story, and a wide variety of verb tenses, specifically the present perfect, which we learned this trimester. Thirdly, with the idea of promoting their radionovelas, students created un anuncio de promoción (an advertising poster) for their episode. These needed to include a title, an original slogan, and all the information needed to tune in and listen to the radionovela. Lastly, each group recorded and edited their radionovela episode, after practicing their lines and finding sound effects and music to enhance each story.