Introduction

This comprehensive AP® Spanish Language and Culture review will help guide test-takers through one of the AP® Spanish themes of the CollegeBoard’s Spanish Language & Culture curriculum – in particular, about the theme of Global Challenges. Specifically, we will discuss why the CollegeBoard uses themes for their AP® Spanish Language and Culture course; what the theme of Global Challenges actually entails, as well as provide specific context examples of how this theme may be applied in a class or study session.

We will also review some overarching, essential questions regarding Global Challenges to assist you in you understanding of the topic, as well as offer brief examples on how to answer them. Finally, this guide will deliver information on where you can find practice texts, audios, videos and other study tools related to Global Challenges, as well as review top 10 Spanish vocabulary words related to Global Challenges and how to use them in a sentence.

Why does the CollegeBoard use Themes for their AP® Spanish Language and Culture Course?

The AP® Spanish Language and Culture course is structured around six AP® Spanish themes of past and present-day importance: Global Challenges, Science and Technology, Contemporary Life, Personal and Public Identities, Families and Communities, and Beauty and Aesthetics.

These themes are used by AP® Spanish teachers to build provocative circumstances for you to discover the assortment of language and culture characteristic of Spanish speaking communities throughout the world. Themes are incorporated into short lessons plans lasting only a class period, or full units covering several days, weeks, or months.

By the course’s end, you should be able to apply information learned from these themes into written and oral interpersonal and presentational communication forms. This will enable you to successfully earn top scores on their AP® Spanish Language and Culture exam!

What does the Theme of Global Challenges Entail?

The AP® Spanish Language and Culture theme of Global Challenges may incorporate lessons on – economic issues; environmental issues; philosophical thought and religion; population and demographics; social welfare; and social conscience. Teachers and students may wish to engage in class discussions and projects that focus on socialism in Venezuela; pre-Hispanic religions; or social movements in Spain vs. Argentina. You may be asked to discuss the influence of socialism and Latin America’s “Leftist turn” on economic and social issues, based on readings and audio extracts in a given unit.

What are Global Challenges Overarching, Essential Questions?

Through stimulating activities and assessments, AP® Spanish students may be able to use the following essential questions to inspire their interests and level of knowledge of the target language. Realistic situations and problem-solving tasks may encourage learners to explore and express different opinions on current global issues, while making comparisons between different cultural aspects of the Spanish-speaking world. You can use essential questions to deepen you study of the language, literature, and culture of diverse world communities, while relating important issues to you own lived experience.

Essential questions related to Global Challenges may include:

• What environmental, political, and social issues pose challenges to societies throughout the world?
• What are the origins of those issues?
• What are possible solutions to those challenges?

Example Answers to 2-3 Overarching, Essential Questions

Below are examples of how you may answer the essential questions you’ll encounter in your AP® Spanish Language and Culture course.

What environmental issues pose challenges to societies throughout the world?

Global warming and climate change pose grave challenges to societies throughout the world. Scientific evidence shows the earth’s average temperatures rising, and this has major consequences for our planet’s ecological systems.

Human influence has significantly contributed to climate change since the mid-20th century by way of emitting greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Climate change specialists have projected that if conditions remain the same, global surface temperatures are likely to rise a further 0.3 to 1.7 °C (0.5 to 3.1 °F) at their lowest estimate and 2.6 to 4.8 °C (4.7 to 8.6 °F) at their highest estimate. These projections will impact various parts of the globe, including fragile ecosystems, in distinct ways. Predicted impacts may also include extreme temperatures, rising sea levels, changing precipitation, and the spreading out of deserts into the subtropics.

The greatest areas impacted will be over land rather than oceans, hitting areas like the Arctic particularly hard with retreating glaciers, permafrost, and increased sea ice. Extreme weather events in more populated areas will include heat waves, droughts, heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall; ocean acidification; and species extinctions due to shifting habitat impacts. Human habitats may be crushed by food security from declining crop harvests, and major coastal cities may be abandoned due to rising sea levels. The spread of insect borne viruses, particularly from mosquitoes, will also rise.

Societies across the globe have begun to implement change policies to counter the effects of climate change. Shifting to clean energy from the sun, wind, water, and earth has been instrumental in countering predictions of our earth’s pending future if we continue down our current, carbon dependent path. However more work remains if we want to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

What are Possible Solutions to those Challenges?

Countries across the globe have been contributing solutions to the challenges faced by global warming and climate change. Such solutions include increased laws and restrictions against greenhouse emissions from cars and factories, employing experts to come up with adaptation schemes and systems that are resilient to climate change effects, and there have been controversial talks of possible future climate engineering.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has proven another solution for joint countries to work together with the goal of preventing climate change and other devastating human impacts to our shared planet. UNFCCC country members have agreed to drastically cut in emissions in their respective countries, with loftier efforts of limiting global warming to pre-industrial levels. Energy conservation and increased energy efficiency; the use of low-carbon energy technologies like renewable energy, nuclear energy, and carbon capture and storage; and reforestation and preventing deforestation are on many country’s agendas as well.

Public reaction campaigns discussing the negative impacts of global warming and climate change concern are also increasing. As such, research has shown that increasingly, all around the world, people consider global warming a very serious problem. Sadly still, the Americans and Chinese, the two countries who emit the most CO2 emissions annually, are among the least concerned—so of course, more work needs to be done to catch these nations up to speed.

Where can You Find Practice Texts, Audios and Videos Related to Global Challenges?

In this section, you’ll find a few suggestions on AP® Spanish Language and Culture practice texts, audios, and videos that will bring you specific content knowledge related to the AP® Spanish theme of Global Challenges.

For a General Overview of AP® Spanish Language and Culture Themes

First, for general overviews of all six themes, a great place to being would be the AP® Spanish Language and Culture homepage. Here AP® students and test takers can access official CollegeBoard information published on the course. On offer are example syllabi, course milestones and objectives, and other useful material to assist both teachers and learners. Textbooks are also available to help strengthen you skills. For a book focused particularly on the six themes, get a hold of: Temas: AP® Spanish Language and Culture.

Granted by Instituto Cervantes and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of Spain, DELE (Diploma de Espanol como Lengua Extranjera) is comparable to the AP® Spanish Language and Culture exam in that it confirms test takers capability and mastery of Spanish. Their website offers practice exams based on oral and written expression and interaction.

Quizlet is a fun online tool to create “index cards” with key terms and definitions relative to any of the six AP® Spanish themes. These can then be turned into review items in the form of games or practice tests. Click here for flashcards on Global Challenges.

Another entertaining online too for AP® students and teachers to draw ideas from is Audiria. Here they offer amusing podcasts and videos in Spanish that are centered on various cultural and thematic issues.

For More Intensive Practice with the Theme of Global Challenges.

Following the 1959 revolution, Fidel Castro assumed power. With that, in a controversial move, he opened trade relations with the Soviet Union. The US, embedded in a cold war with the aforementioned global superpower, wasn’t thrilled with this alliance. So it was that in 1960, Washington enforced a trade embargo with the island country that intended to seal it off from the rest of the world. Perhaps the most noticeable trace of the trade embargo can be found in the thousands of old classic cars that line the Cuban roads and thoroughfares. Here is a casual website to learn more about Cuba’s classic cars and the current state of the US embargo.

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was a Marxist, physician, author, diplomat, military theorist, and is one of Argentina’s most recognizable historical figures. Now not only a symbol of revolution, but of pop culture as well, numerous sources are available to learn about this notorious figure. For starters, students wanting to know more about Che, his life, and political beliefs should check out two impressive biopics that were released in recent years. One depicts his early years as a student (Motorcycle Diaries), and the other his later years as a militant in the Cuban Revolution, and his time spent as a guerrilla in Bolivia (Che, Parts I and II).

Calle 13 is a Puerto Rican band renowned for its eclectic musical style, often using eccentric instrumentation to distinguish their sound from the more popular reggaeton genre. The band’s lyrics are famous for satirizing political issues as well as providing social commentary about problems on the island and throughout Latin American. For more details on the band, as well as sampling of songs and videos, check out this great piece done by NPR.

Top 10 Spanish Vocabulary Words for Global Challenges

Here is a list of frequently used AP® Spanish vocabulary words related to the theme of Global Challenges.

Birthrate: Natalidad

La natalidad en Panamá caía por primera vez en toda la historia.

Mortality: Mortalidad

Que los jóvenes no conocen la mortalidad, dicen.

Prediction: Pronóstico

Cuál es su pronóstico, doctor?

Hunger: Hambruna

Al llegar el otoño hubo una hambruna en el país.

Drinking water: Agua potable

El 70% de sus comunidadesen el deserto no dispone de agua potable.

Unemployment: Desempleo

El desempleo aumentó masivamente en el último año.

Population: Población

Costa Rica es mayor que Panamá en población.

To alleviate: Mitigar

Se dio un largo baño para mitigar el dolor en la cabeza.

To provide: Proveer

Estamos proveyendo agua y comida a las víctimas del huracana.

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