Big Picture
Engagement
Find an Obsession-Worthy "Text"
Basic literacy development tells us that students need to be engaged by their “reading” and that they need to talk to other students about their “reading”. In order to move forward with literacy and linguistic proficiency, students need to be engaged by and talk/write about the “texts” that they work with.
If you choose a series/movie/text that really engages your students in a way that they want to talk about the characters, events, and their analysis of the series, then you're giving them the perfect avenue to explore the target language.
When you have the "perfect text", your students will be obsessed! They'll talk about the series outside of class, they'll ask you every single day when they get to watch the next episode, they figure out how they can watch the series at home and (yes... this can really happen!) they'll watch the show on their own in their free time.
Cultural Iceberg
"Below the Surface" Culture
Using telenovelas, TV series, and movies introduce students to the "below the surface" culture in a way in that is much easier to see and they have a context for those cultural elements that helps them understand them more deeply.
When students have a storyline and characters that they are invested in, they will have an anchor to cultural aspects such as gender roles, etiquette, views on raising children, etc., because they remember and have ample experiencing talking about the events that they view.
Keep It Comprehensible
Making It Manageable
Challenging and authentic texts can be daunting to students, but the steps that we go through when working with an audio-visual text, whether it's a novela, series, or movie, keep students engaged because they make the texts manageable and comprehensible for students. Students feel motivated and gain confidence in their language abilities when they experience success because of the scaffolding, front-loading, and recycling of content.