Motivating students and integrating culture through Barcelona’s Congreso de Móviles (Mobile World Conference, MWC)

María Postigo, CWHS Spanish III/IV Teacher, OFLA Secondary Language Learning Committee

For the past 10 years, Barcelona (Spain) hosted the Mobile World Conference in March 2015. 2,000 companies were represented and about 90,000 participants from 200 countries attended. King Felipe VI opened the ceremony. Although it is not as popular an event as one would think, it got immediate coverage from BBC and NPR News. Also, the Internet filled up with articles, podcasts, blogs, videos, etc. If you missed this event, I have gathered some examples in English and Spanish that can be used in the classroom. If you like them and would like to use this event as a way to motivate students through technology, culture and authentic resources, stay tuned for the 2016 Mobile World Conference. It is expected to be held in Barcelona again. What a beautiful city full of history and art to talk about in class while your students get excited about their new tech gadgets!

Their website in English:

http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/ (It has videos with interviews, the preview and opening highlights, where several CEOs present their tech devices, etc.)

News in English:

Live from Sundar Pichai’s talk at Mobile World Congress http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/01/live-at-mobile-world-congress-2015/ (He is the Senior Vice President at Google, where he oversees Android, Chrome, and Google Apps)

Apple-IBM Partnership Sprouts Latest Set Of Apps At Mobile World Congress http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/02/apple-ibm-partnership-sprouts-latest-set-of-apps-at-mobile-world-congress/

Intel at Mobile World Congress: New modems, low-cost x86 take center stage http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/02/apple-ibm-partnership-sprouts-latest-set-of-apps-at-mobile-world-congress/

Videos in English:

You will certainly find many that interest you.  For example, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook Founder) as the Keynote, shown in the NBC News website, or the Wall Street Journal’s blog.

News in Spanish on their website:

http://www.mobileworldlive.com/spanish-news

News in Spanish:

El Rey inaugura el Congreso de Móviles, donde se esperan 90.000 asistentes http://www.antena3.com/noticias/economia/rey-inaugura-congreso-moviles-donde-esperan-90000-asistentes_2015030200109.html

“Hackeando” con Felipe VI http://elpais.com/eventos/mwc.html (It shows a video of the inauguration by Spain’s King Felipe VI, but without narration.)

Videos in Spanish:

www.rtve.es There are several videos, but the website changes frequently. Some examples are:

1.       Go to www.rtve.es scroll down to “Ciencia y Tecnología” and click on “Ver vídeo” (It is the video with the cell phones as the first image.)
2.       http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/noticias-24-horas/rey-inaugura-congreso-moviles-donde-se-esperan-90000-asistentes/3021654/ (or go to www.rtve.es then “A la carta Televisión y Radio” and then “Noticias 24 horas”, this video is called “El Rey inaugura el Congreso de Móviles, donde se esperan 90.000 asistentes”)

You will find more articles, podcasts and videos in Spanish on newspapers like El País, El Mundo, ABC, etc., on Spanish TV channels like Radio Televisión Española, Antena 3, Telecinco, etc. and on Spanish Radio channels like Onda Cero.