Aprende español con SILKNOW

La Ruta de la Seda

El material didáctico La Ruta de la Seda ha sido especialmente diseñado para el aprendizaje de español a través de diferentes aspectos relacionados con la seda en Europa. El objetivo de su publicación en el portal SILKNOW es el de difundir nuestro patrimonio cultural y poner en valor el intercambio cultural que supuso y todavía supone la producción y el comercio de la seda.

El material puede ser utilizado por estudiantes de nivel B1 de español para el aprendizaje autónomo y también por profesores para el trabajo dentro de un curso, en el aula o fuera de ella. La Ruta de la seda consta de cuatro temas relacionados con la Ruta de la seda y las huellas que ha dejado en nuestra historia y nuestro presente:

  1. Las ciudades de la Ruta de la Seda
  2. Historia de la seda en Europa
  3. Procesos y creación de la seda
  4. Historia de la moda

Cada uno de los temas puede trabajarse de manera independiente, supone aproximadamente tres horas de trabajo e incluye tres capítulos y un total de 18 actividades interactivas para aprender variados contenidos culturales, ampliar el repertorio léxico y consolidar su conocimiento gramatical. 

Las actividades se han desarrollado en variadas dinámicas como arrastrar, colorear, elegir opciones, escribir, relacionar, etc. Ofrece una retroalimentación automática que permite al alumno conocer si ha realizado correctamente la actividad, y si lo requiere, puede siempre acceder al sistema de corrección automático, que ofrece la solución de la actividad.  Al final de cada tema el alumno accede a una actividad de autoevaluación para revisar los contenidos más relevantes. Igualmente, la plataforma ofrece un sistema de seguimiento automático que indica al alumno qué ha hecho y qué le falta por hacer, y sitúa al alumno en el punto en el que dejó la última sesión. Estas características hacen que el material sea idóneo para el trabajo autónomo. 

El material ha sido desarrollado por la Universidad de Valencia, que ha contado con los desarrolladores de la empresa ALTEN, con la colaboración del Instituto Cervantes, que ha asesorado en el proceso de diseño y revisiones, y lo ha pilotado en su red de centros. Agradecemos desde aquí la participación en el pilotaje de este material de los alumnos y profesores de los centros del Instituto Cervantes en Belo Horizonte, Bucarest, El Cairo, Lyon, Orán, Sao Paulo y Varsovia.

El material es de acceso libre y se puede consultar en: https://silknow.uv.es/moodle/login/

Información para profesores. Tabla de contenidos.

Me pareció tan interesante que empecé a ver la serie “Marco Polo” en Netflix.

Me gustó el contenido cultural y descubrir cosas nuevas sobre ciudades conocidas en mis viajes

Combinación entre textos con muchas palabras nuevas y gramática.

Testimonios de alumnos que participaron en el pilotaje

Se trata de un tema poco conocido por mis estudiantes. Además de ser una experiencia muy dinámica, interactiva y de aprendizaje lingüístico.

Material atractivo, divertido, cultural, enriquecedor.

Testimonios de docentes

Información en inglés

Learn Spanish with SILKNOW

La Ruta de la Seda (The Silk Road)

La Ruta de la Seda (The Silk Road) educational material has been specially designed for learning Spanish through different aspects related to silk in Europe. The aim of its publication in the SILKNOW portal is to disseminate our cultural heritage and to highlight the cultural exchange that the production and trade of silk involved and still involves.

The material can be used by B1-level students of Spanish seeking autonomous learning and also by teachers for work within a course, in the classroom, or outside it. La Ruta de la Seda consists of four units related to the Silk Road and the traces it has left in our history and our present:

  1. The cities of the Silk Road
  2. History of silk in Europe
  3. Processes and creation of silk
  4. History of fashion

Each unit can be worked on independently, involves approximately three hours of work and includes three chapters and a total of 18 interactive activities to learn various cultural contents, broaden the lexical repertoire and consolidate grammatical competence.

The activities have been developed in various dynamics such as dragging, colouring, multiple choice questions, writing, relating, etc. It offers automatic feedback that allows the students to know if they have done the activity correctly, and if required, they can always access the automatic correction system, where the solution to the activity is provided. At the end of each topic, the students have access to a self-evaluation activity to review the most relevant contents. Likewise, the platform offers an automatic follow-up system that shows the students what they have done and what is left to be done, and places them at the point they were when they left the last session. These characteristics make this material ideal for autonomous work.

The material has been developed by Silknow researchers of the University of Valencia (Universitat de València), which has relied on the developers of the company ALTEN,  and in collaboration with Instituto Cervantes, which has provided advice on the design and revision process, and has piloted it in its network of centres. We would like to thank the students and teachers of the Cervantes Institute centres in Belo Horizonte, Bucharest, Cairo, Lyon, Oran, Sao Paulo and Warsaw for their participation in the piloting of this material.

La Ruta de la Seda is freely accessible through https://silknow.uv.es/moodle/login/

Information for teachers. Table of contents.

I found it so interesting that I started watching the “Marco Polo” series on Netflix.

I liked the cultural content and discovering new things about cities I had visited in my travels.

Combination between texts with many new words and grammar

Students who participated in the pilot

This is a subject little known to my students, besides being a very dynamic, interactive and fun language learning experience…

Attractive, fun, cultural, enriching material

Teachers who participated in the pilot

Information in Spanish

New version of the Virtual Loom

We have launched a new version (v1.00) of the Virtual Loom. This version is available as a desktop app and can be downloaded either for MAC users or Windows.

Screenshot of the new version (v1.00) of the Virtual Loom

New features and improvements are:

  • It has more help issues to users
  • A new splash screen
  • A new weave viewer
  • New visual appearance to improve user experience
  • Weaves selection menu improved
  • Weaves & yarns revised
  • 3D navigation has been revised & improved
  • Language menu

Download the desktop version for MAC or WINDOWS

Working with design schools

During the very first days of October 2020 we have continued our dissemination tasks with design schools and students.

We have presented to EASD colleagues, in València, our almost finished tools as the Thesaurus, the Virtual Loom and our prospective website where all the collections we have worked with would be available. During their creative process and during the academic year, they would use and work on the basis of our tools.

After explaining all the tools, we encouraged the students to take a look on them, use them, and evaluate them in order to improve the user’s experience.

As we consider silk as alive heritage, we started a very interesting conversation on how all the compiled knowledge, methods, processes, etc. could motivate and inspire new creative professionals with the aim of valuing the silk tradition and importance and on how to spread the word into society.

We visited Sedica, in Moncada

Following our aims of generating a net of professionals around the silk heritage, we visited Sedica, a fabric enterprise located in Moncada, València (Spain).

We could experience at first hand their exquisite work on silk fabric, their innovative process and final results.

Their priorities are to study and use the historical designs, keeping alive the heritage.

Furthermore, we had a final meeting with some plastic & digital artists who are interested in the methods and processes of silk fabric construction.