AP Spanish Movie Idea: The Accidental Twins

Struggling to find a good AP Spanish movie idea? I do too! I worry that it takes too much time and about how much my students will be able to understand. And that’s all before I find the right movie for the theme we’re studying! But I have a great suggestion for you! To go with the Family Unit or the Quality of Life Unit, or the Identities Unit, I recently saw a documentary called The Accidental Twins.

Premise of the Movie

The Accidental Twins is about two sets of identical twins from Colombia who were accidentally mixed up in the hospital at birth. So each family went home with 2 baby boys, one that was biologically theirs, and one that wasn’t. The families had no idea!

Later in life, when the boys were young adults living in different cities, a friend from work was visiting another city. She saw her work colleague in that city she was visiting, and told him about it at work later that week. He denied being there, and it made the woman curious. I’ll save the details, but eventually, the friend helped the men figure out what had happened.

The men meet each other, and the range of emotions that each of the 4 men have is fascinating. This discovery of a biological twin that they didn’t grow up with makes them really examine their identity and sense of who they are.

Where To Find the Movie

We found this documentary on Netflix. Here is the YouTube Trailer.

Why This is a Great AP Spanish Movie Idea

There are a lot of reasons why I think this is a great recommendation for an AP Spanish movie idea. First, documentaries are a lot shorter than movies. Second, it goes so well with a variety of themes that we study in AP Spanish. Third, you can watch the movie with captions. I recommend using the Spanish captions to aid in comprehension. Fourth, the subject matter is timely and interesting, and the protagonists are close in age to our students. All of these things make buy-in and interest more likely!

Follow-Up Activities

So what can you do before, during and after showing this documentary? Here are some ideas!

Before: You, as the teacher, should watch the movie. You can create a quick introduction to the movie and the characters to help students follow along with ease. You may consider creating a list of important vocabulary.

During: I usually create a list of questions. I am sure to time stamp the questions so that both students and I know when in the movie certain topics come up. I use these time stamps to help time out how much I want to show during a class.

Another option is the have a day in between to discuss what was shown in the previous class.

After: When the movie has finished, there are so many options!

Class discussion
Written reflection
Compare/Contrast with other sources you’ve used in class
Debate: who’s reaction to the news was more appropriate? (there’s really no right answer here, but it would make for a really great debate!)

Those options could all be used as a grade, or you may choose to just make them a class activity! Here’s a bundle I made– it has everything you need to make showing the documentary worth the time, and with no prep for you!

AP Spanish Movie Idea

I don’t show a lot of movies in my AP Spanish class, but this is one that I will definitely be incorporating this year! If you are also going to show it, below in the resources heading, I have some ready-to-use resources below!