I use music to welcome my students to my classroom. This week, I welcomed my second graders to class with “Vivir Mi Vida” by Marc Anthony. One of my students said he wished he knew how to dance to the rhythm of the song, so I took action! I took a few minutes at the beginning of the class to show them the basic salsa step. It was five minutes of fun and a chance to share some culture with them – plus they got to move a lot before settling down for class.
I found some videos on YouTube that might be helpful if you decide to teach your students some steps.
Salsa
Cha-Cha-Chá
Waka Waka
La Macarena
And if you feel like you want your students to learn a full choreography, here is Asereje.
Bringing the Winter Olympics to your Spanish class is a fun way to engage your students. This time the Winter Olympics will be in Sochi, Russia. What a great opportunity to pull out a map or visit Google Earth to locate the country and your current locations. Visiting an online gallery of Russia sounds very exciting and could be also used an a opportunity to invite your students to talk about what they see. You could ask you students to tell you about colors, clothes, weather and so on depending on their level.
The games will host athletes from 88 countries representing 7 sports divided in 15 disciplines:
For the purpose of the class I recommend you to use just the names of the sports: el esquí, el patinaje, el biatlón, el curling, el bobsleigh, el hockey sobre el hielo y el snowboard.
For this project you will need to have access to the internet to visit the website for the Winter Olympics. You will also need to download the printable for this activity HERE. Your students will need to visit the link where the athletes are listed. They will need to find the information presented in the sample below:
After completing their own cards, each student will need to get ready to be interviewed by other classmates. Each of them will need to use the information in the picture below to respond to questions that the other students will ask:
Coloreando is one of the newest music CD’s featuring Marta Gómez, a Colombian singer and songwriter. This music CD has 17 songs, all sung by Marta who, in my opinion, is the Colombian equivalent of Mercedes Sosa. Not only does her voice entertain children, but it’s also great for grownups. I have been a fan of Marta ever since her time filling the streets of Cambridge, by Harvard Square, with good music. At the time she was a student at the Berklee College of Music. I have been following closely and try not to miss any of her concerts in Boston. I am very excited to learn about this new album for children, created to support Global Language Project, a non-profit organization that helps bring foreign languages to public school children in the New York area. Coloreando has 17 traditional songs that any Spanish teacher from an ELE or bilingual program should have in their collection. If you are looking for truly cultural music to bring your students, this music CD is a must! One of my favorite songs is “Un Elefante,” not only because I have good memories from having grown up singing it, but also because Marta makes it very fun. I put together this set of props that go along with the song. You can download your own elefantes, telaraña and araña here! This song can also be used as a game where you invite volunteers to jump on an imaginary spiderweb.
I would love two lucky readers to have a chance to win a CD for their classes. Just enter below to participate! Winners will be announced on Friday, February 7th, 2014. United Stated only!
While searching for apps to use in my classes I found tons of free ones. There is definitively a wide variety of apps for different levels. Some of the free apps might be a sample of a complete app, but it’s worth the try. I do recommend that you download the app and play with it before using it in class.
If you are an elementary Spanish teacher like me, you know that we are always in search of props to spice up our lessons. During my recent trip to Colombia I found this cute “Mercado” set with labels in Spanish. The set has 32 items that your students will love. I brought one to the United States for me, and decided to bring one more to raffle to between my lovely readers!
The Giveaway!
If you would like to have this fun “mercado” set, here is an opportunity for you to win it and bring more learning to your class. Just enter below to participate. The winner will be announced on Monday, January 13th, 2014. United States only.
¡Hola! I am Carolina, a Colombian elementary Spanish teacher based in Boston, MA. Fun for Spanish Teachers is the result of my passion for teaching Spanish to children and my desire to inspire collaboration and creativity in a vibrant teaching and learning community. It’s the perfect stop if you are looking for songs, games, teaching tips, stories, and fun for your classes.
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