We have already started the countdown to the holidays and the end of the year. The days before a break are often difficult. We feel tired, that we are running out of ideas, energy, or both.
Something that works very well for me these days is planning classes in which I know my students can relax a bit. I focus on sharing a little about some of the traditions that I grew up with in Colombia and do art activities. I have to be honest, the art activities require a bit of preparation on my part because time with my students is limited but generally the result is positive and I feel like it was worth the investment in that preparation time.
In the interest of keeping this post short, I thought you might like this list of resources for the last days of the school year in 2021. This list includes resources on my blog and Teachers Pay Teachers:
Wearing yellow underwear is a unique tradition that some people in Colombia, and other places where Spanish is spoken, have on December 31st during “La Noche Vieja” on New Year’s Eve. It is believed that wearing yellow underwear will bring good luck in the new year. This tradition is known in Colombia as “Los Cucos Amarillos” or “Los Cucos de la Suerte.” “Cuco” is a word used in some places in Colombia to refer to underwear.
Through this game children will learn about this fun tradition and three simple common expressions in Spanish: ¡Qué buena suerte!, ¡Qué chévere!, ¡Qué mala suerte! You will need good luck to play the game well, of course!
This is a fun way to get students to retell stories. I learned this from some NNELL friends at a conference a few moons ago. They were using it to review vocabulary. This works great after telling stories. I have used it with my students and they love it!
You will need:
Masking tape or a marker to create your tic-tac-toe board.
Place pictures from your stories on the board.
Playing the game:
Divide the class into two teams
Take turns to retell the story using sentences or simple words.
Each team places a card on the board after saying a word or a sentence related to the story. Students can help each other!
The team to get three cards in a row wins the game.
As any world language teacher will tell you, if you want to teach your students languages, you need to keep them engaged and motivated at the same time as you maintain a balance in your life. This conference will bring you new ideas to maintain your energy, pivot with the newest challenges, and keep your students excited.
This October 17th, Jared Romey is back, hosting another online conference for world language teachers packed full of innovative and creative strategies to help you connect with your students, share your passion for languages and get them absolutely loving your class!
Whether you’re a brand-new to teaching world languages or have been at it for years, you’ll find tons of great ideas and actionable info from world-class experts such as Diego Ojeda, Kia London, Allison Wienhold, Olly Richards, Margarita Perez Garcia, Bertha Delgadillo, Stacy Cannady, and many more.
I will be presenting at this conference along with Profe Valentina on a session that will help you bring stories to your Spanish classes! Register free now to watch our session on October 18th. Click HEREto register now!
If you are like me, and you enjoy incorporating the monarch butterfly in your classes, you will love this adaptation of the evolution game. I call it “El ciclo de la mariposa.”
Before playing this game, students need to understand how to play the rock, paper, scissors game in Spanish. I use a visual like the one below and play the game to make sure that students understand it and also to give them vocabulary in Spanish.
Once students know how to play the piedra, papel, tijeras game, I proceed to show the instructions to add the El ciclo de la mariposa game. I only use three stages of the life cycle, which are oruga, crisálida, and mariposa.
Playing the game:
1. Each student will find a classmate to play piedra, papel and tijeras.
2. Everyone starts out as an oruga, which is a kind of seated snuggle up.
3. After playing piedra, papel, tijeras, whoever wins will move to the next stage or one stage up, which in this case is crisálida. For this position, students put their arms up like making a house.
4. At this point, orugas can only play with orugas, and crisálidas can only play with crisálidas. Play piedra, papel, tijeras, and, once again, whoever wins will move one level up. If a crisálida loses, that student will go back to being an oruga. For the butterfly stage, students move around the room flapping their arms and pretending to be butterflies. Now, orugas play with orugas, crisálidas with crisálidas, and mariposas with mariposas. Whoever loses will always go back to being an oruga.
You can decide how long to play the game. Whoever gets to be a mariposa wins the game. (There can be multiple winners)
¡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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