If you are looking for games that work in any setting, either virtually or in person, then this is the right game for you and your students! I have played this game with different age groups, and it’s always a success!
This is how the game works:
You will need to print the cards or project the slide on the board. I have blogged about this game before (read my previous post HERE), but I can tell you quickly that anytime you show a card, read it aloud to your students or ask a volunteer to read it for you. Students who identify with that card can raise their hands or jump saying “A mí también”, then you stop and ask a few students questions about the card.
Are you ready to have fun! Click HERE to download the game!
Con cariño,
You might like these resources available on Teachers Pay Teachers:
The end of 2020 is here! What a difficult year for everyone. In the midst of hard times trying to stay positive was helpful for me. Admittedly, some days and weeks were easier than others to keep my head up. In Latin America, we have a New Year’s song whose chorus goes: “I won’t forget last year, because it has left me with so many good things!” while we simultaneously go to extra lengths to rid ourselves of bad memories and energy by burning the Año Viejo (Old Year). So it goes, year after year, a recognition of the good, bad, and ugly. But 2020 was particularly intense.
2020 made it possible for me to become closer to friends who live states away and across oceans. I have been able to spend more time with my children and see them grow and enjoy them. I have been able to take ukelele, salsa lessons, and yoga classes via Zoom, I have also developed new routines like drinking coffee on Saturday morning with my parents on WhatsApp. I still can’t tell if our dogs are grateful or not for having us around all the time!
It was also difficult for me not to be able to go to Colombia and to learn that friends have been taken away by this pandemic and that close family members in Colombia have also been affected by it. I feel extremely lucky that I still have a job, as I am aware that is not the case for many people. I’m keeping them in my thoughts during these hard times!
I am grateful for your continuous support of my work. Coming to read my blog, interacting with me on social media, purchasing my resources, downloading my freebies, and so on! Just know that everything I do here is with deep passion and love for teaching languages and connecting with teachers from all over the world. Your messages continue to inspire me! ¡Gracias!
Cheers for a healthy 2021 and hoping that soon we will be able to see our loved ones and friends – and give them the longest, squeeziest hugs ever!
Here are the most-read posts on my blog during 2020!
Last year I discovered Story Listening through a wonderful teacher named Meghan Hayes and her YouTube Channel. I started using this method, and, in the summer of 2019, I had the opportunity to be in a two-day training with the creator of this method, Dr. Beniko Mason. I also had the opportunity to meet and see Meghan in action. So inspirational!
Story Listening is not just sitting to read a book to your students or using props to tell a story. Story Listening (SL) requires a process to get ready for the story. Drawing while you tell the story is a big part of it, along with providing input that is optimal (comprehensible, compelling, rich, and abundant). If you are interested in learning more about Story Listening, I highly recommend that you start by understanding the research behind this method. Here is a video of Dr. Mason talking about SL.
I also keep discovering other YouTube channels of wonderful teachers who use this method and share about it. Cécile (@towardproficiency) is one of them! She recently shared how she used the story Julián is a Mermaid***by Jesicca Love (@jesslovedraws), and Profe Valentina shared with me that she also told the story to her students. Thanks to the inspiration from these two teachers, I decided to introduce the story to my 3rd and 4th graders. Some of them had already read the book and were excited to see it in the Story Listening format!
I have gotten in the habit of sharing and talking in some depth about the author or cultures related to a story before I tell the story to my students. I find this to be much more rewarding and thoughtful for me and the students than just quickly naming an author or culture/country and proceeding to tell a story. In the case of Julián is a Mermaid, my students got to learn a little about author Jessica Love. As a follow-up activity, I often bring the books to class so they can see the beautiful illustrations too! I get a chance to talk about the book. Unfortunately, my classes are only 25 minutes long, and I try to squeeze in as much as I can while still trying to ensure I’m pacing things to give my students time to process and go along with me.
I have been using SL with my home learning students via Zoom so they don’t really get to see that I “cheat” a little with my drawing. I actually draw my simple figures on sticky notes and put them on the board next to a version of the story.
As you can see in one of the pictures, my drawings are basic, but my students really love the process of me making them and then giving them a chance to try to figure it out. I have really enjoyed using SL in my classes and highly recommend that you give it a try! I invite you to bring to your students the power and magic behind Story Listening and to take a risk no matter what you feel about your own artistic talent. Students love it!
I feel so lucky to have been born in such a diverse country. At this gift-giving and reflective time of year, when I am thinking about what I want and need, I think about the advice that I’ve heard repeatedly and truly believe – that, at least for someone in the middle class like me, life experiences and travel can bring so much more happiness and fulfillment than material things. On that note, I really hope someday I have the time to travel and learn from the different cultures of Colombia. And I would love to start that journey by visiting family first. My parents are from the Caribbean coast (known in Colombia as The Coast, or “La Costa”) and moved to Cali a long time ago. I have extended family in many places in the country so planning a trip that included family connections would be a beautiful experience and allow me to learn more about my own country and heritage.
One of the ways diversity shows up in Colombia is through music. Señal Colombia is a national television channel funded and founded by the government. The channel focuses on content that reflects the different Colombian cultures and populations. The channel also has a space on YouTube. I highly recommend that you explore it if you want to learn more about my beautiful Colombia – its cultures, people, and history!
Colombia is divided into five different regions: the Pacific, Andes, Orinoco, Amazon, and Caribbean. The country is made up of 31 departments (similar to states or provinces), all ethnically distinct from one another to varying degrees. As you can see below, each region is represented in a video, but Colombia’s musical diversity goes way beyond what’s shown here in these Christmas songs.
Song: Los peces en el río. Genre: Bullerengue/chalupa. Group: Las mujeres de mi tierra. Region: Caribean- Cartagena
During this time of the year in the United States Christmas is everywhere! On TV ads, on the radio, on the cup of coffee you purchase, and more – and students and families who don’t celebrate it get over-saturated with these images and messages. It is important to offer space in our classrooms where they can breathe and have a space to share and cherish their family traditions and celebrations. Yes, this can also be done in Spanish class! I know that many of us love teaching the Burrito Sabanero song by Juanes, and I am not saying that we should stop singing those songs, but as educators, we should acknowledge other spiritualities and beliefs in our language classes too, especially in the context of such a diverse country like the United States.
Learning for Justice is a wonderful resource to use and incorporate when creating lessons for our classes. Their Social Justice Standardsare a must-see/use resource that provides a solid grounding for anti-bias education at every level. These standards provide a common language for schools to use. The standards are divided into four domains: Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Action.
I had the opportunity to dive deep into these standards during the summer when I participated in a group to rethink the social studies curriculum of the school where I currently teach. I saw that these standards work great for world language educators and, in fact, many Spanish teachers are already using them. With that in mind, I created a resource to use around this time of the year. It is also based on an experience I had last year with a student who was the only Jewish student in my first-grade class (read post here). I can’t let my own joy for Christmas sideline my students’ identities and needs.
All educators know that teaching this year is different, and since I am not seeing many of my students because they are working on asynchronous lessons, we will miss having these conversations. Hopefully, next year will be different, and I will be able to update this post. For now, I will send a short video of me talking in English and Spanish about family celebrations and assigning the activity below on Seesaw for my students to complete. Better times will come!
¡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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