Welcome to 2020! This year I have decided that I won’t make a list of resolutions for the New Year, only because I find myself writing the same list over and over again each year and not being able to follow through. I also generally add things that should be a habit in my life such as eating healthy, exercising more, reading more books instead of spending so much time on social media and so on! I did decide that I want to learn how to play ukelele and will tell you more about it at the end of 2020. Are you setting any goals for this year?
This holiday season I got to spend a few weeks in Colombia with my parents, and I am now feeling recharged with new ideas to bring to my classroom (even though I miss my parents).
I wrote my lesson plans my last day before going on break because I knew I was going to forget a lot of what I was doing in my classes.
Many children hit a kind of reset button during the break so as a general rule, I find it very helpful to treat the first few days after the holidays as I’d done on the first days of school in August. I think it is a good idea to review your classroom rules and procedures as well as continue building relationships with students and creating community before diving into teaching Spanish. This means that I will spend my first days revising our classroom rules and routines: discussing, modeling, and practicing rules. We practice how to walk in a line, enter the classroom, and find a place on the rug to get ready for class. We model it, talk about it, and keep reinforcing it for the rest of the school year. For me this also means that part of my class will take place in English the first few days back after the break. It will pay off nicely during the rest of the school year!
I use this opportunity to revisit the use of the chime with my students. We review that the chime sound means to stop, look, and listen. I also revisit some of our call & response chants, hand signals, and brain & breathing breaks.
Download these cards to introduce your students to “para, mira y escucha.”
I am excited that I have been able to create better videos for my songs. Here is one I really like not only because it’s simple but for some reason I love the rhythm. This song also brings back beautiful memories of when I used to teach Spanish classes to families through music and movement in my own program called 1-2-3 Spanish Together. I really miss those days!
Make sure to download this FREEBIE with all the props to start teaching this song to your preschool or kinder students.
I have never been a fan of snow, that’s probably one of the reasons why I moved from Boston to Austin. But one of the things I most miss about New England is the beautiful fall foliage and the crisp feeling of the air, even if it means snow is around the corner. I used to love teaching this song to my students because of the connection to the time of year. Fall means a lot of exciting things: pumpkin patches, apple picking, apple pie, pumpkin pie, Halloween tricks and treats, and so on!
I don’t get to teach this song with the same excitement anymore because nothing changes as dramatically down here in Austin (I’ve heard it said that there are three seasons here: summer 1, summer 2, and winter), but I can still share my love for the fall with you through this song and resources.
I still remember when I wrote this song during a cold winter in Boston when I was thinking back to this beautiful season. I am lucky that a group of friends and musicians in Colombia recorded many of my songs that you can find on Teachers Pay Teachers, Amazon, CD Baby, and iTunes.
Through this song, your students will explore the colors of the fall season. You and your students can imitate the sound of the wind and the freshness of the fall to introduce this activity. Use pictures of different seasons and ask the class “¿es verano?”, “¿es primavera?” and so on. Give time for answers and go through every
season until you get to “otoño.” Introduce the word “hojas,” and sing part of the song. Have your students explore different colors and help to name them. I sometimes like to use a play parachute*** andfake fall leaves*** while singing the song. It gets noisy, but it’s a lot of fun and a great way to get your students moving. This song works best with preschool-aged children. Click HERE to download free props to use this song in your classes!
It’s not like no one has ever counted the days until a break! Right? Every time a break is getting close, my mind tricks me and everything seems so slow. Well, I also take it as a reminder that if I am tired and ready for a break, my students probably are too! We all know that the days leading up to a school break are no time to start anything new. Our students are all over the place, with too much energy, and it is hard for them to concentrate. What’s the best we can do? In my opinion, the best approach is to take it easy and go with the flow. Time to look for activities to review some of the content taught before, spiral curriculum style. And one more thing. No administrator should decide to visit your class days ahead the break! Not because you are not doing your job right, but because we are all kind of out of routine.
I always love going on a break with my lesson plans ready or just leaving a few notes that will remind me where to pick up where I left off. Once we are back after the break, it is a a good time to go over your rules and classroom routines again. Believe it or not, one or two weeks are enough for some of those things to be forgotten. The great news is that you don’t have to spend time on activities to get to know your students. Instead, you can just reinforce and keep working on a safe classroom environment for you to continue teaching and for your students to continue growing. Teamwork!
Here are some visuals that might help you go over important and simple rules to make your class a safe space for every learner. It’s important to talk about them, model them, and practice them a lot! If interested in reading more about classroom management, I have one more post where I share what I do and what I include in my classroom to support rules and procedures. Click here to read it all!
In the search of books to read to my own children at home, I came across the book “What Was Your Dream, Dr. King?“*** It was written for children, yet I find it very informative and descriptive about that moment in the history of the United States and still at the level of a second grader. While reading the book, the idea occurred to me to write something that I know my 4th and 5th grade students can read and understand.
I feel fortunate that all the schools I’ve taught in here in the U.S. make a special point to mention Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. around this time of year to commemorate his birthday and legacy. Sadly, I don’t understand why some of us (yes, including me!) have to wait for a special month to talk or incorporate important events like this one in our curriculums. We have to be intentional about including this in our curriculums. And yes, it’s possible to teach them in the target language. It’s possible to make it comprehensible. ¡Sí se puede! You can always reserve that 10% for the L1 if necessary (note this is actually recommended by ACTFL).
It’s certainly possible that you might feel that this topic is not directly related to your curriculum, but I believe it is! I feel that as a language teacher I have to honor the diverse cultures and backgrounds of my students as well as to help them understand the wider world, teaching about the cultures of Spanish speaking countries. And Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s messages for equity, equality, and inclusion was and is universal, leading to rich discussions in any language that can help deepen connections with your students. The fact that his message of peace and social change spread all over the world makes him relevant for students and cultures worldwide, and his words (e.g. “Free at last”) and actions (e.g. the March on Washington or the Montgomery Bus Boycott) inspire me and fuel me as a teacher, too. After all, students who apply their knowledge to do what’s right are the kind of young people I want to help bring up in the ever-changing world.
Click HERE to download this resource to use with your students. It’s recommended for grades 5 and up!
¡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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*** while singing the song. It gets noisy, but it’s a lot of fun and a great way to get your students moving. This song works best with preschool-aged children. Click 
“*** It was written for children, yet I find it very informative and descriptive about that moment in the history of the United States and still at the level of a second grader. While reading the book, the idea occurred to me to write something that I know my 4th and 5th grade students can read and understand.