My students really love the Movement Cards I shared on Spanish Playground. I though I will surprise them with a Halloween version! My students have been talking about Halloween since the middle of September. Halloween time is an opportunity to make connections with something students really love. You can find so many concepts to incorporate in Spanish class such as colors, shapes, sizes, feelings and so on. Here is an opportunity to teach some movement words in Spanish. I have added these cards to the brain breaks I will be using with my younger students during October. Download yours here!
This game is another fave in my classes. Quick to put together and great to review vocabulary while adding some movement. This game is known by different names, but I call it “Aguacate” in my classes.Use flashcards with different vocabulary you have explored with your students. For example, colors, numbers, seasons, animals, and so on!
Look for clipart of something that’s making movement. In this case, I chose a jumping avocado, and called the game “aguacate.”You can choose another clipart that works well for your classes and name it differently.I call this card the movement card. Print about 10 of them.
Mix all the vocabulary flashcards, and place the movement cards in the group of cards. They should be in different places in your group of cards.
Have your students say the name of every vocabulary card, and do the movement every time they see the movement card.
For example, if you follow this video it would be:Amarillo, azul, aguacate (jump), anaranjado, rojo, aguacate (jump) and so on!You can decide as a group how to end the game. Need the cards to download the game? Click HERE!!
This is a fun game to introduce the 21 Spanish-speaking countries. I call this game “paisanos”. In preparation for this game, you will need to make a list or print flags of the 21 Spanish countries.
How to Play the Game:
Distribute the cards depending on the number of students you have. For example, if you have 20 students, you will choose 10 countries (which equals 20 cards).
Each student gets a card. Students should keep their cards secret from their classmates. Have your students spread around the room. They will have to find the person who has the same country by asking “¿Eres de ______?”, the other person should answer by saying “No, no soy de ____.” The students then should move on until they find their partner. When they find their partner, they say “paisano/a/e” (which means someone from the same country).
Students who find their partners should sit and wait for everyone else to find theirs. Once everyone is done, put up a map of the world, and locate the countries that the students had on their cards.
Ready to play the game? Click on the picture to download it!
Don’t have time to read now? Click on the pic to save for later!
Nibi is Water is a beautiful picture book written and illustrated by Joanne Robertson and translated intoAnishinaabeKwe by Shirley Williams and Isadore Toulouse. This book was written for babies and toddlers and is a wonderful resource for preschool and kindergarten world language classes too. By bringing this book to your classes, you are not only sharing the powerful message of protecting water and what nibi (water in AnishinaabeKwe) means for the Ojibwe but also to use it as a tool to provide authentic language input for your students. And the most important thing! Buy the book if you can to support the author. It’s also great when you can add it to your own classroom or school library.
I highly recommend that before engaging with the book to give input to your students, you give some background information about the author. I believe this short clip is great to do so. The clip is obviously in English, but it is important for students to understand why the book was written and help the author spread the message about the connection between water and her culture. Remember that world language classes should be a space not only limited to learning about the culture of the target language you are studying and learning day to day, but to connect with the world as a richly interwoven tapestry of languages, cultures, and traditions. Our classes should be a space to nurture global citizenship!
Some suggestions for using this book:
1. After watching the video with your students, read the book to provide additional context. I added the high frequency word “puedes”. For example:
Page 1: La lluvia es agua.
Page 2: La nieve es agua.
Pages 3 & 4: En el agua puedes chapotear y remar.
Pages 5 & 6: En el agua puedes nadar. Puedes tomar el agua.
Pages 7 & 8: Puedes hacer crecer las plantas o hacer encoger un suéter.
Pages 9 & 10: Con el agua te puedes bañar y cepillar.
Pages 10 & 11: Puedes lavar los platos o bajar (descargar) el baño.
Pages 12 & 13: Puedes salpicar o tomar.
Pages 14 & 15: Puedes darle agua al perro y al gato. Puedes ver al oso en el agua.
Pages 16 & 17: Puedes dar gracias y respetar.
Pages 18 & 19: Puedes dar amor y proteger.
Page 20: Nibi es agua.
Page 21: Nibi es vida. El agua es vida.
I use painter’s tape(Amazon affiliate link) to add text to any book I want to adapt and make it comprehensible for my students. This type of tape sticks to the book without damaging it if you decide to remove the tape in the future.
2. The illustrations are just amazing! Use them to talk about the different animals and colors in the book.
3. Print some pages of the book and use them like movement cards. There are some great illustrations that go well with TPR (Total Physical Response).
Brain break or calm down activities? This is the question I have been asking myself this year after teaching my sweet first graders. I am lucky that we have a mindfulness teacher in the school where I teach. I asked him for some help, and he graciously offered to come sit and observe my students in my class. After observing my class he noticed that I have been using a lot of brain breaks that will leave my students with high energy, which doesn’t really help this group of active first graders maintain focus during the rest of the class period.
This is what he suggested I do:
Calming Scents: He mentioned to me that this age group is highly affected by their environment. He suggested that having calming scents such as lavender, lemon or peppermint might help.
Sounds: Playing relaxing music or natural sounds such as rainforest or waterfalls as they enter my classroom might help lower their energy levels.
Slow movement activities: Play slow music in the room and have them pretend to be different things in nature. Visuals will be handy for this. For example, a cloud, a slow elephant, a bird and so on (and this also gives a fun opportunity to reinforce some vocabulary or teach new words).
Breathing movements: Encourage movement activities that require students to inhale and exhale while sitting down or walking around the room.
Here are some visuals that might be helpful to have in your room.
Just ask your students to close their eyes quietly for a minute or more. Setting a timer or using a chime might help to let your students know that the time is up!
“Smell the flowers” is a good visual to encourage students to breathe deeply.
“Blow out the candles” is a great visual to practice exhaling fully. I ask my students to pretend they are holding a flower in one hand and a candle in the other, and we alternate when inhaling and exhaling.
Just play soft music or relaxing sounds in class.
Practicing some yoga poses might help your students get rid of their wiggles.
¡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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