WE ARE ALL UNIQUE – TALKING ABOUT SKIN COLOR IN A WORLD LANGUAGE CLASS

WE ARE ALL UNIQUE – TALKING ABOUT SKIN COLOR IN A WORLD LANGUAGE CLASS

by | Feb 6, 2021 | Identity

While talking about how unique we are, I have used the book All the Colors We Are – Todos los colores de nuestra piel by Katie Kissinger, and it has been a great resource to start the conversation. The children love learning about the magic power we all have called melanin and how we get our skin color from the sun, our family, and our ancestors. 

All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get our Skin Color*

Here are some ideas to talk with your students about how unique we all are: 

1. Start by reading the first pages of the book All the Colors We Are. This introduces the children to the idea that we all have different skin color and why everyone is unique, plus you will see that your younger students will enjoy saying the word “melanina” a lot!

I take the time to have this conversation in English. Chances are that your students are already reading books related to race/skin colors with their homeroom teachers too! This is a great opportunity to talk about the different eyes, hair, and skin colors in Spanish.

Mi ojos son de color negro, azul, café/miel

Mi pelo es negro, café, rubio

Mi color de piel es blanco, café, negro.

As the book All the Colors We Are suggests, children in younger grades can also compare their skin color to things in nature. I think this is great with lower elementary students but not as much with older students.

2. I created a resource to accompany and support the book All the Colors We Are. The resource is called Me gusta como soy. It includes a short story and activities that go along with it.

Read the short story Me gusta como soy – Something that has worked great during reading the story is to invite the children to engage in the reading by saying the phrase “A mí tambíen” after reading each page of the story. For example, if you read “Me gustan mis ojos,” invite the class to say “A mí también.” You might also ask again about the color of their eyes. After reading the story, make it a celebration by creating your own song with the lines in the story. 

3. If you don’t own multicultural crayons,* colored pencils,* or markers,* you really need them for this! Allow students to look at the crayons, colored pencils, or markers to find which one matches or is close to their skin color.  Put together mini-books using multicultural crayons and other colors.

4. Invite your students to take the mini-book home to share and start and share with their parents what they learned about where we get our skin color from.

5. Students who are learning from home can also complete their books via Seesaw.

See my post on Instagram

I hope you join me in celebrating your students and talking about skin color in Spanish class!

Abrazos virtuales,

*Amazon Affiliate Links: Fun for Spanish for Spanish Teachers participates in the Amazon LLC Associate program. This post contains affiliate links wich means that this site earns advertising feeds by linking to Amazon products. Participation in this program doesn’t alter the cost for the buyer.

BOOKS FOR RETHINKING YOUR CURRICULUM

BOOKS FOR RETHINKING YOUR CURRICULUM

by | Jan 31, 2021 | curriculum

If you are looking for books to help you to rethink the content in your curriculum, here are a few! Hard to choose one since all of them are filled with great content. I love that these books have been written by educators for educators. I’m currently working on updating/replacing and creating units, and these resources have been a great support.

? “Unpack Your Impact: How Two Primary Teachers Ditched Problematic Lessons and Built a Culture-Centered Curriculum”: This book has great examples of how to reconceptualize lessons to help students think critically and go deeper, and beyond “fun facts.” I actually learned historical facts from this book myself!

? “Being the Change – Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension” is a book that I have used as a resource for the affinity group for students of color at my school. I have also been able to adapt some of the ideas presented in the book for my Spanish classes, e.g., Identity unit.

? I first came across the “Rethinking Schools” publications in a course I took for my master’s degree a little over ten years ago (time flies!). These books are filled with anecdotes and reflections from teachers and their classroom experiences. There is no need to read these books in a certain order. These are the two books in the video:
1. Rethinking Early Childhood Education
2. Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice – Vol 1

? Last,  but not least “Words and Actions: Teaching Languages Through the Lens of Social Justice” is a book written for world language educators, but anyone can benefit from reading it. This book has great examples of language lessons for different levels. I’m still working on finishing this one!

?Any other books or resources you would add to this list? Please feel free to list them in the comments!

Con cariño,