Presenting...¡España!

Fifth Grade Spanish Culture Presentations:

Fifth grade students are currently presenting their Google slides on Spanish culture to the class. This is the first time I assigned this project and I received so much positive feedback from students, that I would implement it with future classes. Students really controlled most of the learning: from choosing their topic, to having input on the rubric to teaching the class about their topic, and yet were still able to achieve our learning goals. 

Researching España

First students did a scavenger hunt to learn about España and to give them some ideas of topics to investigate more about. I gave students about 10 questions (in Spanish) that they needed to answer by finding the bags around my classroom.  One was full of real Spanish products like olive oil and Spanish olives, while others had items from my trips to Spain (castanets, ticket to a futbol game, a magazine on bullfighting, etc.). There were also a few short videos on the iPads about tourist attractions and soccer teams. 

After learning basic facts in Spanish, we moved onto our projects. I have to give a lot of credit to my colleagues who did this project before I did. They had a lot of wonderful ideas and suggestions!  I had students come up with a topic they wanted to learn more about, based on questions students had after the scavenger hunt.  Popular ones were: Real Madrid and other fútbol teams, the royal family, Spanish foods, Spanish fashions, and the Running of the Bulls and bullfighting. Many students taught the class a few Spanish words related to their topic, but presented mostly in English. I think they would not have enjoyed this as much with the frustration of having to translate. 
Here are some sample slides:

"Playing" in Second Grade

"Playing" in Second Grade:

¡Vámonos familia! Let's go, family!

With second graders I also recently used a play, "Los tres osos" ("The Three Bears") to teach. Unlike with Juan Bobo, though, my goal was not teaching about culture or introducing new vocabulary. My reason for using "The Three Bears" was to reinforce vocabulary and phrases the students had already learned, but in a meaningful context! Prior to the play, students learned about la familia, the rooms of la casa, sizes, emotions and commands so it just made sense to teach through this very familiar play.



Getting Familiar with the Language:

Like with Juan Bobo we retold (and retold and retold) the story until students were able to produce the words themselves.  Each student who wanted to, was able to choose a part (Mamá, Papá,Bebé or the "Chica/Chico Curiosa") as we told the story. Students would wear simple props like an apron for Mamá or a tie for Papá. I would help students with their lines until they could say them without help. Students who chose not to act in the play could be a "stage manager" and help with props.

Practicing and Assessing:

At the end of each class I would ask students to find a place in the classroom and close their eyes. I would say a line from the play and they would act it out (Ex: "La sopa está caliente", "La chica chica toca la puerta", etc.). We also did several games on the Smartboard to practice vocabulary. 

Making Class Books:

 I also had students make a class book of the play. I love doing class books as students always seem to enjoy them so much and take ownership of what they have created. For this project I handed out phrases on sentence strips and had students copy and illustrate their phrase from the play. I also assigned students, who were done, to create the front and back cover. We then met to share and sequence the pages. Students placed them into beginning, middle and end and then we sequenced the individual pages as a class.  I would ask "Cuál es primero--¿La chica corre y corre o duerme y duerme?" (Which is first? Does the girl run and run or sleep and sleep?) Finally, I bound the book and made a copy for students who requested one. I asked them to read their books with their families.

Producing Language and Retelling:

Watch the Nick Jr. Video here!

Now that students have heard the play many, many times, I tried to get them to produce the phrases and eventually retell the story (and hopefully transfer the words and phrases to other situations). To do this we played a lot of games in groups with visuals and phrases, and also played charades. I also read a few book versions of the story and we watched a Nick Jr. video clip of the story. After all of this, I put up a picture version of the story and asked students to retell the story using as much Spanish as possible. Many students surprised themselves with how much Spanish they were able to use!

*Transferring the language:

Recently I burned my arm while making soup. After seeing the bandages my students wanted to know what happened. I said, "Voy a explicar.... ¡en español! I used the familiar words: "preparando" (preparing) "sopa" (soup) "caliente" and students understood exactly what happened, even though I explained only in Spanish :)

Body Part Centers

Third Grade Centers:

Luckily, our week of testing and the end of our body part unit happened to coincide. I thought centers would be the perfect way to review and practice vocabulary while giving students a much-needed break from testing!

 All centers focused on body part vocabulary as well as the use of "Me duele" (It hurts me). I put students into groups of 4 and then introduced each station very briefly.  I made sure to leave instructions and vocabulary students might need, at each station. I allowed 4 minutes for each station, but would adjust as necessary. I had students choose a timer from this fun website: http://www.online-stopwatch.com/classroom-timers.

The centers:

Center 1: Labeling Body Part Race

Students seemed to enjoy this one! They had to label the body parts of a group member and switch. We did this in an earlier class in a relay race, but did not label all parts at once. I left labels and tape for 2 groups of 2. I found that there was time to only label two group members. Who was labeled was easily solved with a game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors"!

Center 2: ¡José no tiene! Flashcards

This station featured cards students had used in class prior to doing centers.  Students had to turn over the cards and say what José is missing! Some groups finished this quickly,  so I added a monster draw activity. Students rolled a dice to find out how many heads, feet, eyes, etc. their monster would have and then they could draw it on the whiteboard. 




Center 3: ¡Ejercicios! Exercise

I got this brilliant idea from colleague, Yvonne Vazquez. I gave the kids a list of exercises to do and asked them to count the repetitions in Spanish. They definitely enjoyed the movement!

For example: Corran rápidamente y toquen (touch) las rodillas (run fast while touching your knees).

Center 4: "Me duele" charades: It hurts me charades

I made up cards with phrases like: "Me duele la cabeza" (My head hurts). Students took turns acting out and guessing. Some were very dramatic!

¡Me duele la nariz!  My nose hurts!

"Playing" in the Spanish Classroom

                        "Playing" in the Spanish Classroom

One of my favorite activities to do in the classroom with students is plays!  I love using plays for several reasons: students get to hear and use vocabulary in a natural context, it is a great way to introduce culture and... they are so engaging and fun!  I recently did a Juan Bobo play with my fourth grade students who are learning about Puerto Rico, and Los tres osos (The Three Bears) with my second graders. Here are some of the learning and extension activities that we did in fourth grade:

The play we did was called Juan Bobo y la olla de tres patas, which tells the story of when Juan Bobo is asked to get a pot from his neighbor. The pot has little patas (or feet) and Juan believes it can walk! He is a silly character and this is a typical Juan Bobo (Simple John) story. I found it on the  wonderful website: http://www.miscositas.com/spanish.html.  You can even print out a small version of the book.

Since there are so many unfamiliar words in this play, I spend time teaching them first. I like to make the words memorable so we pass around my enormous Spanish dictionary to illustrate "pesado" (heavy) and my Halloween cauldron for la olla (the pot).  Students practice an action for each word and I quiz them on these actions each class!

Now, students get to hear the story. The first time, I tell the play while acting out all parts
( I probably look pretty loca!) and see if students can guess the meaning. Once they understand the general story, I choose students each class to act in the play using our simple props (a straw hat for Juan Bobo, a spoon, apron and rubber chicken for Mamá and an apron and pot for the neighbor).  In the beginning I feed them the lines, but we keep retelling and retelling and retelling the story until students can chime in and can say the words without being prompted.

Once students are comfortable with the language, I give each student a script, group and a role in the play. Groups then hi-light their parts and work to act out their own version of the play.  They can make and add their own props and actions. I always tell them to act out the play so that someone who doesn't understand Spanish can still understand your play. If my schedule allows, I have students perform their play for their buddy class. 

Extension activities: Now students are able to show what they have learned. One activity that students enjoy is creating a comic strip of the play.  I give them the words in Spanish and they illustrate them using simple drawings:

I always laugh as I see the creative ways students illustrate the play. I then make one copy of each comic strip and select one picture from each student.  Students always check to make sure their drawing is included!  I now create a picture version of the story for  students to use while retelling the story (using as much Spanish as possible):

Now the class works together to retell the story while I scribe and then the class reads it back to me. They are always amazed at how much Spanish they have used to retell the play. I once challenged a class to retell the story in English and they couldn't do it without slipping into Spanish. This reminds me the power of "playing" in the classroom!