"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!