Mi casa

La casa

Talking about different homes and different styles based on geography has always been exciting to me. When the unit of La casa approaches my classroom, I try to do new and different things that engage my students in different ways.

As a creative person, I encourage my students to experience language through crafts, colors and more! I try to bring different options to accommodate those less creative and there is always a more open ended approach that my most creative students can take and go wild!

In the past, I have used homes to address cultural topics like Cinco de Mayo. You can read that here.

This time around, I wanted to students to see the value of pictures as a mean to familiarize themselves with new vocabulary. We often doodle and create connections in that manner, so I had high hopes for this manipulative.

Visuals are super important for our young learners, but never underestimate the power of a "cute" handout when you teach older students (high school and college). These simple activities in those age groups can really spark wonderful conversations in the target language.

This week, we are starting a unit on houses: rooms, furniture, accessories, etc. We are also working hard on spatial descriptions and physical ones as well. Students usually resort to copying their vocab on their notes or Quizlet. Enter @FunforSpanishTeachers' lovely resource. My students loved labelling it, coloring it and just getting creative with it.

The second day after it has been labelled and customized, my students will walk the classroom and chat with different partners about their unique homes. They will talk about what rooms they can find in the home, what furniture, accessories, etc. They will review how to create descriptions and be able to share details of their particular homes.

¿Cuántos cuartos tienes?

¿Cuál es tu cuarto favorito y por qué?

¿Cómo es tu sala?

¿De qué color es el sofá en tu casa?

But this is just the beginning!!!

Another approach for our more novice learners is to come up with sample questions as a group, have them displayed or written on the board along with some sample answers. This will build the student's confidence and serve as a resource for when they may feel stuck. You more proficient students will not need the help, but it will make a huge difference to those who may struggle a bit.

Stay tuned for more house resources and ideas.

I have no business relationship with Fun For Spanish Teachers. I just bought this resource and loved it so much I wanted to share. 
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/La-Casa-House-Interactive-Notebook-3702194

FOLLOW ME

Resources for the Spanish classroom

It has been a while since I blogged.
Lately, I have been focused on creating lots of resource for my children and my students. This leaves me with very little time to share with you some of my fun activities!

Now that we have to be at home all day, every day, I promise to share more here!

Today, let me start with sharing some resources that I have been using for years that have facilitated my teaching, grading and overall instruction.

1. FLIPGRID: The free version allows students to record up to 5 minutes. I have used it for reading comprehension where you can post an open ended question and have students share with you. I have also used it for short presentations. You can enable so that other students have to comment on each other's presentations. Here is a quick video tutorial. 

Great app for speaking assessments that you can just grade at home and all students can submit at the same time!

2. Google forms: A great tool to create quizzes! Simple concepts to open ended questions and multiple choice. Easy to grade as well!

3. Screen recording: On my MAC, I use Quicktime to create screen recordings of lessons. You can create a power point, set it to presentation mode and just talk to your students! For PC, I have found Screencast.com. The free version does have a time limit, but you can make as many videos as you need!

4. Zoom.us: Perfect platform for meeting with students in a group or one on one. Allows you to share screens or white boards. Its recording tool allows you to have videos of those sessions! The free version usually has a time limit on the meeting, but during this time, Zoom has lifted that to accommodate the needs of our communities! Watch this quick tutorial video. No docu cam? NO PROBLEM! Check out my low budget one ;D here. 

5. EdPuzzle.com: Perfect to use with those videos you have found or created. You upload any video, or video link from YouTube, etc., and can add comprehension questions along the way! Also FREE! Watch a quick video tutorial HERE. 

Feel free to comment and share what are some of the apps that are helping you transition into these e-learning days!

Let us be a team and help each other. 

With love, 
Andrea

-------------UPDATE ---------------

Here are some more options I keep remembering and others keep sharing. 

1. Prezi.com: A fun free up to spice up your Power Points! Works really well when you do a screencast. 

2. Flipsnack: https://www.flipsnack.com/. This one is new to me. I am intrigued! If you have used it, please share your experience. 

3. Storyboardthat.com. Perfect for students to create scenes that you can use to review any topic! Its amazing to see those of us with limited drawing skills to have incredible masterpieces!

---------------MORE RESOURCES!--------

Screencastify: https://www.screencastify.com/products/screen-recorder: Another good tool to record your lessons.

Seesaw https://web.seesaw.me/: I am impressed with this app and will be figuring out a way to use it in my classroom. My children are using it and it has so many options! Submit a drawing, write, record video, etc. It all is saved in one quick place so you don’t have to use different apps!

Classkick https://classkick.com/?fbclid=IwAR1HDOYJk7apabSvPAzd6UKR8tiqxm_gr-7FA0RUbeNAfQDurfbuawfAQbI: Seems fun to be able to add content for the students to work independently.

Kahoot https://kahoot.com/: All my students have loved this app. From the young ones, to the “cooler” high schoolers to my college students. You can search pre made Kahoots or make your own. It also prints a report so its great for reviews!

Quizlet http://quizlet.com : Another great resource for students to review the vocabulary. It makes flashcards with visuals, and students can play games to improve their vocabulary skills. Watch my quick tutorial HERE. 

Pear Deck https://www.peardeck.com/googleslides: A fun add on to your Google Slides! It has many templates to include interactive ideas into your Google Slide presentations.

Our first día de los muertos

Our first día de los muertos

Last year, my kids lost their beloved great gpa on Halloween. He was the first person in their lives to leave them, and he definitely left a huge hole in their hearts. That October, Coco also came out in and a few months later we had the DVD and watched it at home.

We are a Colombian family, so día de los muertos  is not something I grew up celebrating. In fact, there is not a lot that I know about that celebration. But watching the movie with my kids started some very interesting conversations between us. While I am not claiming that the movie is 100% accurate or truly representative of the real traditions, it made my kids think about those who have left us and gave them an idea on how to remember them. I have also read some articles that show support for the representations shown in the movie.

So, for the next year they kept looking for ideas on how to decorate their altar. My parents went on a trip to Guanajuato, Mexico and brought them traditional items. We also found some additional items while shopping around our local stores. They were determined to replicate the altars they saw in the movie. They spoke with their Titos (their Colombian grandparents) about the idea, and decided to include some extra people in their altar.

Long story short, my kid's need to connect with their beloved grandfather made me research more about the day itself. So, I have found these amazing resources that I would like to share with you as well.

I hope that you can use this in your classroom or at home. 

**Please leave a comment if you have any other resources that I could add to this blog**

Facts about the celebration. 
1. Download these cards and talk to your students about the holiday.
2.  Watch this short film that shows a young girl experiencing the celebration and understanding its meaning better.
3. Here is National Geographic's things to know about this day.

Celebrations around the world. 
1. Celebrating the day in Mexico. Read more about it here.
2. Carolina, from Fun for Spanish teachers, shares how Guatemala celebrates this day. Read more here.
3. Julie, from El Mundo de Pepita, shares Ecuador's celebration. Learn more about it here.
4. Take your students around the world. Show them these ten places. As a follow up, they could investigate further these locations, or they could find new ones to add to the list.

Crafts for the classroom.
1. Coloring calaveras and alebrijes can be an appropriate activity for your students once they understand why they are doing it. You could even build an altar in your room with their examples and ask them to color one to honor someone they miss. Check out these incredible free coloring pages.


Culture through food
1. Laura, from el Tarro de los Idiomas, shares a recipe for pan de muerto!  Great way to engage your students and perhaps add to your altar. Recipe found here.

Remembering their loved ones. 
In order to help my kids better connect to their grand father and this celebration itself, I asked them to write down things they remembered about him. We used this resource to do it and added it to our altar.

I hope that you have found this list helpful and that your students can better understand this incredible celebration of life. I know my kids and I had a great time.

Our first altar did not disappoint! Kids help me set it up and they wrote their thoughts on grandpa. They were very excited to continue to learn about this tradition and improve our altar for next year.
       
         


Thanks  Prettygrafik for the clipart

Las vacaciones y la comida!

Today is the last day of a multi "unit" research project -- I know, I know... we are still using textbooks. That's a story for another day.  However, you TOO can make lemonade from whatever lemons you get ;D

I love sending my students on vacation! So, at the start of the trimester I give them a country and from that day forth, this country is their new identity.

First we incorporated our countries in our clothing unit. We first started with simple clothing activities to get us all on the same page, and later students worked with describing traditional clothing items from their countries. I have the basic clothing resource here.

We then moved on to ser vs. estar and I quickly realized we needed a lesson in geography! So we shared in groups the location of our countries in the map. Estar + prepositions of location!! This activity was fun and we did many information gap activities! This was followed by a little research to find information about their countries itself. So we were able to describe our countries a bit better based on their geography, eco-turism, weather, etc. I used this activity to give them examples about what they could do with their own country.

My next unit was the house! Boy I loved this unit!!! First we started with the basics and I used this fabulous resource by Fun For Spanish Teachers. We labelled rooms, we described them, we placed them inside the house! It was just awesome. Then, we looked at what typical homes in our countries looked like and shared that with friends. We drew rooms and partnered with others to see if they could draw our descriptions; we created dream homes. Lots of different ways to talk about homes; worked with these task cards. The possibilities are endless!


But, who lives in the house? The family! Our family unit was a lot of fun because it incorporates the comparatives and superlatives "grammar". We learned our family basics and then compared them to others within our family and to our classmate's families. This gave us a chance to review our adjectives. We shared a lot with each other  by comparing our family members. We found similarities and differences. We also worked on reporting back on the information that we had gathered.

A family is a unit that helps each other, so what better way than to learn some of the household chores that allow us to do things around the house! This is how I tied in the unit on informal affirmative commands! Fun games of "Simon dice" to introduce our topic led us into create "chore lists" and ways in which we can all help get ready for a fabulous fiesta!

Our home was ready, the guest list was finalized, decorations were purchased, and now it was time to eat! and we were VERY hungry !!! We came full circle! Looked up traditional dishes form our countries, described them and created recipe cards. Then, students prepared these fabulous dishes and brought them to share. What a fabulous time we had trying multiple dishes sharing our likes and dislikes.  Check out today's "menu".
  

I hope you have enjoyed this "unit" and hopefully you can find ways to break away from your textbook and take your students in a wonderful adventure!

Comic strips - Las tiras cómicas

Every time I can, I let my student's imagination lead the way.
In our last unit we talked about traveling. Everyone has gone somewhere in their lifetime, even if it is local. Therefore they all have a story to tell.
I let them tap into their artistic side and create a comic strip about said trip. When done, they were able to converse with one another about this trip.
In order to focus on the grammar being studied in the unit, they had to also create the written version of their story.
The results were fantastic! Check them out.
**If you want to read about other people enjoying comic strips too, go here

**If you would like to use these templates, go here

FOLLOW ME

How I Cinco de Mayo

How I “Cinco de Mayo”.

Every year, I think SO hard about ways in which I can educate those around me about Cinco de Mayo. “Why does she need to do that?”, you may ask. Well, this year I had one of my favorite bloggers put into words the things I was feeling! This is what she wrote: 

“I remember my first year as a Spanish teacher in the United States. I was also new in the country and have to admit that I had never heard of "Cinco de Mayo." I was quietly walking into the school library when I suddenly heard "Happy Cinco de Mayo." Happy Cinco de Mayo? What was that all about? It was another teacher wishing me the best Cinco de Mayo ever! I was so confused and asked, "What are you talking about? Cinco de Mayo?" She opened her eyes widely and told me, "I can't believe it! You are a Spanish teacher and you don't know anything about Cinco de Mayo?" She was so right, I didn't know anything about it! I was so embarrassed and shyly said, "No, I don't know anything about it." Oh, well, it's a Mexican celebration", she said.  And that answer was how our conversation ended. 

I went to look for the other Spanish teachers in the district and they told that me they didn't want this to be included in the curriculum, that this was a celebration filled with a lot of stereotypes, burritos, tacos and other icons that don't even exist in the Mexican culture. As years went by, I decided that it was not to be a big part in my curriculum, that it was not even important to mention it or include other Mexican celebrations in my class. How wrong I was! Soon enough I learned that as a language teacher, it is my responsibility to help guide that young people beyond stereotypes. I heard things I am sure other Spanish teachers have heard: "El Dia de los Muertos" is like Halloween, or the Cinco de Mayo is the Mexican Independence Day. 

I have decided to take a more proactive role, to educate myself about other cultures and share what I know with my students. This is why, I, a Colombian Spanish teacher celebrate "El Cinco de Mayo." I have challenged myself to take my students beyond sombreros, tacos and burritos.”  http://funforspanishteachers.blogspot.com/2012/05/why-do-i-celebrate-cinco-de-mayo-in-my.html

So this year, I was also inspired by one of her blogs (http://funforspanishteachers.blogspot.com/2016/06/proyecto-para-ninos-la-casal-azul.html?m=1)

and incorporated it into my classes. In her blog, aimed for elementary educators, she teaches everyone about Frida Khalo and then has a fun project about making Frida’s “casa azul”.  The units being presented in my classes lend themselves to be able to create a short biography about who she was (preterit vs. imperfect) for one class, and my other class wrote some descriptions about the house itself (ser vs. estar). The results were incredible and multi-purpose! 1. Students were educated on what Cinco de mayo really is about; 2. they learned more about other cultures (mexican) by reading about Frida; 3. researched and used what we were learning in class; 4. HAD FUN by creating their own houses!

Take a look at some of the spectacular samples.

UPDATE:   Since writing this post in 2017 the world has changed a LOT! With 2020 and COVID, many places have made virtual tours to give us a way to travel. 

Check out this amazing tour of Frida's "Casa azul"

http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/take-a-virtual-tour-of-frida-kahlos-blue-house-free-online.html?fbclid=IwAR3GXS2kOW5IDwOraH7-Jdy0E390act0fv8kBZC9RRiYrEQG2Q_8s6iimys