Are you the advisor for your school’s Spanish Club, but are struggling to come up with new and innovative ideas? With a long list of school clubs to choose from, students have to feel really compelled to join a club. So, it can be hard to attract new members and retain current ones. Your Spanish Club meetings must always be exciting and fun. Here is a list of 25 brilliant Spanish Club ideas to keep members engaged.
Tips for Running a Spanish Club
Before you dive into the list, keep in mind some best practices for running a successful school club. My best tips are as follows:
- First let students give their opinions and suggestions for what they want to do during the school year. When their input is heard, they will feel valued and like real club members. If your students are lacking inspiration, share some of the following ideas with them and let the club members vote on their favorites. You want the members to be excited and eager to participate.
- Don’t be afraid to reach out to other clubs and classes. You can gain invaluable expertise and material from other teachers and content areas. Think about a cooking club or another world language. Even a community service club would be great to partner with.
- Be consistent with your meetings. If you say you will meet every Wednesday at 2:30, make sure you do. You will want to have a strong group of students on the executive board (President, Vice President, etc.) that set a good example for the other club members. These board members should be required to attend all meetings, participate in activities, and be welcoming to new members.
- Talk up the club in your classes! Share photos and stories about what the Spanish Club is up to. If they see what it is all about, they may be more eager to participate.
25 Brilliant Spanish Club Ideas
1. World Language Newsletter
A great way to work with the entire world language department is to create a monthly world language newsletter. All language clubs can participate. This letter will showcase what students are learning in each course. Club members will take photos and write short articles explaining what projects, activities, and lessons students have been learning. For example, if Spanish 2 students just designed their dream home using target language vocabulary, share a picture of a few students displaying their dream homes and interview them about the project. Share the newsletter with administration, parents, and the community!
2. Board Games
You can find Spanish versions of board games for your classroom, such as Spanish Scrabble, Code Names, Head Bands, or Mexico-opoly, Guess Who. Have a meeting where students challenge one another to a classic board game, but in the target language. This is a great way for them to acquire the language. You should also post common phrases they will need to communicate, such as “It is your turn.” or “I win!” or “Roll the die.”
3. Announcements during Hispanic Heritage Month
From September 15 – October 15, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Take initiative and join in on your school’s daily announcements. The Spanish Club will provide one fact per day for the entire month. It doesn’t need to be anything elaborate. You could share about a famous Hispanic, a travel destination, a yummy food, or holiday. Simply write a short script and read it with the announcements. If your school’s announcements are done via video, then have your students record short video clips sharing the facts.
4. Guest Speakers
Bring in guest speakers from your community that are from various Spanish-speaking countries. There might even be teachers, students, or administrators at your school that could share about their home country. I was fortunate enough to be involved in my church’s Guatemala Partnership Committee, and when our Guatemalan friends visited the USA, they came to my class to participate in a lesson. There may be people at your church, gym, local university, restaurant owners, etc. that would love to share their stories with your students.
5. Decorate!
The Spanish Club could be responsible for decorating your classroom door and bulletin boards throughout the year. They will change the décor based on different cultural celebrations throughout the year. La Tomatina in August, Hispanic Heritage Month in September, Day of the Dead in October, etc. You save time and energy by not needing to decorate, and your crafty students get to be creative. They could even decorate different parts of the school for these celebrations to bring awareness to Hispanic culture.
6. Learn children’s games
Do you remember playing tag, hide and seek, and capture the flag as a kid? Your students do, too, and chances are they would love to channel their inner-child and play again! Teach them some Hispanic games. Spanish Playground has a great list of 12 traditional games to get you started.
7. Learn to dance
Invite a local dance instructor to teach Latin dances like salsa, merengue, bachata, etc. The dance school will love being invited and getting some promotion with the students! And your kids will have a blast. If there isn’t a local dance school, YouTube is a great option. Try searching “salsa tutorial” or “merengue lessons for beginners” for example.
8. Valentine’s Day Letters
During the month of February, have your Spanish club students write Valentine’s Day letters in the target language. You can send these letters to elementary Spanish students or even local nursing home patients. Or, my personal favorite is to write letters to Spanish-speaking patients at St. Jude’s Hospital. Here is the link to participate and bring a smile to a child’s face. Students can craft their own messages or use pre-written ones.
9. Arts and crafts
Channel your inner creativity by creating piñatas, cascarones, calaveras, and more! Your students will love designing something unique while learning about a cultural element of the Hispanic world. You can find tons of tutorial videos on YouTube to guide your club meeting. With this Day of the Dead project, your students learn to make their own papel picado!
10. Cook an authentic dish
Do you love empanadas, tres leches cake, and churros as much as I do? Introduce your students to some authentic dishes from Hispanic countries. This works especially well if you develop a partnership with the home economics teacher. You can use the school kitchen and have your students prepare the dish. This is more meaningful than just bringing in food to taste test. (But that is always an option if you don’t have the resources at school.)
11. Service Projects
Give back to your community or other communities by performing service projects. An easy one for Spanish students is to provide tutoring after school. Those students involved in Spanish Club generally have a knack for the language and would be great tutors for struggling Spanish students. You could also organize food drives, bake sales, or donations to raise funds and supplies for relief organizations.
12. Learn about countries
Learn about one Spanish-speaking country per club meeting. You could assign student groups to one country at the beginning of the year. Then, each meeting is devoted to a different country. The groups prepare a presentation, bring food, perform a dance, etc. to teach the other club members about their assigned country. If you are short on time, but still love this idea, you can provide the facts and lessons to your students. Here are pre-made presentations on all 21 Spanish-speaking countries. Or you can pick and choose which countries you want to share about and purchase the sets individually.
13. Visit from a local college professor
Invite a local college Spanish professor to come to your Spanish club meeting. They can share information about the Spanish department, courses, and career paths. This will hopefully inspire some of your students to pursue a degree in Spanish or multicultural studies!
14. Art Showcase or Talent Show
Your students can create art using the target language. Visual artists can title and describe their works in the language. Creative writers may choose to write poetry. Performers can write and perform a song. Then, showcase the art at a talent show or virtually with a Slides presentation that is shared with the school community.
15. Escape Rooms
Bring escape rooms into your Spanish club! Club members will compete against one another to solve a series of clues and break out of the escape room! Here are tips for creating your own escape rooms in Spanish. When I’ve done these in my classroom, I’ve never seen students so actively engaged before!
16. World Language Week
The Spanish Club could be in charge of organizing World Language Week for your school. Each language in your department can decorate the hallway, write poetry, cook authentic food, share facts, etc. with the other language students or the school as a whole. Overall, this week should be used to promote languages and cultures!
17. Trivia Contests
I’m a Jeopardy fan, and love when there are categories or answers about Hispanic culture. Your students could create Trivia contests with questions about Spanish-speaking countries, traditions, words, and more! Students should form teams, and you could have a few competitions throughout the school year, with a prize for the winning team at the end of the year. Here is a Hispanic Heritage Trivia game! If you are looking for mini prizes for a trivia game, here are cactus pens, Spanish inspirational stickers, or temporary tattoos!
18. Virtual Field Trips
We all know that fundraising for field trips is a daunting task, so why not bring the field trip to your classroom!? With Google Earth, your students can get 360 virtual views of any place in the world. Travel to Machu Picchu or Easter Island. Jump into Frida Kahlo’s Blue House Museum or explore the ruins of Chichen Itza. Here are tons of virtual field trips to Spanish-speaking countries and destinations.
19. Local restaurant
If your community has a Hispanic restaurant, take a trip after school with your Spanish club members for dinner. The restaurant may even put together a special menu for your students if you give them a heads up. You can also encourage your students to order their food and communicate only using the target language.
20. Book Club
Use either Spanish readers for beginner students or more advanced books for your advanced students. Once a month, have a meeting to discuss what you’ve read so far. This may not be for all students, but could be an additional option for those club members who love reading. Check out these Spanish motivational bookmarks that I think high school students would really love. Or bookmarks with Spanish vocabulary can be found here!
21. Make Art
Different from arts and crafts, this time, make visual art. Be inspired by artists like Frida Kahlo or Pablo Picasso. Create self-portraits or Guernica-inspired paintings. Then, your student artwork can be displayed in the hallways or around your classroom. You could even collaborate with the school’s Art Club and work together on a display for your school.
22. Karaoke
Find Spanish music that your students will love. Make sure it is appropriate! Then, find lyric videos on YouTube and have your students sing along. Bonus if you have a Karaoke machine or microphone for fun!
23. T-shirts
Design club t-shirts with slogans about learning a second language. Your students can design various club logos and slogans and then vote on the club favorite! Get the t-shirts printed at a local print shop and take a club picture for the yearbook together!
24. Conversation & Coffee
As much as we can encourage students to speak 100% in Spanish during class, that rarely happens when students are working in groups. Some students feel too nervous, some think they’re too cool. But there are students that deep down really want to try! With a Conversation & Coffee (or any drink) meeting, your students will just sit and chat in the target language. You can pose different discussion topics, use task cards, or just chat about life!
25. Watch TV Shows
There are so many Spanish language shows on Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services. We can’t usually fit these into our curriculum or lessons, but students are always intrigued. Watch an episode of a show to get students hooked, with the hopes of them continuing the show on their own at home. Here are some appropriate shows for teenagers.
There you have it! 25 brilliant ideas for Spanish Club activities that will keep students coming back for more! Have you done other activities with your Spanish Club? Share your favorite activities below with other Spanish teachers.
