New Jersey just announced that we will not be returning to school for the rest of the year. I’m sure you are in the same position as me! So, how can we keep our Spanish students engaged at home? How can they still grow in proficiency without being in the classroom?
We know our students are glued to their screens now more than ever. Let’s use that to our advantage! I designed a Choice Board that you can download for FREE on my Teachers Pay Teachers site. I assigned it as extra credit, but you could do a weekly “real world” assignment.
Ideas for Spanish From Home tasks:
1. Watch a TV show or movie in the target language. Nextflix has so many options right now for Spanish! My students’ favorite is “Nailed It! Mexico.” I also recommend “Lorena,” which is about an indigenous girl from Mexico who runs ultramarathons! Talk about inspiring!
2. Listen to a podcast. Some podcasts are super short – 5-10 minutes. With this, it allows students to still “hear” Spanish since they can’t hear us every day in the classroom
3. Change phone settings to Spanish. Imagine the words they will learn! My students were proud of themselves for switching their phone settings for a few days. Their Snapchat even changed to Spanish; they told me they learned words such as “seen,” “opened,” and “sent.”
4. Follow Hispanics on social media. As they scroll through Instagram and Twitter, it would be great if they saw some Spanish posts. They are short and sweet, so students don’t have to be engaged for too long. My students followed athletes, musicians, and actors!
5. Keep up to date with the news. This was the most popular option with my students. They read about current events, especially the coronavirus around the world.
6. Recreate Hispanic artwork. You’ve probably seen the images on the Internet of people recreating famous works of art. Why not challenge your students to recreate works by Kahlo, Dalí, Botero, etc? Take a self-portrait with your pets like Frida; manipulate the objects around your house to look like they’re melting off the table like Dalí!
Let’s take advantage of the virtual learning experience and give students the chance to experience Spanish in a unique way while gaining proficiency from their couch!
