Ideas and Resources for Spanish Teachers
How do you celebrate your Spanish Class Seniors at your high school? Don’t you agree that teaching seniors is so bittersweet? They bring with them a depth of knowledge, a sense of humor and usually some maturity. But when the end of the year starts to approach, I get that bittersweet feeling! There’s such pride for their accomplishments! And there’s sadness to know that they are moving on and we won’t see their smiles in our classes or hallways next year!
How do you start your Spanish classes? This year we have a new school-wide initiative to do bell-ringers, or do-nows, or schema activators or warm-ups… there are so many names for them! Research shows that if you have an academic routine to start each class, it increases time on task and readiness for new learning! If having students self-start each class, while you take attendance, check homework and help the new kid sound good to you, bell-ringer activities for Spanish class are for you!
As the holiday season approaches, it can be a lot of fun to teach our Spanish students about how Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world. I look at it as a great opportunity for some cultural comparisons! The AP Spanish Exam has a section where students make an oral cultural comparison, but why should we wait until their last year? Even if you live in an area where Christmas is not a big thing in your community, it IS a big thing in every Spanish-speaking country. Here are some fun facts to share with your students!
Do you do Class Recognitions in Spanish class? Both during the year and at the end of the year, it’s nice to find reasons to celebrate and recognize students’ success. Here are some ideas!
Learning to be a culturally responsive educator is an imperative step towards closing the achievement gap.
