How am I keeping Spanish fun at the end of the year? It’s a struggle, especially for us long-haulers. If you’ve had a snowy winter and you are going to be in school well into June, you are my people this year. I’m already strategizing about what I can do to keep students working and also keep my sanity!
Keeping Spanish Fun: Tip 1
First things first: in order to keep things fun and to keep learning continuing, don’t let go of your routines. The warmer the weather gets, the more chaos wants to ensue. Have a talk with your students before this happens. Explain that you’re right there with them in terms of exhaustion. But explain that we all have a job to do, and it’s part of growing up to fulfill responsibilities, even when we don’t want to. We are developing character.
Let them help you make a list of things they would like to do at the end of the year, and maybe even choose some rewards. You might want to suggest some for your students to make sure they’re doable!
Take Breaks From Normal Curriculum
Last month I shared a post about taking little bird walks from the required curriculum. Sometimes short breaks to learn about cultural things or even something as simple as how to say a bunch of animals can be a fun break for students. Keeping them interested and maybe even guessing what you’ll think up next is great!
This year I’m imagining taking my students outside. We can play that game where you have a notecard either taped to your forehead or your back with an object or animal. You have to ask yes or no questions to figure out what’s on your card. Being outside and playing a game!? So fun!
Tip 3 for Keeping Spanish Fun
I have 2 go-to activities each year that I look forward to sharing with my students. They are things we don’t do at any other point in the year, so I have the novelty effect!
The first is a series of Edpuzzles and follow-up activities to teach them slang words from different countries. They LOVE this, and then I encourage them to work in some of the expressions they learned into future activities. You can even use them as “passwords” to allow them entrance into class to reinforce them!
These Edpuzzles also make a great no-prep activity in case you need sub plans. Each year, my students report this as one of their favorite parts of the year, and keeping Spanish fun until the end of the year is important!
The other activity I save for the end of the year is my Escape Room. If you’ve ever gone to an actual place to do an escape room with a group of friends, you know that they’re both challenging and fun! My students need a 90 minute block to complete this one.
The idea came to me when I was having an existential crisis. I love taking pictures with my camera, especially when I am in Spain where everything is beautiful. But what was I going to do with all of these pictures?
I created an escape room with the premise that some robbers stole items from the Barcelona soccer museum. The students are chasing them around Spain to try to recover the stolen items, and in doing, are learning about some famous places in Spain. They have to read the slides, pay close attention to the pictures in the slides, and work with their team to solve codes and puzzles to move on to each new section. Eventually, they will catch up to the robbers and recover the lost items!
May the force be with you at the end of the year with keeping Spanish fun! And if you have anything awesome that’s a life-saver for you at the end of the year, please share…. I won’t be getting out this year until June 23rd! I may need another trick or 2 up my sleeve!
Jamie@specialtyspanish.com
Resources
Spanish Slang & Texting Bundle!
Spanish Texting: Videos and Interactive Drag and Drop Activity! Fun!
Spanish Escape Room Group Work Game for Spanish Culture Solve the Mystery