Spanish 1

November 2024

Students are coming along in their Spanish-speaking skills...

November 2024

Spanish 1 students have now learned how to talk about activities they like to do, creating simple sentences. They can ask each other questions about when and with whom they do certain activities, such as reading, playing video games, listening to music and hanging out with friends. Students have played various games in class to help them review and study the vocabulary in groups. One game that they really enjoy playing is the "slap" game. Pairs or groups of students receive a stack of cards with pictures on them. Each picture represents a vocabulary word that we are learning for that particular unit. One at a time, a student flips over a card. The first person to say the correct vocabulary word in Spanish must slap the card and then they win the card. The student with the most cards wins!

One of the skills that we really want students to work on at Mills is their ability to actually speak the language. A favorite way of mine to get students to practice speaking is having students follow along a slideshow, where each student plays a role. Each slide has sentence-starters with blanks that students must fill in. By using pictures of vocabulary words or phrases, students are able to maintain brief conversations where they can ask each other and answer questions. This is a great way for students to repeat simple sentences, using correct grammatical structures.

Halloween is always a fun time for kids in this country, but in many Spanish-speaking countries people celebrate and reflect on those loved ones they have lost. Día de los Muertos is  2-day holiday at the beginning of November in which people build altars, visit cemeteries, and remember people who are no longer with us. Students were asked to identify either a family member, friend, pet or famous person from the Spanish-speaking world and write a little bit about who they were in Spanish. Students presented their posters in groups and learned about each other's families as well as important people from the Hispanic culture.

We are gearing up to prepare for the final exam at the end of December, so the students have a lot of work to do!

September 2024

See what we've been doing in Spanish class so far...

September 2024

The first 6 weeks of school have gotten off to a fantastic start! Students in Spanish 1 have already learned so much in such a short amount of time. The first few months of learning a new language can be challenging, but we also have a lot of fun. Your students have already learned the Spanish alphabet, numbers 1-100, how to introduce themselves, telling time, the calendar, classroom objects, classroom commands and how to describe the weather. 

Every day we practice with music, videos, one-on-one conversations, basic repetition and audio activities. Students are beginning to feel more confident in their language skills and have demonstrated a willingness to take risks and have fun in Spanish. Learning a language takes a lot of practice, so what I want most of all is for students to take part in their own learning, without fear that others will judge them or criticize their mistakes. 

One highlight from the last 6 weeks is an activity we did recently which allowed students to practice introducing themselves to a new friend. I brought in costumes such as wigs, hats, scarves and ties and passed them out to various students to wear. Each student was also given a name tag to wear. Each name tag had the name of a boy/man or girl/woman. The objective of this activity was to reinforce that, in Spanish, there are two ways of addressing someone - formally and informally. As students stood in two lines, facing a partner, they had to figure out if the person they were talking to should be addressed formally or informally (e.g. Marta vs. Señor Villanueva). Students used their vocabulary lists and proceeded to introduce themselves and have basic conversations, one after the other. The class had a great time wearing wigs and hats, as they practiced basic introductions in formal and informal situations. 

We have also been singing the alphabet in Spanish! Some students are a little shy, but I can usually get most of them singing, as I walk around the room and sing with them. One of their homework assignments a couple of weeks ago was to make a video of themselves singing the alphabet to me. It would be great if you could encourage them to sing YOU the alphabet song or teach YOU how to introduce yourself in Spanish!

I look forward to diving deeper into the Spanish language, as well as exploring the geography of the Spanish-speaking world in the next couple of weeks. I sincerely hope that your child is enjoying my class so far. 

The Alphabet Song in Spanish

Back to School Night Presentation 2024-2025