The Middle School Spanish classes are now fully settled into their class routines, which are crucial to help our class flow and stay fun! Each week students pick a particular job that they are responsible for in the classroom. There are many options, including “cheerleader,” “Spanish police,” “weather person,” “teacher helper,” “expert” or “the culprit.” This helps everyone take responsibility for maintaining our classroom norms. Also, each week students work to learn new, useful phrases in Spanish, which they are asked to remember as the secret password for the next class: “Bummer!” “Seriously?” “Obviously!” “Help!” “Of course not!” and so on. This helps students become more conversational in the language as they utilize more and more rejoinder phrases.
Additionally, weekly or biweekly, classe have been examining a Spanish song related to what we have been learning (vocabulary or grammar points being discussed) in class. Lately, students have listened to “Bicicleta” by Carlos Vives and Shakira and learned that the song is actually a celebration of Colombia (where both artists are from). 7th grade has learned about Marc Anthony and his contribution to salsa music, learned to salsa dance, and practiced the phrase “voy a” by listening to his hit song “Vivir Mi Vida.” Finally, for Valentine’s day, many classes are listening to the song “Tengo Tu Love” by Sie7e, which is a lovely message in a very comprehensible and catchy song that students are bound to enjoy. On music days, students often get songs stuck in their head and are heard singing in Spanish all day long.
