Planning for the first few weeks of school is the hardest part of the year. There are so many logistics that are involved in getting started. You need to set out all of your procedures and routines while getting to know your students and engaging them in interactive ways. The first week with middle school spanish students is additionally challenging because you want to set a tone of Spanish Only, without scaring them.
Seating for the first week of school
Don’t make a seating chart for the first week of school because rosters are constantly changing. Instead, for the entire first week, greet students at the door and hand them a card that corresponds to a desk. This helps mix up the seating arrangement so that students can meet new people and you can learn personalities before making the seating chart! The cards are all cognates in Spanish, an idea I modified Martina Bex’s Character cards for seating. She uses 6 characters that are cognates and then prints them on different colored paper. These cards include 30 different cards and print on white paper. Print two sets: one that gets taped to the desks and one that you pass out and collect daily.
Here’s a picture of the digital version as well.
If you don’t use the digital version, set up your room with a high-frequency verb bulletin board. You can either put them all up at the beginning of the year, or add words a few at a time.
After you briefly introduce yourself to students, ask them: “Are your cards in English or Spanish?”
Students: Spanish!
Me: Do you know what they mean?
Students: Yes!
Me: This is Spanish A! How do you know what they mean?!
Students: There are pictures and they look similar to English!
Me: Wow! That’s great! Ok, so now I am going to prove to you that you
can understand more Spanish than you realize!
Ask for a volunteer with a character card to read his/her word. Then use their words and the bulletin board to tell a very short story. (Hay un tigre. Al tigre le gusta el chocolate. No le gusta la fruta. Le gusta el chocolate. El tigre tiene una bicicleta. Va en bicicleta a Target porque quiere el choclate. ¡El chocolate es delicioso!) Then ask students to discuss what you said with their table and survey how much they understood. Talk about the strategies they used to understand your story (cognates, pictures, words around the room, acting things out for them) and tell them this is how you will learn this year! Then tell another story using other cards. This takes about 15-20 minutes and then show them this video to teach ¿Cómo te llamas? and go around and learn names for the rest of class.
Day 1 for second year students
On day two, tell students that you have a challenge for them. Yesterday you told them a story, but today, they are going to tell one with their table. They can use any of the cards at their table and the magic verbs bulletin board to create a 1-2 sentence “story” to share with the class. You’ll be amazed by how few “How do you say…?” questions you hear! They were so proud of themselves! They can communicate in full sentences on the 2nd day of class!
If you previously taught this group last year, pass out the cards for seating, but this time, ask them to describe their cards in Spanish to their partners using as much detail as possible and then try to use as many of the cards as possible to create a complex sentence. It’s a great way for them to review after the summer, and it allows you to hold off making seating charts until schedule changes subside.
What are you favorite first day activities? Comment below!
