adjectives — Language Learning Blog

Your language-teaching mission, should you choose to accept it, is to incorporate activities that highlight Hispanic, Latinx, Chicanx, Indigenous and Afro-Latinx culture into your non-Spanish classroom.

As I’ve mentioned before, each month of the school year I create a curriculum packet for the Edmonds School District for staff and/or parents to use. The goal is to focus on a different national month of celebrating diversity, with activities for a variety of core academic subject areas and some fun stuff (crafts, art, cooking). However, for my blog, I like to pull out some activities that would work well in a language classroom to share with you!

Starting on September 15 and ending on October 15, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month. You’ll notice the title of this post includes more than just Hispanic… and there’s a reason for this! Since 1988, when President Reagan began this tradition, our understanding of identity has greatly expanded. Dr. Sally Guzmán, Marina Espinoza, and Karla Reyes-Sanchez from ESD have developed this great graphic (see below) to illustrate the many ways to explain and celebrate “Hispanic” identity. I also highly recommend this PDF from Exploratorium.edu as well.

Even if you’re not a Spanish teacher, there are some fun ways to celebrate Hispanic/Latinx/Chicanx Heritage Month in the language classroom:

Using art to explore using adjectives:

You can put up a piece of art on a projector, or have prints posted around the room for a jigsaw exercise. Students use their adjectives (great for beginners, but equally challenging for advanced learners!) For example, I would start with this painting by Los Angeles artist Gilbert "Magu" Luján, which has some great material for adjectives of color and texture, not to mention simple vocabulary of the subject. This can also be a gateway for discussing the various identities that many people inhabit and the choices they make when choosing identity markers. For example, using the above identiy graphic, I would say that Luján might have chosen to describe himself as Chicano or Indigenous, because he was born in the United States and has Mexican and Indigenous ancestry. He could also describe himself as Latino, since Mexico is part of Latin-America, or Hispanic, since Mexico is a Spanish-speaking country. In the 1960s, Luján chose Chicano as a way to identify himself, saying that by drawing attention to his community’s roots in Mexico, “it is clear to all that the Chicano culture is a real and identifiable body”. This is a great transition to talking about the power of language!
If you want to get a bit more complex, the Smithsonian American Art Museum had a wonderful web exhibit for Latino American Art, which is no longer available on their website but can be still found in some curriculum docs. Personally, I’d love to do an activity with Cocina Jaiteca by Larry Yañez (1988), maybe even have student draw out their own kitchens in a symbolic way. I’m definitely a sucker for word play (check out page 18 of the linked document to see how clever the painting title is!)

Practicing numbers using dominos!

Playing dominos can be a great way to celebrate Hispanic/Latinx/Chicanx Heritage Month while using any target language to reinforce number vocabulary! In doing some research I learned that dominos is a very popular game in many Latinx communities. In Puerto Rico it is, as this quote by Leah Carrillo shows, a huge deal: “¡ Los dominos son para los boricuas, como los tostones y el mofongo, parte de nuestra herencia cultural ! ” (“Dominos are for Puerto Ricans, like tostones and mofongo, part of their cultural heritage!’) According to José Carrillo, for Puerto Ricans “el domino” is more than just a game: it is also a way for a community to build relationships while sharing information, and for children to learn from their parents and grandparents. Kelly Thompson observes that dominos, which are heavy and waterproof, are perfect for windy island living! You can watch this video from the Lobby of Hobbies, where the host, Jazz, talks about his Puerto Rican heritage as well as the staple game Dominoes. Check out how Puerto Ricans play their dominoes, how it may differ in different parts of the island, and overall, just how fun and strategic it is.

Reading bilingual books

Find books that are in your target language and Spanish for some exposure to a different language and culture! For example, “Little Maria (La Pequeña María)” is a bilingual book series written by Luz Maria Mack and illustrated by Vanessa Ballez. Victor M. Colón animates Maria’s life as little Afro-Latina girl in the Dominican Republic using illustrations from the books. ELL students or younger students can fill out this simple worksheet while watching the video. RESOURCE: Little Maria (La Pequeña María)

Playing around with gender-neutral forms of Spanish (and other languages!)

As I’ve discussed before, there is a big movement in gendered languages to become more inclusive. The Gender in Languages Project has an amazing interactive website where you can play around with the various forms of inclusive language in languages from English, to Irish, to Mandarin Chinese. Why not explore the Spanish page and make connections to your target language?

Share in the comments how you celebrate Hispanic/Latinx/Chicanx Heritage Month in your classroom!

Your language teaching mission, should you choose to accept it, is to use the “What is it?” improv game to improve vocabulary and/or target grammatical structures.

This is a similar game to another improv grammar game: “What are you doing?” but it involves props and less physicality from students.

Materials needed: a variety of regular items (or irregular if you have them) that are different in shape and size. I can usually find everything I need in my classroom for a quick round (such as a stapler, a scarf, a pencil, and a hat), but if you play this multiple times you might need to start bringing in some truly unusual stuff to keep the students on their toes!

This game was mentioned as an example of the “awareness raising phase” in Even’s (2004) Drama Grammar method, but it’s also a well-known warm-up game. The way it is played is that the class sits in a circle and an object is passed around while students ask each other “what is it?” and are given an answer by another student. The only wrong answers are to correctly identify the object or repeat what someone else has said. So, for example, if a scarf is being passed around, student B will ask student A “what is that?” and student A will say “this is my pet snake” and pass the scarf to student B. Then student C will ask student B “what is that?” and student B will respond “a magical flying carpet” and pass it to student C, etc. After students get comfortable with the game, you can introduce a more physical element by having them interact with the object (i.e. make the scarf wiggle and hiss for “a snake” or ride on it for “a magic flying carpet”). Change out the object once it’s gone around the circle or all options have been exhausted.

This activity can be used as a fun way to start off the class and/or have students dig deep for vocabulary. It can also be used for targeted grammar instruction. For example, how to differentiate between this/that, how to ask questions, or how to use the conditional when being polite (i.e., polite ways to retrieve the object from the previous person with phrases like “could you please pass that to me…?” or “would you be so kind as to give me that…?”)

Adaptations:

When the student identifies the object, have the rest of the class repeat it back in chorus (i.e. Student A: “This is a snake”, the whole class: “That is a snake”).
Have multiple items going around at once so everyone stays engaged! Or break into smaller groups, each with their own object which they then pass on to the next group when they’ve done one or two rounds.
Allow students to use a dictionary or translator. Since they may be using unfamiliar vocabulary, the teacher or another student can write the new words on the board… and then use that new vocabulary as prompts for an improv free scene!
For more advanced learners, add layers of complexity to the answers, such as adjectives. Thus, it’s not just a snake, it’s “my pet snake” or “a small snake” or “a sneaky snake”.
For students that may be unsure, start with a whole-class brainstorm using a sample object. Students will see that they can transform the object into anything they want and there are no wrong answers. Alternatively, show students the object you will use and then give students a few minutes thinking and discussion time to decide what they will present it as (have them come up with at least one alternative in case someone takes their answer!)

How do you use this game in your classroom? Feel free to share in the comments!

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