Exciting Spanish Club Ideas! (that you can use in your classroom too)
It's that time of year again! School is starting and that means clubs are back and running. It's important to kick off the year right with some great Spanish Club activities to get the kids in the door and participating. These activities double as great last minute plans if you have an extra day or it's the day before Spring Break and you don't want to start with an all new unit! They are culturally relevant and they get students working on their Spanish proficiency. They are also great activities for all levels (with tons of scaffolding and differentiation) so anyone in Spanish Club can participate!
Here are my five favorite activities to do in Spanish Club:
1. Game day! This one is a favorite at our school. Kids love to play games and they think it is especially fun that they can do it in another language. Some of the games we play are: bananagrams (they sell a Spanish version on amazon), apples to apples (look out for a new activity coming soon from the lang ladies for you to print and use!), "monopoly" from Costa Rica, rock and roll dice games (check them out here), and matamosca (just put words up on the board, describe them in Spanish or say the translation in English for lower levels in the room and the kids hit the correct word with a flyswatter, could also make a PPT with images instead). There are tons of Spanish board games on Amazon that you can buy as well. If you would like to help keep the kids in Spanish while they play, check out this great gaming poster with all the vocabulary they would need!
2. Sports! Students that are into sports love to talk about sports, even in Spanish! The Creative Language Class has a whole unit planned for sports that you can use in class or a club. I love to use their powerpoint on hispanic athletes during the club and then we play this fun kahoot that I made to see what they learned.
3. Degustaciones! Kids love to eat and having food or beverages at a Spanish club will
definitely get them in the door. I use these tasting sheets to help the kids use Spanish to describe the tastes/flavors and we vote on the group favorite. I have done beverage tastings with Inca Kola and this great reading (I use this reading guide that I made, which is better suited for lower levels) , zumos naturales (think powdered drinks that you just add water to or boxes of juice from the store), coca cola Mexicana (they love how different it is from American coke) and coffee from Spanish speaking countries. Chocolate tastings are the kids favorite. I go to a health foods store near by and pick up chocolate made in different Spanish-speaking countries, some that are spicy, some that are really dark and others with more milk. We watch this video about the history of chocolate and then play this kahoot to see what they learned while they taste their chocolate. Fruit and food tastings are fun as well because I can use whatever I find at the store or students can bring different things in and use their tasting sheet to describe the flavors. Sometimes during food tastings, we will read the recipes and discuss ingredients of the dish as well.
4. Latin Grammys! The latin grammys are in November and this is a great opportunity for students to hear some popular Spanish music and vote themselves on who should win (look out for a great activity from the lang ladies on this closer to the date). I love Spanish Plans March Madness Song Bracket for Spanish club as well. The kids get really into the songs and they learn to really appreciate Spanish music. It is such a fun activity and can really bring a lot of kids into the club!
5. Pulsera Project! This is such a great organization. They send you bracelets made by mothers and children in shelters and co-op groups to sell in your school. Students get really into the planning and execution of this project and it has been very popular at our school. If you want to get involved, its a pretty simple process, just apply and they will be in touch! They even send you extra activities (some in Spanish, some in English) to do in the club meetings or in your classes.
What do you like to do with your kids in Spanish Club? Or during class, do you have any exciting, cultural activities that you love? We look forward to hearing your ideas and trying some of them out this year!
