March Madness with Animals and their Habitats ¡en español!

I recently saw Mundo de Pepita's blog on how she did March Madness with a Twist. Instead of basketball or even music (like a lot of high school Spanish teachers do) she had her students decide their favorite Latin American animals. It's a genius idea for this age group and I can't wait to try it especially because my second graders are getting ready to start a unit on where animals live. This will be a perfect way to grab their interest.

I'll start the unit with my new Animal Habitat Posters with sentence frames. I plan on projecting on the board to introduce the new vocabulary. Then I'll put them up on a bulletin board and print them for students to use in a writing center. Get your set here!

Once I've introduced the habitats and where animals live, we will start with the bracket. As I started to decide which animals I should use and looking for authentic resources for class I came across the Madrid Zoo's page on their different animals. They are absolutely perfect for my novice mid learners.

There are beautiful photos and icons for type of animal, what they eat, habitat (YAY!) and what continent they live on. There's also a section for their status in terms of conservation. Lots of accessible language that we can talk about in class.

I picked 8 animals that had easy enough names and lived in the right habitats and came up with my own Marzo Manía bracket. I made 8.5x11 posters for each animal and then a sheet with the bracket that I will either project and/or hand out to students to keep track of which of our animals is winning.

Get a FREE copy of the posters and bracket sheet HERE!

Do you do March Madness with animals, music, or something else in your classroom? Share in the comments below or on Twitter using the hashtag #earlylang!

Dancing in Spanish Class - Rueda de Casino

Two years ago I posted about how I connect with the target culture through rueda de casino. I get to practice my Spanish, stay in shape, meet new people, and learn about Cuban culture. See that post here.

Now I want to talk about how you can incorporate dance and specifically rueda de casino (salsa square dancing or Simon Says for dance) into your classroom.

For high school: Try something like Mis Clases Locas does with Baile Viernes. If you aren't comfortable teaching the salsa steps yourself there are plenty of videos and websites that you can pull up. I've compiled a list here. And here is a powerpoint that you can adapt to introduce the dance. Students could learn a step a week, working up to a list of calls.

Or you can devote more class time to it either as part of class or a special event. I recently taught rueda at KY's Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica Convention. Here was my 25 min lesson plan. (You could also facilitate and pull up videos for students to follow.)

Warm-up in lines
Vamos p'arriba (walk forward in salsa rhythm) in lines
Vamos p'abajo (walk backwards in salsa rhythm) in lines
Move to circle and have Ss find a partner.
Explain closed position - Ss may choose to just stand in front of their partner or "hover" (closed position but not actually touch.)
Practice Vamos p'arriba and Vamos p'abajo without music.
Learn un tarro (leaders walk forward to next follower in the circle.)
Practice the three calls with music.
Learn dos tarros (leaders walk forward to second follower in the circle.)
Practice without and with music.
Learn tarro mentira (leaders start to walk forward to new partner but turn and come back to original partner.)
Practice without and with music.
If time also learn Un fly and mambo.

I also suggest checking out the dance studios in your area. The Salsa Center here in Lexington has come to my school to do a full day workshop with my elementary school kiddos (they still talk about it 3 years later.) And I know a high school teacher in the region who brings her Spanish classes to the studio each year as a field trip. If you're in the Central Kentucky area I highly suggest checking them out!

Social dancing casino at a party. 

For elementary school: Ok, so for this age group I have had to get a little creative. For them, switching partners is not the main focus (because I've tried it and they just don't have the spatial awareness to figure it out.)  Instead we all walk in the same direction.

Vamos p'arriba - everyone walks forward.
Vamos p'abajo - everyone walks backwards
Giráte - turn around and walk the other direction
Mambo - stop and tap each foot in the middle of the circle (see example here)
Pilón - stop and "stir the coffee" (see example here.)

This year I also want to add palmas where we clap in the middle then clap with the two people on each side and then clap to the middle again (see example here.)

This Youtube playlist also shows the different musical instruments and timing.  I like to use them to reinforce what students are learning in music class.

Because Rueda de Casino is such a community building dance and because different ruedas have their own calls, last year in fifth grade I had each class collaboratively create their own call. Then during their end of the year dance I called a rueda and when I called their calls the students in that class stepped into the circle and performed their move. We had calls named Soy Yo and Mariposa among others. It was super fun!


So there you go! That's how I incorporate rueda de casino and do some community building through dance in my classroom. If you are a teacher in KY you can join me in Danville this summer for Kentucky Center's World Languages and Arts Integration Academy where we'll be learning about Rueda de Casino, Mexican folk dance, and Appalachian Flatfooting.