Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

I have found it often challenging as a Spanish teacher to prepare a cultural unit right at the beginning of the year before we have gotten a chance to learn much language. However, this year I thought our school did a great job celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month as a way of exposing students to the general idea of celebrating those people who come from countries that speak Spanish. Our school split up the task of celebrating HHM among the different "specials" teachers (art, fitness, music, and Spanish.) However, many of these ideas could be used in a general classroom setting. What I really like about most of these ideas are they they do not take that long and do not veer off too much from what students should already be doing in classes (especially for fitness and music.)

Decorating flags from countries that speak Spanish:

I had students decorate flags from different Spanish speaking countries. I found color-in versions of all the Spanish speaking countries in the world. I took those pictures and placed a small picture of a colored in version of the flag on the corner of the page as a reference. Students had to color/decorate the flag using a variety of materials, copy the name of the country, and cut out the flags. Here is an example of what the student's flags started off as:

The goal was for them to know that the people who came from the country they were creating a flag for spoke Spanish as their main language. Students only had to decorate one flag during my class, but I found that many students during indoor recess or other choice time activities were excited to decorate many different flags and learn the names of the countries they had created flags for.

I took some of the flags and created a big flag poster to display in the entrance of our school.

Then our school's parent coordinator took the remaining flags and created streamers out of them. We hung the streamers around the school, displaying student created flags.

Mixed Media Masks and Molas:

In art class, students in Pre-K got to make mixed media masks that are inspired by masks from Peru.

student work vs. original

In Kindergarten students made Inca masks from Peru as well, however they used an embossing technique on aluminum foil. Students took drawings of masks and placed them on top of aluminum foil. Students took pencils and traced the drawings, leaving an imprint in the foil. This technique could also be used to create designs inspired by other ancient civilizations including the Mayas.

student work vs. original

Through this assignment students were able to learn some basic facts about Peru and the masks they made:

Both classes could be introduced with a video that shows how these masks can be used in traditional dances in Peru.

First and second graders made molas which come from San Blas Islands in Panama. They layered different pieces of paper to create simple designs that mimic the fabric layering of the molas.

student work vs. original

Here is a video that could be used in part or in whole to give examples of molas and the people who make and use them.

Through this assignment students were able to learn some basic facts about molas and where they come from:

Latin Drums:
In music classes students learn to keep steady beats. They learned to play on several different instruments:

Here is a video that may not work for the younger kids, but I thought I would share anyway. It is from Grammy nominated Latin percussionist John Santos giving a great explaination of why this music is important to Latinos.

Here is a better video for kids that shows Raul Rekow and Karl Perazzo playing. It would be especially important to point out that Karl Perazzo keeps the beat on the cow bell. I like showing videos like this because it shows kids what you look like as a professional doing what the kids are learning. Seeing a model of what the future looks like if you practice can be very powerful.

Dribbling and Soccer History:

In their fitness classes, students got a chance to learn about soccer. Students learn that in many Spanish speaking countries, especially in South and Central America, soccer is a very popular sport. Students learning dribbling skills, trapping skills and learning to kick with your "laces" not with your toes.

Students demonstrating soccer skills at an all school assembly

In addition to those new skills, students got a chance to watch soccer clips of famous soccer goals.  Students also got a chance to learn that in the rest of the world, they call soccer football/futbol. Be sure if you use the following video, skip past second 0:45 there is a little bit of rough housing. The rest of the video is a great example of soccer's best players scoring really spectacular goals.