Inside: February in Spanish class ideas. Are you stuck in a winter rut? It is time to mix it up in the classroom to try and bring the fun back. Here are some fun ways to bring in culture and fun this February. Black History Month in Spanish Class, Carnaval in Spanish Class & Valentine’s Day in Spanish class.
February in Spanish Class Idea 1 – Black History Month in Spanish Class
As well as incorporating diverse voices all year long, the month of February is the perfect time to specifically celebrate Afro-Latinxs during Black history month. I know that BHM technically is celebrating African Americans, but as a Spanish teacher, I try to expose my students to the variety of ethnicities through the Spanish speaking world. See Black History Month in Spanish class for tons of resources. Below are the resources I have created to celebrate Afro-Latinx people.
Films with positive Afro-Latinx representation
- Pelotero – documentary set in the Dominican following 2 pro baseball prospects
- Vivo – a cute animated film set in Cuba & Florida (found on Netflix) with lots of music
- Encanto – you probably already know about this Disney hit set in Colombia, but just a reminder!
Afro-Latinx Music
My favorite way to introduce culture is always with music, so I created multiple slideshows to show and celebrate Afro-Latinx musical artists. Version 1 has classics like Celia Cruz and Susana Baca, mixed with current hitmakers like Choquibtown and Tego Calderon & it has brand new slides for 2024!
Plus, there is 2nd version with 22 more songs, including many recent hits, 3rd version & Song of the day 4 Also, there is also a Bundle option for the best deal!
February Idea 2 – Carnaval de Barranquilla
Carnaval de Barranquilla is February 10th-13th, 2024. This means it also works great with Black History Month in Spanish. Carnaval de Barranquilla is a great celebration of Afro-Latino culture and history. It is a positive representation of Afro-Latinx culture in Colombia.
When I taught at a Catholic school, teaching about Carnaval, fit in great with incorporating the church calendar leading up to Lent. But, you can teach about the event without tying it deeply to religion.
See authentic resources I have put together in the blog post – Carnaval in Spanish Class 2024
February in Spanish Class Idea 3 – Valentine’s Day in Spanish Class
For lots of resources from all over, read the blog post Lista lunes – Valentine’s Day in Spanish class.
& 10 Spanish Class Love Songs.
Valentine’s Day – Para Empezar
If you are looking for a variety of activities to spice up the dreary winter, then this is for you. This has 3 weeks of daily activities that could be used to start a class or as brain breaks. You can now get these same Spanish Valentine’s Day Bell Ringer Activities in my website store.
Valentine’s Day – Find Someone Who
This activity was designed as a communicative way for students to practice the Super 7 high-frequency words in the present tense. (es, tiene, hay, le gusta, está, va, quiere) It focuses on those commonly used verbs to talk about Valentine’s Day. It is a great way to keep spiral reviewing those important verbs all year. This speaking activity has multiple versions to differentiate for your classes, all the way down to exploratory. See how to use is digitally and social distanced variations in this Find Someone Who blog post. Or you get the same Valentine’s Day Spanish Find Someone Who in my website store.
Valentine’s Day Novice Interpretive Reading Activity & Slides
If you only have a short amount of time to talk about the holiday, this quick authentic interpretive reading task would be great for novice Spanish students. It is made to support super novice Exploratory or Spanish 1 as a one day in class plan. It includes a printable or digital interpretive reading over an infographic, as well as editable Google Slides for the teacher to project directions, discussion, and extension ideas. You can get it from my website store too Valentine’s Day Spanish Class Lesson Reading Comprehension.
Valentine’s Day Bundle
Get all three of the activities above for the best possible deal and a variety of activities using all modes of communication around Valentine’s Day in this Valentine Bundle.
Or you can get the same Valentine’s Day Spanish Class BUNDLE in my website store.
(Bonus) Winter Olympics
You could talk about the past 2022 Winter Olympics or the future 2026 Olympics in Milan-Cortina.
Friday, February 4th through Sunday, February 20th the world will be came together with the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. I personally LOVE the Olympics and get so wrapped up in the heartfelt stories and the positive way it bring the world together. During the Winter Olympics of 2014 I was home on maternity leave and watched hours of live ice skating with a sleeping baby on my chest (since that was the only way he would sleep at the time).
Any worldwide event is the perfect way to bring in culture from the Spanish-speaking world. I am so excited for the #authres that will pop up in Spanish during the Olympics such as tweets, videos, news stories, and more. I am sure there will be many more resources to add as the games begin. For now, here are a few if you want to get a head start.
- 5 Activities to Incorporate the Winter Olympics in Spanish Class – Mundo de Pepita (especially great for younger grades in Spanish!)
- Olympics for Foreign Language Classes – Mundo de Pepita (Pinterest Board with many ideas)
- La historia de los Juegos Olímpicos – pretty comprehensible article in Spanish
- Olimpicos- El País
- Olympics Vocab in Spanish
originally posted 1.22.18 by Allison Wienhold – most recently updated 12.14.23
