Author Archives: spanishplans

About spanishplans

Spanish Teacher in Chicago. Have studied or traveled to Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina, and Uruguay. Have taught level 1 at middle and high school levels. Degree in Spanish and Master's in Teaching and Leadership. Blogger www.SpanishPlans.org

Mexican Independence Day

Posted on September 14, 2011 by spanishplans

¿Estás listo? Casi es El día de Independencia de México. Although more Americans can pronounce “Cinco de Mayo”, el dieciséis de septiembre is actually a national Mexican holiday. And not just ANY holiday; THE biggest national holiday in Mexico. So … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, History, Lesson Plans | 11 Comments

Graphic Organizers

Posted on September 11, 2011 by spanishplans

The following graphic organizers are a great way to help students understand the subject pronouns and verb conjugation. The Hand Graphic Organizer 1. Have students trace their right hand (or their left hand palm up). The idea is make sure … Continue reading →

Posted in Flashcards, Resources | Tagged conjugation, graphic organizers, verb chart | 9 Comments

August News

Posted on August 22, 2011 by spanishplans

We are excited to be honored this week as the “Featured Teacher Author” in TeacherPayTeacher’s weekly newsletter which goes out to thousands of teachers. To see the newsletter (along with its 10 free teaching downloads) click here. We are also … Continue reading →

Posted in Chistes | Tagged chistes, comics, education, Spanglish, tiras comicas | Leave a comment

Spanish Bulletin Board

Posted on August 19, 2011 by spanishplans

It’s that time of year again. Putting up bulletin boards and getting your classroom ready for the students. Hope you had plenty of Stikki Clips on hand to hang up those posters, otherwise cross your fingers that you won’t walk … Continue reading →

Posted in Bulletin Boards | Tagged bulletin, bulletin boards, classroom, diego rivera, frida kahlo, mexico | 1 Comment

Why I don’t give my students Spanish names

Posted on August 15, 2011 by spanishplans

You won’t find a Lupe in my classroom. You won’t find a Felipe, Margarita, José, Rosa, or even Pedro. That’s because I don’t assign “Spanish names” to students in my Spanish class. So yes, I call on Dylan, Tiffany, Chad, … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion/Methodology | Tagged class names, nombres, spanish, spanish class, spanish names | 117 Comments

Using Magnets to teach Location

Posted on August 9, 2011 by spanishplans

This activity feels like a game because students are engaged and they get to play with magnets. Little do they know, they are also following instructions in Spanish, and responding to verbal or written cues to accomplish a task. Using … Continue reading →

Posted in Games, Lesson Plans, Resources, Speaking | Tagged activity, decoding, education, engaging, estar, hands on teaching, listening, location, magnets, prepositions | 7 Comments

Online Flashcards

Posted on August 3, 2011 by spanishplans

My favorite web2.0 tool for the foreign language classroom has to be WordChamp.com I started using this site several years ago, a little at first, but now have really started to integrate it into my classroom. The site is free … Continue reading →

Posted in Flashcards, Vocabulary, Web2.0 Technology | Tagged education, flashcards, spanish, web2.o, webtools | 1 Comment

TiraComica

Posted on July 31, 2011 by spanishplans

We are now posting all the jokes, chistes, and tiras cómicas, that we regulary post on our twitter account, on a new page on our blog: Chistes. So if you are ready to get your funny on, check out that … Continue reading →

Posted in Chistes | Tagged chistes, jokes, tiras comicas | Leave a comment

Teacher’s Back to School Event

Posted on July 29, 2011 by spanishplans

By now you’ve checked out our summer savings post, our 10 Spanish Freebies post, and as school gets ever closer, you’re now starting to think about the upcoming school year. Well, fear not. We are here to offer you good … Continue reading →