Playlist and resources for MMM23

Posted on January 27, 2023 by SpanishPlans

Our playlists are out! You can listen to the 16 songs by the 23 artists who have been selected as finalists for the 2023 song of the year in our 10th annual March Música Madness tournament. With over 2 billion streams on Spotify and 1.5 views on YouTube these songs were chosen because:

  • They are current: All songs from the past year only.
  • They are from well-known artists: Famous artists that are famed in the Spanish-speaking world, with one emerging artist.
  • They are popular songs. These songs can be heard on the radio and are listened to by native speakers.
  • They represent a range of diverse artists and a variety of genres.

    MMM23 songsBefore the national voting begins on March 6, we suggest playing the songs in your class without bringing attention that they are part of any Locura de Marzo bracket. Play the music before class or while students are working. By the time March rolls around, they will say “I think I’ve heard that song before”. Sometimes it takes me several listens to a song before I start to really like it. 

    Playlists and resources after the jump:

Continue reading →

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Save the Date: March 6

Posted on January 17, 2023 by SpanishPlans

Save the DateLess than 50 days. Since many teachers out there are able to plan ahead, we want to you save the date for March 6. That’s when our 10th annual Spanish music tournament kicks off. The nationwide tournament of 16 hit songs from the past year is open to all Spanish classes where students cast their vote in our national polls to determine the song of year. Who will join last year’s hit Tacones Rojos from Sebastián Yatra?

Our official calendar is now posted at the MMM23 Main Page. If you want to find out more about this competition then check out our FAQ page.

We are currently finalizing the list of this year’s songs and getting everything ready that you need to implement in your classroom. But if you want to be the first to know, be sure to join our collaborative Facebook Group “SpanishPlans March Music Madness” where we will post the final 16 songs before anywhere else. From there you will have access to a google drive of shared resources to make the most of one of the most exciting units of the year.

In the meantime, read what other teachers have said about MMM and tell us your favorite part in the comments below.
Review of March Music Madness

*Note: This tournament is not affiliated with any other Spanish music bracket, but as they say “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”.

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World Cup a week away

Posted on November 12, 2022 by SpanishPlans

The event of the year is getting closer. Anticipation is building. If you haven’t put up your World Cup groups and bracket yet, it’s not too late. The first game kicks off on November 20 with 3 more on November 21. This is the first ever year that this event takes place during the school year.

World Cup Bracket Bulletin Board

Download our free Bracket Labels/Groups

copa-mundial-2022If you’re feeling pressed for time or need some motivation, we’re been working the last several weeks to get things ready for you. Our Copa Mundial bundle has a wide array of resources including infographics about World Cup history and an overview of the 2022 event, a map to locate the 32 participating countries, a research page for students to look up information about the team, and more. We also have this available in French [Coupe du monde] for our French-teaching colleagues.
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Interpretive ReadingOur Interpretive Reading texts are also included in the above bundle, but if you don’t want all the extra stuff, this includes a novice-level text explaining the Who, What, When, and Where of the world’s most popular sporting event plus another text that focuses on 7 interesting facts about Qatar hosting the 2022 event. This are must have articles if you are talking about the World Cup in your class featuring a text loaded with high frequency words that explains the tournament even to a novice-level soccer fan.

FUTbol chat matIf you want to have your students talk about the results of the games as the tournament progresses and keep them in the target language, then our Futbol Chat Mat is a must for your class. Featuring common questions and phrases to talk about the games in general or specific plays, students can use this cheat sheet to give their opinions and react to all the happenings. It also includes a page of 25 essential soccer terms (available to print in Spanish, English, or blank with just the picture for all your note-taking needs).

And the resources keep coming. Join our Facebook Group and access the shared Google Drive of resources uploaded the shared by other Spanish teachers.

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Halloween Vocab Idea

Posted on October 27, 2022 by SpanishPlans

Looking for something fun and silly to do with your Spanish class for Halloween? Want to teach some Halloween related vocabulary? This activity involves using staff pictures and asking the students what they think each teacher should dress up as.

As the students think of fun costume ideas related to each teacher, you can show some options. Insert teacher’s faces (I copied my coworkers images from our School website) and cropped them. Use the “Remove Background” feature of Powerpoint when you insert an image and remove everything except their face. Then position their face over the face on the costume.

Here’s a Powerpoint with several costumes ready for you to insert your colleagues’ pictures, ready for some laughs and a class discussion.

halloweeenDownload

OR if you have higher level students with the ability to write short descriptions you can put the teachers face on this Halloween Costume Bag and ask your students what would their costume involve (in other words, describe the teacher in the target language) See example below.

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4 things you may have missed

Posted on September 14, 2022 by SpanishPlans

It’s been a while since we’ve posted an update, so let’s take a look at a few new things you may have missed from us.

  1. The World Cup is taking place during the school year for the 1st time ever  (November 20 through December 18) which means that Spanish teachers are getting excited to have lessons about the event. Collaborate with fellow profes here or get a ready to use unit, “Copa Mundial 2022: Qatar World Cup“
  2. Our Ice Cream Posters have been a huge hit this fall. Our “Language Proficiency Ice Cream Posters” has become our number 1 seller and is getting rave reviews among all world language teachers. It is also part of our “Spanish Proficiency Level Bundle”. To celebrate, we are encourage teachers to snap a picture of your bulletin board or the posters in your classroom, tag us @SpanishPlans on a public social media account (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) and throughout the month we’ll repost our favorites and award 2 teachers with a $50 giveaway of SpanishPlans goodies each. (Now through Nov. 30, 2022)

SpanishPlans Ice Cream Posters

3. More music, more fun. We’re working on some new things, but we’ve already rolled out two new songs that are likely finalists to be a part of our 10th annual March Music Madness tournament. We think your kids are going to love these new songs: “506” by Morat with Juanes and “Miel” by Lauri Garcia.

4. Hispanic Heritage Month is here. More and more school districts are finding ways to use our Spanish Speaking Country Stamps for events they are hosting for HHM. We just updated this FREE Passport Stamp Sheet. We’d love to hear how you or your school are using our stamps.

Collect all 22 stamps
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Copa Mundial 2022

Posted on August 28, 2022 by SpanishPlans

This year provides Spanish teachers an opportunity that hasn’t happened ever and will likely not happen again… the world’s biggest sporting event will take place during the school year. Normally taking place in the summer, the controversial decision to host the soccer tournament in Qatar forced an unprecedented change of dates.

With the tournament kicking off November 20, 2022, we are less than 90 days away. It’s a perfect opportunity to have your students follow along with the World Cup, research teams, and learn about its history. And we have that all prepared for you in our Copa Mundial 2022: Qatar World Cup lesson.

This product contains an editable document with:

  • Infographic of past World Cup Finals (both in Spanish and English)
  • Information about the tournament (both in Spanish and English)
  • Comprehension Questions (in English and Spanish)
  • A Spanish text: “7 cosas sobre Catar 2022”
  • A research section for students to look up information about a team
  • A map with list of the 32 participating countries for students to label

    The tournament takes place from November 20, 2022 and runs through December 18th and features 6 Spanish Speaking Countries:
  • Argentina
  • Ecuador
  • Costa Rica
  • México
  • Estados Unidos
  • Uruguay

How do you plan to talk about the World Cup in your classes this year? If you are interested in collaborating, join our Facebook group: “Copa Mundial 2022: profes de español”



If you like this resource, don’t forget to share it or Re-pin it.


EDIT: See our WC2022 Main Page for all further updates.

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March Música Madness 2022

Posted on February 18, 2022 by SpanishPlans

The anticipation is building. Hopefully you’ve got your bulletin board bracket put up and you’re previewed all 16 songs in our YouTube video and are now just waiting for the polls to open on Feb 28.

Here’s everything you need to have a successful time for our Spanish class music tournament. Be sure to share with your colleagues so they can also join the fun! You can tag us on social media @SpnishPlans or use the Hashtag #SpanishPlansMMM

Shared Google Drive
Bracket: Final 16 songs
Google Doc with artist and song info, embedded video, and voting links
Song info with everything you need to know about the songs. See the second tab for info on the artists social media.
Previous Winner Banner – Display previous winners
Bulletin Board Bracket Labels – Print and create a bulletin board bracket
Tik Tok Dance Challenges
Teacher Digital Bracket Prediction – submit picks to be eligible for PRIZES
Facebook Group – If you create any of your own documents, you can share them with other groups

Access the Google Doc with Song/Artist Info plus embedded videos for match-ups

For more information, check out our FAQ page or post on our Facebook March Music Madness Group.

And if you want to show your support, please SHARE, SHARE, and SHARE. Post to your social media and tag your friends in our posts. You can also support the countless hours we put into putting everything together by purchasing our TpT Bundle which includes all the basics plus a ton more to get the most out of this tournament. You can also choose to support us with a “buy us a coffee” donation:

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#SpanishPlansMMM

Posted on January 16, 2022 by spanishplans

It’s back. Our 9th annual music competition is gearing up and we’ve got 16 songs that your students are going to love. This year we will be hosting a qualifying round in Jan/Feb of 4 songs to determine the last entry.

If you are new to this competition, you can check out our FAQ page which details everything you need to know about how to implement this tournament into your Spanish class. It is consistently regarded as one of students’ favorite activities of the year.

If you are ready to dive in, head to our MMM22 homepage where you will find the official bracket, playlists, calendar and links to voting!

If you want to make it into a full unit you may be interested in purchasing our one stop download which includes all the necessary resources such as ranking sheets, bulletin board bracket labels, lyrics, lyric activities, and other activities. Your purchase helps us offset the costs of the polls and offset the investment of the 60+ hours we spend putting this all together. *Purchase is not necessary to participate in our competition, but at the price of a large coffee, it does show appreciation!

What you can start doing now is start playing the music in the background of your class as students work or as they enter the room so they start to hear the songs. No need to tell them that they are going to be voting on them in March, just let the music burrow its way into their ears and minds. When March comes around you’ll surely hear “I think I’ve heard this song before”.

As the competition nears, we will once again host the Bracket Prediction Contest so stay tuned on our MMM Facebook Group where hundred of Spanish teachers collaborate.

The 2022 SpanishPlans MMM Bracket features 15 berths and 4 play-ins battling it out to the the Top Song of the Year

Comment on this post telling us what you are looking forward to most about MMM this year or what you and your students have enjoyed about it in the past.

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De compras class activity

Posted on December 12, 2021 by SpanishPlans

This week, as part of the clothing/shopping unit, we went shopping! I had students explore a real Mexican department store and let them browse on their own for a while before giving them the task of helping me look for gifts for my family.

I projected a screen with an item that I was looking for, with a description of the person and their likes/dislikes, and certain things that I was looking for about the item.

Students then looked through the website to find the perfect item. As I walked around the classroom, students would show me the items they found, and I would be able to discuss in the target language with them. I could comment things like “Oh, he doesn’t like shirts that have letters on them” or “That shirt is short sleeve, she is always cold, she needs long sleeves” or “I love that, but it’s a bit expensive, I’m looking for something cheaper” or “I don’t think that they will like that style. They prefer something more casual”. Students competed with their classmates to see who could find the best item. It was a totally fun, engaging, and authentic lesson.

If you want a ready-to-use lesson with descriptions for 6 family members, we’ve published it at TpT. It was a perfect complement to our shopping unit, and I think it’s a great review to practice numbers (prices), clothing words, descriptions, and just provide great input and discussion during the time of year when looking for a gift for someone is a real-life scenario.




If you want 3 activities to use throughout the whole unit, check out our Ropa / De Compras Bundle:

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Spanish Teacher Gift Ideas

Posted on December 3, 2021 by SpanishPlans

Looking for that perfect gift for a colleague… or yourself?

Check out our T-shirts, Hoodies, Coffee mugs, and facemasks of our popular “¿Qué hace un pez? / Nada” chiste as well as our sarcastic “Did you seriously just ask if you have to do it in Spanish?”

And it’s always a good time to get our Spanish Teacher Stamps, with a unique design for each Spanish-speaking country. You might also enjoy our Feedback Stamps, such as our popular “Me Gusta” or “Me Encanta”

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