The teacher will only speak in Spanish for the duration of this class for a more immersive language learning experience.

Materials needed: Tape, music, and images printed out (in color).

This list (see image below) names the parts of a small liberal arts campus in Spanish. Bilingual professors and student researchers at Hobart and William Smith Colleges designed these materials and activities as part of a Spanish workshop for second-grade students. However, this plan could be adapted for use at any small liberal arts college. It is ideal for showing groups of small children the importance of Spanish and bilingualism in higher education. We found that the bilingual students were every bit as enthusiastic as the second-language learners.

Workshop Activities:

Introducing Vocabulary

1) Teacher will introduce parts of campus through choral repetition while showing photographs of those places.

Tip: Students will often mimic the manner in which a word is being presented to them so try whispering, yelling, cheering, etc the vocabulary to get learners more engaged!

Musical March

1) Children and teacher will work together to tape a different photo of an on campus location to each of the four corners of the room. 

2) Teacher will play lively music and run, dance, skip, etc. around the room. Children will be encouraged to join in through gestures. Teacher will pause the music occasionally to shout out the name of one of the places on campus (biblioteca, embarcadero, gimnasio...). Teacher will encourage children to run to the place announced, expressing enthusiasm when children run to the right place.

Matching

1) Teacher will hand out images of objects/items associated with each of the places featured on the wall (for example: books for the library, weights for the gym, boats for the boathouse). The teacher will say the name of each item in Spanish while handing out the pictures.

2) Children will match the objects with the place that best fits. Teacher may help children when they are stuck by asking paired questions and pointing to the options ( Ex. ¿El barco pertenece a la biblioteca o al embarcadero?)

Teaching Team:

This plan was created by Bilingual Summer Researchers at Hobart and William Smith Colleges for the collective-impact community education group, Geneva 2030, in Summer 2023.

Students

Abel Guzman, Isabelle Girolamo, Paulina Tejada, Angie Hernandez, Thao Bui Phuong

Professors

May Farnsworth and Carolina Travalia (Spanish and Hispanic Studies) and Audrey Roberson (Education).

Citation:

“La Universidad (College),” Spanish and Hispanic Studies Digital Gallery at HWS, July 2024, https://galeriahispana.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spanish-for-children/vocabulary-spanish-college.