Nuestro autoretratos / Our self-portraits

Creating a self-portrait is a community-building activity that helps children to get to know each other. In Spanish class, it is an effective resource to enhance oral and written communication in español.

To commence the Autoretrato project, the children were taught some of the Spanish terminology and concepts associated with portrait painting. Students learned in español some of the body parts with an emphasis on facial characteristics as well as colors and shapes. Many books were read, plenty of songs were sung, some activity sheets were completed and numerous games were played that helped the learners practice the Spanish vocabulary for these themes, orally and in writing.

To culminate the self-portrait project, we read Katie Kissinger’s book that provided positive exploration and celebration of skin color differences, All the Colors We Are – Todos los Colores de Nuestra Piel. Afterwards, mirrors and multicultural colored markers, crayons and pencils were provided. As the children observed themselves in the mirror to look at their facial features and small details, the students were encouraged to discuss qué color (what color) comes closest to their skin tone, qué color son tus ojos (what color are your eyes), qué color es tu pelo (what color is your hair) and qué forma tiene la cara y los ojos (what shape is the face and the eyes). 

Along with the self-portrait, a short autobiography of each child has been added. This layer of the project provided an additional opportunity for more learning in español. In the younger grades, the children were introduced to Lynn Reiser’s book, Margaret and Margarita. This is a cute story about two little girls that meet at the park, one speaks English and the other speaks Spanish. When the two children meet, they find a way to communicate. The story helped introduce students to phrases such as “what is your name” and “what do you like”. Afterwards, fun games were played where the children were encouraged to state, me llamo (my name is), me gusta (I like), mi color favorito (my favorite color), and un deceo (one wish). When the students were “interviewed” for their autobiografía, they were able to respond to the following questions:

¿Cómo te llamas? (How are you called?)

¿Cuál es tu color favorito? (Which is your favorite color?)

¿Qué te gusta? (What do you like?)

¿Un deceo? (One wish?)

The students in the 3^rd and 4^th grades were encouraged to write a short autobiography in English and Spanish. The computers were used as a resource to help with translation. In their autobiography, the children were asked to include at least five sentences that began with:

Me llamo… (I am called…)

Mi cumpleaños…. (My birthday…)

Soy… (I am...)

Tengo… (I have…)

Me gusta... (I like…)

This Friday, October 23, are the Parent-Guardian Conferences. I encourage you to stop by the Spanish classroom to observe these wonderful creations. You too will be marveled!