And they are
finally done!!! One of the many ways in which a positive sense of self is
nurtured in Spanish class is by providing all students with the opportunity to
create his or her autorretrato
(self-portrait).
To commence the autorretrato project, the students 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 tissue paper, markers, crayons, pencils,
buttons and yarn were provided. As the students 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 piel
(skin), ojos (eyes), cejas (eyebrows), pestañas (eyelashes), labios
(lips) and pelo (hair).
Along with the
self-portrait, a short autobiography of each student has been added. This layer
of the project provided an additional opportunity for more learning in español. In the younger grades, students
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 me llamo (my name is)
and me gusta (I like). We also read
Audrey Wood’s book, Veloz como el grillo
(Quick as a Cricket). This book reinforces the concept of individuality and
feeling good about one’s self. The tale provided the students with the
opportunity to learn the term yo soy
(I am). Afterwards, when the students were "interviewed" for their autobiografía, they were able to respond to the following:
¿Cómo te llamas? (How are you called?)
¿Qué te gusta? (What do you like?)
Yo soy______ (I
am _____)
The students in
the 3rd and 4th grade were encouraged to write their
autobiography in English and Spanish. The dictionaries and iPads were used as
resources to help with translation as they completed the following;
Me llamo… (I am called…)
Mi cumpleaños…. (My birthday…)
Yo soy… (I am...)
Yo tengo… (I have…)
Me gusta... (I like…)
Please stop by! I encourage you to come to our
Spanish classroom and marvel at all “the
colors of us!”
No comments:
Post a Comment