In a recent customer survey we asked, “What do you think is the biggest challenge facing preschool, elementary, or middle school Spanish teachers?” The most common response we got was, “Not enough time”. Many Spanish teachers teach only once per week, and many teach for only 30 minutes.
For elementary Spanish, this is definitely a huge challenge for a number of reasons. Teaching only once per week makes it difficult for students to get continuity with lesson activities. Retention is challenging when you see students only once per week. And 30 minutes is barely enough time to get through a whole lesson including much-needed review.
For the Sonrisas lessons, ideally you would teach at least twice per week with at least 45 minutes to an hour for each class session. But, according to our survey, it sounds like many teachers do not have this amount of time to teach. Here are some tips that can help you adjust your teaching when you do not have enough time for your Spanish class.
The Sonrisas Levels I and II lessons follow a consistent structure of Circle Time, Story Time, and Art Time (and Partner Time in Level II). In a 30 minute class, you are not going to have enough time to do all of these segments in each class session. In this case you can divide up the segments.
For example, for any given lesson, in the first class session you could do Circle Time and Story Time. In the next class session you could do Circle Time and Art Time. Then in a third class session you could do Circle Time and the portfolio activity. You may even take a fourth class session to do review, including repeating Story Time (it is always a good idea to read the storybook twice).
This means that you will take four weeks to complete one lesson. This is totally OK. There is nothing that says you have to get through X amount of lessons in a school year. In fact, we recommend that you think less about getting through the lessons and think more about teaching each lesson to its fullest. This is because the real value that you are providing for your students is the opportunity for acquisition. You provide this by creating a consistent immersion environment with lots of opportunity for communication in Spanish. That brings us to the next tip.
The Sonrisas Spanish curriculum utilizes an acquisition model for teaching Spanish. This means that the lessons are designed to give learners the opportunity to acquire Spanish much as they would their first language. This is done by creating an immersion environment, using Comprehensible Input, with lots of opportunity for communication in Spanish through age appropriate activities.
When you have only 30 minutes with students, it is even more important that you stay in Spanish. In the short time you have with students, you want to maximize their chances for acquisition. In this blog, we have written a lot about staying in Spanish.
Remember that you can use English to explain new routines or new activities. Then, when you go to do the activities, you want to stay in Spanish. When you are able to do this consistently, your students will acquire lots of practical, age appropriate Spanish. Which leads to the next tip.
When you are operating within a short class, this may be the most important thing to do. We know that students, especially young ones, thrive with routine, structure, and consistency. These elements help learners feel safe in their learning space, and they help put their brains in a receptive state for learning.
Beyond that, a consistent routine will make your short class more efficient. When students know what to expect in each class, they transition between activities more easily and quicker. With our own Spanish classes, we have found that students respond very well to a consistent routine. They appreciate having a structure and a flow to the class that they can predict.
Consistency also allows you to get lots of repetition in. When you follow the same routines in each class, and you include consistent language usage in those routines, you very naturally get lots of repetition with that language. Through this repetition, students internalize vocabulary and phrases. They acquire lots of useful language. Having a consistent structure in your Spanish class creates the condition for going deep with learning. This is another tip to help with short classes.
It may seem counterintuitive, but when you have a short class, it is helpful to go deep with learning. This means taking your time, going slowly, and focusing in on certain activities until students gain proficiency with the vocabulary and phrases. For example, the Me llamo game that is introduced as the lesson activity in Lesson 3 of Sonrisas Level I can provide deep learning.
The primary goal of this activity is to teach exchange of personal information with the question, “¿Cómo te llamas tú?” and the response, “Me llamo ___.“. Once students get the hang of the activity, you can use it as a vehicle to learn lots of other useful phrases associated with exchange of personal information such as, “¿Cuántos años tienes?” or “¿De dónde eres?” or “¿Cómo estás?“.
Going deep with learning is so important because when a learner becomes fluent with certain vocabulary and phrases, those can be used as springboards to teach similar vocabulary and phrases. It is also important because when students go deep with learning, they activate the part of their brain that is designated for language learning. Once activated, this part of the brain can always be accessed to learn languages—even much later in life.
With a short Spanish class, when all else fails, keep it simple. Sometimes you have to realize the limitations of the scenario in which you are teaching and simplify. In terms of the Sonrisas lessons, what this may mean is that you do just oral activities, and you don’t do the art projects. For each class you do Circle Time then Story Time and call it good.
Your students can still get a very valuable learning experience with this kind of class. In fact, it can allow you to implement some of the tips above like focusing on immersion, being consistent and going deep. Your Circle Time can become very robust, with an in-depth calendar routine. You can also go deep during Story Time. Simplifying your lessons will also make your life easier. You won’t be stressing about doing every part of every lesson with the short time you have.
Having short classes to teach elementary Spanish is a challenge. It makes teaching difficult, and we feel that our students deserve more time learning Spanish. But you can turn that challenge into a strength. Use these strategies, and you can provide your students with a valuable learning experience and give them the opportunity to acquire lots of practical, age appropriate Spanish.
