Teaching elementary Spanish effectively requires more than just engaging lessons—it requires intentional practice, research-based methodology, and the right support. At Sonrisas Spanish, we’ve spent over 25 years helping teachers implement curriculum that leads to real language acquisition for elementary students.
One of the biggest challenges we face is ensuring that teachers succeed in implementing the lessons that we have created. We know they work because we have used them with great success for over 25 years to teach Spanish to preschool, elementary and Spanish students.
We strive to write curriculum that is effective, user-friendly, research-based, and aligned to the standards. But just like the students in our classrooms, every teacher learns differently. This is what makes it so difficult to ensure an effective implementation for every teacher who purchases Sonrisas Spanish Curriculum.
So, as a new school year approaches, I have been thinking a lot about the things that really need to be done to make the Sonrisas lessons work. I am going to share them with you here. This is not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good list to refer to as you think about preparing for a new school year of teaching elementary Spanish.
Do these seven things to make Sonrisas Spanish Curriculum work for you.
One of the things that we set out to do when we created Sonrisas Spanish was to provide a deep explanation of the methodologies and implementation which informed the curriculum. When we designed the lessons, we culled together a variety of effective methodologies from second language acquisition research, neuroscience, behavioral research, and different pedagogical models.
We felt that it was important for teachers to have a clear understanding of the methods and thinking that went into our curriculum. To that end, we directed a lot of effort toward providing a comprehensive explanation of the research, our methodologies, and the way it all comes together in teaching practice.
So, my number one recommendation for a successful implementation of the Sonrisas Spanish lessons is to read the Teacher Manual. Each Teacher Manual has three parts:
With all of the AI tools that are now at our disposal, we seem to be in a new era in which reading is on the decline. Recommending that you read the Teacher Manual may be a lot to ask. There’s a lot of content there. There’s a lot to digest and understand. But nothing will prepare you more for effectively implementing the Sonrisas lessons than reading the Teacher Manual.
If you do a search in the Sonrisas Blog, you’ll find many articles about staying in Spanish while you teach. I’ll refer you to those articles for strategies about how to do that. What I want to stress here is the commitment to do this.
Staying in Spanish is not easy! You will have students that say, “I don’t know what you’re saying.” You’ll have parents telling you that their child says she can’t understand what you’re saying. You’ll feel like you want to translate everything that you are saying.
Let’s start by answering the question, “When is it OK to use English?” It’s OK to use English to explain a new routine or new activity or to clarify expectations or to explain classroom management issues. But when you do the activities, the classroom routines, and even the management stuff, that’s when you want to stay in Spanish (most of the time this is done by using Comprehensible Input).
The all important bottom line here is that you are teaching Spanish. The best way to do that is to communicate as much as possible in Spanish. You are not going to do that unless you make a commitment to it.
I always say, because it’s true, that it is like taking a leap of faith. You have to believe that you can speak Spanish at least 90% of the time in your classes. You have to have faith that if you follow the best practices for the curriculum, and you stay in Spanish, then your students are going to learn a lot of age appropriate and practical Spanish.
Related to the idea of staying in Spanish is the practical idea of using the different activities in the lessons as tools for communication. This is one of the big ideas of Sonrisas. You have all these different activities, and they allow you to communicate in different ways with students.
You’re not just singing songs in Spanish with your students—you’re communicating through music. Many of the songs have an interpersonal feature to them, a back-and-forth, that provides a playful way to communicate. All of the songs have movement and gesture that accompany them. This is a very effective communication strategy with young learners as they are adept at making connections between language and their bodies.
Reading to students provides a multi-faceted strategy for communication. Students build comprehension through listening. They increase acquisition by engaging their imagination in Spanish. They hear different voices and styles of Spanish. And, when done correctly, reading to children enables you to extend interpersonal communication through the context of the story.
While students work on the art projects, you talk to them about what they’re working on. This is the easiest thing in the world. It is all right there in front of them, and you use the art project and the art materials as context for your communication.
Role play is one of the best ways to engage higher level thinking while students communicate. Many of the lesson activities incorporate role-play and provide this opportunity for communication.
We know that young learners thrive with routine and structure. In the simplest sense, routine and structure help students feel safe and confident in their learning environment. Learning a second language can be intimidating for many children. Providing them with routine and structure helps manage expectations, it reduces anxiety, and it helps to put their brains in a more receptive state for learning.
Having a solid routine and structure benefits you as well. You get into a rhythm with your teaching. Your planning becomes more streamlined. You have more focus which enables you to observe and pay attention to your students on a deeper level.
The Sonrisas lessons provide you with a consistent routine and structure. Take this and make it your own. Establish a routine and structure that works for you and your students.
Crux can be defined as the decisive or most important part of something. The crux of the Sonrisas Spanish Curriculum is this: it provides a structure to create an immersion environment, using Comprehensible Input, with lots of opportunity for communication in Spanish through a variety of fun and age appropriate activities. That’s it. That’s what these lessons do.
It sounds simple, but it is not. Creating this environment takes intention and careful planning and preparation. But when you embrace this most important aspect of Sonrisas, you create a magical space for your students. In this space you witness the joy of language acquisition.
I like to think of it this way: it is not so much about the different lesson themes or learning targets that you are teaching. It is much more about students being in this environment, consistently, throughout the school year and throughout the grades. This is when you see acquisition occur and proficiency develop.
In regard to children learning language, a common refrain is that children are like sponges. They absorb language easily. This is not exactly the case. The right conditions need to be in place, and that takes a lot of work and preparation. When those conditions are place, that’s when acquisition, the “absorbing”, occurs.
I submit that the Sonrisas Spanish lessons are highly effective at providing these conditions, and I encourage you to embrace the crux of Sonrisas.
This may seem like a “no duh”. But you would be surprised at how many Spanish teachers are not having fun. Instead, they are overworked. They are stressed. They are tired. Sound familiar?
I know teaching is not always enjoyable. But I’ve always felt lucky to be a Spanish teacher. It is an amazing experience to see the excitement and joy that children experience when they learn another language. Also, Spanish is usually considered an “extra”, so in most situations the requirements for our classes are not as stringent as the core subject areas. This means that you can do things differently. It means you can have fun.
One of the amazing things about the Sonrisas lessons is that, when you implement them effectively, your students are essentially playing the whole time. They are playing in Spanish. When you make the lessons fun, your students won’t even realize they are learning Spanish.
A hugely important part of this is the fact that when students have fun in Spanish class, they create a positive connotation with learning a second language. This is how we create life-long language learners.
This goes back to reading the Teacher Manual. The best practices for using the Sonrisas Spanish Curriculum can be found in Part Two. Many of the things I have written about here are part of the best practices. We have also written extensively about the best practices in the Sonrisas Blog.
The value of the best practices is this: they summarize the things that we learned in over 25 years of teaching and writing curriculum that help teachers succeed when using the Sonrisas lessons.
One of our earliest thoughts when we first started creating Sonrisas Spanish was, “There aren’t a lot of resources for elementary Spanish teachers. Maybe our lessons could help other teachers.” Through the years, as we revised and refined our curriculum, we started to see patterns emerge in the things that we did that made our classes work. These are reflected in the best practices. I encourage you to focus on them.
Implementing the Sonrisas Spanish Curriculum with success is about more than just following lesson plans—it’s about committing to best practices that foster language acquisition, communication, and joy in the classroom. Whether you’re new to teaching elementary Spanish or looking to refine your approach, these seven strategies can help you create an engaging and effective learning environment. Remember, you’re not alone—Sonrisas is here to support you every step of the way.
