Funny Christmas Passwords for Spanish Class
Navidad for Children: ten Festive Activities to Bring Christmas to Your Castilian Classroom
Whether you lot celebrate Christmas or non, you accept to admit—children are drawn to it!
It may be the presents, the days off from school, the decorations, the joyful carols, the festive lights… what'due south non to honey?
This makes Christmas the perfect time to spice upward your classroom routine with some exciting holiday activities.
Castilian-speaking countries have a whole world of traditions that yous can use to teach the language and some civilisation through one of the most pop holidays of the twelvemonth.
To get you started, here are 10 festive Christmas activities your younger Spanish students will admittedly love.
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ten Incredibly Fun Spanish Christmas Activities for Children
one. Sing Christmas Carols
Instruction Spanish through music is always fantabulous and constructive for both children and adults. It's a fun fashion to teach vocabulary and grammar within a context, plus it improves pronunciation.
Some Spanish Christmas carols (villancicos) will be familiar to children, since they are but translated versions—like "Noche de Paz" (Silent Night) or "El niño del tambor" (The Little Drummer Boy). But there are too plenty of carols that were written originally in Spanish, and whose new melodies will be catchy and fun to sing.
This is a dandy site where yous tin find a broad variety of Spanish villancicos to cull from. All of them have lyrics, and some have music and even videos.
There are many activities to teach Christmas songs, it all depends on the age of your students and your goals. The younger the children, the catchier the songs should be. Here are somevillancicos that are particularly smashing for children because they are catchy, simple, repetitive and bully for practicing vocabulary:
- "A las doce de la noche" (At Midnight)
- "Campana sobre campana" (Bell over Bell)
- "La Marimorena" (Brunette Mary)
- "El Burrito Sabanero" (The Donkey from the Savannah)
You can act out the song with your students, creating specific actions they'll exercise when they hear sure words—which will encourage agile listening. An action could be as simple as clapping their hands.
For older children yous tin do typical fill up-in-the-blanks activities, or even have discussions if their level is more advanced.
Songs can always add a lot of flavor to a linguistic communication class!
2. Illustrate a Christmas Carol
Some other peachy activity involving Christmas carols is to have students illustrate the song once they're familiar with it. If the children are younger, just ask them "to draw the song." I'one thousand always amazed at how creative young children are!
If they are older, y'all tin give them a copy of the lyrics but replace several words with blanks. Play the song several times so they can become familiar with information technology. This is like a backup-the-blanks activity, simply instead of writing the words, they'll draw. Students can have notes while listening, simply their terminal piece of work should be a drawing.
Display their works to motivate your students, and to reinforce the vocabulary you lot worked on. They will beloved seeing their villancicos on the wall!
3. Act out "Las Posadas"
Las Posadas (lodgings) is a celebration held in many Spanish-speaking countries from Dec 16 to 24. These 9 days represent the nine months of Mary's pregnancy. The holiday is traditionally celebrated with a complex performance of two groups: an outside group that represents Mary and Joseph chosen los peregrinos (the travelers) and an inside group that represents the lodge (los posaderos).
The exterior group goes from house to firm pidiendo posada (asking for lodging) until i house lets them in. Usually neighbors agree in advance on which firm volition let them in. The travelers ask for lodging through a dialogue that's been made into a song. Each group sings its role until the song ends. Here you can come across the singing performance so information technology'south clearer.
In some countries, the act ends with some praying inside the firm. In others, like United mexican states, it ends with a party in which people pause a star-shaped piñata and have fun. I suggest choosing the Mexican way to gloat in your classroom, since this is an action intended for older children that have an intermediate or advanced level of Spanish.
Information technology should be fun and taught as a cultural tradition, not as religion. You ever accept to consider cultural differences among your students, no matter your beliefs.
Teach your class the Posadassong in accelerate and discuss its significant. Give everyone a re-create of the lyrics so they can practice at dwelling. Students don't need to memorize it, they should just be familiar with the words.
On the day of the performance you can separate your class in ii groups: the peregrinos and the posaderos. The peregrinos will be outside the classroom, and theposaderos will be in the classroom. They volition sing beyond the door until the within group lets them in.
To extend this action, you could combine it with #4 below and take a party afterwards with a real piñata, so your students can truly experience the tradition in a fun way.
four. Brand and Suspension a Piñata
The original piñatas were the star-shaped ones, and they were religious items. They had vii points, which represented the seven deadly sins. In this link you can read more nearly the history and symbolism of piñatas.
Equally a classroom activity, this volition take you lot more than i class, just information technology will be totally worth it! On i grade your students would make the base of operations of the piñata and on the next class they volition decorate it. You can't practise it all in i class since the base needs time to dry. On the last twenty-four hour period of schoolhouse, you can have a political party in which you lot will break the piñata.
If y'all have a very modest course, you tin can make one big piñata together, that y'all will pause on the last day of class. This way, all of your students can be engaged in the activity. If your grade is big, another choice is that each student makes his or her own piñata,and you'll just intermission the piñata that you, the instructor, made.
It can be a messy activity (particularly the first part, when you'll make the base), and then here are a few things to consider if each student will make a piñata:
- You demand a large classroom.
- Ask your students in accelerate to bring old clothes or a smock.
- Make sure you have plastic or newspapers to cover the tables.
- Have cleaning materials bachelor.
- Reserve a place to permit the bases dry out until the next class.
This is the piñata song that people sing when they break information technology. Teach your class this song and distribute the lyrics before you start making the piñatas.
Then, here's a tutorial that explains exactly how to make this blazon ofpiñata, and what materials you'll need. Yous could spotter this video with your grade before yous begin constructing, so they have an thought of the steps.
While making the piñatas, students can follow your instructions and lookout man you lot do each step. During the action, you can enquire students questions that'll prompt them to draw exactly what they are doing.
This action is not only very fun, but it tin be totally educational. Depending on the level of your students, here are some topics to teach through this activity:
- With beginners you can utilize this activity to practice vocabulary like colors, classroom materials, fruits, candies and flavors.
- For intermediate students you can practice following instructions and verbs in unlike tenses (future tense when you tell them what they'll do, present and present continuous while you do it, and past tense when you review how you did it).
- For advanced students, y'all can explain all the symbolism. If they are one-time enough, they can practise some inquiry and write a pocket-sized essay about this topic (before or after you brand the piñata).
If you desire to take this to a deeper level and use the whole calendar month dedicated to Christmas traditional activities, you tin can combine this activity with the Posadas. You could ask parents to prepare some food and drinks for the party. Students could even do some inquiry most typical seasonal food in Castilian-speaking countries so the experience is even more authentic. On the last solar day of grade, yous'll have a very fun and unforgettable end of the year party!
5. Celebrate Spanish April Fools' Mean solar day
In Spanish-speaking countries, the equivalent of Apr Fools' Twenty-four hour period is historic on December 28: Día de los Inocentes (literally, Innocents' Day). The whole twenty-four hours is full of pranks, jokes and crazy stories people tell each other. The media (radio, TV, newspapers) also reports fake news, some of which are so close to reality that people actually get fooled. It's said that you shouldn't lend or give annihilation on this day, because you risk non getting it back.
Teach your students the Spanish proverb that's unremarkably said afterwards someone's been fooled:
Inocente palomita que te dejas engañar, que no sabes que este día ni se presta ni se da.
(Innocent little dove you immune yourself to be fooled, don't you know that this twenty-four hours you don't lend and yous don't give.)
As a classroom activity, ask your students to come up up with a skillful joke, prank or story for this twenty-four hour period and write it down. It'll be a fun manner to piece of work on writing skills, while practicing grammar and vocabulary besides.
If it's something they can actually do on that day, ask them to later write virtually how it went. When students render from the holidays, they tin can so share their experiences. Each student will take a plough to talk about their joke, and the remainder of the form can inquire questions about it. This is specially good for practicing the by tense, plus students will love to hear how their classmates' jokes went!
6. Write a Letter to the 3 Wise Men
Instead of writing a alphabetic character to Santa Claus, ask your students to write to Los Tres Reyes Magos (the 3 Wise Men), who bring presents to children for January 6. Depending on the level of your students, they can either make a elementary listing (in which you'll do vocabulary with them) or write a proper letter (in which you'll review present tense and/or subjunctive depending on how complex the alphabetic character is).
In some schools in Latin America, on the last day earlier vacation pause, children will tie their letters to a balloon and release the balloons into the sky all at the aforementioned time. Information technology's a great spectacle to sentinel, and children get actually excited thinking their messages are flight to the 3 Wise Men.
You tin can do the same with your grade—only make a copy of their letters so you can keep one to review, since the other will be released to the sky. Check out this video and then you tin see how fun it is!
7. Make Christmas Carol Gift Boxes
Arts and crafts projects are a fun addition to any language form. After you've sung some Christmas carols, let students make a paper gift box that features a few lyrics on the sides, like the ones on Castilian Playground. Students should illustrate the lyrics that appear on the box.
If your students are older, use a simple box template like this one and separate upwards the lyrics to an unabridgedvillancico betwixt your students. Then when they're finished, play a game in which students have to put the song in lodge.
Older students could also use the blank template and select which song and lyrics to copy onto their box to illustrate.
viii. Play with Christmas Fortune Tellers
Follow these instructions and make Christmas-themed comoecocos or sacapiojos (fortune tellers) in form. If you have younger kids, you lot might prefer to use this printable of a Christmas fortune teller from Spanish Playground.
Once they're made, playing with the fortune tellers in pairs is a peachy activity to practice vocabulary, asking questions and dividing words into syllables.
If your students are more than avant-garde, instead of just saying the give-and-take to select a space, take them use that word in a consummate sentence. And then for case, if there'due south a snowman on one of the flaps, rather than just saying "muñeco de nieve," students could depict how to build one, depict its outfit, or tell a story virtually one—the possibilities are endless!
9. Create a Nascence Scene
Most homes in Spanish-speaking countries have a Nativity scene as part of the Christmas decorations. Making one with your students can be very fun for them!
For this activeness, information technology's important to consider the historic period of your students, and then it'due south non only entertaining but challenging for them. You tin be as creative every bit you desire, but I'll suggest a few ideas that tin can be done during a form, and you lot can adapt them to your students.
For the younger ones, unproblematic Nativity scenes fabricated with egg cartons, Play-Doh or toilet paper rolls work well.
- Egg carton Nativity
- Eggs Nascence
- Play-Doh Birth — If your students are younger, brand less characters.
- Toilet paper rolls Birth — These are biblical figures, but you tin accommodate them to the characters of the Nascence.
For older students, try using Play-Doh or natural language depressors.
- Play-Doh Birth
- Tongue depressor Birth
To make these crafts an opportunity to learn and practice Spanish, yous also take to consider your students' language level. You lot tin can practise vocabulary (like colors, animals or classroom materials), following instructions, asking questions, etc.
You could even play a video for them as a tutorial, and and so review what they saw. For example, hither's a video of two girls explaining how to make a unproblematic natural language depressor Birth, which may work for your class.
Fix some comprehension questions in advance for the video, such as "What materials were used?," "What colour was the star painted?," "What was the first step?," etc. Students would practice by tense equally they draw how the craft was made, or simple vocabulary if their level is more basic.
10. The Poinsettia: A Mexican Christmas Star
Known in United mexican states as "flor de Nochebuena " (Christmas Eve bloom) and in the world as "Poinsettia," this flower of Mexican origin prevails today in homes during Christmas around the world.
The Aztecs, who used it during several celebrations dedicated to the god Huitzilopochtli, knew it as "cuetlaxóchitl," which means "bloom that withers" in Nahuatl. The name comes from a myth of a rebellion of the Chontales group, who refused to pay the "taxes" imposed by the Aztecs.
This rebellion happened in the identify that today is Taxco, where a bush of white flowers grew. The Aztecs brutally defeated the Chontales, and the flowers withered subsequently that (which explains the name). Considering of the blood prints of the defeated ones, the bushes were covered with red flowers on the next blooming, symbolizing the spirit of the fallen ones.
When the Spanish arrived, the flower was renamed as Nochebuena (Christmas Eve flower) because it could keep its red colour during the Christmas celebrations. The Spanish missionaries took reward of this opportunity to distance the symbolism from the blood of the defeated, and gave the bloom a Christian reinterpretation.
In the 19th century, the ambassador of the United States, Joel Robert Poinsett, saw the flower for the commencement time during Christmas while visiting the church of Santa Prisca in Taxco. He took some samples to the United States, where information technology hands acclimatized, and he was able to commercialize information technology all over his country—and eventually in Europe. The Christmas Eve blossom was patented in the United States, where was named "Poinsettia," subsequently the administrator who introduced it to the world, and was popularized as a Christmas ornament.
As a classroom action yous can tell your students the story behind the bloom, and then ask them to brand a motion picture of the story or to write it down with their own words—information technology all depends on their historic period and level. If they'll draw a moving picture, you can later on ask your students to present it to the course, which will give y'all an opportunity to reinforce grammar, vocabulary and speaking skills.
You now accept plenty of ideas to add a seasonal touch to your Spanish classroom this Christmas, spicing up your classroom routine. I'm sure your students will have as much fun equally you will!
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Source: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-spanish/spanish-christmas-activities/
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