Sneak Peek: Do your students love Bad Bunny? Here’s a fun lesson plan for Valentine’s Day featuring a clean Bad Bunny song, Valentine’s card template, and Dado de Cupido. When it comes to Bad Bunny, it seems you either love him or hate him. Personally, I wasn’t a fan, but my heritage Spanish class eventually got me hooked. *This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click through to one of the product links, I’ll earn a small percentage, at no extra cost to you.  Of course many of his songs are not school appropriate, but don’t worry, in today’s lesson plan… everything ..read more

Sneak peek: How teachers can batch their meal prep in order to save time during the busy school year. Are you ready to organize your meal plans for either an upcoming medical leave or perhaps just to have a stash of meals for the school year? As a teacher, weeknights are so busy during the school year, it can become a major struggle to get dinner on the table on time, if at all! When I was preparing for my second maternity leave I came up with a slow-burn system to start stashing our deep-freezer with meals on a weekly basis. Doing this, I managed to slowly build up 22 freezer meals for matern ..read more

Sneak peek: “Yo nunca” is a really fun game to play in heritage Spanish class or Spanish 3 to practice the present perfect tense. Have you ever played the game “Never Have I Ever” in Spanish class or “Yo nunca”? This game is SO much fun because it gets students moving around and learning about one another. It can also get pretty intense because students get so into it- but I love looking around the room and seeing everyone so engaged. I play this game with both my heritage Spanish classes and Spanish 3. This is great for Spanish 3 class when students are learning the present perfect. This ga ..read more

Sneak peek: How to throw a relaxing party in Spanish class when it’s first hour or your group isn’t very lively. We love throwing parties in heritage Spanish class, but this past year I had the challenge of having a 1st hour and a 4th hour class. I’m an equal opportunity party thrower, and something about this time-of-day mix just wasn’t coming out evenly. During 4th hour, students are hungry and awake for the day, so throwing a party was a piece of cake; however, during 1st hour, students aren’t exactly sure if they are ready to commit to waking up, let alone dancing, posing for photos, or ea ..read more

Sneak Peek: A new class party idea for you- a color party! Looking for a fun new themed class-party idea? Why not try a color party!? Color parties were trending on Tik Tok and one of my students had the idea of doing one to celebrate the end of the school year.  We looooove to throw parties in heritage Spanish class. So I said, “let’s do it!” From the top, you may be asking, “now, what is a color party exactly?” The basic idea is that certain groups are assigned a color of food, snacks, or drinks to bring to the party. You can make it a contest by having a prize for whichever group shows ..read more

Sneak peek: An interview about teaching heritage language learners on the World Language Classroom Podcast I am so excited to share about my experiences as a guest on this podcast interview with Joshua Cabral at World Language Classroom Podcast. I really enjoyed the chance to talk with him about my experience teaching heritage language learners.  I have to admit I am a huge Podcast girl. I listen to podcasts daily while I cook, clean, or drive because I love to double up on my time. That said, I was probably geeking out about the chance to get behind the microphone for this one, and expe ..read more

Sneak peek: Bulletin board decoration ideas for heritage Spanish class.  It’s no secret that creating an environment that invites and encourages learning has a direct impact on student motivation and performance. A learning environment done well will usually consist of many carefully considered elements. Components such as lighting, desk configuration, and decorated walls all come together to form an educational space in which students love to be.  Bulletin boards are a great way to decorate your classroom in order to make students feel welcomed. There’s an undeniable whimsy to a cu ..read more

Sneak peek: Low prep to Back-to-school resources for heritage Spanish class to start your year off with a bang! The first few weeks back to school are an adjustment for everyone. The month of September is a blur! For me, the whole month is spent operating at a blistering pace simply trying to learn new names, set classroom expectations, and remember to pack my lunch. Not to mention, that early alarm clock can be dreadful if we’re being completely honest.  Going back to school may be a grind, but the good news is I have some ready-to-go lessons you can use to help ease you back into your h ..read more

Sneak Peek: Encourage critical thinking skills in Spanish class with a one pager for the purpose of growth in literary analysis. Meet your new favorite go-to resource for teaching novels in Spanish class. I love this project because it encourages students to think critically and creatively. Instead of comprehension questions about a novel (that they may or may not copy from a friend, who can be sure), this project requires students to showcase individual thought and reflection. Not only does this resource promote higher-order thinking, students are given academic freedom for outside-the-box t ..read more

Sneak peek: An icebreaker called Hexagon Connect that allows you to get to know your students and foster a sense of community within your classroom. I have a fun Hexagon Connect Icebreaker to share with you. Which serves the dual purpose of a get-to-know-you activity, as well as a bulletin board classroom decoration to start the year! I think my favorite question on this resource is “What is your favorite fictional character?” It is a lot of fun seeing who your students choose! We had a blast recounting some of the characters they chose and there is a beautiful bonding element to shared nosta ..read more