The Spanish Club: An After-School Program

     Papel picado is a traditional Mexican craft that features colorful paper sheets with intricate cut-out details. It was made by stacking many sheets of paper and using chisels to cut the designs. You can easily make your own papel picado by layering sheets of tissue paper and using scissors           This is a great free choice activity or a lesson for a sub. Laminate the instructions and place them on a table. Add a tray of pre-cut tissue papers, and a bowl of scissors and allow the children to create a papel picado during free-choice time. WHAT YOU’LL NEED: – Colored tissue paper (12″ x 9″ approximately) – Scissors – Marker – Yarn and tape to display papel picados INSTRUCTIONS: Fold a piece of tissue paper (lengthwise) in half and then in half again. Make sure one side consists only of folds. Fold the long folded sheet in half. Mark a dot in the corner that is made up of folds. This helps the children recognize where not to cut. Just like cutting a snowflake, cut shapes along all

 

          I believe that the most difficult aspect of my Better World Project is to keep track of everything.   Teachers, like me, don’t have a lot of time.  If you add all this writing and thinking and tracking, you may not have time for family or other things.   I did not have any time to write this before and to send my project little by little, due to the time.   But here I am, showing everybody my pride and joy and sharing how I felt about this project.   I think that, for me, three semesters were not enough, especially because I am achieving other educative goals at the same time.  I have mostly the summer time for this and that’s what I am doing.    My only recommendation for the future is to organize yourself better.  Ask somebody to help you in writing all of this or just do it from time to time.  As we did on the milestones, establish deadlines to add information into the system or into a document, so you keep track of everything.  Spend a couple of hours per hour to work on

The outcome of the project was more than I was expecting, students were able to share their knowledge and experience with other students around the school.   A lot of other students asked me to join the club, but we were mostly at the end of the school year and it would be awkward to be there just for one or two days.  I invited them to be part as soon as the new school year starts.  I know for sure that the student's experience was blown up.  The principal’s son was in the club and he was very amazed by the activities and fun we had, especially tasting so many different food flavors.  Every student who participated was very happy in it and I know they will come back with more people next year.   My project made a beautiful difference in how students learn a new language learning.    Some of them expressed that being in a fun environment where they feel secure because nobody laughs at their mistakes instead of encouraging them.    Others expressed to have more clarification on what

During this time, while completing the project,  I was able to develop more as a leader and a mentor.  I developed better my interpersonal skills; I can influence colleagues and I am more innovative and creative.  I improved my communication skills and open-mindedness when students were struggling with some aspects we discussed and accepted their opinions, although sometimes I disagreed with them.  I can accept other opinions without being biased on their reasons.  I am more resilient, with more self-awareness, proactive thinking, and adaptability. I learned that I can guide people into fulfilling an objective.   I wanted to teach my students about certain aspects that we did not have enough time to discuss during class in a fun way.   I completed that goal.   They learned more than I was expecting them to learn.   I always knew that I was a leader, but again, some previous experiences made me hide it.   I am also more vocal in my feedback on some activities.   In the past, I just allo

 We celebrated our culture and our roots.  We celebrated with FOOD and MUSIC!  I prepared for my students the famous "Cielito Lindo".  This should be eaten with Tostitos (it doesn't matter if they are original or a substitution, but only with Tostitos!).  This delicious snack is made with cream cheese, salsa, ground meat (I prefer turkey, but you can do it with beef), shredded cheese (cheddar and mozzarella), tomatoes, and lettuce.  It is something you can't stop eating and it is healthy too!

Weeks 19-21:   We played Monopoly in Spanish.   In this, I can say that some of them beat me, so I had to call myself Bankrupt.   They beat me!   On Week 20, we made some pupusas.   They were DELICIOUS!   Can’t have enough of them, especially with meat or cheese!   On week 21, we made tembleque at the school.   I can’t have enough tembleque in my life.   It was simply amazing how they did their own and brought me some the next day! Weeks 22-24:  We had our Spring Break, but before we left the school, I asked them to practice more Spanish at home.  When we come back, we meet to play with Dominoes.  Unfortunately, I am not that good at playing dominoes, so a lot of them beat me on this.  We watched a documentary about South America that explained the process of the conquest and talked about food, tourists, and important attractions, as well as music, musical instruments, and famous people.  We had a great discussion about it. Weeks 25-27:  During our last weeks together, we just had

  Weeks 13-15:   We prepared for our Three Kings Day.   I bring them some candy bags for them and somebody special.   Their assignment was to explain the other people and the purpose behind the candies and the Epiphany of the Three Kings.   We also meet to add more activities for the rest of the year.   We watched a documentary about The Caribbean that explained the process of the conquest and talked about food, tourists, and important attractions, as well as music, musical instruments, and famous people.   We had a great discussion about it.   They also tasted the famous “tres leches” cake and LOVED IT!   They kept bugging me to bring more. Weeks 16-18:  We made more empanadas, following the food safety protocol.  Students also had a Día del amor y de la amistad day (Valentine’s Day), in which they shared lovely messages to someone important to them, we prepared cards and added candies to them.  We also had a Taco Thursday (instead of a Taco Tuesday).  Students provided the food and

  Weeks 7-9:   The students learned how to dance salsa, merengue, and bachata, made empanadas or pastelillos, and played Scrabble in Spanish.   Students provided the food donations.   During our dance classes, nobody wanted to dance, but I managed to get one of the students to dance with me, which was extremely funny.   During week 8, we made pastelillos, and students were asked to follow the food preparation protocol, which is washing their hands, and putting on hair restrainers, gloves, and aprons.   They were having fun and they were completely embarrassed about it.   In the end, everything was worth it.   During the week 9, nobody beat me at Scrabble.   I won every single game, even when they used dictionaries, Siri, Google Translate, and other people who also spoke Spanish over the phone.   Weeks 10-12:   We tie-dye some white T-shirts.   Students had fun although this is not a so-called Hispanic/Latino activity.   We also made arroz con dulce in the school as I was explaining the

Students participated and created a lot of activities.  They were divided into weeks for easy reading.  Weeks 1-3:  I shared the schedule with the students and we looked into possible options for our final activity, which is the visit to the restaurant.  We did papel picado and decorated a whole wall with them, and decorated skulls to celebrate the Independence of some Latin American countries.  We also decorated cookies with Hispanic/Latino flags, which they had a blast of fun.          Weeks 4-6:  We watched a Latin America documentary in which they explained the process of the conquest and talked about food, tourists, and important attractions, as well as music, musical instruments, and famous people.   We had a great discussion about it.   We watched the movie The Book of Life and we talked about the Day of the Dead and why it is important for a lot of Hispanic/Latino countries.   We also bring some popcorn, snacks, and soda for the movie day.   On week 6, we created piñatas filled

  The Spanish Club at PACS welcomes you! This after-school program is designed to fill you with Hispanic/Latino knowledge as well as to learn more about the culture, food, music, and musical instruments' origins.  We will also be watching movies related to our festivities and Holidays and will be discussing them in the easiest way.  As a club should be, there will be hands-on activities like papel picado, painting carabelas, making piñatas, and more. ¡Bienvenidos!