Spanish Intermediate with Maddie on Thursday’s at 10am
I took an exciting look at the origins of Halloween alongside the children in Maddie’s Spanish Intermediate class on Thursday. The children were really excited for their lesson this week as they learnt all about “día de los Muertos” – Day of the Dead. Maddie is our incredibly talented Spanish Teacher who teaches all of our Spanish classes from beginners to GCSE’s.
The class spent a little time sharing what they already knew about Day of the Dead and Maddie was quick to reassure the children that it wasn’t spooky and is in fact a really happy celebration in Mexico where people honour their loved ones.
Maddie lead a very relaxed class, encouraging questions, as she explained how the Day of the Dead was a 3000 year old tradition in Mexico which lasts 3 days, each day symbolising something different.
One child was very brave to have a guess at what the main religion is in Mexico. He guessed Christianity and we learned that it is Catholicism.
The children were constantly kept engaged throughout the class by watching a trailer for a movie based on the Day of the Dead, ‘The book of life’. They then practiced their language skills by answering questions about the trailer in Spanish.
Ven diagrams were used by the children to distinguish the similarities and differences between Halloween and the Day of the Dead. One child asked if they dress up for Day of the Dead.
Maddie used a range of different activities during the lesson to keep the children focused throughout. The children matched words to pictures, filled in worksheets, annotated on the screen, and could share their answers with the other children if they felt comfortable to do so.
The children were really fascinated to learn that many people baked ‘Pan de Muertos’ (bread of the dead) and placed them on alters for their deceased loved ones to eat, the people believed their loved ones could only eat this bread once it had gone hard and sour. Some people even baked these loaves of bread in the shape of skulls, decorating them in frosting and seeds. The children asked some really interesting questions surrounding this and Maddie provided a recipe so that they could have a go at baking it themselves at home.
I could see the children really enjoyed their time with Maddie and they were provided with lots of optional activities to do outside of their lesson if they wanted to continue their learning around Day of the Dead.
If you want more information about learning Spanish with Maddie, you can find out more here:
Suggested Extra Learning
Viva! 1 Segunda Ediçion Pupil Book: Viva 1 2nd edition pupil book
Viva 1 Segunda edición workbook A for pack: Viva 1
Viva 1 Segunda edición workbook B for pack: Viva 1
Final Word from Maddi
Intermediate Spanish is great because we are able to build upon previous knowledge learnt in the beginners class to give opinions and really kick start conversational Spanish. One of things things I love most about it though is how involved learners can get, hearing them speak whole sentences and giving opinions on things in Spanish is such an amazing experience and I feel so lucky to be able to help build that confidence!
