Choosing Spanish Class Names - Can It Be Done?

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“Yo soy lo que el tiempo, las circunstancias, y la historia me han hecho, por supuesto, pero también soy mucho más. Todos somos mucho más.” -James Baldwin (1924-1987)

I have been teaching Spanish for nearly 20 years in Philadelphia and for many of those years, like many Spanish teachers, I have introduced the idea of "choosing names" to my classes. Usually, students have loved this and have eagerly chosen another name for use in the class. I have always respected the wishes of those students who wanted to keep their own names, of course, and never forced names on anyone. Last year, though, I started seeing posts by teachers who were opposed to the practice given the history of oppression in Latin America (and the world) and the complexity of identity and names (for an example of what I mean see THIS post by spanishplans.org, as well as the multiple comments). Yikes. Was I participating in something that was damaging to my students? To others? I didn't want to be. That said, a week into the school-year my students, especially my older ones (juniors in Spanish 4 and seniors in AP Spanish) were clamoring for "their" names. I start most classes with the date and ask students if there is anything special, important, or unique about the day. Last week, one of my students raised his hand and said, "¿Tal vez hoy es importante porque es el día que recibimos nuestros nombres para la clase de español?" Everyone laughed. "Soy Memo," the student added quietly, but earnestly. The others looked at me eagerly as well. They wanted their names. "Tal vez mañana," I said. I needed more time. I was still thinking about a thread I had seen reposted on my Twitter feed (which I use for professional purposes) by an African-American mom and teacher: "This is an important conversation. As a mother, this practice would upset me ... [Our son] is the first child in our family without European naming conventions. I'd be mad if he was called otherwise." I had reached out to this mom/teacher and asked if she thought it was ok to give names as long as 1) children were allowed to choose and/or keep their own names and 2) a conversation about why some people opposed the practice and some people enjoyed it was had. She thought it was. Others did too. Still, how to go about this in the right way? I had begun working on a Webquest for students in which they investigated common names in different Spanish-speaking countries before choosing (if they desired) a name for Spanish class when I attended a training for the Philadelphia School District on equity in education this past Friday. As part of the training, the session leader had us all go around in a circle and say our name, explain how we got it, and talk about its importance (if any) (we also read the quote by James Baldwin that I include at the top of this post). We had 30 seconds (timed). We used this as a bridge to talk about how names are tied to identity. After the training, I returned to my Webquest, excited about the possibilities. I incorporated the name activity into it, though I decided to give students a day (and night) to plan what they are going to say. Students are to think about their OWN name and its importance before investigating other names and contemplating renaming themselves.  Ideally, they will talk about all of this with family, too. When we circle up on the second day for students to explain their names and tell us *if* they want a new name for Spanish class, it will be, I hope, with purpose.

Already, in Spanish 1 (which did not do the extensive Webquest but rather just had a conversation about the whole practice) one girl, who is Puerto Rican, decided to name herself Milagros because that was her grandmother's name, and another student, who bravely asked me about the unisex name options (now included on the Webquest), named themselves Claude. A few decided not to change their names. A few changed their names to one thing and then, upon consideration, asked to switch to something different. I plan on rolling out the full Webquest in my Spanish 4 and AP Spanish classes this week. I know there is room for improvement (i.e. I can't find any great articles in Spanish on Afro-Latino names, so for now had to settle on an article on the AARP website about notable Afro-Latinos), and I am of course interested in hearing others' opinions, but overall I think it will be a good thing to have students reflect on who they are, what their name means, and whether or not they would like to try on another name, perhaps one with great significance, for a while. I also hope they think about the reasons others might not want to do so. For now, I am grateful to you for reading if you've made it this far, and interested in hearing your thoughts on the issue.

Literature Circles in Spanish Class

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Have you tried Literature Circles in your upper level Spanish classes yet? I am almost finished this week-long activity in my Spanish 4 and AP classes, and I really like the way they're turning out! This is my second year trying them -- my colleague Jean Copeland, who teaches French 4 and AP French, introduced me to the idea last year (thanks Jean!). We both use them in our classes to talk about the summer reading. My Spanish 4 classes read  Lazarillo de Tormes and my AP Spanish class read El Señor Presidente (both published by Santillana Press as readers before Santillana was acquired by Vista last year - I have to find new books for next year!!). On first read, they tend to get what happens in each story but not the deeper meaning. By the end of the Literature Circles, they have engaged with the stories on a much deeper level! (I'm sure this could be done with a short story as well, with all groups talking about the same story, so no summer reading needed at all)

Here's how it works -- once your students have read a book you assign them to groups of 4 (with perhaps a group of 4 or a group of 5 as needed), assign that group a certain portion of the book read (i.e. Chapters 1-2, pp. 3-11), and then hand them the Literature Circle Packet for them to peruse. They can speak (in English, briefly) about who is best for each role: 1) the discussion leader  2) the vocabulary specialist 3) the literary critic and 4) the plot mapper (all roles described in detail in the packet). For groups of 3, I usually let them do away with the literary critic role. Since my classes did this for their summer reading, I gave them a reading check quiz (true/false) last Friday, marked them over the weekend, and them got them into their circles on Monday. I let them work all week in class preparing for their roles and making their posters and they were very much on task. I was able to walk around and question/clarify their work. I emphasized that all should have their books with them (I had a few extra copies/photocopies in class  as well) and be actively going back through the text in order to prepare. Friday (after four days of in-class work) they had their small group discussions. They did great! It truly made my heart happy to walk around and see all of the discussions in Spanish with meaningful questions about the book they were reading (I did guide discussion leaders during the week to help them come up with more meaningful, deeper questions rather than just quiz-like questions with a right and wrong answer i.e. What would have happened had the blind man shared his food with Lazarillo in the beginning? How would Lazarillo/the book be different? vs. Did the blind man share his food with Lazarillo?). There was a group or two in each class who said they had "finished" with about 10 minutes still to go. For them, I was prepared with some questions of my own. In the case of Lazarillo, I projected a list of characters and asked them to put them in order from "good/least bad" to "worst" (see HERE). They got very involved in this! Most agreed that Zaide, Lazarillo's step-father of African descent who steals in order to feed his family, and who was taken away and put in jail, was the character of highest moral standing. There was then lots of disagreement about the rest. One girl thought Lazarillo's mother was one of the worst characters for the fact that she let her son go. That led to a discussion about what desperation might lead a person to do. All that to say that students were really engaging with the literature. I loved it! I have also used Socratic Seminars with my students, and I think they're a good tool as well, but this seemed to have more students engaged (talking!), and on a more meaningful level. Tomorrow (Monday) my students will present their posters in order so that we see what happens in the book one more time. I'll collect the packets and we'll then move on (in my AP Spanish class we'll continue our Guatemala unit for a bit, watching the documentary Finding Oscar to connect to the themes of El Señor Presidente).

Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. June, 2019.

I may try Literature Circles again in the spring with a short story, since I was so happy with how they worked out! What are you doing in your classes to talk about literature? I'd love to hear!

For more resources for teaching Spanish 1 through AP, click HERE!

First Day(s) of Spanish 1 Class

Me on Lake Atitlán in Guatemala this summer

I've been teaching for nearly 20 years, and in two days I will meet my newest set of Spanish 1 classes, 8th graders at a middle school in Philadelphia (I also teach Spanish 4 and AP Spanish - we are a 5th through 12th grade school). I am excited and slightly nervous, as always! Here's what I'm planning for our first day :

Exciting find at Target! 

I have my own classroom this year! (We are overcrowded so float every other year. Last year I was in 14 different rooms!) This year, my classroom is decorated with papel picado, posters, books, a Mexican blanket, and a peace lily. I think it looks inviting :). Before class starts, I'm going to put on music in Spanish (not sure yet about this year's opening day song, but maybe something by Celia Cruz) and place these cute ¡Hola! Me llamo cards  on everyone's desk. I found them in the dollar section of Target a few weeks ago, but of course plain paper/cardstock would work too.

I'm going to meet students at the door as they walk in, hand them a ticket (more on that later) and greet them in Spanish (Hola, Buenos Días, etc). From experience I know that some will greet me enthusiastically, some will try to duck by without saying anything, and some will look at me in confusion and try to answer. They also might be slightly confused as to why I gave them a ticket, a problem I usually solve with a smile, a finger held up, and a "un momento." I don't worry about assigned seats or a syllabus at this point. I want to set the tone early that in this class we will be speaking Spanish, negotiating meaning, and (I think) having fun (I do assign seats and go over a syllabus/rules on Day 2, or later in the week). Once everyone is in the room and sitting down, I move to the center of the room and greet the students (i.e. ¡Buenos Días! Es la clase de Español 1. Me llamo Señora Gentlesk).  I point to myself as I say Me llamo Señora Gentlesk. Then I ask quizzically ¿Me llamo ________? and fill in a bunch of names of people I obviously am not (Oprah Winfrey, Lionel Messi, Megan Rapinoe, our principal/other teachers). The more ridiculous the better. This all happens pretty quickly. I then move to ¿Cómo te llamas? with different students around the room. Some will already have figured it out (or already speak some Spanish) and will answer, while others will look confused. With them, I will also fill in names of people they are obviously not, maybe even pretending excited to meet that person (¡Te llamas Carson Wentz! Wow! ¡Clase! ¡Carson Wentz está aquí!). I always try to get the whole class engaged in this "game." Once I notice interest waning I move on to the next person (once I have gotten the student's name, of course). For students who cannot figure out how to answer, I get the class involved, saying ¿Cómo se llama? and pointing while taking a guess at names from my roll. Again, this is all happening VERY quickly. We are only a few minutes into class, and I have learned the names of perhaps 5-8 students, when I say ¿Me permite hablar inglés?, wait for permission (for students to understand I may quickly act out inglés, hablar), and then, when they give me permission, I speak in English to explain why I gave them a ticket when they walked in the door ("You're probably wondering why I gave you this ticket ..."). I explain that the ticket is to reward exemplary students, which I consider all of them to be, with a homework pass at the end of the week. They can hold onto it by only speaking Spanish in class unless they ask for and receive permission to speak English (¿Me permite hablar inglés?). I am also held to this system and must ask for permission to speak English.

Behind me on the pulldown screen (some rooms in our school have SmartBoards but my room still has an LCD projector, which is fine) I have my presentation for the day projected. On the first day of class in Spanish 1, I actually have Slide 2 of this presentation projected first ¿Cómo te llamas?/Me llamo because what we are doing flows right into our partner talk. I explain in English that they will have partner talk almost every day of our class. They do not need to write anything - only talk. I do this in Spanish 4 and AP as well, though the conversations are longer (2 minutes). I explain to my Spanish 1 students that they will build toward that. For now, they will ask each other what is projected ¿Cómo te llamas? and answer. This takes about 30 seconds. I might ask a few students ¿Como se llama? and point to their partner afterwards as well. Then, I'll have students write their names on the Target Hola. Me llamo cards (¡OK! Ahora, escriban sus nombres en estos .. etc etc while acting out). I want them to leave enough room for a Spanish class name that they will choose later in the week (yes, I still do these, even though I know some people are against them. Students always have the option of keeping their own names. More on this in another post!). This year, thanks to inspiration from other teachers I follow on Twitter, I also plan on having them draw a picture that represents them to use in card talk (more on that in another post as well!).

¿Me permite hablar inglés? Now's when I switch to slide one of the presentation for the day (see above), which has the day, date, a saying, and a "Latino of the Day." My classes will have this as part of their routine every day, which is something that I explain (I've developed these slides over many years of teaching, starting with some really basic stuff, so in no way do I suggest that new teachers attempt to put this all together for every day of teaching, unless you don't want to sleep!). That said, I've enjoyed figuring out who the "Latino for the Day" might be and find that talking about that person, VERY briefly, while pointing to pictures, using cognates, etc. allows for cultural, comprehensible input. This whole first slide, in fact, is about comprehensible input, and I work with students, while pointing to the calendar, to realize that they DO in fact understand me when I say "Es el tres de septiembre" even though they've never had Spanish before. We talk about how their job this year is always trying to figure out what things mean ands sometimes getting that wrong, but that's ok! We repeat ¡Sí se puede!, our motto for the year. (Part of my classroom routine is having students come in and write the day, date, saying, and person (NOT all of the information about them, just the name, birthdate and BRIEF description i.e. Roberto Clemente, 18/8/34-31/12/72, jugador de béisbol). While this sounds like a lot, it only takes a few minutes (maybe a bit longer on the first day).

Finally, I switch to teaching students, using TPR (Total Physical Response), the "survival kit" for the year, phrases they'll need to know in Spanish to get by in the class (Tengo una pregunta, ¿Me permite hablar inglés?, ¿Me permite ir al baño?, etc -see the presentation for the day, above). On the first day, we do NOT get to writing these, and perhaps we don't even get to saying them, but they will, on the first day, be able to recognize what all of them mean and react with the appropriate action. We'll continue practicing all week in about 10 minute increments (to avoid boredom). Finally, I give the night's homework (a quick sheet on Google Docs that I post on Google Classroom that involved filling in "Me llamo, Se llama, etc and answering a few questions ¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Cómo se llama ...? etc), turn up the music, and say ¡Hasta mañana!. The whole class takes about 35 minutes, as we have 40 minute classes on the first day due to opening procedures. If we have a longer class, I can spend more time on the "Survival Kit" list with TPR.

Thanks for reading! What do you do on your first day of Spanish 1?

For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.