Sneak Peek: A free, easy-to-use icebreaker activity for the first week of school in heritage Spanish class.
Even the most prepared teachers still need fresh, fun ideas to help them kick off the first day of school. After using up so much brain power during workshop week, paired with the physical energy exerted to get your room put back together, there isn’t much left in the reserves. I haven’t mentioned the administrative tasks of familiarizing yourself with class lists, schedules and extra duties that seem to pop up. So, you are definitely not alone if you’re feeling completely out of creative power about what to do the very first day.
Instead of falling back on the same old get-to-know-you activities your students have done many times before, try out this character card icebreaker activity to energize your class! This exercise encourages teamwork and your students will have fun while easing the first day jitters.
Setting the tone in regards to the community aspects of your classroom and the connection you all feel to each other is incredibly important. It is highly likely your learners will be coming from a wide variety of backgrounds, skills, or even familiarity with the school district. With that, it’s great to have a low-risk activity that gets them laughing to help ease some of the anxiety that comes along with starting the school year.
You want to get students interacting in a low-stress environment so when you dig into deeper discussions or personal topics later, they’ll be more comfortable. Check out this activity I like to call “¿Quién Soy?”!
Learning Objective
In this student-centered activity the class will familiarize themselves with famous characters, all while building that vital sense of community.
Materials
I used to just write character names on index cards for this activity but then I decided to get fancy by making these adorable task cards! You can grab them for free at the link below.
Prep
For this lesson, all you need to do is print the character cards, followed by simply cutting them out. (You can laminate them if you prefer to add some longevity to them.) We have also included some blank cards, so you can add some personalization by adding some local school celebrities… like your principal, or school mascot for instance! We have also included some famous latino characters that your heritage Spanish speakers might be familiar with. If you don’t think your students will know these characters you can choose to not include them in the activity.
Duration
This lesson will take about 20-25 minutes. It can be done as a whole class mingle, or in small groups. Bonus: As you observe how the groups interact, you may also get a sense of who the leaders may be, or who potentially shouldn’t be seated together as you finalize your seating charts.
Teacher instructions
- As students settle in for class, use scotch tape to place a character card on each student’s back. The student should not see which character was assigned to them.
- Explain that the purpose of the activity is to energize them and encourage teamwork while familiarizing themselves with popular characters.
- Briefly explain the rules: each group member will take turns asking a yes/no question to guess the character on their card. Instruct the first group to begin with questions like “Am I a famous soccer player?” or “Am I known for my comedic roles?” Encourage other group members to respond with a simple “yes” or “no.”
- Rotate turns within the group until the character is correctly guessed. Repeat the process with each group until all characters have been guessed.
Monitor the groups and provide assistance or clarification as needed. Depending on how much knowledge the students have of the famous characters, you may have to give a little help. Again, this is not meant to be stressful for them. Make sure to celebrate correct guesses and positive participation!
What’s next? Now that you’ve let the students interact and spend some time out of their desks, they should be ready to transition to the next part of the lesson, reading the syllabus and related discussion. Get access to the five free lesson plans that go along with this activity by signing up here to have them sent straight to your inbox.
Looking for more? If you want extra ideas on how to start your year, check out Five Icebreakers for the Beginning of the Year in Heritage Spanish Class.
If you are ready for all of your lesson plans for heritage class done for you, join us in the Heritage Spanish Club!
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