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Hispanic Heritage Month
September 15- October 15

Our Bilingual Fun language program which focuses on teaching Spanish to children, celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with cultural activities in our Spanish classes. Our students have a great time as we celebrate with fiestas, musica, comida, and more!

Test your trivia knowledge with us!

Did you know?

1.Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile on September 18.

2. 45.5 million is the estimated Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2007, making people of Hispanic origin the nation’s largest ethnic or race minority.

3. 132.8 million is the projected Hispanic population of the United States on July 1, 2050. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 30% of the nation’s population by that date.

4.Many adopted Spanish words are food terms, such as tamale, taco, salsa, cilantro, guacamole, enchilada, oregano, and burrito. They are usually used in their original Spanish forms. Others, such as tuna, which comes from the Spanish atún, are variations of the original.

5.The Spanish were among the first Europeans to explore what is now the United States, and the first to found a permanent settlement here (St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565). From Alaska’s Madre de Dios Island to Mexico, Maine, the United States is dotted with Spanish place names. Others include: Las Cruces ( New Mexico)- the crosses, Boca Raton( FL)- mouth of the mouse, Los Angeles ( CA)- the angels, and Nevada- snow covered.

6. El cinco de mayo is commonly misinterpreted as Mexican Independance, but it is actually the victory of a battle in Puebla.

7.The first female Hispanic astronaut was Ellen Ochoa, whose first of four shuttle missions was in 1991.

8.Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner was Oscar Hijuelos, 1990, for his novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.

9.Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee: Carlos Santana, 1998.

10. Geraldo Rivera was Broadcaster of the Year in 1971.

Test your cultural Spanish knowledge. Try this quiz.

Looking for more activities to do with your family or children? Try these Hispanic Heritage Resources.

Learning languages is more exciting and effective for children when games and interactive activities are incorporated. As a teacher, I have always been of the mindset that sharing and exhanging teaching tips makes things fresh and exciting. When I come up with a new lesson or game that is effective, I can’t wait to tell others about it!

In the language program that I run, I create and implement all of the lessons and activities for the students ranging in age from 18 months to adults. They cover a multitude of topics and themes, and I am always creating and searching for other fun ways to teach the language. Here are some of my favorite activities that work well in class and at home with my own children:

1. Colored Mats/Dancing: I use the mats from the CandyLand DVD game and play upbeat music. When the music stops, we all run to a colored mat. I ask ” Qué color?”. The kids all shout the color in Spanish. We do variations of dancing, marching, jumping, spinning, running, crawling,etc.

2. Duck, Duck, Goose: I choose 2 vocabulary words pertaining to our current theme. ( ex: perro/gato). The kids play the game using the Spanish vocabulary rather than the original. This is a great way to get the kids active and actually say the words aloud.

3. Latin Pop Music: this works best with tweens-adults. I choose a popular song from a popular artist ( some of my faves are Juanes, Ricky Martin, Shakira, Gloria Estefan, Elvis Crespo, etc). I make copies of the song and we listen and sing it each day. We talk about relevent grammar and vocabulary. At the end of the week, I white out specific words in the song and test the students by having them fill in the blanks. Not only is this an excellent reinforcement of pronunciation, fluency, and listening comprehension, it is a great way to infuse some culture into the lesson.

4. The Cup Game: take 5 or 6 plain white plastic cups. Depending on the vocabulary you want to reinforce, attach either a picture or word to each cup ( animals, numbers, colors, etc). Turn all cups face down and hide a small object under one. Kids then have to guess where the object is. I always make a big deal of having all of the students ask the question ” Dónde está el carro?”. Then each child takes turns and has to guess by using the correct Spanish word on each cup. I use variations of this game for all ages and levels.

These are just a few fun ideas that have been popular with the children and teens that I work with. We would love to hear your input and experiences! Do you have any games or ideas that work well with your children at home?