4 Practical Ideas for the First Day of Spanish Class

I used to have a recurring nightmare every single year that it was the first day of school and I had an entire class of kids in front of me and I had no lesson plans.

No PowerPoint, no papers, no supplies whatsoever. Just me and a class of kids staring at me.

I had to wing it and try not to give them the impression that I'm an unprepared buffoon.

I would have that nightmare every night for at least a week leading up to the first day of school.

I really wish I was kidding about this recurring nightmare.

Luckily, I never actually was unprepared on the first day. And I'm 98% sure I never made myself look like a buffoon.

If you're at a loss for what you should do on the first day of school, here are 4 ideas:

1. Introduce yourself in Spanish

I taught Spanish 1 every year to kids who would literally ask me how to say taco in Spanish (spoiler alert - taco is a Spanish word).

They knew absolutely nothing about Spanish.

I started off every year by introducing myself completely in Spanish. I spoke slowly and I repeated myself about 80 million times, but eventually they got it.

Me llamo Señorita Hall y estamos en la clase de Español 1. ¡Bienvenidos!

I was usually met with a look of shock and fear as every kid sat there and thought "oh dear lord my Spanish teacher doesn't speak English."

I wanted to set the tone from Day 1 Minute 1 that hablamos español en esta clase.

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this seriously might be my favorite Spanish gif everrrrr 😂

2. Have them leave your class having learned something

Especially the Spanish 1 kids. I want them to go home at the end of the day and tell everyone that Spanish is definitely their favorite class this year.

I want them to have at least one phrase they repeat to everyone because they're so excited to be learning a new language.

I want them to know that they can and will learn to speak Spanish.

Some kids are gonna be eager to tell you how they "can't" speak Spanish. Spanish 1 kids have gone their entire lives without knowing Spanish and they think they can't start now.

Like the ripe old age of 14 is too old to learn something new.

Spanish 2 and 3 kids will tell you they didn't learn anything last year or forgot everything over the summer.

Everything? Lies. I guarantee they remember something and today they're gonna start remembering.

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3. Build community

Get to know your students and have them get to know each other! This is obviously a long-term goal and won't happen in the first class period, but get started on that journey!

Allison from Mis Clases Locas has a blog post on Secondary Spanish Space about what to do in the first week of Spanish class including at least a dozen different ways to build community.

4. Go over the syllabus and expectations

This is sooooooooooooo boring, but kind of necessary.

I don't recommend talking at your students (you'll be talking AT them) for 45 minutes about what percentage tests are of their grade, and how quickly you will give them detention if they talk while you're talking.

It's highly likely every single one of their other teachers spent the entire class period lecturing them on the breakdown of their grade and threatening them that they already have their parents' numbers on speed dial.

It's so boring for kids and they're not listening anymore when they have to hear the same 45-minute speech 7 times.

I do recommend going over the important points you want to make sure they understand before leaving your classroom on Day 1.

- Spanish class is fun, but that doesn't mean we goof off or act like disrespectful jerks.

- We're gonna play games in this room, but we're also going to work our butts off and learn to speak some Spanish.

- We will all be respectful to each other or I will enter your parents' phone numbers into the speed dial of my phone and make them my new best friend.