Megan posted before about giving students a Hispanic name and country that they are “from” to get students more interested. I wanted to add a little more culture based on some ideas from the comments, so I created passports with the flag as the background.
First the input! We looked at Google images of passports from different countries and I showed mine. Most students in my class had never seen a passport before, nor did they know anything about them. They figured out the phrases in Spanish. We talked about the two last names, why there was no address, and how I couldn’t smile in my picture.
Then they received their passports! I gave them a little Internet time to look at their new country and pick out a city for their place of birth. I loved hearing their comments about how they wanted to visit these places. Some figured out how to do their birthdays in the same format. I asked them to put their passports on their notebooks. Next time I will print out their school ID photos so they can add a photo.
Finally they did an interpersonal speaking activity. I gave them a black/white printable map from Google. They asked each other “What’s your name?” and “Where are you from?” The other answered and showed them where to label their map. ¡Aquí!
Summary of ideas:
– Pass out to students to be “from” this country.
– Use as name tags on notebooks and folders.
– Distribute during projects to assign different countries like the cookie cake flag or traditional recipe from the Real World homework.
– Fill out with information (celebrities or other people) for activities like asking for basic information, describing, or a “who am I” activity.
– Students fill out a map with their new names and countries (Interpersonal speaking).
Download blank passports for the Spanish-speaking countries here (updated for Jan 2018):
If you like them, give us a “like” below! How will you use these?
Oh almost forgot! I like to show the YouTube video “Where the hell is Matt” just to inspire them a little more. 🙂
I’d never heard of “where the hell is matt” so I looked it up. What a super cool guy who has a super cool job! Why didn’t I think I could do that? LOL Thanks for sharing.
I like this idea and I like how you incorporate all different countries and have students really take ownership of the country they are ‘from’. We do the opposite in our Level 2 curriculum where we prepare for a trip to Spain (Spain being our country of focus for Level 2). We have students fill out US passport applications and their interpretive task is to fill out the forma migratoria that they would have to fill out upon arriving in Spain.
Since I am the only teacher in my school for Spanish I like the idea of multiple countries in level 1 and in level 2 have a focus on Spain. Hmmm, glad you shared that. 🙂
I actually made a cover sheet for the students 3-ring binder, titled “Mi Passaporte”. Spot for their name and country name. I also emailed it to them so the pictures can be tailored for their country.
My goal is to have the students research “how does my country to that?” for each unit. Por ejemplo, “are greetings the same or different in “your country’ from what we learn in class?”. This is written and Spanish.
I created have a general question template and will make more specific ones for each unit.
One student who decided to make a cake “Flag” for Unit 1 homework also did a little write-up about their country’s flag – what do the colors represent, the coat of arms, when was the flag created…etc…. This write-up can now be added to “Mi Passaporte” as another element.
LOVE the fact that the ‘flag write-up” was ta student’s idea and not suggested by me.
Will incorporate this idea now 🙂
If you would like the template, I can email it to you.
Tammy,
I would like your template for the general questions for the countries.
Thanks,
Sue
Sue,
I have added the Passport documents that I use in my class to the Wiki Spaces (http://creativelanguageclass.wikispaces.com). My friend and now assistant created Unit 2 & 3 and the examples. On the site look for Passport Cover, Unit 1, 2, 3, and examples for unit 2 & 3.
Thanks for sharing!!
You can post it on Creativelanguageclass.wikispace.com too. That will save you from emailing it out multiple times. Or post a link to your own site to share.
Will post as soon as I can…daughter is in the hospital…non-life threatening, Thank God!
Sending positive thoughts your way Tammy!
I would love a copy of your template if you are willing to send me one…my email is amanda.mora@rusd.org
would you share the template with me, I’d like to try it.
thanks,
fabiola Mejia
Magnet High School
We use the passports in grade 6. We take a ‘virtual trip’ all year long going from country to country as we change our unit. We go through customs, stamp the passport, do a cultural activity like Mexican hat dance right as we go through customs. The ‘custom’s agent’ (me) asks the students questions from the last unit as they pass through.
Fabulous idea! I’d like to use this idea for my French classes, as well. How did you make the passports?
I used Keynote and got the flags from a free share site on the Internet.
Hi, thanks for sharing this idea and you inspired me to make my own version for French-speaking countries. Here’s a link to my resources in case its of use to someone else. 🙂 Merci!
http://www.tes.co.uk/ResourceDetail.aspx?storyCode=6437927&requestAction=update