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This last week before Christmas, we integrated geography and culture into our Spanish 1 class by learning about Christmas customs in other countries. Since we traditionally have Spanish class four days per week due to our schedule, I chose four Spanish speaking countries in Central and South America, one for each day this week: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Argentina. I threw in a few review worksheets on direct and indirect object pronouns and maps to fill out on Central and South American countries, too.
For each country, we watched a Geography NOW episode and another short film specific to that country’s Christmas traditions. My daughter filled out a country profile sheet, and then we completed a craft. The crafting took quite a bit of time, as my 9th grader can be very particular about her projects.
For Guatemala, she made the fireworks ornament from this book. I had old pencil sharpeners and crayons from previous years that we used to make crayon shavings.
A funnel was required for getting the shavings into the ornament.
The clear ornament was plastic so she had to be careful not to let it get too hot, but still get hot enough to melt the crayons.
She was happy with the way it turned out, so a good start to the week!
For Nicaragua, she made a button Christmas tree, as described in this book. This craft was a bit more frustrating as she made it double sided and had a hard time getting the size and color distribution of the buttons to her liking.
For Cuba, she made an adorable pom-pom jingle bell bracelet from the same book. This one turned out so cute!
Finally, today she used pipe cleaners and a variety of beads to make a snowflake ornament, also from the same book. This one required a little more planning and patience, but turned out beautifully.
Overall, a good week spent crafting Christmas ornaments and a festive bracelet in Spanish class while reviewing Central and South American geography.
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