Learning Spanish with A Mexican Picnic
Plan and Organize a Picnic Mexicano to Teach Spanish
May 17, 2008
It's time for a Spanish speaking Mexican picnic! Learners of all ages will have a blast learning or practicing Spanish an authentic, Spanish-speaking picnic done up Mexican style. Language learners can experience Mexican culture and speak Spanish as they participate in a beloved Mexican family tradition, the weekend-afternoon picnic in the park.
The Picnic in Mexico
Mexican families love to do things together on the weekends. Entire families, and sometimes a few generations, are out strolling through neighborhoods, outdoor markets, and parks on weekend afternoons. Parks are covered with people enjoying the sunny afternoons and clear twilights on colorful blankets with plenty of snacks on hand. Food vendors line the park sidewalks selling exotic Mexican popsicles, paletas, juice or agua fresco, candy, dulces, or more substantial fare like quesadillas or tortas, sandwiches. The balloon sellers also promenade carrying huge bundles of neon balloons that make oversized, floating bouquets.
Families enjoy the park for a few hours in conversation, eating, listening to music, or reading. The smaller children bring their tricycles to ride on the sidewalks or they play soccer and other games.
Teach Students Both Culture and Language
Teach the information above to your Spanish students. Translate it into the level of Spanish that they'll understand with photos and pictures to help their comprehension. See Teaching Spanish the Effective way Un picnic mexicano/A Mexican Picnic can be given to students on a handout, or presented in more high-tech ways such as a power point presentation or a movie making program like PhotoStory by Microsoft or Apple's IMovie.
Bring the Mexican Picnic to Your Class, Group, or Family
Staging a picnic mexicano that students will love and remember requires some planning, organization, and implementation. The most important elements are time, a location, organized activities, food and drinks, supplies, and implementation.
Figure Out the Time
The younger the students the less time needed for the picnic. Grades 8-12 can handle an entire class period, but students in grades K-7 need a shorter, more structured picnic. Between twenty and twenty five minutes is a perfect classroom picnic time and done at the end of the period is best.
Arrange a Location
An outdoor location is key for the picnic, weather permitting. Most faculty need to ask permission or arrange for the use of outdoor areas from school administrators, so this needs to be cleared ahead of time.
Organizing Spanish Speaking Activities
All students need organized activities that require them to speak Spanish. All of the activities and games should be familiar and well-suited to the outdoors. See Outdoor Foreign Language Games.
- Volleyball with countries and capitals: each time a student hit a volley ball he/she calls out a country in Spanish. The next student to hit the ball has to say its capital in Spanish.
- Volleyball with vocabulary categories: each time a student hit a volley ball he/she calls out a vocabulary word from a domain like clothing in Spanish. The next student to hit the ball has to say another clothing item in Spanish.
- Simon Says in Spanish
- Red Light, Green Light in Spanish
- Mother May I in Spanish
Arrange Mexican Style Snacks
An important component of the picnic mexicano is the food! Mexicans traditionally prefer healthy snacks, sweets, or somewhat heavier fare like quesadillas or sandwiches. School friendly snacks for students to bring:
- Orange slices
- Strawberries
- Sliced and peeled cucumbers with salt
- Sugar cookies
- Tostado chips
- Orange juice
- Water
- Authentic Mexican candy from a Mexican grocery
Gather Supplies
Keep it simple! Students need to bring blankets for sitting, balls, and other simple game materials.
Implement the Picnic
Once the class is outside, the teacher needs to be the ringmaster. He or she determines when snacks will be eaten and which games will played and how. A picnic mexicano that runs smoothly requires careful managing and thought sequencing of activities.
Spanish learners benefit so much from cultural celebrations, and a Spanish-speaking picnic mexicano is fun for everyone. Both Mexican culture and Spanish are learned as students participate in an outdoor experience that is carefully planned and orchestrated by the teacher.
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