I teach an exploratory language class with students in seventh and eighth grades. Originally it was an exploratory Spanish class. Instead of boring myself with Spanish only (since I teach the same material to three or four groups), I asked the principal and the students if it would be cool to let the students vote on the languages we study for the nine weeks I have them.

The first language chosen was French. American Sign Language, German, Portuguese and Navajo were next on the list. To be honest, Navajo caught me by surprise. I am forgetting one language, but I’m sure it will come to me by morning! Spanish, of course, is going to be the last language we investigate. Most of the students already know a few words of it from last year and classes in elementary school. It will be fresh in their minds for next year (I hope!) when they begin Spanish at the high school level. This class is shaping up to be fun.

I have a video lined up for ASL already. The song is now stuck in my head along with some signs!

One student commented that he really liked the fact that I want to have some fun! LOL He went on to suggest that we prepare and eat (of course) a food related to each culture. Hmmm. I like that a lot! My mind instantly jumped to crepes….with Nutella, whipped cream and maybe some fruit. This kid was on a roll. He also happily recalled the baklava a teacher friend made for them (at my request) last year when we studied ancient Greece. At least he has one good memory from history class! I’ll try to give them some new ones with languages.

UPDATE: I forgot Russian!