Introducing a language to varying age groups can be difficult to navigate. I myself spent years developing structure for my 2-year-olds through 5th grade classes. So I thought I’d share how I organize my own classes, in the hopes that it can help you and your teaching journey. Not only do I use this template in my own classrooms, but so do teachers who use our digital curriculum and “Profesora” subscription. I also included this information in my free “Language U Teacher’s Starter Kit,” which includes this advice as well as quick song and video resources for your classroom. Structure you shall have! <3

In terms of organizing your classes, there is no one correct way. There are always going to be different variables to keep in mind while planning. When building your lesson plans, select activities based on your students’ interests, developmental levels, and class timing. Modify as you learn more about your students.

To transition students into Spanish, I begin every class with our hello song and I finish with our goodbye song, especially with my toddlers through 1st grade. For examples of how and why we use our hello and goodbye songs, click here [2:41 minutes].

For my 2nd - 5th graders, I still play the “hello song” in the background on repeat as they enter and settle down. It sets the tone for class and the vocabulary is helpful. I’ll also add Spanish songs that various grades enjoy or I’ll introduce songs that are prevalent to our themes.

Prior to starting new material, I review. For toddlers - 1st grade, I play 2-3 songs that were already introduced for (freeze) dancing and/or shakers. Shakers are a toddler’s best friend and PreK 3 - K love them too! By the middle of the year, depending how often you see your students, K or 1st may want to run around versus using shakers. When this happens, I invite my students to imagine they’re something thematic (farm animals, marine animals, superheroes, etc.) to get them ready for our lesson and to get out that energy.

If you are looking to find music to add to your playlists, much of ours can be found on our silly sing-along album, “Listos.” I always have “Listos” at the ready for background music, so the kids are constantly (re)hearing target vocabulary. There are 29 thematic songs and even my 5th grade students know this album and have their favorite songs.

For younger students, if we don’t dance for the entirety of our reviews or I am working with 2nd grade and onward, we do movement-forward game(s) from previous weeks to help students continue to build their confidence and their foundation. “Movement-forward” games allows students to run out their energy and it prepares them to focus on new material. Depending on student ages, I will also review numbers 1-10 with our "Numbers" song. This song moves at a nice, slow pace and it helps students calm themselves after games and music.

A large part of building our students’ confidence is through repetition. While reviewing may seem redundant, routine and review is especially meaningful for toddlers - 1st grade and it allows all levels to build their Spanish foundation. The more comfortable and confident the students are, the more likely they are to learn and grow with you.

For clean up, I play our clean up song and/or our clean up music video. In an ideal world, the kids should be cleaned up by the end of the song. Depending on the day, I might allow them to watch the music video as a reward for cleaning up quickly, quietly and without touching one another.

How did your classes go?! Feel free to share what you have done! I love to hear from our educators and all feedback is helpful! Best of luck and know that I am sending positive vibes and support to you always.

Enjoy our “Language U Starter Kit for Teachers” so you can quickly find some helpful and fun class content. I use these videos or songs as brain breaks, substitute lesson plans, to fill out our lesson timing, to watch while crafting, etc.