Country in a Bag Project

One of our projects this year in collaborative work between sixth and second graders has been our Country in a Bag project.  The students picked different Spanish-speaking countries and teamed up to research their country's history, culture, typical foods, favorite sports, famous citizens and more.  They decorated their bags with images to represent their countries and filled them with puppets, items from the country, such as coffee beans, bananas, sand from the islands, baseballs or soccer balls, and all kinds of interesting things.

However, we all agreed that it is not enough to hear about another country--it is important to experience aspects of the culture, as well.  So the students studied the cuisine for their countries, selected a recipe, and then brought food from their country to share with the classes!  It was absolutely delicious, and so much fun!  

I was so impressed with all of the information that the students learned and shared about each of the countries.  We focus most of our class time on the grammar and vocabulary of Spanish, but it is important to learn about the culture, too.  The whole point of learning a language is to be able to communicate, and appreciating the cultures of the different Spanish-speaking countries allows for a much deeper level of connection and understanding.