Make it Happen! #GoalsProject in Spanish Class

Posted on by Vicky Masson

It has been great to focus on one goal a month since the beginning of 2024. So many times we start school strong to find ourselves drifting as the months go bye. So far, in 2024, we have concentrated in collecting moments and doing more of what we love. So, in March, we will continue with … Make it Happen!

To me, to ‘make it happen’ is to accomplish what you dream of or desire by doing what is best for you and your students. It does not mean that it is easy or that it is a quick fix. It will probably require effort to solve problems and face different challenges. Thus, I want to encourage you to take the first step, take action, and make it happen!

It was the end of January and I remember thinking: What do I want to accomplish? How am I going to do it? Then, I learned about the #GoalsProject through social media and I signed up as soon as I got the green light from my school.

#GoalsProject – Make it Happen!

The #GoalsProject is done by students all around the world based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (I wrote about the SDGs in What Do You Do When You Learn Something New?). The UN SDGs are the solutions to world problems and a call to action to make it happen.

The #GoalsProject is a richly infused 6-week global collaboration project based on the SDGs to promote taking action in the classroom. It requires students to practice 21st century skills: learning skills, literacy skills, and life skills, which are essential for students to succeed in life. As a world language educator, this was exactly what I envisioned for my students!

The #GoalsProject also encompasses most of the principles of Powerful Learning. And what better way to provide voice and agency to my students than through taking action for the SDGs.

To introduce the project, students talked about the SDGs and learned about their importance and how crucial it is to help in achieving these goals by 2030. This year, students dug deeper into SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production. 

Middle school was given 3 SDGs to choose from, and SDG 12 was the one we picked for sixth grade Spanish. I chose SDG 12 because it relates directly to the work we do at school with TerraCycle ‘to recycle the unrecyclable.’ 

Activities and Tasks: Make it Happen!

Some of the activities we did and some tasks my 6th-graders performed in Spanish class during their participation in this program are these:

  • Participating in a Virtual School Assembly  
  • Responding to Youth Ambassadors 
  • Having a video-conference with students in the Dominican Republic 
  • Completing a KWHLAQ graphic organizer 
  • Listening to videos about the ‘Circular Economy’ 
  • Completing a Systems Thinking Compass 
  • Creating a poster for Fact-ivist! 
  • Brainstorming solutions to problems related to SDG 12 

Let me share a little bit about these tasks below. There are links to the sources used as well. 

Participating in a Virtual School Assembly

The Virtual School Assembly was a webinar in which my students participated with thousands of other students in the world. It showed students the scope of the project and gave purpose to what they were doing.

Responding to Youth Ambassadors 

After listening to what Youth Ambassadors from all over the world did towards the SDGs and why, my students found inspiration to start their contribution to helping achieve the SDGs. Their responses in the Padlet showed how impacted students were by the Youth Ambassadors speeches/ presentations to a personal level. 

Having a video conference with students in the Dominican Republic 

Connecting with students their age from another country in Spanish and learning about their projects was a highlight for most of my students. 

Completing a KWHLAQ graphic organizer 

To show students’ thinking we used the KWHLAQ graphic organizer which is based on six questions:

  • K – What do we think we know about this topic? 
  • W – What do we need to find out? 
  • H – How will we find out the answers to our questions? 
  • L – What are we learning and what have we learned? 
  • A – What action will we take? 
  • Q – What new questions do we have? 

Using the KWHLAQ helped me see what students learned and what their interests were.

Listening to videos about the ‘Circular Economy’ 

The Ellen MaCarthur Foundation is all about the circular economy, which is key in achieving SDG12, Responsible Consumption and Production. We listened to some videos on this topic and discussed them. 

Completing a Systems Thinking Compass 

I loved having students complete the Systems Thinking Compass because it is a tool that helps students see the interdependence of any system.

The Systems Thinking Compass is easy to understand as it uses the four points of the regular compass but renaming them. So the N for North, becomes the N for Nature. The E for  East becomes the E for Economy. The S for South becomes the S for Society, and the  W for West becomes the W for Wellbeing. 

For example, having the SDG 12 in the center and thinking about the impact of consumption and production from the lens of Nature, Economy, Society, and Wellbeing helped students identify the issues and then connect their commonalities.  It was probably the most difficult activity we did as it required them to think in systems, make connections, and then present their ideas to the class.

Creating a poster for Fact-ivist!  

Researching data related to the SDG12 in Latin America was challenging as they had to find reliable sources. Students did their research starting from a simple Google or Bing search and narrowed it down to relevant sources like the World Bank, UN.org, Paho, Agenda2030lac, IDB, etc. In the end, students were able to identify data related to the SDG 12 that was interesting to them and complete their assignment of creating a poster using data.

At the beginning, data such as the amount of food that is wasted, was surprising to them, but it made this SDG real! Then, they created a poster to represent the data found using a digital art tool like Canva. The cherry on top was publishing their poster for the world to see. You can check them out in the Fact-ivist Gallery. 

Brainstorming solutions to problems related to SDG 12 

Using a storyboard, students sketched their possible solutions to problems related to SDG 12, from recycling to creating innovative ways to wasting less food. They came up with such great solutions! Then, they wrote a sentence or two about their sketches. 

Make it Happen!

In a fun way, students learned about the SDGs while having the opportunity to think about the world’s needs and contribute with their different perspectives to make a change. This experience was very powerful as it showed students what they can do to help the Earth and that they can do it.

I am happy to have made it happen for my students!

Teaching and Celebrating International Days in World Language Classes

Posted on by Vicky Masson

Teaching and celebrating international days in World Language classes helps students see the power of learning languages. The International Days in September are particularly special to me. They help me set the tone of what is important in class, they help expand students’ global views, and they help me see how (un)comfortable students are in an immersion-style class. We celebrate International Literacy Day, September 8 and International Dot Day, September 15. In this post, we will only talk about International Literacy Day.

International Literacy Day (ILD) has been recognized on September 8 since 1967, when UNESCO chose this day as a reminder of the importance of literacy as a human right. Each year, UNESCO adopts a theme and the one for this year is “Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies.” I wondered if my students would grasp this theme, and  I was pleasantly surprised when they surpassed my expectations. 

I presented  UNESCO’s theme, an image, a poster, and a book to my students, and used thinking routines to help go deeper into comprehending the concept of “Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies.”

First, students found cognates, such as,  ‘promoting’ ‘transition’ ‘foundation’ ‘sustainable’ and ‘societies’. and familiar words, within the theme for the year. 

Then, students studied and described the image from the ILD concept note to go deeper in their understanding. It was developed by UNESCO and showed the relationship between literacy and the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The image I used is the following:

There are posters with the Sustainable Development Goals icons in my classroom, so my  students are very familiarized with them. They observed the symbols in the image, and started making connections. Here, they ‘got’ the word ‘peaceful’.

The second visual was the poster created by UNESCO to celebrate ILD. Students worked with a peer and in small groups to describe the poster and then discussed it as a class. The poster I used is the following:

International Literacy Day

Students loved the poster! It brought the words ‘literacy’ and ‘world’ to the forefront. I had to explain with gestures the word ‘building’ as it is not a cognate or a familiar word to my students. After I helped them figure out the meaning of “building”, they got what “Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies” meant. It was one of those ‘Aha’ moments in learning.

I chose a book that showed a concrete example related to the ILD theme for 2023. I read “El violín de Ada” written by Susan Wood and translated by Shelley McConnell. It is based on the story of the “Cateura Orchestra” in Paraguay that made its instruments with recycled materials. Students immediately connected the story to ‘building sustainable and peaceful societies’. Many of my students play instruments so they made a personal connection to the story.

Moment of truth! It was time to put ideas together. I asked them to connect the theme, the book, the image, and the poster to see how much they really understood. For this, students used the Project Zero Thinking Routines “10×2” in 5th grade and Hexagonal Thinking in 6th grade.

I loved how my 5th graders stretched their thinking and completed the thinking routine using a limited number of words. They wrote words familiar to them and then they asked me if words like ‘creative’ ‘talented’ ‘curiosity’ were cognates and tried to figure them out in Spanish. Students felt so proud of their work, and I was proud too.

I gave each of my 6th graders a printed sheet of paper full of hexagons. They had to individually write a word connecting the resources in each hexagon. Afterwards, in groups of 3, they glued their cut hexagons by grouping them by themes. In the end, they had to write a phrase that described the groupings. It was my first time using hexagonal thinking and I loved how students worked individually and in small groups, and what they created. All groups concluded that education is fundamental for building strong communities. ‘Wow!’ I thought, ‘they got it.’

Have you integrated international day celebrations into your world language classes? How do you think teaching and celebrating international days in world language classes might impact your curriculum? If you have not started celebrating international days yet, start by choosing one that you want to share with your students. Then, think of one or two activities that you can include in your class. Next year you will revisit your plan and I am sure that you will be adding a spin to it. This is one way of starting integrating international days into your world language classes. International day celebrations set the tone for what is important. 

What do you do when you learn something new?

Posted on by Vicky Masson

by Vicky Masson

‘What’s in a framework?’ is a column of Language Teaching Lab. A framework informs our teaching and it shows a unique philosophy.  It gives us a shared language and purpose, and it lets us see teaching and learning from diverse perspectives

DKDK – Don’t Know what you Don’t Know

You do not know what you do not know. What counts is what you do when you get to know something, i.e. when you learn something. That is what happened to me when I learned about the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs are a path to action for people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnerships. The SDGs consider sustainability from the economic, environmental, and social perspectives. As we know them now, the SDGs started in 2015 with a plan to achieve the 17 goals by 2030. I had to do something so I became a Cohort 3 #TeachSDGs Ambassador.

17 Goals

When I saw the image of the seventeen goals and started reading each one, I happily realized that most of the teaching happening in my Spanish classes related directly to them. I committed to introducing the 17 goals to my students, our changemakers. 

There is so much more information about the SDGs now than when I started introducing them in my classes. Fortunately, lots of these materials are in different languages! 

Let’s start by learning about some of these resources. Then, let me share some of the things that I did in my language classes.

SDGs in different languages

Let’s start with some places where you can find materials on the SDGs in different languages:

This is a short list with lots of information. These sites are great starting points for introducing the SDGs in language classes.

How I prepared to teach SDGs

In order to teach about the SDGs, I first informed myself. I took courses, I read books, I created a Wakelet, and I presented together with Gaby and Marcela in language conferences.

Since I became a #TeachSDG ambassador, I have introduced the SDGs to all my students. Learning about the SDGs is engaging and empowering for students, therefore, it boosts proficiency. Students want to learn, read, and talk about the SDGs. Most importantly, they want to take action.

How I teach SDGs in my language classes

I usually show them the Global Goals icons. I ask students their favorite goal or the one that catches their attention and why, how old they will be in 2030 and what they see each other doing differently than they do now. Then, I explain what the SDGs are and their importance, and connect them to what they are studying in class. In no time students realize that the SDGs are an intrical part of their life and of what we do in class.

SDGs = Enduring learning

The most enduring learning happens when students are connected with other students to solve problems. The No.More.Plastic. project was one of these instances. It was a three week project where 4th grade students had to attempt to answer: 

  • What’s the problem?
  • Are there any solutions? Let’s try to fix the problem!
  • Action! The students take action and try to bring change at school and at home.

Students researched about plastic, brainstormed possible solutions for reducing the use of plastic at school, and wrote a chant to share with the rest of the elementary school. They posted the chant in the cafeteria as a reminder of the importance of reducing the use of plastic. All in Spanish!

Students also saw some of the projects done by other schools around the world and felt part of it! 

My students were engaged in the content and empowered to make change happen. They were also proud when they received a certificate of participation.

SDG in language classes

The SDG framework is perfect for language classes. It is a powerful tool to raise awareness of sustainability, to empower students as changemakers, and to have students see that learning a language might have an impact outside the classroom. 

Don’t wait one more minute to introduce the SDGs in your language classes if you haven’t yet done that. Don’t wait to have students ask you: Why has no other teacher taught us about them?