Spanish is not my first language. Of all of the things that could stress me out as a teacher teaching in a second language, what was at the very top of my list? BULLETIN BOARDS! Not only was I expected to write something grammatically correct and spelled correctly, I wanted it to be CUTE and funny like all of the monolingual bulletin boards down my hall.
I will never forget the very first bulletin board outside my first classroom. The entire second grade made shape bears as a part of the first week of school activities. In preparation for parent information night, all of the monolingual teachers had written variations of bear puns like "We are BEAR-Y excited to be in 2nd Grade!" I knew that would have no meaning for the parents of my students but I had no clue what to write in Spanish.
On my drive home from school one night, I had an idea. I'm convinced it was divine intervention because I am just not that punny even in my native English. The phrase that came to me on the highway that night was: ¡Somos maravill-OSOS! It was my first pun in Spanish and I was SO proud!
Since the springtime is often a time for Open Houses and sprucing up the ol' bulletin board, I thought you might like to see some boards that I have seen in my visits to lots of different campuses. Most of these photos were taken at the beginning of the year so that explains why there is no student work up yet. Use an idea now or pin it to remember at the start of next year!
I will never forget the very first bulletin board outside my first classroom. The entire second grade made shape bears as a part of the first week of school activities. In preparation for parent information night, all of the monolingual teachers had written variations of bear puns like "We are BEAR-Y excited to be in 2nd Grade!" I knew that would have no meaning for the parents of my students but I had no clue what to write in Spanish.
On my drive home from school one night, I had an idea. I'm convinced it was divine intervention because I am just not that punny even in my native English. The phrase that came to me on the highway that night was: ¡Somos maravill-OSOS! It was my first pun in Spanish and I was SO proud!
Since the springtime is often a time for Open Houses and sprucing up the ol' bulletin board, I thought you might like to see some boards that I have seen in my visits to lots of different campuses. Most of these photos were taken at the beginning of the year so that explains why there is no student work up yet. Use an idea now or pin it to remember at the start of next year!
Do you have a beautiful bilingual bulletin board (that is some serious alliteration!) you would like to share? Please post your link here so we can take a look!
Thank you so much for posting your bulletin boards . This will be my first year teaching Dual language for 3rd grade and had no clue what to put on my bulletin boards.
ReplyDeleteSpanish is not my first language either and I am always having issues with bulletin boards!! I try to pick themes where I can use sayings that are interchangeable-for the beginning if school I'm doing a Hollywood theme and as a dual teacher I have the first bulletin board with an English/Spanish phrase (Depending on the theme I do one month English, the next month spanish,etc). I have NOW PLAYING IN 1st! for English and LUCES, CAMARA, Y ACCION EN PRIMER GRADO in Spanish! I love your maravill-osos
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to share that I also have the same difficulties, and I'm a native speaker...LOL! However, I'd like to share one of my phrases with you. In one of my classrooms (I maintain 2) I have a flower theme. My hallway bulletin board says "Vamos a florecer en kinder." I'd share pictures of my classroom, but I don't know how to do that. In my Kindergarten PM classroom I have a monkey theme so if anyone has cute Spanish phrases to share, please DO!!!
Happy teaching everyone!!!
Hi Candis,
ReplyDeleteWe miss you!!! Thanks for posting my bulletin board as an example.
Maria Perez Ramirez
Hi Maria! So fun to hear from you! Which one was yours? I would love to give you credit!
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