The Autonomous Communities of Spain / Las Comunidades Autónomas de España

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Spain’s tapestry of cultures is woven from 17 vibrant threads called autonomous communities. Each, akin to miniature states, possesses its own executive, legislative, and judicial powers, shaping its unique identity. Yet, this wasn’t always the case.

Fifty smaller provinces once stitched together the Spanish landscape, but in 1978, a reorganization saw the rise of four “historic communities” – Catalonia, Basque Country, Galicia, and Andalusia – reunified after a period of separation.

Language further enriches this diverse mosaic. While Spanish reigns supreme, six communities proudly share their official tongue with another: Catalan (and its Valencian dialect) in Catalonia and Valencia, Galician in Galicia, and Basque in the Basque Country and parts of Navarre.

Embark on a journey through these distinct regions:

  • Andalusia (Andalucía), sun-kissed by flamenco rhythms and Moorish whispers, with Seville as its vibrant heart.
  • Aragon (Aragón), cradled by the Pyrenees, whispers tales of ancient kingdoms from its capital, Zaragoza.
  • Asturias, emerald green and dotted with charming villages, finds its center in Oviedo.
  • Balearic Islands (Islas Baleares), where turquoise waters lap against golden shores, are governed from sun-drenched Palma de Mallorca.
  • Basque Country (País Vasco), a land of rolling hills and a unique spirit, finds its rhythm in Vitoria.
  • Canary Islands (Islas Canarias), volcanic gems scattered across the Atlantic, have two capitals sharing the reins: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
  • Cantabria, kissed by the Bay of Biscay, finds its anchor in Santander.
  • Castile-La Mancha (Castilla- La Mancha), windswept plains dotted with windmills, finds its soul in Toledo, the City of Three Cultures.
  • Castile and León (Castilla y León), steeped in medieval grandeur, is guided from Valladolid.
  • Catalonia, where cosmopolitan Barcelona meets rugged coastlines, celebrates its heritage with Catalan.
  • Extremadura, a land of conquistadors and hidden gems, finds its center in Mérida.
  • Galicia , Celtic whispers and dramatic cliffs, are echoed in Santiago de Compostela.
  • La Rioja, a land of rolling vineyards and vibrant festivals, finds its heart in Logroño.
  • Community of Madrid, (Comunidad de Madrid) Spain’s bustling epicenter, pulsates with life around its namesake capital Madrid.
  • Region of Murcia (Región de Murcia), kissed by the Mediterranean, finds its sun-drenched center in Murcia.
  • Navarre (Navarra), where mountains meet fertile plains, shares its Basque tongue in parts with its northern neighbor, Pamplona guiding the way.
  • Valencian Community (Comunidad de Valencia), where paella scents the air and citrus groves bloom, celebrates its heritage in its capital Valencia.

Beyond mainland Spain, two “autonomous cities,” Ceuta and Melilla, proudly stand on the North African coast, each a microcosm of Spanish culture interwoven with local influences.

This is a map I made of the Autonomous Communities of Spain. You can use it as a poster for your classroom! High Resolution PDF follows it.

PDF: Comunidades-autonomas-de-España-map.-Created-by-Maria-G.-Acuña.Download

Delve into this vibrant tapestry of Spain, where every autonomous community adds its unique thread to the rich cultural fabric of this captivating nation, with an activity packet I created HERE. The packet contains a variety of coloring, writing and puzzle activities that can be adapted for children from Preschool through High School and beyond! I even included and activity that helps one learn the provinces within every community of Spain. Below is a preview:

I will work on one in English … eventually!

The following video is about the Autonomous Communities. I think it is for 5th graders and up… it was entertaining, historical and more importantly pretty accurate.

La bandera de Colombia / The Flag of Colombia

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La bandera de Colombia es un tricolor compuesto de tres bandas horizontales. La banda amarilla toma la mitad de la bandera mientras que la banda azul y la roja toman un cuarto de la bandera respectivamente.

The Colombian flag is a triband, composed of yellow, blue and red horizontal stripes. The yellow stripe takes up half the flag and the blue and red take up a quarter of the space each.

You can find a really nice flag to decorate here at *Amazon.

I created this simple worksheet for students to color and write about it:

HERE is a packet I created about the flag of Colombia that is bilingual and covers information about the flag for any learner from Kindergarten to Middle School. Here you can find the Spanish version of the previous worksheet. I have used it with my students from first and second grade. See the following preview:

* www.alphabetspace.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for websites to earn advertising revenues by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

The Colors in Spanish

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The colors is one of those basic things you must know in Spanish.  These are used often to describe people and objects.  

This is a fun vocabulary chart featuring my creatures I call “Xluptinos.” Check it out:

It is available HERE for $.99 or pay below to receive its file via email:

Xluptino Graphic of Colors

This is a whimsical one page graphic of colors to learn them in English.

$0.99

I also created a packet that features 24 pages of fun coloring and writing activities to learn the colors. You can buy it HERE. This is a list of the contents and further down you can see a preview!

Would you like to get a game to play and practice the colors in Spanish? Go HERE!

It has 24 pages of colorful fun! Available HERE for $3.99 or pay below to receive its file via email:

Worksheets to practice colors in English.

This packet has flashcards, vocabulary sheets and fun colorful worksheets to practice the colors in English.

$3.99

NEW (as of February 2023)

I created a color bingo game. It comes in a color version that can be played in the classic way by placing markers as colors are called. I also have a black & white version that students can color (as colors are called). It also comes with some worksheets in case you still have a bit of time left in class and want to reinforce the content in written form (or by coloring- drawing!) You can get it HERE. Preview follows:

This is another basic chart of the colors and a worksheet kids can complete. Its PDF version is right after.  Feel free to print it out and hang it in a place where you or your children can see it often.

The Colors Graphic F.jpgThe Colors PDF

This is an activity you can do with students from kindergarten through third grade.  Matching the colors and then coloring in:

Pinturas y objetos

Práctica de los colores en pinturas PDF

¡Feliz día lleno de color! ^ ^

Palabras de Preguntas / Question words in Spanish

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¡Hola!

I have been working on this topic for the last two weeks. I finally created a graphic I liked about question words in Spanish!

Asking and answering is a very important part on communicating in a language. So it is important to dedicate some time to the practice of what are the question words in Spanish and how to use them to ask and answer basic questions. One thing I noticed early on was that if I did not practice “¿Cómo te llamas?” (What is your name?), “¿Cuántos años tienes?” (How old are you?), etc.; my students could potentially get to their last year of Spanish not knowing how to answer them. You can also practice these question words when doing reading comprehension.

So here is the graphic I created covering the most used question words:

PDF question-words-in-spanish-grafico.-guia-1-c2a92023-maria-g.-acunaDownload

I created these two versions of a worksheet to practice the question words:

PDF: question-words-in-spanish. worksheet-a.-c2a92023-maria-g.-acunaDownload
PDF: question-words-in-spanish.-worksheet-a.-c2a92023-maria-g.-acunaDownload

I also created a 29 page packet that has 6 worksheets (with answer key), 2 games and 3 guides to help your students practice question words, typical questions with these questions words in Spanish and how to answer them. Here is a preview:

You can purchase this packet for $2.99 HERE.

Thank you so much for your support!

Beginning the year in Spanish class with fun activities! / ¡Comenzando el año escolar en la clase de Español con actividades divertidas!

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¡Hola!

Last week I completed my first full week of Spanish classes! It went very well. Yes … I have to build my stamina! I took a long nap on Friday!

This year I thought of ways of starting the year with more games in my class… or activities where students had to do things together… and I wanted to share them with you!

With First Grade

Getting to know my first graders for the first time, I wanted to make it memorable. So… I created this whole idea of riding a train of colors. I was the conductor with a hole puncher and greeted them as if they were boarding a train. I gave them tickets. They loved them! Kids in this grade love make believe, and love to chant… so we practiced all the colors in a fun way. We also completed a worksheet together… they were so engaged and happy. It was a success!

You can look at this activity in detail HERE. Actually, there are three versions of the train game with three different worksheets to complete. In case they want to ride the train again! ^ ^

With 4th, 5th & 6th grade

My older students work on practicing school related phrases like “I need water please”… usually we practice them out loud and then I give them a worksheet to write them. This year I wanted to make it a little more engaging and …fun! So I decided to use a puzzle/game activity I call “Papelitos.” Papelitos are basically words on paper strips in Spanish. And the idea is that I will say a phrase in Spanish or English and students have to use the words in the paper strips to form the phrases.

You can see the activity in detail HERE in case you want to try it. My students like it a lot!

I hope these ideas help you have a great start!

Beginner Spanish Readers

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Beginner Spanish Readers: These are for students that are learning the sounds of the letters and their combinations in Spanish. When I teach my students (learning Spanish as a second language) how to read in Spanish, I start in Third Grade. I believe that it is a good idea for them to develop their first language reading and comprehension skills first.

I have created books based on phonics and I am currently working on reading comprehension material. This school year (2023-24,) I plan to create small reading packets based on the phonics books I’ve created and make them available in the Teachers Pay teachers (TPT) platform.

For example, this is one of my phonics lessons. This is the introduction of letter g and its basic sound.

How do I teach with this?

Page 1:

  1. First I go over every consonant-vowel combination and students repeat after me.
  2. Students read with me the syllables in the ovals.
  3. Students Repeat the words at the bottom after me.

Page 2:

  1. I call on every student to read the words on one of the columns. They can check the pronunciation on the first page if necessary.
  2. I ask students to pick a sentence to read. They can pick the one they prefer.
  3. I go over the meaning of the sentences. My heritage learners love to translate them.

You can see how I teach this in the following video. I created this video for my students during the COVID pandemic. It does not show the student part…

These are phonics books I’ve created:

Lectura Inicial, Beginning Spanish Readers. This set of three books I currently use with my third, fourth and fifth grade students. They cover every sound in the Spanish language. The focus is on pronunciation and fluency. The texts increase size by the third book.

View HERE

Portada Reader 2

View HERE

Portada Reader 3 Final

View HERE

Ata la Lata

This reader was inspired by Dr. Seuss’s Hop on Pop. Seeing how much my son enjoyed this book made me want an equivalent in Spanish. This book covers basic sounds and has some drawing/coloring activities included. It is a LOT of fun!

Portada Alpha Color

View HERE

These are other beginning reader videos you can use wih your students:

Practicando las vocales. Great for Preschool to First Grade.

Leyendo con la letra M. Great for Second or Third grade (when you are just starting to read)

More coming soon!

Tasting Colombian Decaf Coffee with your students!

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A Cultural Activity from Colombia.

This was a fun activity to do with my students. I was joined by one of my student’s dad who was born in Colombia. This is what we did.

Materials and Preparation

Buy Colombian whole grain coffee and ground. I bought mine here at *Amazon.

A cloth or paper coffee filter.  Here at *Amazon.

A glass jar or big glass to brew the coffee (transparent so kids can see)

An electric kettle or another jar with hot water

Milk or half and half cream

Sugar

Small cups for students can taste (Toothbrushing rinsing mini cups work great as long as coffee is warm but not too hot)

Optional: Obleas here at *Amazon, Arequipe (or dulce de leche) here at *Amazon, and napkins.

Below you will find 2 PDF’s. One is about coffee in general and has photos and its history in English. The second PDF is 9 pages long and is a photo essay of how a cup of coffee is made. It is bilingual English/Spanish, in case you want to go over some of the steps in Spanish. You can project these PDFs as you show kids the real coffee or print it all out in card stock or paper. If you are using paper (this is what we did) set the videos included in the PDF on different tabs in your laptop or tablet so you can show the kids without wasting time. Videos really enhance what is being said beyond the photos.

Presentation

1. We talked about the plant of coffee, the kinds there are and told them about its history. We also talked a bit about Colombia’s coffee and why it was so good and favored around the world. We used the following photos and information. PDF follows.

About-colombian-coffee-2023-maria-g-acuna.-www.alphabetspace.com_Download

2. Then we showed students the process of making a cup of coffee. Below is a slideshow of the PDF I created. The red text in both PDFs refers to why Colombian coffee is so good and favored in the world.

the-process-of-making-coffee-c2a92023-maria-g.-acuna-www.alphabetspace.com_Download

3. We showed students the coffee beans and the ground coffee as we talked about it. The smell in the room was so coffeelicious! We also had the obleas with arequipe! Obleas are a popular giant wafer cookie that you add arequipe (dulce de leche) to. It goes down with coffee very well and your students will love it! It’s on the third photo to the right. ^ ^

*www.alphabetspace.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for websites to earn advertising revenues by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Flag of Argentina. Coloring and writing activities for K-6.

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This is the flag of Argentina:

The flag of Argentina is a triband, composed of three equally wide horizontal bands colored light blue and white.

The flag was created by Manuel Belgrano and was first raised at the city of Rosario on February 27, 1812, during the Argentinian War of Independence.

There are multiple interpretations on the reasons for those colors. One is that the blue stripes represent the sky and the white one the clouds. The sun called “sol de Mayo” (May sun) was added later in 1818 in reference to the sun breaking through the clouds when the first Argentinian government was declared on May 25th of 1810. Another meaning for the light blue is freedom.

Argentina’s flag day falls on June 20th. This is the day that Manuel Belgrano (the flag’s creator) died.

Activity

Talk to your students about the flag of Argentina, who created it and the meaning of its stripes and its sun. Then have the students complete these worksheets accordingly. The first one is a sample for free. To get the rest which can be previewed further down fo HERE.

English Version:

PDF: the-flag-of-argentina.-english-www.alphabetspace.com_-1

Spanish / Bilingual Version:

The following worksheet is for older students. Students have to answer questions related to the design and history of the flag of Argentina:

You can find another great idea related to the Argentinian flag HERE.

Reflexive Verbs & Pronouns in Spanish

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The easiest way to explain this kind of verbs to my students has been to say that there are times when we want to specify that the action of a verb is reflected on oneself instead of someone else or an object. So for example when I say I brush, but it is my hair that I’m brushing I need to add something to make it personal. That something is called a reflexive pronoun. Here is a chart I created with all the reflexive pronouns and typical uses (plus regular verbs often used!)

Here is the PDF for a really good download:

PDF: Reflexive-verbs-pronouns-chartDownload

These are its uses with more examples:

1) Add the reflexive pronoun before the conjugated verb. They are often used to talk about one’s daily routine. For example:

I brush my teeth everyday.

Yo me cepillo los dientes todos los días.

I take a shower after I do exercise.

Yo me baño después de hacer ejercicios.

I eat breakfast around 7:00AM.

Yo me desayuno alrededor de las 7:00AM.

2) Add the reflexive pronoun after the verb in infinitive form. Because the verb must be in infinitive it is often combined with “gustar” (to like), “ir” (to go) and “tener” (to have). This pattern is often used for commands, or to express activities that you like or are going to do. Look how the previous sentences change in this pattern:

I like to brush my teeth.

Me gusta cepillarme todos los días.

I have to take a shower after I exercise.

Tengo que bañarme después de hacer ejercicios.

I go to eat breakfast around 7:00AM.

Voy a desayunarme alrededor de las 7:00AM.

Soon to come: worksheets! ^ ^