Students use beginning Spanish to explore who they are and how they connect to their school and neighborhood through speaking, reading, and writing. They investigate local Spanish-speaking people and places, create identity cards and a class neighborhood map, and practice simple present-tense sentences to share personal information clearly. Through partner rehearsals, weekly audio reflections, revision, and conversations with community guests, they build confidence communicating with real audiences. The work culminates in a community-facing exhibition where students present their identities and local connections in simple Spanish.

Students will use beginner Spanish to introduce themselves and describe identity with simple present-tense verbs, greetings, and vocabulary connected to school, home, and neighborhood life. They will read short model texts, write and revise self-profile sentences and captions, and speak clearly in partner rehearsals, weekly audio reflections, and a final presentation for community visitors. They will conduct a short inquiry about Spanish-speaking people and places near the school, ask simple questions, and use what they learn to create an identity card and a neighborhood map with labeled community connections. They will build collaboration and self-direction by giving specific peer feedback, improving work through entry and exit tickets and audio retakes, and reflecting on how their Spanish helps them connect with classmates and the community.

Students will create practice products throughout the project, including entry and exit tickets, simple interview question cards, weekly Spanish audio reflections, and draft self-profile sentences using sentence frames, labels, and captions. In teams, they will build a neighborhood map that marks nearby Spanish-speaking people and places connected to school life, adding short Spanish captions about why each place or person matters. Each student will also design a personal identity card with a photo or drawing and simple present-tense sentences using verbs such as ser, llamarse, tener, gustar, and vivir. For the final exhibition, students will present their map and identity card to classmates, a Spanish-speaking business partner, and a community center staff member, and they will add their work to a class exhibition board or community wall.

Begin with letting the students know that we'll create a mosaic poetry reading made of short Spanish identity lines such as “Me llamo…,” “Soy…,” “Vivo en…,” and “Me gusta…,” at the end of the trimester read by them.

Host a Community Connections Fiesta in the classroom or library where students display their neighborhood maps and illustrated identity cards on a gallery wall organized by school and neighborhood connections. It is going to be a poetry-reading event. Invite a Spanish-speaking business partner and a community center staff member to visit stations, listen as each student gives a short Spanish introduction, and respond with notes, stickers, or simple written praise on a class exhibition board. Add a live “community map” moment where students point to one place or person on their map and say a few practiced sentences about how that connection relates to who they are. Include a listening station with selected weekly audio reflections so families, classmates, and guests can hear students’ growth in speaking over the four weeks.