How to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in Spanish Class

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Let’s celebrate Hispanic culture with lesson plans and activities for your Spanish classes! National Hispanic Heritage Month is September 15th through October 15th and there are so many fun things you can do to explore Spanish-speaking countries with your middle school and high school students. Let’s look at bulletin board ideas, research project inspiration, famous people in the Hispanic community and more for a great way to recognize the month with your classes!

Hispanic Heritage Month Activities for Spanish Class

Spanish teachers searching for a great time saving resource for their classes will love this collection of Hispanic Heritage Month activities. Here’s a quick overview of the resources shared in this blog post:

It’s the perfect time to dig into these resources to celebrate the month in the United States. Let’s look more closely at the resources for you!

Easy to Use Hispanic Heritage Month Activities for Spanish Class

Here are several easy to use activities for your Hispanic Heritage Month lesson plans:

Hispanic Heritage Month Research Project

Here are a few options for you to consider as you’re planning a project to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month:

Biography poster project
Wax museum project
Spanish holidays project (free resource)
Spanish-speaking country project
Create a virtual field trip! (Explore one country or report on several)
Animals of the world
Spanish-speaking authors
Spanish-speaking artists

A biography or wax museum project is a great way to learn more about the contributions of Hispanic Americans, and allow for students to do a creative project as they learn! Your upper-level classes can complete the research project of your choice in Spanish, while intermediate or novice level classes can complete them in a mix of the target language and the shared language of the classroom, depending on their levels!

Here are 5 tips to make sure research projects run smoothly with your classes:

Have clear expectations
Allow choice
Check in with students along the way
Bring in a media specialist or expert to help your students research
Show off their stuff

Learn more about using a research project during Hispanic Heritage Month with your classes here!

Hispanic Heritage Month Reading Activities

These mini biographies on well known Hispanic people are a great resource to add to your lesson plans! Each gives background information and information on their significant contributions throughout history. They are great for Spanish language learners and provide mountains of comprehensible input for your novices.

Here are 5 ways to use the readings in your lesson plans:

stations
close reading activities
add to your classroom library
translation activities
warm up (bell ringer)
mentor text
digital format Boom Cards or Google Slides for an interactive way to read

Visit the blog post here to learn more about each of these activities and download a free activity you can use for a bell ringer all month long!

1 Day Lesson Plan for Hispanic Heritage Month

If you have a tight curriculum without a lot of space to celebrate cultural traditions, this one day lesson plan is a fun way to learn about notable Hispanic Americans, South America and Latin American countries, as well as promote cultural awareness with your older students!

This interactive map includes images, readings, and embedded Youtube videos for students to learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month and is great for any school day of Hispanic Heritage Month. Here is a look at the lesson plan:

Start of class routine (10-15 minutes)
Share link to the map for them to explore (5-8 minutes)
Pass out graphic organizer or comprehension questions to let them gather the information – (25-30 minutes)
Fast finisher! Choose from Geoguessr, a list of YouTube videos, or another activity to emphasize Hispanic Heritage Month

Click here to download the map and activities!

This 1 Day Lesson Plan is great for distance learning situations, as well as social studies classes (if you choose the English version!). Click here to take a closer look at the lesson plan walkthrough.

Daily Trivia Activities for Hispanic Heritage Month

Check out the digital and printable trivia game here!

Come play daily trivia questions with short, free videos posted on my Youtube channel. See details and grab the free handout here!

Spanish-Speaking Countries Flag Coloring Pages

I have found that many of my middle school and high school students aren’t familiar with Hispanic countries or the countries’ flags. This is a fantastic opportunity to introduce color vocabulary with the flag colors as well as Latin and South American country flags.

You can use these Hispanic Heritage Month flags coloring pages in several ways. Here are some ideas for use in your lesson plans:

Have students completed these banners to decorate our class as you study Hispanic countries
Color the labeled worksheet and use it to study and review the countries’ flags
Use the unlabeled worksheet as a short, formative assessment
Print, color, and hang the banners to create a bulletin board for your classroom
Use the guided coloring pages to review color vocabulary in one complete packet
Use the guided coloring pages one at a time while you explore Spanish cultures and your students learn about each of the different countries

Click here for a closer look at these downloadable coloring pages!

Easy Creative Craft for Hispanic Heritage Month

Click here to learn more about this lesson & craft!

Personally, I love easy crafts and art projects that allow students to be creative, without requiring a ton of materials, mess, or artistic skill from me! This easy craft for Hispanic Heritage Month ticks all those boxes as we teach students about the textile art from Panama with a short reading. Then, students get the chance to create their own with construction paper, scissors, and glue!

Click here for the step-by-step instructions!

Digital Activities to use during Hispanic Heritage Month

If you are in a 1:1 setting, or in a distance learning role, these digital activities are a great option for Hispanic Heritage Month! Many of the printable lessons I’ve shared in this blog post translate well to digital activities, while some go far beyond the printable version! Here’s a quick look at some digital activities:

Click here to check out the “ser de” activity!

Youtube videos – a variety of food, culture, and travel video options to choose from
Virtual field trip
Trivia games
Research projects
Virtual museum tours

There’s more in the blog post – check them out here!

17 Research Projects for Hispanic Heritage Month

If you teach multiple levels, you don’t want to do the same activities over and over! This round up of 17 project ideas for Hispanic Heritage Month is the solution.

Biography, geography, art, culture and more – everything you need for younger students, older students, and in between! Click here to see 17 Research Projects for Hispanic Heritage Month!

10 Hispanic Heritage Month School-Wide Activities

Are you in charge of planning for the entire student body? Here are 10 ideas for a school-wide event you can do this month to celebrate with the entire school and students of all ages!

Volunteer with Latino communities in your area
Play music during passing periods
Host a Wax Museum event
Organize a food truck day
Play a movie
Play trivia
Host a school-wide music bracket
Make announcements over the loud speaker
Make a mural
Highlight books in the media center that celebrate Hispanic culture

Learn more about each of these ideas with information and examples in the blog post here!

Bulletin Board Ideas and Classroom Decor for Hispanic Heritage Month

Free Hispanic Heritage Month Bulletin Board

If you’re working on activities in your school or classroom for Hispanic Heritage Month, you will love this free Hispanic Heritage Month bulletin board printable I have for you! There are colorful letters in an eye-catching design for your bulletin board.

Click here to grab the letters in the free download!

Spanish Classroom Decor for Hispanic Heritage Month

Whether you want to highlight the Spanish-speaking countries, famous Hispanics, or focus on Hispanic Heritage Month specifically, there are options in this post to inspire you. Check out this round up of Spanish classroom decor for Hispanic Heritage Month!

Scroll through the images and download resources here.

Door Decor Ideas for Hispanic Heritage Month

Some schools have a door decorating contest for Hispanic Heritage Month Door Decorations, and sometimes you just want to make something visible to celebrate Hispanic culture!

Here are several ideas for you to use:

Take a closer look at each of them in the blog post here!

Spanish Club Ideas to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

Spanish club is SUCH a fun opportunity for our students, but it can easily turn into a headache for you to plan and organize. Here are 7 simple ideas for how you can celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with your Spanish club!

Invite students to volunteer with members of your community that speak Spanish
Have students curate a playlist to play during passing periods
Organize a Food Truck Day for club members
Host a movie night
Play trivia
Have a music bracket competition
Students research and share facts over announcements

Check out more resources and examples for each idea in the blog post here!

10 Tees for Teachers to Wear during Hispanic Heritage Month

Who doesn’t love a cute teacher tee? Here are 10 faves you can choose from to wear during Hispanic Heritage Month as you celebrate!

Click here to see them all!

Hispanic Heritage Month Workbook

If you are a tutor or homeschool teacher, you will love this workbook to use with your students! The workbook includes:

21 Spanish-speaking Countries Coloring Sheets
24 Easy Spanish Reading Biographies
5 Comprehension Questions for Each Biography
Research Project for additional learning
Glossary & Answer keys

Click here to take a closer look at the pages!

Tips for Teaching Hispanic Heritage Month

I’m so proud of you for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with your students and your school! Introducing students to different and diverse cultures is a great way to expand their world view and one of the best parts of teaching world languages.