Explorando El Vocabulario Con Los Sentidos

Getting the senses involved in learning makes a lot of sense and can be a lot of fun!  Recently my students had a vocabulary list with a lot of food items on it: naranja, limón, dátil, uvas, aceite, aceitunas, pipas, cidra, etc.  Someone suggested that we have a fiesta and sample all these foods, but I had a better idea.  Why not do more than just eat?  After all, the more senses you get involved, the more memorable the learning.

So I made a list and had the students sign up to bring in various foods.  I used Sign Up Genius, which is an amazing tool because it allows people to sign up online and sends them reminder emails.

I then put together a lesson that involved experiencing the vocabulary with all of the five senses.  We started by watching a little video with a song about the senses.  The video was for children but my high school students were not offended when I showed it to them.  Then students worked in groups and took turns trying to identify their vocabulary words with their sight (easy), smell, touch, taste, and hearing.  That last one was difficult but I had the students put food samples in a plastic cup and rattle it around so that they could hear a sound.  What sound does wheat bread make?  Not much, as it turns out.

I created an activity sheet to guide the students through the activity and help keep them focused and on task.  If you click the image below, it will link to the sheet so you can print it and use it in your classroom too if you would like.

 The beautiful thing was all the smiles and laughter I heard around the room as they participated in the activity.  They had a great time while they were learning and I had a great time just watching them!  I hope that your students have a good time doing this too.  It will really bring the food unit to life.

If you do decide to do this in your classroom, please drop me a line and let me know how it goes.  I'd love to hear from you.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK