Repaso De Las Nacionalidades

For some reason the names of the Spanish-speaking countries, their capitals, and the nationalities associated with each pose a real challenge to students.  I suspect that it has something to do with the fact that they are items which require memorization (as opposed to contextual understanding) and many students are simply not interested in memorization.

I try to make it as interesting as possible.  I have colorful Power Point presentations, puzzles, games, songs, drawing activities, etc.  It doesn't matter.  Those student who refuse to learn them do poorly on that section of the midterm exam every year - without exception.

This saddens me, but I'm not one to go down without a fight, so I will continue to invent activities and practice in the hope that I'll catch a few more butterflies in my net before the midterm arrives (a week from today).

Here is a map labeling activity that is not going to win any awards for its originality or aesthetic appeal.  Nor are you going to throw a parade because its so contextually relevant; it's not.  But it makes a great quick review, extra credit, short homework, or supplement to all the other great stuff you do in class to cover the nationalities.

A few weeks back, I blogged about a nationalities game I had made.  It's a free download and it might be something you want to add to your nationalities repertoire.

I absolutely adore this video/chant on the countries and their capitals too.  It became a bit of a cult favorite in a couple of my classes a few years back.  It doesn't help with nationalities specifically, but it ties in with the geography theme.

I hope you found something useful here today, amigos.  Gracias por pasar por aquí.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK