Success!

I held my first two lunch clubs this week and they were a huge success!. I introduced the whole idea to all of my classes on Monday and Tuesday and had students sign up as they walked out of class. By Wednesday, I had almost 70 students signed up (about 35 each grade)! This was way more than I had bargained for so I decided to do lunch club on a rotational basis. At my school, there are 3 traditional 4th grade classes, 3 traditional 5th grade classes, and 4 4/5 multiage classes. I ended up starting with multiage this week and will switch every other week with the traditional classes. This made the numbers closer to 15-20 per lunch club, which was still twice as many students as I had hoped for. As my principal warned me, "be careful what you wish for!" However, what actually happened was much more pleasant and manageable... about 10 students showed up each day either due to absences or students choosing to no longer attend. While I probably should have been disappointed that not all the students showed up, I was actually thrilled because the numbers were much more ideal for conversing.


I started el club del almuerzo by speaking English to lay down some ground rules. I had the students restate the goal (to speak Spanish!) and talked about different ways to do that (use the place mat, use words that we know, ask me, look in a dictionary, etc.). I also reiterated the fact that if students wanted to talk to their friends in English, the lunch room was the best place to do that and I would not be offended if they didn't want to come one week. After that, the 5th graders (I forgot to do this with the 4th graders) and I came up with a list of topics to discuss in future lunch club meetings. The list includes animals (and not the normal ones we talk about in class), sharks, food, sharks, music, Great White Sharks, and hip-hop dance. Can you tell that one of my girls is obsessed with sharks? :) I plan on creating this list with the 4th graders next time we meet. Then, I played Pandora Juanes radio as they ate lunch and we all chatted. It was so much fun. Some of the boys decided to start a dance party and chant "fiesta, fiesta" over and over again which was very entertaining. They also requested playing with puzzles next time "and we promise we'll speak in Spanish Sra. Zhang!" I love that idea and am even thinking about teaching them Monopoly in Spanish. 


My biggest success story is with one of my 5th graders who is normally very, very quiet in class. She rarely volunteers to speak and is reluctant to complete partner activities. However, during lunch club, she was talking up a storm! In Spanish! I was floored. She kept asking me "como se dice (insert random word here)" and then would try to come up with a sentence that fit that word. I think lunch club is really going to help her come out of her shell. Just hearing her speak so much during the first meeting really motivates me to continue holding el club del almuerzo. I am looking forward to many more!