Los Sanfermines

Next week we are going to include some Sanfermines activities in our lessons. Here is a quick video that explains the festival:

 

 

I can't offer first hand experience like when I invited my friend Becky to talk about La Tomatina, so I persuaded my puppet teaching assistant Valentín to help me with the illustrations and borrowed my daughter's bull from her playfarm:-)

 

The cape - mystery voice

 

 

Instead of the blindfolds or my Spain football scarf, we will use my cape to cover the face of the volunteer who has to guess which classmate says the word/sentence in a mystery voice.

 

Running of the bulls - PACMAN revision game

 

We won't chase each other in the classroom and create complete chaos, but we can play PACMAN. 4 "toros" go in the corners of the classroom, they pretend to have bull horns with their fingers. 4 "mozos" go in between them, they put a red scarf on. The teacher or a pupil stands in the middle of the classroom and asks questions. The toros and mozos have to shout out the answers, the quickest one can move a place and "eat" the one standing next to him/her. The last one standing is the winner.

 

 

 

 A song: Uno de enero... - dates

 

I use the CD/book  "Preparados, Listos, Ya", I bought from Amazon, it has some good songs and there are great activities in the teacher's guide.

 



 

The same song is on YouTube:



And here is the rock version:

 

 

 

After the running of the bulls: at the doctor's - body parts

2 doctors race to the injured "mozo" and put a plaster on the sore body part.  The slow doctor has to sit down and pick a new one. The patient volunteer says: Me duele la cabeza, el pie, la nariz, la boca, la mano, la oreja, etc.

 

 

 

 

Opinions: ¿Te gusta la fiesta?

 

A good opportunity to express opinions and practise reasonings with Y5/Y6, just like we did with La Tomatina before.

 



Discussion - Is it all right to have bullfights?

 

It is interesting to hear the pupils' opinions on bullfights, and a good way to start discussions on other cultures and traditions.

 

You won't see a picture of me running in front of the bulls in Pamplona but a few years ago I went to Sevilla with my  (now retired) puppet  and signed up for a tour around the bullring to find out more about this tradition. I will definitely show some of my photos in class!

 



 

Craft idea:

In Spanish club we will make bulls ( http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mbull.html ) and wooden peg "mozos". Watch this space!