¡Feliz día del amor y la amistad, language teacher!Candies, presents, secret friends, dates, letters, poems… That 's what Love & Friendship Day is about. It’s quite popular in some Latin American countries like Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador. Let’s dive into this special date and see how we can celebrate it in our classrooms:
In the United States and many other countries of the world, couples celebrate their love on February 14th. A day known as Valentine's Day.Yet, in Colombia, this date isn't as big as "Amor y Amistad" (Love and Friendship). Instead, September is when people usually celebrate with their partners or close friends. They play games like "secret friend" to share the joy and fun.It's a special day to appreciate all kinds of love and relationships, not just the romantic ones.In schools, students celebrate by giving little presents to their classmates and teachers. This shows how much they care about each other and makes their friendships stronger.Many people take it as an opportunity to be creative. They make their own cards, gifts, or even special dishes to share with friends and family. It's a great day to show how creative and thoughtful you can be for the ones you care about.
Picture this: You're getting candies for 1 or 2 weeks, but you don't know who it is... You're also getting a specific present you ask for. But not until the third Saturday of September. Let's call this mysterious and generous person your "secret friend". You'll end up finding out who that is... It's just that keeping it secret is part of the fun!At the same time, you're someone else's secret friend. Whaaaaat? 🤯 You're also doing your best to surprise them with treats, without them knowing it's you, for 2 weeks. You randomly choose a piece of paper from a bag with a classmate or co-worker's name on it. That's how you become that person's secret friend.On the third Saturday of September, everyone exchanges presents and makes their guesses. It's time to find out who your secret friend is!As you can see, this is a game students can easily engage with. Here there are few more ideas to bring Love & Friendship Day to our language classrooms:
Get students into groups and assign each a country like Colombia, Mexico, or Ecuador. Have them find out how people celebrate this holiday and share in a presentation. Through this kind of activities, students get the opportunity to expand their cultural understanding.
Encourage students to create cards for their friends or loved ones to show how much they care about them. Provide them with colorful art supplies and some nice messages to make friends and family feel special. We've got you covered with this list of Love & Friendship Day sentences.
Arrange a language exchange activity where students can partner with someone who speaks Spanish. This is a cool way to learn new words and connect with people from other places.
Ask students to bring in a dish or snack from a Latin American country that celebrates Love and Friendship Day. This can provide a taste of the culture associated with the holiday.
Have students write short stories or poems related to love or friendship. This could be either in their native language or in the target language. They can then share their creations with the class.
Here are 5 free Speaking assignments to use in your language classroom with students:1.Love & Friendship Day vocabularyCommon words such as: Love, Friends and Hug can be found within this Speaking activity.
2.Love & Friendship Day sentencesGet students to express their love and friendship through sentences like: "You are an incredible person. Thanks for being the way you are!". They can listen the whole sentence and each word separately as many times as they need to.
3.Love & Friendship Day conversation scriptI like using conversation scripts when introducing something new to students. Here's a conversation between 2 friends talking about their plans on this holiday. I really like this allows me to preview what my students will see in the Speaking activity.
4.Asking someone to be friends in SpanishAssign this Speaking activity to students, either as for practicing or as an assessment. You can choose how many points students are getting and the sections you want this assignment to be part of.
5.Asking someone out in SpanishLet's plan our Love & Friendship Day using this 12 common Spanish sentences.Check out the syllable breaking box for further development of Listening skills.
