I have this precious freshman boy in my 7th period class. He’s the kind who can’t sit still and says the first thing that pops into his head, and it’s rarely on topic or in Spanish. He’s the kind that might drive his other teachers crazy but he’s so stinking adorable- seriously he is a real life Disney character: bright red hair and you just know he is up to trouble.  Today, for example, he offered to take over Password Duty at the door when class started. Rather than standing at the door, as I was expecting,  he hid and scared the kids who arrived late. Eye roll…  Anyway, back in December my precious little freshman boy hung back after class and asked me if we could celebrate his birthday in class with a Piñata. I was taken aback. Never, in 12 years of teaching, has a student asked me to celebrate his birthday. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his class is basically  bordering on out of control crazy town on normal days, there is no way I’m going to blindfold them, give them a stick, and encourage them to swing it. And candy is the last thing this bunch needs.  No way, no how! Instead I told him,  “I have three months to plan something extra special for your birthday”.

So I put a post-it note on my desk…its been there for 3 months…reminding me everyday to think of some way to celebrate. The wait is over- his birthday is Monday and I am ready! Have you seen the video clip Hola Llamigo? It’s very sweet and I think it will be the perfect way to recognize his special day and still give my kiddos plenty of comprehensible input. Here’s a Slideshow with the key structures I’ll review and teach, the video embedded for a MovieTalk and 2 reading followup activities. (He doesn’t need to know that I wrote this it a year ago, not specifically for his birthday 🙂  If I really get my act together, I’ll put up some streamers or balloons. Maybe I’ll conspire with his previous teacher to hold him a few minutes late so we can all hide and scare him when he arrives…We’ll see. I’ll keep you posted.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Ethan!