ES
We found a really good picture book in our local library called The youngest protester, by Cynthia Levinson.
We read it to our kids, Pol and Nora, and we loved how it highlighted the role young students played to put an end to segregation laws in the U.S.
We had recently visited Alabama and filmed at the Kelly Ingram Park, where young protesters faced police dogs and water cannons in 1963.
With that story and footage, we decided to create a fun escape room for beginner students about what happened in Birmingham during the Children's crusade.
La Cruzada de los niños is our latest addition to celebrate Black History month.
Spanish I (beginner) students will sure enjoy solving the different challenges they'll find in this lesson.
Each activity will give them some letters to complete a final message.
Will they be able to get them all before the bell rings?
I teach Spanish in Middle School, grades 7 and 8. My students are taking Spanish for the first time.
The fastest student in solving the escape room did it in 25 minutes.
At the end of the period, after spending 35 minutes on the lesson, half of the students were done.
I walked around the room helping students make progress in the escape room.
It's even better if they help each other, especially sharing what they learn about how the escape room works (things such as: you need to paste that url in your browser or write those leeters on the back of your worksheet.)
Encourage them to cooperate and you'll reduce the stress level of those who find it very hard.
REALLY easy set up
You just need to print a PDF document and make copies for your students.
That's all.
That worksheet will lead them to several websites where they'll see most of the tasks, including a video and an audio file.
This lesson is designed for first-year students: they just need to know some basic verbs (only the present tense is used) and easy words.
They key vocabulary is introduced using many pictures, it'll be easy for them to make progress through the escape room.
A variety of activities
This escape room has 6 different tasks with very different formats to make sure students stay engaged through the whole lesson:
- 2 short texts.
- A 3-minute interactive video about what happened at Kelly Ingram park in May 1963.
- An audio activity telling the story of Audrey Hendricks, the 9-year old girl who became the youngest protester to be incarcerated.
- A fun matching game to practice the key vocabulary of the lesson.
- Simple questions about short paragraphs that explain what segregation consisted on in the early 1960s.
