Beginner
60 mins
Teacher/Student led
+80 XP

How a Language Crosses an Ocean

Explore how the Spanish language spread from Spain to South America with migrating people. Use maps to locate Spanish-speaking countries and consider what household language records reveal about a nation.

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    1 - More Spanish Outside Spain ~5 mins

    More people speak Spanish in Mexico than in Spain. How did that happen? Take a quiet guess before we look.

    That is millions more speakers: the language really did cross an ocean!

    By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

    • Explain how a language can travel far from where it started
    • Find Spanish-speaking places on a map of South America
    • Say what a country learns by asking which languages people speak at home

    2 - Three Ways to Travel ~10 mins

    People crossed oceans by boat: that is how a language can land on a new continent. Later, faster travel helped languages move even farther.

    Watch the board. We will tap each travel word and listen in different languages. When I pause, thumbs up if two words sound almost the same.

    3 - Spanish Across South America ~10 mins

    Spanish did not stay put: it crossed the ocean with people. On the board is a map of South America. Watch as we tap countries and see where Spanish shows up.

    Mexico (from our starter) is further north. Same idea: Spanish travelled with people. Today we check that story on the South America map. Did Spanish stay in Spain, or did it travel with people?

    4 - Into Your Copy ~3 mins

    COPYBOOK MOMENT

    Open your copy. Write the name of a country where Spanish is spoken and how it got there, in one sentence.

    Ideas from the map: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru. Remember the idea: people brought Spanish with them.

    5 - Whose Language Is This? ~10 mins

    The languages in these clips also travel with people: same idea as Spanish on our map.

    Listen carefully to each short clip on the class speakers. When the choices appear on the board, show me on your fingers which language you think it is, or hands up when we choose together. These are medium clips, so trust your ear and we can listen again if you need to.

    Pupil practice
    Module 1 · The Language Map of the World
    Lesson 3 · How a Language Crosses an Ocean
    Download Activity Book page (PDF)
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