Friday, May 1, 2009

Infusing Spanish into PE Workshop


On Tuesday, April 27, 2009, I attended a workshop run by Dr. Columna and several undergraduate PE Majors on the topic of infusing Spanish into PE. Each year, the Spanish-speaking population in America continues to increase. As future physical educators, we should know how to effectively communicate with Spanish-speaking students to ensure that they are receiving the same quality of physical education as English-speaking students.

The workshop lasted for approximately an hour and a half. Dr. Martinez, a Cortland faculty member in the Spanish Department, reviewed the pronunciation of Spanish vowels with the approximately 50 of us who attended the workshop. Dr. Columna and undergraduate PE majors then led us through about seven different activities. In each activity, we learned a few key words and phrases in Spanish that can be used to communicate with Spanish-speaking students.

I thought that the workshop was extremely helpful. Although I took a semester of Spanish here at Cortland, the workshop acted as a good refresher. In addition, I learned some fun and interesting games to incorporate into future planning, as well as ways to infuse Spanish into future classes. I think it is extremely important for PE teachers to learn how to effectively communicate with ALL of their students. I would like to attend future workshops on how to communicate with students with special needs and am excited about taking Adapted PE next semester.

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