Barbie in the Spanish Classroom

This week we are learning clothing vocabulary in my Spanish I classroom.  To introduce the words to the students I used to bring a carry-on suitcase into the room and proceeded to pull out various items of my own wardrobe.  While these items gave the students a great visual, it was a hassle for me to transfer the clothing from my dresser and closet, pack the suitcase, and cart it up to my classroom.

Enter Barbie.  I have filled an old purse with various Barbie clothes.  One pocket has the required vocabulary words that I teach, the other pocket has enough pieces of clothing for each student to have one.

The kids were really excited to watch as I pulled out one piece of doll clothing after another.  I think they were more interested in what would come next from the purse than learning the new words ;)  Then today each student got one piece of clothing for our walk around activity.  Each student would look at what another student was holding and name the clothing in Spanish.  If he or she wanted a challenge, they could also say the color.  It was also amusing to watch a few of them put the clothing on their fingers like they were dressing an imaginary doll.

A sampling of the clothes