Black History Month in Spanish: 5 inspirational biographies with activities

This resource contains over 10 Power Point slides including short biographies in Spanish of five inspirational figures of African and Afro-Caribbean heritage: writers Chimamanda N. Adichie and Zadie Smith; artists Yinka Shonibare and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye; and DJ and presenter Trevor Nelson.

There are three follow-up activities. In one of them, students will create multiple-choice questions about the five figures to test each other’s knowledge. These activities will allow them to explore in some depth the grammar and lexical items contained in the slides. The students will also use the texts provided as models to write a short biography of a relevant figure of their choice to celebrate Black History Month.

The main outcomes are to celebrate BHM by exposing students to inspirational figures of African/Afro-Caribbean heritage, as well as to revise general grammar and vocabulary for GCSE, with an emphasis on the use of the preterite tense.

This is, thus, an ideal resource for Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11 students.

The slides are user-friendly and visually clear. The tasks lend themselves well to pair work, both in person and online. The teacher may modify some of the activities or add new ones as they see fit.