Will you be back to school with students on Monday, August 21? What a great day to be back, the day a total eclipse of the sun will pass across the middle of the USA. Talk about compelling input and cross-curricular learning! Here is how to set up a safe viewing experience of the eclipse with your Spanish classes in simple level 1 Spanish. If your school is back in session you have the opportunity to spark your students’ wonder and curiosity by talking about the eclipse in the target language. Most of the country will see a partial eclipse, which is awesome, but a 60-mile wide swath of the country from Oregon to South Carolina will experience a total black out eclipse. Some prime cities along the path of the the total eclipse will be:  Salem, Oregon, Idaho Falls, Idaho, Casper, Wyoming, Grand Island, Nebraska, St. Joseph, Missouri, Nashville, Tennessee, and almost all of South Carolina. With simple, purposeful language we can talk with our students about more than just stories. Use this eclipse as a way to get the point across that we can enjoy the wonders of nature, each other and talk about anything in Spanish. I have done this before with partial eclipses of the sun. Level 1 students can do it all in Spanish, if you set it up right. But start to prepare now, the next one in the continental US won’t happen until 2024, and after that you will have to wait until 2045.

More short story-like articles in simple Spanish that connect students to the wonders of of the Spanish-speaking world are found in my book Conexiones, available on this web site.