Wondering how to decorate your Spanish classroom? Brighten your walls with inspirational posters, word walls, and bulletin board ideas to support students in class. Create a meaningful learning environment with simple Spanish classroom decor to promote speaking in the target language, and connect students to the Spanish-speaking world. This blog post has six ideas to make your room vibrant, comprehensible, and welcoming!
1. Inspirational Quotes
Motivate and inspire students with empowering Spanish posters! Let students know that “Being bilingual is a superpower! Ser bilingue es un superpoder.” This is my favorite poster to have outside my door. It communicates the value of knowing a second language.
Post quotes from famous Spanish authors. I love these words from Cervantes’s novel Don Quixote, “Estar preparado es la mitad de la victoria. Being prepared is half the victory!” It’s a great reminder for students and teachers.
Post positive affirmations. Display motivating quotes (with cognates!) to encourage learning, such as “Todo es posible.” Grab this "Everything is possible" poster for FREE.
Tips:
Frame posters with simple document frames from the dollar store
Take glass out of the frame to avoid glare and the possibility of broken glass
Group two, three, or six posters together for a bold display
Put the Spanish and English versions together
Post a new quote by your board each month!
Place a set of posters in a plastic sleeve and change them out regularly
Get 12 posters in English & Spanish for up to 30% off with the Spanish Poster Bundle.
2. Spanish Classroom Decor - Word Walls
Word walls support students with meaningful vocabulary and make language visible.
Post thematic vocabulary. Organize words by themes like cognates, high-frequency words, verbs, greetings, etc.
What I love most about word walls is students become resourceful and self-sufficient. Instead of students constantly asking “How do you say…?” You can simply point to the wall. Problem solved! Soon, students will look at the word wall and use it as it should be used."
The cognate word wall is the perfect back-to-school bulletin board. It makes a bold display of instantly comprehensible vocabulary. Novice learners feel empowered seeing so many words they can immediately recognize. Have students refer to it to write their first sentences in Spanish.
Gradually add and take away words as you use them naturally in class. Remove vocabulary words once they’ve been mastered. Word walls should be constantly changing to meet the needs of students. Be careful not to overwhelm them with too much vocabulary at once.
Have you ever spent your hard-earned money on a word wall, posted it, and find out that students can't read it? The problem with some word walls is they're not easy to read from across the room. They may have small or hard-to-read fonts. Not these cards. These words are written in big, bold fonts to make the language VISIBLE.
The High-Frequency Words are easy to print and cut apart with a paper cutter. Mount on colored cardstock to make your display POP. Laminate for durability. Attach to a bulletin board with staples. If you have cinder block walls, attach them with a tiny drop or two of hot glue.
Creating word walls is time-consuming, but I've done the work for you. I have dozens already made for you! Print and post.
3. Post High-Frequency Verbs, Pronouns & Question Words
Make grammar visually accessible. Post regular and irregular verb conjugations for easy reference. This Super Seven Word Wall is helpful for students and gives them the confidence to use new words in their writing. (Credit for the Super Seven verbs go to Terry Waltz.)
It includes Sweet 16 verbs - 16 of the most useful verbs from Mike Peto's list of basic verbs for Spanish 1 - conjugated in the 3rd person, 1st person, and infinitive form. Word walls are a great way to stay in the target language and keep input comprehensible.
I love to use Trend Ready Letters in the "playful" font to give bulletin boards an instant title. I've used mine over and over again and they still stand out. Just punch them out (carefully) and staple them to your board. It's so easy! Then use a black Sharpie on the staples to hide the staples.
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Color Coding: Use color coding to differentiate between tenses, genders, and parts of speech. With these high-frequency words, I mounted the cards on bright-colored cardstock. I used light blue for adjectives, dark blue for prepositions, pink for adverbs, and green for conjunctions. Find my favorite cardstock on Amazon.
4. Flags and Maps
Many beginning students have no idea where Spanish is spoken. Display names and flags of Spanish-speaking countries to help students see just how many countries speak Spanish. Have students research the flags and color them to create this display. Post as a word wall or use the cards to label a map for Hispanic Heritage Month.
5. Bulletin Boards and Displays
Add student artwork to your bulletin boards. Let them contribute to decorating the classroom! They’ll feel proud to see their work displayed. Picasso said it best, “Cada niño es un artista. Every child is an artist.” These self-portraits stayed on my wall for half the year!
Read about this self-portrait activity using Spanish adjectives.
Have students create a monster and then label all of its body parts. More advanced students can write a paragraph describing their monster using colors, numbers, and the verb "tener." They can also express how the monster is feeling using "estar," or give personality traits.
More monster activities.
6. Seasonal and Holiday Decor
Celebrate Spanish-speaking cultures with seasonal and holiday decor! Change your bulletin board theme every 6 weeks to keep things fresh. Focus on cultural holidays like:
Hispanic Heritage Month - Post names & flags of Spanish-speaking countries
Día de Los Muertos / Day of the Dead - Post vocabulary with images as support
La Navidad / Las Posadas - Display Christmas cards in Spanish
Valentine’s Day - Post terms of endearment (te quiero, te amo, bella, mi amor)
Cinco de Mayo and the Battle of Puebla - Post important vocabulary with images
Seasonal vocabulary - Post vocabulary with images for fall, winter, and spring
Find Holiday Word Walls & Seasonal Word Walls for easy bulletin board displays!
By thoughtfully decorating your Spanish classroom, you create a space that’s not only visually appealing but also rich in input. I hope this post helps you find decor that will spark curiosity, inspire & motivate, and support students in learning Spanish!
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