Spanish Nicknames

During the first week of school, students choose nicknames that they will use throughout the year.  I provide a list of nicknames, but students are also allowed to create their own as long as it's school-appropriate.  I love this activity!  It achieves many things that are critical in my classroom.  First and foremost, the students learn to "play" and develop a unique relationship in my classroom with me and their peers.  Another perk is that students have a jump-start to their vocabulary as they're already interested in what the names mean and will get many repetitions of these words throughout the year! Rather than real Spanish names, I use nicknames such as "Pato" (duck) or "Vato" (dude).

Personally, my nickname is simply "Profa."  This is a great way to introduce "llamarse" (to call onseself).  I write "Me llamo ________." (I call myself_______.) on the board with a translation.  I give them the example that "Allá, me llamo Jillane.  Aquí, me llamo Profa." (Out there, I call myself Jillane.  Here, I call myself Profa.)

I use this to establish the "play" in the classroom and explain that who you are in here doesn't leave the room, and we even have different names.  It's presented like a "club" where we can all be someone different. (Especially at the beginning of the year, when students are uncomfortable getting a little silly in class, I remind them this is Spanish and we're all someone different in here, etc.)  In fact, we even add sounds and actions to their names!

In practice, students get out a piece of paper and fold it into thirds to create a triangle name-card on their desk.  I display the list of nicknames and tell students to pick three possible names from the list and write it small on the inside of their card.  They'll only be using one of their nicknames, but they have three just in case theirs gets picked before their turn.  Nicknames can be a combination of the words I display or their own appropriate words, but encourage them not to make their name too long since we'll be calling them that and they'll be writing it on their papers for the rest of the year.  

Then, we do a modified PQA activity (from Lesson 1.1.1: Descriptions)

• Write on board: ¿Cómo te llamas?/Me llamo ______./Se llama_______.
• Translate with the class on the board and add actions (box on shirt like a nametag)
• ¿Cómo te llamas? = How yourself call you?
• Me llamo ______. = Myself call I_______.
• Se llama_______. = Him/erself calls s/he_______.
• Watch "¿Cómo te llamas?" song
• Chant "¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Cómo te llamas tú?", and point to a student.  Ask "¿Cómo te llamas?" (you don't have to do it before every student, but you can chant it once for a group of students and then ask each student in that group one-on-one "¿Cómo te llamas?")
• Student responds: "Me llamo..." and fills in the blank with their chosen nickname from their list of 3.
• Report to the class: "Se llama...."
• Class responds

After the student reports their name, they write it on the front of their name tag.  You could have them write their real name on the other side, but I choose to only have them write their nickname so that it encourages consistent use of nicknames from everyone, including myself.  Students keep their tags and are required to have them out each day (at least, until I feel like I don't need them anymore!).  They are encouraged to personalize them, which many do by illustrating what their name means.

Follow-Up

Students are asked to come up with an action and sound for their name as "homework" - this further establishes "play" in preparation for stories!  When they return, we do the full PQA activity as it's written in Lesson 1.1.1: Descriptions, but students respond with their name along with their action and sound and responses are circled and compared.