How I set up a Tapas Route

¡Nos fuimos de Tapas! (We went Tapas hopping)

We are currently on a food unit that focuses on the gastronomy of three countries: Spain, Argentina and the Dominican Republic. Since "tapas" (traditional Spanish finger food) are such a staple of Spanish cuisine, I decided to set up a tapas route activity for Spain. I also wanted to address the cultural aspect tied to these scrumptious hor d' oeuvres of friends or family gathering to go out for "tapas"and usually hopping from restaurant to restaurant tasting and sampling them.

And so the "Ruta de Tapas" activity was born.

It took me three days from introduction to completion to carry this out but be mindful that I teach block classes (1h and 30 minutes) instead of the traditional 50 min. classes.

Day 1. Intro.

On the first day I introduced the concept of Tapas by having students look at a giant poster that I put up on my board showcasing traditional tapas. We talked about the most popular ones (tortilla de patatas, pan con tomate, patatas bravas, etc), the ingredients, and how the popularity of some tapas may vary by region and how the weather and geography of the area may influence what kind of tapas people eat. I followed this by having students watch a video about a Spanish food blogger talking about tapas in two important cities in Spain: Salamanca and Granada. Then, I shared an infographic about popular tapas in different regions of Spain. I wrapped this up by introducing the project, explaining guidelines and expectations and answering questions.

Day 2. Researching and Developing.

On day 2, students started working in groups on their projects. I walked around offering assistance, asking questions and conducting a few checkpoints along the way to gauge progress and check how everyone was doing.

The Project: Each table or group was a restaurant. As restaurant owners, they had to:

• Come up with the name of the restaurant in Spanish.

• Design and create a menu with at least 3 different tapas with their corresponding description including the ingredients. For the menu design I recommended Canva.

• The price in euros.

• Contact information (fake one)

• Searching for tapas and recipes to actually make them.

They also needed to review and practice the vocabulary previously taught about ordering food at a restaurant. Students spent most of their time researching about tapas, deciding which ones they were going to make and collaborating in creating the menu on Canva.

At the end of the day, I asked them to turn in a Google Form as an exit slip listing:

1. The name they chose for their restaurant.

2. The 3-4 tapas they chose to prepare.

I have found that this holds them accountable for the day's work and it also gives me the chance to suggest an alternative in cases where the tapas or the name is not appropriate or the tapas are not representative of Spain.

Day 3. Showtime!

Third and final day and students needed to come prepare to class with their tapas!. I told them that each student should bring about 13-14 pieces each and that should be enough to cover the whole class.

Rotation 1: I split up the class in two big groups. For instance, I have eight tables total in my classroom. For the first rotation, I have tables 1 through 4 be the "restaurants" and tables 5 through be the patrons on a tapas route. On my signal, patrons will go around looking at menus and ordering the tapas they want IN SPANISH. They know the whole exchange needs to be in Spanish and both waiters and customers need to be talking in Spanish the whole time. I say "cambio" (switch) every now and then and the patrons move on to the next restaurant, and so on until they complete the route.

Rotation 2: Flip roles and repeat the cycle. I have restaurants be the patrons, and patrons be the restaurants and repeat the whole process.

Debrief: Each set of patrons fills out a google form voting on the best restaurants and writing reviews "Yelp" style. The Google Form has categories such as: best tapas, most aesthetic menu, best customer service, fun ambiance, knowledgeable waiters, etc.

I cannot stress enough just how fun, engaging, and energizing this tapas route was and even though this was for a Spanish class, I am confident that this activity could be easily adapted for any other World Language class and I recommend it 100%