Here are some ideas for using the web www.spanishkid.org for the first time:

• Before they use the site, ask your class to list what does 'Spanish' means (to them). After they've met the Spanishkids, ask if they want to alter their list.
• Before they use the site, ask your class to write down what 'stereotype / cliché' means. (Give an explanation if they don't know). After that, ask them to list common stereotypes for:
• Muslims
• Arabs
• Jews
• Catholics
• Protestants
• Buddhists
• Hindus
• Confucians
• Eastern Orthodox Christians
• Mormons
• Jehovah's Witnesses
• Japanese
• Swedish
• Italians
• Portuguese
• Swiss
• Germans
• British
• Roma
• Catalans
• Basques
• Andalusians
• Galicians
• South Americans
• North Americans

What do they think about the stereotypes after they have met the Spanishkids? Ask your class to choose one Spanishkid to 'meet', that examine him/her and then write down (in no more than 10 minutes.) what they can remember about the character (religion, language/s, place of birth, nationality...). Then ask your class to explore the chosen character, 'visiting' the character, family and friends. After this deeper 'visit' they should be able to say something else about the character. Which new things have they found out?

When your students know the Spanishkid site a bit better... they could:

1. Write down a list with things they share and things they don't share with regard to the chosen character. For example, they could like this or that food or share hobbies, but differ in the language/s they speak/write, future plans, etc. Are any of these differences and similarities a surprise for them? Why?
2. Mark on a world map where the Spanishkids and their relatives were born. Ask them to do the same for people in their class.
3. Make a poster of five myths or stereotypes about ethnic/cultural diversity preferably using information they've got from the website (Further Resources provides information about websites, books, articles, videos, etc.).
4. Prepare a debate, for example out of the press or out of information from the website (i.e. on the Serious Issues pages). The debate could start at the point of what shocked or surprised them most out of the news in the press or the information on the website. Questions like the following could be placed too:
   • Are ethnic/cultural minorities welcome in Spain? Moreover, what's the situation of the Spaniards belonging to the Roma ethnic minority?
   • In general, how are foreigners treated in Spain? Of them, who are the most accepted and who the most rejected ones, and why?
   • How diverse is Spain? When did this diversity become more noticeable? Could you distinguish between the internal and external diversity?

When your class know Spanishkid quite well, you could ask them:

1. To write a biography (like on the site) for a new Spanishkid character. (This character could be from anywhere in the world!)
2. To pick any two or three of the Spanishkids and write one or two dialogues that could begin with:
   • 'I don't think there should be religious education of any kind in schools'.
   • 'I can't understand why...'.
3. To imagine that one of the Spanishkids moves to your school, and to write a diary of his or her first week, showing any questions and conversations that he/she may have had.
4. Act out some of the Spanishkid conversations and add bits onto the end.