How Do You Feel Today? Inside Advisory at Amistad

¿Cómo te sientes hoy?

One, two, three, four, five. A kindergartner counts on his fingers, takes a breath, and says it: "I feel happy." Then he says it again in Spanish. Me siento feliz.

That small moment is what advisory looks like at Seattle Amistad School. Before a student can tell you what they learned, they need a way to tell you how they are. In advisory, students practice naming a feeling out loud, in both of the languages they are growing up in.

What we heard

On a Friday in October we set up a camera and asked students across our grades one question: how do you feel today?

Most of them said happy. One student told us exactly why: she had a really fun field trip that day to the Washington Park Arboretum. Two said nervous, nervioso and nerviosa. One admitted, quietly, to feeling shy. And one decided she felt bonita and posed to prove it.

Every answer counted. That is the point.

Why name it twice

A feeling with a name is easier to share. When a child can say "I feel nervous" instead of going quiet, the adults around them know how to help.

Our students learn in two languages, so they get two words for every feeling, and two ways to be understood: at home, at school, and with the people they love in both.

Cada sentimiento, dos palabras.

Who leads it

Advisory at Amistad is coordinated by Lorena Mercado, who also teaches language arts for grades 4 through 6 and brings more than twenty years of teaching across three countries.

Try it at home

Tonight at dinner, ask: ¿Cómo te sientes hoy? Count to five together first if anyone needs a running start. Then ask the follow up our students hear every time: what does that feeling look like?

Bilingual by design. Bilingüe por diseño.