How to Teach Spanish-Speaking Countries

"I tried chatting in spoken Spanish, and Flint could roleplay and understand everything. It’s amazing how well it can keep asking deeper and deeper questions based on the initial prompt. A revolutionary tool for language learning!"

Sebastian Bartis, Spanish Teacher at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes

Why this matters

A student who assumes all of South America speaks Spanish puts Brazil on the list, and a student who has seen photos of Cusco writes it down as Peru's capital. A map worksheet marks both answers wrong without asking the student to look again. The teacher has to wait for the quiz to find out who still thinks Brazil speaks Spanish.

The 20 Spanish-speaking countries and Puerto Rico

Spanish is the official, national or majority language in 20 countries plus Puerto Rico, according to the Instituto Cervantes 2025 report on Spanish in the world (Instituto Cervantes). By region:

North America: Mexico
Central America: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama
Caribbean: Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory
South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay
Europe: Spain
Africa: Equatorial Guinea, whose constitution names Spanish and French as official languages (Constitute Project)

Brazil is not on the list. Article 13 of Brazil's constitution makes Portuguese the official language: "A língua portuguesa é o idioma oficial da República Federativa do Brasil" (Presidência da República).

In the Flint activity, each student picks a Spanish-speaking country and chats in simple Spanish with Sparky, who plays a local guide there. Unlike a worksheet, Sparky sends a wrong country or capital back to the map for the student to check, and when the student asks it to look up a festival or food, Sparky answers with a cited source.

Sparky gets Priya from Brazil to Peru, with sources

Priya ends up finding Peru's capital herself and reading two cited facts about Peru in Spanish. Every student gets the same guide and greeting, and Sparky's questions follow the country and answers each student picks.

Sparky sends Priya back to the map instead of correcting herA right answer gets a new question in SpanishSparky looks up the festival and food and cites its sources

Priya

Interest: Food and festivalsStarting point: Thinks Brazil speaks Spanish

Priya

hola!! quiero ir a brasil porque me gusta la comida y los festivales. en brasil hablan español no?

Sparky

¡Qué emocionante que te gustan la comida y los festivales! Hmm… ¡busca Brasil en el mapa! ¿Cuál es el idioma oficial de Brasil? Cuando lo descubras, elige un país donde el español sí es el idioma oficial.

Priya

ok lo busque y en brasil hablan portugues jaja. entonces quiero ir a peru! la capital es cusco verdad?

Sparky

¡Perú es un país fantástico! ¡Casi! Cusco es una ciudad muy famosa en Perú, pero no es la capital. La capital empieza con la letra L… ¿puedes buscarla?

Priya

es lima!! ok y que comida tipica hay en peru? y hay algun festival grande?

Sparky

¡Exacto, Lima es la capital! Ahora, ¿tú conoces alguna comida típica de Perú? Y para los festivales, ¿conoces alguna celebración importante en Perú?

Priya

no se 😅 creo que el ceviche? puedes buscar un festival grande de peru y de donde es el ceviche?

Sparky

¡Sí, el ceviche es de Perú! Aquí hay dos datos interesantes: … Ahora, ¿sabes por qué se celebra el Inti Raymi? ¿Qué honra esta fiesta?

Found that Brazil speaks Portuguese, fixed Peru's capital, then read cited facts about Peru

Priya is an example student, and Sparky's replies are shortened.

What Flint did for Priya

When Priya asked whether Brazil speaks Spanish, Sparky told her to find Brazil on the map and check its official language herself.
When she wrote Cusco as Peru's capital, Sparky gave her the first letter and sent her to look it up.
When she asked about a festival and ceviche, Sparky searched the web and cited a source for each fact.

A teacher can't do this by hand for 30 students, and Sparky does it in every student's chat.

The activity page shows who still lists Brazil as Spanish-speaking

While the class works, Needs attention shows the teacher which student is stuck and on which message. After three or more students submit, activity analytics lists what the class did well, where students went wrong, and a follow-up to practice next.

Flint's activity page for the Tu guía local activity. Needs attention flags a student who picked Portugal after Brasil and wrote 'they both speak spanish right?' without checking the map. Activity analytics says most students found Brasil's language on the map themselves and 17 asked their guide about a festival or food, 9 students named a famous city as the capital, such as Cusco for Peru, and the follow-up suggests finding the 20 countries and Puerto Rico on a blank map. The Sessions table lists three students: two submitted and one still in progress. — Example activity page
After a Spanish class meets its local guides
The school and students are made up for this page.

Set up the activity for free

The guide activity is in Flint's public library, with Sparky's role, guidelines and greeting already written in Spanish. Open it, select Use activity to copy it into a free Flint account, and assign it to a class. The activity's primary language is set to Spanish in its Language settings, so Sparky answers in Spanish. When a student asks Sparky to look up a festival or food, Sparky searches the web and cites its sources, with no extra setting.

For more Spanish and French activities, see Flint for world language.

Start the activity for free