Emergencies and illnesses cannot be predicted. Therefore, for those situations where non-Spanish* speaking substitues are taking your place, I suggest the following lessons which could extend beyond a week if necessary for a prolonged absence. Various aspects of the overall lesson would be better for lower grades and other aspects for higher elementary grade children.
*Note: suggestions could be modified easily for other target languages, too!
Using maps or globes, have children locate the countries that have learned/studied about with you. Have the children measure distances between the countries. Recalculate distances from miles to kilometers. Describe locations on the compass rose and what is located on its borders, including bodies of water. Name the particular continent where the country is located.
Find the capitals and major cities of these countries and list their latitudes and longitudes. Describe where in the compass rose each capital and the major cities are located.
Find out their currency and calculate equivalencies in US dollars.
Have children plan a trip around a continent or the world, stopping in these Spanish-speaking countries. Have them keep and diary and list several cities to stop in and list tourist attractions. Don't forget Guinea Ecuatorial in Africa. Have them decide what method of transportation would be best or the most fun for every step of the journey.
The class lessons could be carried out in the classroom with a set of encyclopedias borrowed from the library and the children working in small groups (for each country) with an outline of tasks to be completed step by step on the board. A computer connected to the Internet would be great, too. Each group could then report to the whole class as each task is finished.
Don't forget including flags of the particular countries too. Children could make/color flags on heavy paper and cut them up as jigsaw puzzles (the smaller the pieces, the higher the grade level). Puzzles could be worked in small groups later, and the group could guess the name of the country and locate it on a map or globe. The significance of the colors and any symbols would be worth investigating, too, depending on the grade level.
The unit could be extended to include major cities in the US with high percentages of Spanish-speaking people --- Chicago, Hartford, Miami, etc.
Hope this is helpful in creation of a lesson tailored to your particular teaching situation and time constraints.
