Teaching Concepts of Time

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I have found that teaching concepts of time can be challenging especially for younger kids. So here is a look at some ideas you can use to teach time, months, days of the week, and seasons.

A Teaching Clock is a great item to use as you explain telling time in a target language. I love this site to print out blank clocks (I white out the times underneath) to use in a listening activity. I call out a time in Spanish and they draw the hands on the clock. The site also offers clocks with hands already on them. These can be homework sheets in which students write out the time in the target language. This printable available over at Teachers pay Teachers is a great way to display time if you teach Spanish.

The months are pretty easy in Spanish as they mostly sound or are spelled like the English words. A real easy game to do with the months is to make flashcards for each month. Make a set for each student you have. I add in a few extra cards with a silver dot {see above} on them as "freebies". Lay all the cards face down on the table. NOTE: You will need a full set of year cards for each student. Students take turns picking up on card and saying the month in the target language. The trick is they must collect the months in order. So unless they have picked up January or a silver dot they must put the card back. After they have January the next goal is February and so forth. The game will start out slow, but as more cards are kept it gets easier. Normally, this game goes well if students are in small groups of no more than five.

For teaching the seasons, please check out this post of mine. It contains book suggestions for younger kids, a link to a homework sheet, and tips on helping students remember the names of the seasons.

For the days of the week I have two posts. This post is for younger kids using a famous children's book to review the days. Here is another post to use with older students or ones that have learned to read. This game is almost identical to the months game I just described above.

I also have a free printable on my site that reviews dates, seasons, and weather. You can find it here.

There are very few children's books out there that deal with concepts of time, but these are great to use if you are working with younger kids in Spanish...




Un recorrido por las estaciones incorporates the seasons, months and days of the week. I love the reference pages in the back that show the origin of the the names of the days of the week. {Did you know that many of the days of the week in Spanish refer to planets in our solar system?} It also describes the origin of the names of the months.

Chumba la Cachumba is wonderful for teaching the top of the hour to young kids. Here is my review of the book.

La oruga muy hambrienta- A classic that covers the days of the week.

Teaching Tips Galore for the Language Classroom!