Art and Speaking Skills in a Foreign Language Classroom {Free Printable}

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As a language teacher, any time you can mix culture with language skills you up the amount of learning in your lessons. Last year with one of my most advanced students I started printing off interesting pictures for us to discuss in Spanish. It then occurred to me that we could do the same activity with the great works from various Spanish/Hispanic artists. Not only will my students get exposed to beautiful artwork, but they will also be able to practice their speaking skills.

In order to set up this activity you need a set of questions you can use with any painting and copies of the art itself.  Below you will find a free printable in Spanish of questions you can ask your students in order to get them talking about different paintings. As far as collecting the art you want to use here are several options:

• Art Postcards can be used in small groups or in private lessons. Here are some collections for Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Diego Velazquez, Picasso, and Salvador Dali . 

• You can also use art books to show pictures. 

• You can print them from the web. Here is my pinterest board on teaching art and Spanish. It contains lots of paintings, and I plan on adding more. 

Here is a list of artists/paintings I am planning on using:

• Diego Velázquez {Las Meninas/Tres Músicos}
• Fernando Botero {La Menina,/Terremoto en Popayan}
• Alejandro Xul Solar {Cuidá y Abismos,/Vuell Villa}
• Joan Miró {La Finca,/Caballo, Pipa y Flor Roja}
• Pablo Picasso {El Guitarrista Viejo/La Sopa}
• Diego Rivera {Cargador de Flores/Zapata}
• Oscar Tintaya {More modern Bolivian artist with typical scenes of that area}
• Salvador Dalí {La Persistencia de la Memoria}
• Raúl Soldi {Sarita}
• Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida 

Here is the free printable with questions you can use to discuss the paintings.

Questions for Artwork

Have fun using art to keep your students speaking in Spanish!

Spanish Books for Summer {for Kids}

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Summer is almost upon us. I am looking forward to the warm days filled with sunshine. If you teach Spanish in any capacity to kids, one of the best ways is through children's literature. I have a huge collection of Spanish children's books that I use all the time with my younger students. Reading is such a great way for them to acquire new vocabulary and to improve their listening skills. Here is a list of books for your summer reading...


Salta y Brinca-Dancing frogs at the end of summer!

Una Isla Bajo el Sol - A boy traveling in a boat spies many objects through his spyglass until he reaches an island.

Plumas para almorzar-Backyard birds outwit a cat who ends up with only feathers for lunch.

Arandanos Para Sal-Sal picks blueberries and runs into a bear!

Vamos Froggy-Froggy books are great fun! In this one Froggy goes on a picnic with his dad.

Froggy Aprende a Nadar  -Frogs are supposed to be great swimmers, but froggy doesn't know how! In this story he learns the steps to great swimming and endures an embarrassing moment.

Hello Ocean/Hola Mar- A day at the beach filled with memories.

Si Quieres Ver Una Ballena- I love this sweet book on how to see a whale! See this post with activity suggestions.

¡Un Día Una Señora se Tragó una Caracola!-There once was a lady who swallowed a shell {and other ocean-y things!}

Looking for other seasonal books?

Winter Books
Spring Books
Fall Books

Also, check out these units that would go well with summer...

Las Plantas
La Selva
Las Piratas

Using Hidden Pictures in Language Teaching

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There are times when as a teacher that you need to do a low-key activity to finish off a lesson, or you need to just spend some time review easier material after covering tough concepts. For the past few weeks I have been pulling out these pictures and using them to review vocabulary. I basically cut off the bottom where the words are {see above picture} then I call out a color and the item they need to look for. My students then color in the appropriate item. There are several resources from which you can pull pictures to use in this fashion. Here are a few:

Hidden Pictures in Spanish: Vocabulary Review for Beginners. {Pictured above}-This is the book that I have been using. The artwork is well done and the searching out of the items is challenging. My students have LOVED these. However, I have one complaint about it...There are a few pictures that I would not use with younger children because the have pictures of Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. They aren't overly scary and would be fine for older kids, but I am uncomfortable using them with young ones in case there is a sensitivity to images like that. What I do have to say about these pictures is that they are thematic, and I LOVE that. So, I can pull out the picture page on food and we can find all the hidden foods or if we are reviewing house vocabulary I can pull out the one that reviews those words.

Highlights Hidden Picture Books are another option. I recently bought one of them and will be using it soon. From what I can tell these aren't very thematic...more random things to find.

I love this picture {not a hidden picture activity, but more of an "I Spy" activity}-This picture actually works really well with young children after I have taught them all the rhyming words in Spanish. To see what I did for my rhyming words unit, click here.

Here is another set of "I Spy" type activities. They are set up in French but can be used for any language.

 If you know of other resources for hidden pictures or I Spy pictures please comment below as I am always on the lookout for more resources.

Plant Unit in Spanish {With Free Printables}

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I am gearing up to do a plant unit this summer with some of my students. This unit is really going to focus on the parts of a plant and which parts we eat. We will touch on the life cycle of a plant and their needs (sun, water, soil, etc.). So here is a list of resources if you want to do a plant unit with your own students.

I love reading children's books in Spanish for each unit I do with my students. Some of the books I read can be informational, but I love reading stories that incorporate the theme we are studying. Here is a list of what we will be reading...

Como crece una semilla- A "Let's Read and Find Out" book on how seeds grow.

Arriba, Abajo y Alrededor  - This is a great book to teach/review the names of some vegetables and learn the three prepositions from the title. One of my favorites for younger kids.

La Gallinita Roja y la Espiga Trigo- A traditional story about how wheat grows to eventually be made into bread and how important it is to help others.

El Nabo Gigante-A hilarious story about a gigantic turnip.

El Flamboyan Amarillo-The story of a boy who grows a tree and gets a surprise!

La Semilla de Zanahoria-A classic story for younger kids about a carrot that takes forever to sprout.

El Ratoncito, La Fresa Roja Y Madura y El Gran Oso Hambriento-A little mouse tries to save a strawberry from a hungry bear.

Here is a list of other resources and activities I will be doing with my students...

One of the activities we will be doing is playing a "Collect It" game. I made the above labels with the different parts of a plant to display during the game. I then made little cards with different types of fruits and veggies on them. {You can find the pictures here.} Here is how you play...Make sure you have made enough cards so that each student that is playing can collect each part of the plant. For example: Radishes are roots, peas are seeds, etc. The goal is for each student to end up with six items each one representing the six parts of a plant. You can make a few extra cards if you like. You start playing by laying all the cards face down. Each student takes a turn picking up a card. If they need that card they lay it face up in front of them. If it is a duplicate part then they return the card and lose their turn. The first to collect the six parts wins.  NOTE: Some of the veggies can be tricky. For example, did you know that potatoes are actually part of the stem? And onions are actually leaves not roots even though we call them root vegetables? So make sure you know what is what before playing with the kids.

Pumpkin Life Cycle War Card Game-Anytime I teach a life cycle {like the life cycle of a plant} I teach/review the ordinal numbers. This game is great for this! I know it is in English, but I will use it to review Spanish vocabulary. When kids lay down their cards they will have to say the stage in Spanish or the ordinal number in Spanish {depending on how we decide to play that round.}

Fold and Learn Plant Parts {in Spanish or English}

Plant Unit in Spanish

Roll and Build a Flower Game-To review the parts of a flower

Finally, here is a printable that I give to my parents on what their children are learning. It is the basic vocabulary for the unit.

Las Plantas Vocabulary

Also, here is a file for the parts of a plant labels for the Collect It game...

Parts of Plants

Enjoy exploring plants with your students!

Spanish Books for Spring {for Kids}

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I love spring and the promise of warmer weather and growing green things out in the garden! When you live in Alaska spring holds a special place in your heart! So here is a collection of spring books to read to your kids/students in Spanish.  You can do all kinds of exploring with these books. Gardens, butterflies, and rain await you!

La Oruga Muy Hambrienta- A classic great for teaching the days of the week and food vocabulary.

El pollito que no quería salir del huevo- A cute book about a chick that doesn't want to hatch from his egg.

La Semilla de Zanahoria -Another simple classic about waiting for a carrot to pop up from the ground.

Como crece una semilla- A "Let's Read and Find Out" science book about how seeds grow.

Adivina Cuanto Te Quiero-A baby bunny wants to know how much he is loved.

Froggy al Bate- My Spanish students love Froggy books! Here is his adventure at bat.

¡Montones de mariquitas!- A counting book that teaches kids how to count by fives. You can use the story to practice counting by ones and fives.

Atrapados-We love Oliver Jeffers' books in Spanish around here! This is a comical story about a boy that gets his kite caught in a tree. What happens next is unbelievable!

Habia una vez una gota de lluvia and Habia una vez una semilla are two books I am going to be ordering soon to use during the spring months.

To see more spring activities for Spanish students check out these posts:

Insect unit
Ladybug unit
La Oruga Muy Hambrienta activities

Here is a plant unit that goes great with spring and/or summer!

Looking for other seasonal books?

Winter Books
Summer Books
Fall Books

Solar System Unit in Spanish {Resources, Ideas, and Free Printable}

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This fall I will be teaching my younger students a solar system unit in Spanish. I LOVE doing these units as it gives them extra vocabulary that we wouldn't fit in otherwise. It also lets us explore a theme in depth. I am still in the process of putting the finishing touches on this unit, but here are the basics: vocabulary, resources, and ideas. 

Vocabulary and Grammatical Concepts:

Here is a free printable to use with all the vocabulary for this unit:

El Sistema Solar Vocabulary

Teaching the Solar System is a great way to incorporate the ordinal numbers {first, second, third, etc.} when you teach/review the order of the planets. You can also teach vocabulary related to size {small, big} and distance {close to, far from, in between}. During this unit I plan to also review the verb "estar" because it relates to location.

Here are several children's books that we will be reading:

De vuelta a casa -A cute story of a little boy and a martian that he meets on the moon. Written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers.

Cómo atrapar una estrella -Another adorable book by Oliver Jeffers on how to catch a star.

El Universo (Mi Pequeno Enciclopedia)-A simple informational book on the universe. I LOVE this series of books!

Llevé a la Luna A Pasear-A story about taking the moon for a walk.

Other resources:

Giant Magnetic Solar System- This set can be used throughout the unit for various activities. One idea? Use it to teach the ordinal numbers in Spanish while putting the planets in order.

Show relative distance between the planets- This is great to reinforce words like cerca, lejos, entre.

Galaxy Game

Simple Exercise to label the planets in Spanish

Idiomatic Expressions to teach with the word "LUNA"

El Sistem Solar Unit-on Teachers pay Teachers

Yo Tengo...Quien Tiene Solar System Game

Planets Lapbook in Spanish and English

El Sistema Solar posters

Enjoy teaching about the Solar System! If you have any other ideas I would love to hear them!

Sentence Card Games {For the Classroom or Small Group}

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When I used to teach at a local high school one of the favorite grammar games of my students were sentence cards. Basically, I would take a grammatical concept, come up with sentences to practice the concept and then create a card for each word in the sentences. If I was doing the game in the classroom the cards were actually sheets of regular-sized paper. If it was a small group lesson then I would use half index cards. I would make two sets of cards (make the sets different so they are easy to tell apart by either writing each set of cards in different colored Sharpies or using two different colors of paper). This way you can have two teams by splitting up your group in half. I would set up teams and then call out a sentence in English. The first team to create their sentence correctly won that round. I would keep points for each team to see who came out with the most points at the end.

Here's the process for setting all this up:
{Yes, this takes a bit of time, but I am telling you, this is one of the most popular activities I have done with language students and what I love about it is that they really have to use teamwork, teach each other, and learn sentence structure during the game.}

1. Decide what grammar point you want to practice. Negation, verb conjugation, and pronouns (directs, indirects, and reflexives) are great concepts with this game. Any concept that is dependent on word order works well, too.

2. Decide how many students you will have on a team. I normally took the size of my class and split it in half. Ideally, you will need at least two cards for each person on a team.

3. Make a list of words you want to use to create your sentences. You want words you can use over and over again. You also need a variety of words to make complete sentences. REMEMBER: You need enough words so that each student has at least two cards if you are doing this in a classroom setting. To give you an idea here is my list for a sentence card game with negation:

siempre, alguien, algo, alguno/a/os/as, no, nunca, nadie, nada, ningun/a, yo, nosotros, ella, patinamos, trabajo, trabaja, habla, hablamos, a, escribo, escribimos, carta, cartas, en el invierno, en el verano, tomo, toma, el sol, con

4. Using the list make up sentences in English. Make sure you use all your words in your list at least once. Here are sample sentences for the above list of  words.

We always speak to someone.
We never speak.
She never speaks to anyone.
I don't write any letters.
We never skate in the summer.
I work with someone.
She never sunbathes in the  winter.
We write some letters to someone.
Nobody speaks on the plane.

5. Make two sets of cards, each a different color. If you are doing this in a classroom setting each person on the team needs at least two cards. In a  small group setting (teams that are no bigger than five people) then the whole team has the cards set in front of them to work with. Call out a sentence in English. The students then need to create that sentence with their cards. In a classroom setting I would have students at their desks and they would have to run up to the front with their card and get in order with their other team members to create the sentence. They would hold their card in front of them so we could clearly see the sentence. Reward a point to the team that creates the grammatically correct sentence first.

I saved all cards and the sentences in English for the game from year to year so that I didn't have to reinvent the wheel. In a small group setting with half index cards I even laminate them so that I can get as much use out of them as possible. No sense in doing all your work over again!

Enjoy! Who knew grammar could be so much fun?!