Motivate Target Language Speaking

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Have you ever been to a baby shower where they hand you a clothespin or two and forbid you to say the word "baby"? If you do, another party guest can take your pin. The one with the most pins at the end of the party wins a prize. I have been to tons of baby showers and even some wedding showers that have played this game...

So today I was teaching Spanish to a small group of kids who were speaking WAY TOO MUCH English during the lesson, and the idea hit! Why not do the same thing with my students? So I pulled out some clothespins and gave each student about three of them and told them the rules. I was thrilled at how well this worked! My students immediately started to strive to speak Spanish. When they couldn't communicate in the target language they acted out to the best of their ability what they were trying to say. It was stretching for them and satisfying for me to watch them go through the process, or shall we say...the struggle.

Here are a few tips to implement this idea:

• Limit the game through groups. If you teach a whole classroom, you might want to break the kids down into groups. They may only take from those in their group. Those they sit closest to would be the ideal candidates.

• Define the time. How long will you maintain the game? With bigger groups, you may want to start small when it comes to length of time...maybe have them complete one or two activities while maintaining communication in the target language.

• Be creative with the item you use. It doesn't have to be clothespins. At my daughter-in-law's bridal shower this past summer we played the game with gaudy plastic rings. You just need an item that they can attach to themselves so they don't lose it unless they start speaking in English.  Binder clips would work. These smiley face clips would be cute. There are also decorated clothespins like these that might be fun.

• I give my students the option to use English once during the session if they have a question about what they should be doing in the lesson. They must request from me in the target language the ability to speak in English. They are allowed one question, and that's it, which makes them really think through how to avoid English until they absolutely need it. Many students will opt to not even request a question in English. 

• How about some prizes? Here are some ideas... These bilingual cookies. My students adore getting them! Or how about something cultural like worry dolls from Guatemala, stickers in Spanish (These are really cute!), or serape bookmarks. Another option if you work with high school students is to make it a part of their grade for the quarter or semester.

Have fun! By limiting English you will find that your students will become more animated with their gestures and more creative in their communication. Another side benefit? Your classroom will become a bit quieter since they can't speak in their native tongue!😊

Spanish Camp for Kids {Day 2}

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This summer I am hosting some summer mini-camps to teach kids Spanish. Today we will take a look at what I plan to do for day two. {Here is day one if you missed it.} For the second day of camp, we will focus on teaching numbers (1-10) and weather vocabulary. Here's a look at our activities:

We will start out by me teaching the vocabulary. Normally, I find that many young kids already know the numbers 1-10 so I always modify my lesson to fit the ability levels in the group. After we work with the vocabulary we will do a round of "Zapatito Blanco, Zapatito Azul". {Here's a video on how it works.} In the past, I have used just the first two lines of the rhyme and had the students call out their actual age, or you can use the whole rhyme as is.

Zapatito blanco, zapatito azul. 
Dime, ¿cuántos años tienes tú? 
¡Cinco! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5*
Y sales tú con la letra doble-u.


On to a more active game...I have filled several little baggies with random items. Some bags have two items, some five, some ten. You get the idea. The baggies will be placed around the lawn. I will call out a number in Spanish, and my students will run to find a baggie with that number of items in it. It's helpful to have a few bags that have the same number of items. If you do that, then a few students will get a bag for each number. Students aren't allowed to open the bags...they simply need to count the items to see if the bag is what they want. The student with the most bags at the end wins.

We will play "Cerdos" with the numbers and colors today. You can read all about this game HERE.

Our craft for the day will be rainsticks since we focused on weather earlier. Here are the complete instructions on how to make them. Before we dive in, I will show them where Chile is and talk about the desert there.

We will also do Weather Bingo and play this number and color game, if time allows.

And finally, here is a list of books we will be reading...




Un Dia de Lluvia
Los Animales No Se Visten- This book is incredibly funny!
Oso Bajo el Sol
Un Alce, Veinte Ratones- This will be a great review of numbers and will extend our counting a bit. There are also tons of animals in the book which will lead into tomorrow's theme!

To see all the posts on my Spanish Camp plans, click here, to read them as they become available. There will be five days total.

Spanish Camp Ideas

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This summer I am branching out and doing mini-camps to teach kids Spanish. The camps will be for elementary-age kids relatively new to the language and last one week. Mine will be two hours a day (although my ideas could totally be stretched to three hours a day).  Over the next week or so I will share with you my ideas...what I will teach each day, the games we will play, and the cultural crafts we will do. I have to admit that I have relied heavily on Pinterest for great ideas for games and crafts. The bulk of the work has been setting up the structure of what I am going to teach. So join me over the next week or so as I give you details of what you can do if you decide to teach a Spanish camp yourself. We'll talk supplies, activities, games, culture, and crafts. {Like these great bilingual cookies to hand out during the week.}

So join me! And I would love to hear your ideas, too! You can eventually find all the posts HERE.

Instant Lesson Plans for Your Language Classroom

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Let's face it. While teaching can be incredibly rewarding, it is also draining emotionally and physically (especially when you are sick). There are times when I really struggle to get through a teaching day. While I don't teach in a regular classroom (I give private and small group lessons), I still struggle from time to time to get through a lesson. Recently, I decided that I needed a master list of easy activities I could do with students when...

• I'm not feeling well.
• They have a make-up lesson.
• We have a game day at the end of the semester.

I prefer not to waste precious time with my students with activities that don't further their language learning, and yet there are days when we need to step back and do something different. I was also realizing that coming up with ideas when I'm pressed for time or feeling ill wasn't working for me. I needed a ready-to-go list I could just pull out. So on a quiet afternoon, I did some brainstorming of all the activities my students have been exposed to that we could do on a game day or a day when I'm sick. (Or if you are teaching in a regular school...a day when you need a sub). I created a file and then printed out several copies to have on hand. I teach a big age range (age five through high school) and a myriad of ability levels. So it is easier for me to have a master list and circle the activities we are going to do based on the ages of the students and their abilities. It becomes my instant lesson plan.

If you are teaching larger groups, you may need to break students into groups and have "stations" where they move from activity to activity during the class. That way no one gets bored and all the teacher has to do is monitor the groups.

Here's some of what is on my list with links to see how it's all done. However, since every teacher is different it would be ideal for you to come up with your own list of activities that work in your classroom.

• KLOO- I love this game (and my students do as well) because it really gets them creating the language. You can buy the board game version or just the deck of cards (There are four different decks in the Spanish version). This game come in Spanish, French, Italian, and even English for ESL learners.
• Guess Where House Game- A guessing game that uses family members and house vocabulary.
• Spot the Difference Cards- Can students talk about the differences in these cards in the target language?
• Spot It!- Fast-moving card game that can be done in any target language.
• Caramba- This is currently the top post on my blog. My students LOVE this vocabulary review game! It's easy to make it yourself and have on hand.
• Fast Flip Games-You can read about this game halfway down this post. A fast-paced game for reviewing foods. There's the fruit version and a pizza version. Yum!
• Mano Nerviosa-I started using this game this past school year and my students beg for it. Done in the target language with two decks of regular cards. Here's how to play.
• Secret Square- A simple game that uses any picture cards with vocabulary your students have worked with.
• Bananagrams-See this post for ideas on how to use Bananagrams with your students. You will need to get the right version of this game for the language you teach. Here's the Spanish version. And the French one.
• Card Talkers is a simple activity using a Spanish deck of cards and questions. I have four printables on my blog to use with the cards. You can find the links to all of them in this post. NOTE: This activity is better suited to older kids and high schoolers.
• Drawing Activities (this is for the whole group to do together.)- A plethora of drawing activites along with the printables to do them. These are definitely listening exercises for your students. You can find them here.
• Memory and Go Fish- If you have pictures cards (two of the same picture on two different cards) you can play a whole bunch of different games with them. Take a look at this post.

So pull out a piece of paper or open up a file and start brainstorming ideas for the days when teaching is tough!! I welcome any other ideas in the comments!!

Spanish File Folder Guessing Game

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A few years back, I found an old game at a garage sale in which you have to guess where the family members are located in your opponent's house. It is a GREAT game for talking about the rooms in the house, using the verb "estar", and discussing family members. However, I only had one game for two players so I never could use the game in groups. So I decided to make my own! While this project is a lot of prep, the work is worth it as your students will spend about 10-20 minutes completely in the target language, and the games can be used over and over again. So let's take a look at how the game is played...

{See the photos as a reference.}

Each person has a game board/folder with two houses on it. One house is where the player arranges family members in certain rooms. The other house is for recording where the family members are in his or her opponent's house. To set up, each player places all eight family members (grandpa, grandma, dad, mom, brother, sister, dog, and cat) in one of the houses. They lay the other set of family members off to the side. Then the players take turns asking yes/no questions about each other's houses like...

Is the dad upstairs?
Is the dog downstairs?
Is the mom in the bathroom?

They keep going back and forth with questions until all of the second set of family members are placed correctly in the second house. The first player to figure out where every family member is in his/her opponent's house wins.

To play the game, each person needs a playing board that has two pictures of the same house, two sets of family members, and I also include a card that helps my students with vocabulary and forming the questions (photo #6).

In order to make the boards you will need the following items to make this game:

• File folders-You can use any type of file folders, but I like colored ones like these. (photo #1)
• Clear Velcro Dots (photos #2 and #3)
• Glue Dots and/or Liquid Glue (photo #2)
• E-6000 clear glue (photo #2)
• Envelopes
• Laminator-This is what I use.
• A picture of the inside of a house with various rooms-I used this one. You will need two copies for each game folder.
• Pictures of family members- You will need two sets of family members for each game folder.

To assemble the boards:

• Print out the houses (two houses per game folder). Make sure you print a size that will fit in a file folder after it is laminated. Laminate them.
• Print out the family members (two families per game folder) and laminate them. Make sure that the family members are printed out to a size in which they can fit in the rooms of the house.
• Adhere two houses onto the inside of a folder (See the picture below). I used glue dots or you could use liquid glue. Make sure you DON'T center the houses but rather put them off to the side so that you can put the envelope of playing pieces (photo #5) and the vocabulary list (Here's the list) (photo #6) in the folder.
• Use glue dots to adhere the envelope to one of the sides of the file folder.
• Print out a vocabulary list and/or a list of possible questions to use during the game. Laminate it and put it on the other side of the folder. 
• Adhere the clear part of the Velcro dots to the rooms in the house with the E-6000 glue. I put only one or two dots in each room. You want as many dots in the house as family members. I used 8 people (grandpa, grandma, dad, mom, brother, sister, dog, cat). You can kind of see the dots in photo #4.
• Adhere the white side of a Velcro dot to each family member using the E-6000 glue. 
• Let dry.
• Play the game!

NOTE: The Velcro dots already have an adhesive on them, but I used the E-6000 glue to make the game extra durable.

I have my students use the top house to place their family members while the bottom house is where they place the people once they figure out where they are located on their opponent's board. The file folder makes an excellent "shield" so that the opponent can't see where the family members are placed.

I have a feeling that the possibilities could be expanded for this type of speaking game. For example, you could have pictures of an empty fridge and have students converse until the fridge is full with the correct foods. Or you could have a simple street map in which students have to guess where the different buildings are in their partners' city. Another idea is to have faces in the file folders and players have to guess what the face of their opponent looks like (hair and eye color, hair length, facial hair, etc.). So many ideas you could use to help your students work with the vocabulary they are learning!

Silly Sentences in Spanish

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I love using flashcards to help kids review vocabulary, but let's face it, review with flashcards is rather boring. So when I can, I use flashcards as a basis for creating crazy sentences. Most of my flashcards are stored in categories. For example, all modes of transportation are together or all items in a house are in another pile. {NOTE: I make flashcards with the pictures from these books: Basic Vocabulary Builder and Practical Vocabulary Builder.}

I pick about three categories of vocabulary cards and lay the piles face down. For example, I could use professions, places in a city, and modes of transportation. A student picks up the top card of each pile and then says a sentence based on the three pictures. For example...

El mecánico va al cine en la moto.

The next student then turns over the next set of cards to create a new sentence. Many of the sentences will be "crazy"...like "The doctors go to the supermarket in a helicopter."

There are tons of card combinations you can use to create sentences. Here are just a few ideas with the cards you would use and an example sentence:

• Subject pronouns~Verb~Place  {Yo bailo en el banco.}
• Family Members~Food~Colors {La hermana come las fresas verdes.}
• Household Items~Rooms in a House {La cama está en la sala.}
• Clothing~Colors~Seasons  {Uso la camisa blanca en el verano.}
• Animals~Preposition~Items in a House {El mono está a la derecha de la mesa.}

Don't want to make your own cards? Here are cards that would go well with this activity...


Photo Cards {Already separated into 16 categories}

Photo action cards











Noun Cards {Things Around the Home}

Cards and Conversations {Part 2}

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Earlier this month I posted about using a deck of Spanish Playing Cards and some printables I have created in order to get your students asking and answering questions in Spanish. I promised you one more printable which will be towards the end of this post, but first take a look at these posts if you aren't familiar with this activity...

Original post about "Card Talkers" with instructions and printables #1 and #2.

Second post with instructions and printable #3.

Here is the fourth printable. Download it and get your students talking!!

Want more foreign language teaching tips? See my whole series.

Use A Deck of Cards for Conversations {Free Printable}

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One of my older posts that has been extremely popular is how to use a Spanish deck of cards to get your students talking. All you need are Spanish Playing Cards {about one deck per five students} and the printouts I provide.

La Baraja is the name of the deck used in Spanish-speaking countries.  It is smaller than the English version containing only forty cards in all.  It also has different suits: oros (coins), bastos (clubs), espadas (swords), and copas (cups).  Traditionally, each of the suits represented a different part of medieval society.  The oros were merchants. The bastos were the peasants.  The espadas were the military, and the copas represented the Church.

The face cards are also different.  There is the sota (like our Jack), the caballo (horse/knight), and the rey (king).  Interestingly, there are no cards with the numbers eight and nine on them.

To use the cards and the questions, just shuffle the cards and put them face down in the middle of the group (no more than five students).  One student picks up a card and finds the appropriate question based on the suit and number of the card.  He or she then asks the person next to them the question.  That student answers and then picks up a card to ask the next student and so on and so forth.  I find that this activity works well at the beginning or end of a lesson.  It doesn't take a lot of set-up especially if you have the decks on hand.  I have laminated my question sheets so that they can be used again and again.  All you have to do is pull the materials out and get your students talking!

Here is my previous post with two free printables to use with these cards.

Here is a NEW printable of questions! Come back later in the month and I will offer up a fourth printable to use with the Spanish deck!

Are you interested in getting teaching ideas for your language classroom? See all the posts in this series...

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!

Spot the Differences {Activity for Language Learning}

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I recently picked up this Spot the Difference Card Game for a local toy store.  I am so excited to use these cards with my more advanced students!  This is meant to be a game where you compete with your opponents to find the most differences in the two pictures on the card.  However, they are EXCELLENT pictures for discussing in a target language what the differences are. There are three levels of cards:

40 challenges {20 cards with pictures on each side} with five differences
40 challenges {20 cards with pictures on each side} with ten differences
40 challenges {20 cards with pictures on each side} with fifteen differences

That's 120 spot the differences pictures!!

There are all kinds of scenes that will allow you to work with students on different topics.  Here is a list of a few of the topics...

Swimming/Islands/Oceans
Circus
Knights and Dragons
Outer Space
Animals
Doctor's Office
Fishing
Restaurant

And that is just a sample of the cards!

I plan to use these in private lessons and also in small groups where students attempt to describe to their partners what the differences are in Spanish. A great way to encourage speaking skills! These could also be used with students that finish work early in a larger classroom setting.  They can pick a card or two and write down the differences that they see. I can't wait to use them this fall!

UPDATE: I have been using these with my students and have noticed that the more they use them the better their fluency! These cards are going to be a staple with my intermediate and advanced students. Such an easy way to get them talking with so little prep from the teacher!

Another way to use these cards is when you are teaching prepositions. I pull out these cards and call out two items on the card. The students then have to tell me where the two objects are in relation to each other {like above, under, to the right, etc.}

"Card Talkers" {Of Playing Cards and Conversations}

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I have been using an activity that I named "Card Talkers" with my students to get them to ask and answer questions in Spanish. The activity also doubles as a cultural lesson because you can teach your students about how the deck of cards are different in Spanish-speaking countries.  In order to do this activity you need a set (or several sets for a classroom) of Spanish Playing Cards {La Baraja}. La Baraja is the name of the deck used in Spanish-speaking countries.  It is smaller than the English version containing only forty cards in all.  It also has different suits: oros (coins), bastos (clubs), espadas (swords), and copas (cups).  Traditionally, each of the suits represented a different part of medieval society.  The oros were merchants. The bastos were the peasants.  The espadas were the military, and the copas represented the Church.

The face cards are also different.  There is the sota (like our Jack), the caballo (horse/knight), and the rey (king).  Interestingly, there are no cards with the numbers eight and nine on them.

Once you have the cards, you can print out the files below.  The first page is more basic while the second page is for advanced students.  To use the cards and the questions, just shuffle the cards and put them face down in the middle of the group (no more than five students).  One student picks up a card and finds the appropriate question based on the suit and number of the card.  He or she then asks the person next to them the question.  That student answers and then picks up a card to ask the next student and so on and so forth.  I find that this activity works well at the beginning or end of a lesson.  It doesn't take a lot of set-up especially if you have the decks on hand.  I have laminated my question sheets so that they can be used again and again.  All you have to do is pull the materials out and get your students talking!

You can download the Basic Card Talkers here.

You can download the Advanced Card Talkers here.