The Affective Filter is one of Dr. Stephen Krashen’s hypotheses for language acquisition. It refers to the learner’s emotional state when learning a language. If a student is feeling stress during class, this could generate a mental block and cause them to feel overwhelmed, making the affective filter go high. The best approach for students’ acquisition process is to keep the affective filter low by fostering a positive and relaxed learning environment that motivates students to engage, stay motivated, and remain open to input.
Here are some suggestion to help keep that affective filter low:
Mistakes Are Ok!
Make sure your students understand that it is totally fine to make mistakes. When students make errors while communicating in the target language, it is best not to interrupt. Instead, as a teacher or instructor, engage with the students by modeling the correct way to express the idea. For example, if a student says, “This is a car blue,” the teacher would respond, “Yes, this is a blue car.” This approach ensures the student does not feel corrected and allows them to hear the correct form in context. Encouraging students to take risks in this way helps to keep the affective filter low.
Make Sure You are Using Comprehensible Language
Something that can quickly generate stress is a learner who doesn’t understand what’s being said to them. This will generate the affective filter to elevate. The best way for teachers to lower stress in the classroom is to always use comprehensible language and ensure that students understand the messages in the target language. It’s important to understand the proficiency level of our students, use visuals and body language to support the messages, as well as pause to check understanding
Games, Games And More Games!
Use non-competitive games. Participating in non-competitive games is an excellent way to minimize the affective filter, especially with activities such as memory games and bingo that involve vocabulary, phrases, or sentences from stories.These games don’t require a lot of preparation; some of them can even be created with your students. Games that incorporate movement are also great, such as Four Corners or A mí también. Total Physical Response (TPR)-based games, such as Follow the Leader, Simon Says, and Charades, work great too!
Stories
Stories are valuable tool for language teaching as they engage learners emotionally, provide contextual learning, expose them to natural language patterns, help them create emotional connections, and present a variety of language use. All these factors contribute to a positive learning environment with a lower affective filter. After telling or reading a story, you can extend it by having students engage in role-playing or acting out the narrative.
Less Is More!
When structuring lessons, consider the “less is more” approach to prevent overwhelming your students. Providing a manageable amount of new vocabulary and language structures helps maintain a low affective filter. Focus on quality over quantity, allowing students to thoroughly internalize the language before introducing new concepts. This contributes to a sense of achievement, reducing stress and anxiety for the learner.
An environment that promotes a low affective filter prompts learners to be more successful at acquiring a language!
A short story can be used in more than one class! There are many activities you can engage in after telling or reading a short story. Here are ideas some that will help you maximize short stories:
Start by Introducing the Characters of the Story: If possible, print the characters and discuss details such as sizes, colors, ages, and so on. Create gestures for each character and use TPR to introduce them if the characters are animals.
Tell the Story: There are various ways to narrate a story. You can draw the story, use props, or read it aloud.
Retell the Story: Utilize pictures from the story to recount it, and pose questions about it. Depending on your students’ proficiency levels, you can ask yes-or-no questions like “¿Hay un cerdo? ¿Sí o no?”, make statements where students complete your sentences, such as “El muñeco de nieve está ______.” or ask open-ended questions like “¿Por qué está triste el muñeco de nieve?”
Play Games That Connect to The Story: Incorporate guessing games, memory games, and more! For instance, in the case of this story, students can find under which number there is a nose for “el muñeco de nieve.”
And Don’t Forget to Play Matamoscas: “Matamoscas,” or “flyswatter” in English, is an easy game to play. Divide the class into two teams and give each team a flyswatter. Display words or pictures related to the story on a board. Speak a word or describe a picture in Spanish, and players must quickly find and hit it with their flyswatter.
Act it Out: Print out props and take turns allowing your students to act out the story. This is a fun and engaging way to provide repetition. With elementary students, it works best if the teacher narrates the story.
Use Mini-Books: Have your students color the mini-books and share them with their families and/or caregivers, or simply keep the story to read it.
Storyboards: Storyboards are excellent for helping students understand the main ideas of the story. They not only reinforce vocabulary but also check comprehension.
What other activities would you add or use when incorporating short stories into your classes?
There are several things that can be done after telling or reading stories to young students. Here are just a few: Picture Talk Choose some pictures or illustrations from the story and discuss them with your students. Ask questions about what they see. For example,...
I call this game “Busca,” which is based on a popular matching game. This is a fun game that my students absolutely adore, and it can be played at any time during the school year! It has a Halloween theme, but you can play it at any time. Before you dive into the game, you’ll need to prepare by printing at least 6 sets of cards and, if possible, laminating them for added durability. Here’s how to set the stage for the Busca game:
Introduce the vocabulary: While students may not necessarily need to learn these words, this is a fun game to engage them and get them moving. Nevertheless, I recommend going over the vocabulary with your students. You can achieve this by using flashcards or, if available, by projecting the image on the board.
Explaining the Game: Let your students know that this game is inspired by various popular matching card games. I like calling it “Busca.” Take a moment to discuss the rules of the game. It’s important that everyone is on the same page before you start.
Setting the Objective: Explain that the primary goal of the Busca game is to be the quickest at identifying matching vocabulary between cards. To prepare for the game, you’ll need to distribute a card to each student. Then, instruct them to find a partner in the classroom. Here’s how the game unfolds:
Both students should cover their cards and, in unison, say “1, 2, 3, ¡busca!” (which means “search” in Spanish).
Simultaneously, they reveal their cards to each other and race to find the matching image. The student who successfully identifies the matching image first wins and gets to keep their partner’s card.
The student left without a card should promptly receive a new one. If you prefer, you can be the one distributing the cards.
The game continues until all the cards have been matched, and one student accumulates several cards. If you’d like to make the game shorter or more challenging, you can set a specific time limit for each round, such as 10 seconds.
Ready to play it in your classes? Click on the picture to download the 36 cards for the game!
Using stories to teach Spanish to young learners can be an effective and engaging way to introduce children to the language and is a great tool for language acquisition. Here are some tips and ideas to help you make the most of this approach: Choose age-appropriate...
¡Hola! I am Carolina, a Colombian elementary Spanish teacher based in Boston, MA. Fun for Spanish Teachers is the result of my passion for teaching Spanish to children and my desire to inspire collaboration and creativity in a vibrant teaching and learning community. It’s the perfect stop if you are looking for songs, games, teaching tips, stories, and fun for your classes.
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