As an elementary Spanish teacher with limited class time, finding ways to keep students engaged and motivated is key so we can get the most out of our time together, and as a teacher, I’m able to support and facilitate their language acquisition journey better.
Here are some useful tips to keep your students’ motivation going:
Understand the age group you are teaching
I highly recommend the “Yardsticks” book by Responsive Classroom, which outlines developmental traits and interests of children according to their age.
Understand the proficiency level of your students
This will help you develop goals that support their acquisition journey. Visit the ACTFL website to download the updated Proficiency Guidelines.
Make sure that your activities support the different modes of communication
Remember that students acquire language at different paces and that in one class you might have students who are at different proficiency levels. Including activities with different communication modes ( Interpersonal, Interpretative and Presentational) will reach out to different students.
Connect with your students
Building a strong teacher-student bond should extend beyond the initial weeks of the school year. Continuously engage with your students by learning about their interests, hobbies, and family celebrations, and incorporate these aspects into your lessons. Bring topics that are relevant to their age group too!
Use Comprehensible Input
Students need to be able to understand the language, but also the language have to be challenging to support and help students move beyond their current proficiency level. Not only comprehensible input but also compelling! Making sure that the input is interesting for the students. Visit Dr. Stephen Krashen’s website to read more about comprehensible input. You can also explore comprehensible input strategies and methods in this post.
Use Stories
Stories are super useful for teaching languages because they make learners feel things, give them real-life situations to learn from, show them how people actually talk, help them connect emotionally, and demonstrate different ways to use language. All of this makes learning easier and more comfortable. After listening to stories, students can act out scenes or pretend to be characters, which keeps them interested and involved.
Use Games
Bring games to your classes, especially non-competitive games .Explore options like memory games and bingo, which integrate vocabulary, phrases, or story sentences. These activities are easy to set up and can even be tailored to your students’ preferences. Movement-based games like Four Corners and A mí también add an extra layer of fun. Additionally, Total Physical Response (TPR) games such as Follow the Leader, Simon Says, and Charades are highly effective for language learning. Find different types of game in this blog!
Nothing like welcoming the spring in Spanish class! After the long winter months everyone is looking forward to all the beautiful things the spring brings with it.
This game is an adaptation of the Responsive Classroom game called “Just like me” – (see my post about it!).This game is simple, and can be used with any age group and in any setting. Students can sit in a circle or in rows, however works best for you and your students. You can either project these slides or print the cards. Talk to your class to get into a common agreement of what action or movement they should do whenever they identify with the cards. For example, in my classes we jump and raise our hands while saying “¡A mí también!”.
Once you and your students know how to react to a card they identify with, you can begin by showing and reading a card aloud to your class. Whoever identifies with the card should say ” ¡A mí también!” and use the gesture or movement you agreed on. After reading one of the cards, you might pause and ask your students more information about it. For example, if you show the card that says “En la primavera me gustan las flores” and some of your students identified with it, you may ask questions such as “¿De qué color te gustan las flores?” or “¿Qué tipo de flores te gustan?” and so on! You and your students can decide when you stop the game.
Click on the pictures orHERE to download the game.
Would you love to play this game at different times during the school year? I’ve go you covered! Click on the links below to download the versions for different seasons!
I just ended our 3rd week of distance learning, however this was my first week teaching live online classes. I do have to say that it has been exhausting trying to figure out how to make the class interactive and engaging while being so far apart from my students and only interacting through a screen. Learning new tools is a plus but is also exhausting. By my first class session I thought I had mastered Zoom, but it when I taught my first class (a second grade group), I realized that there were more things to learn. I shared my plan for the class using the screen sharing function of Zoom. One of my students then started using the annotation tool to scribble over the shared screen agenda, and that’s when I knew I needed to learn more. It was a bit funny but frustrating at the same time.
Anyway, we came up with the list below while brainstorming with some of my students about quick games we could do in class without the need to share my screen. By not sharing a screen, it also becomes possible to see every student. We have played these games in our classroom before, so the students should know them well. It is necessary to adapt some of these games to make it work for our current online setting.
Simón dice: We usually play this game in class by saying “Señora dice” instead of Simón dice. Sometimes I like choosing a student to be “it” and the name “Simón” will be replaced by that student’s name. Choose one person to give directions or say a command. Everyone should follow the direction only if they hear “______ dice.” If someone follow directions when the person directing hasn’t said “_____ dice”, that person will be out of the game. You can continue until one of few people are left in the game.
Charades: I usually have between 8 to 16 students on a live class on Zoom, so it’s not easy to divide the groups, or at least I haven’t tried it. This works great with students 2nd grade and up. You will need to use the chat tool for this game. I am not familiar with platforms other than Zoom, but in Zoom the host can choose to privately chat with a student. The rules for this game are simple. No words or pointing at anything, just acting it out for other students to guess. Choose one student to act out a word. Send the word in a private message to the chosen student only. Have the student act out the word and give students turns to guess. Whoever guesses first will become the next actor. You might want to write the word on a piece of paper or board to show to the students later.
Color colorcito: This is a game that my kindergarteners love playing in the classroom. It usually involves one person naming colors and the other students running to find the color. If the person naming the color tags someone who is not touching the color, then that person becomes the new “it.” See my previous post here for a longer explanation of the way I usually play it in the classroom. Because it’s impossible to play a “virtual” tagging game, we made it for students to look for an object of that color in the room. The person who finds the color last will say the new color.
La caja mágica: You could either use a box or a bag. Place and object inside, describe it and have your students guess it. Click hereto find more ideas.
Sigue al líder: Play some music and choose one student to lead the class in different dance movements.
Congelado: Play music for a few seconds, stop the music and everyone has to freeze. If anyone continues moving, they will join you to find other students who are not freezing or continue moving when you stop the music.
El director de orquesta: This game is known as “Follow the leader.” Choose one student to close his or her eyes, and this student will have to guess who is directing the group. While that student has his/her eyes closed, choose another student to direct the group. Write the name of the “director” on a white board or a piece of paper and show it to the group. The student directing then has to do movements or gestures that everyone else will copy. The student who is guessing will have three opportunities to guess who is directing the group. If the student doesn’t guess, you can reveal the name of the student director, and then you can all clap for him or her. You can decide how long you want to continue with this game.
Do you have any other games to add to this list? Feel free to share them in the comments or email them to me for updates to this post.
Luis Pescetti is an Argentinian musician, writer, actor, and storyteller. He is also known for for his great group activities that are fun and encourage movement (which is why they are called ‘dinámicas’ in Spanish). Some of his group games work great in the Spanish classroom and can be used as energizers or brain breaks for you and your students.
For this game I would suggest you ask your students to be in groups of five or less to keep it safe.
¿Por qué me sube la bilirubina? No sé porque.
¿Por qué me sube la bilirubina? No sé porque.
A moler café, a moler café, a moler a moler a moler café.
A moler café, a moler café, a moler a moler a moler café.
This is simple but a bit challenging for second graders. I mostly use it for third graders and up. A lot of fun!
Palo, palo, palo, palo bonito, palo eh,
eh, eh, eh, palo bonito, palo eh.
This is one of the group activities my first graders love. The first time they saw the video they were scared, but we couldn’t stop laughing afterwards. It’s great to use during Halloween!
Se hace de noche,
se ve un castillo,
se abre una puerta,
sale un vampiro,
saca un cuchillo y …
unta pan con mantequilla,
unta pan con mantequilla,
unta pan con mantequilla.
This activity works great in a circle. This one gets everyone quiet and focused on the movement. My students were a little frustrated at first, but once we all got it, it became a fun challenge.
Bale, bale, bale, pata zum, zum, zum,
bale, zum, zum, zum,
pata zum, zum, zum.
Bale, bale, bale, pata zum, zum, zum,
bale, zum, pata zum, bale zum.
This can be done with different ages. It can be done fast or slow. A lot of fun!
A ram sam sam,
guli, guli, guli, guli, ram sam sam.
Arabi, arabi,
guli, guli, guli, guli, ram sam sam.
This video gives a little background for the song “A ram sam sam”.
I am “brain break” lover! I teach young students, but it doesn’t matter how old your students are, a little break to get them moving will help them tune into class. I use brain breaks a lot, but depending on the time of the day, I have noticed that they are more needed, especially with classes after lunch.
Here is a list of brain breaks for different levels.
Chocolate
Choco, choco, la, la
Cho, choco, te, te
Chocola, chocote,
¡Chocolate!
Palo bonito
Palo, palo, palo,
palo bonito,
palo eh,
eh, eh, ah
palo bonito, palo eh.
Hula en español: Five minute video that will get your students moving!
La Yenka: This could also be used as a fun choreography for your students to learn!
You can also use it as freeze dance by just chanting “izquierda, izquierda, derecha, derecha, adelante y atrás, 1, 2, 3” and then everyone freezes.
La Familia Sapo: Perfect to review family members while getting everyone moving
Todo el movimiento: Great to review parts of the body
