presentation topics for spanish class

Spanish Oral Presentation Topics

Interesting Topics to Write a Speech On

Many classes require students to deliver an oral presentation to demonstrate what they have learned over the course of a semester or year. In Spanish classes, your oral presentation should demonstrate your fluency and language skills. It should be conducted entirely in Spanish and should touch on either some interesting study of the Spanish language or some aspect of Spanish-speaking culture. Whenever possible, incorporate visual aids, demonstrations and interactive components.

Spanish Language Uses

You could give a presentation about the Spanish language itself. Explore some aspect of the Spanish language in your presentation: vocabulary, semantics, grammar, slang or language used for specific situations. One example is to compare slang from different countries or from different regions in the same country — for example, Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires compared to rural Argentina. If grammar is your passion, you could also describe the different uses of the indirect object pronoun "le" and the direct object pronoun "lo."

Spanish Cultural Exploration

Spain and Latin America are home to thousands of cultures within cultures. Pick a country or region of the Hispanic world and demonstrate an aspect of its culture that fascinates you: sports, food, dance, traditional costumes, education, religion or music. Use this opportunity to get interactive. Bring samples of food, wear a traditional costume and lead your peers in a Spanish folk song or a traditional dance. Or you could talk about the spices used in Yucatec cooking in Mexico and bring an assortment of spices for your fellow students to taste and smell.

Spotlight on Social Events

You could choose to focus on current events in the Spanish-speaking world. Spain and Latin America are constantly in the news, so you could discuss what's happening now in indigenous rights, environmental conservation, the global economy, immigration and political elections. You could also talk about the tourism industry in a particular Spanish-speaking country and highlight why tourists may want to visit it. For example, you could compare and contrast the political system and electoral process between the U.S. and Cuba. Successful visual aids include live news broadcasts on television or public radio.

A Trip Through Spanish History

Spain and Latin America have a rich, complex and sometimes shocking history. Choose some aspect of Spanish or Latin American history that is personally interesting to you. You can talk about political movements, military dictatorships, pre-Columbian societies such as the Mayans or Latin American civil wars. For example, teach your classmates about the civil war in El Salvador in the 1980s. Use supportive media such as short clips from feature films about a certain historical event.

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• Common Ground International: Spanish Research & Presentation Topics
• WPI: Guidelines for Short Oral Presentations
• University of Delaware: Honors Spanish 107 Oral Presentations

Parker Janney is a web developer and writer based in Philadelphia. With a Master of Arts in international politics, she has been ghostwriting for several underground publications since the late 2000s, with works featured in "Virtuoso," the "Philadelphia Anthropology Journal" and "Clutter" magazine.

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All teachers have their own little bag of tricks

As teachers, we all like to create our own materials to use in the Spanish classroom. To do so, we use our precious free time to search through thousand of resources to create fun, worthwhile educational materials that really work in the classroom, and that achieve our precise academic objectives. But what do we do when we want to teach our Spanish students some grammatical content , or simply some denser material? How can we make the lesson engaging and interesting ? How can we ensure that we effectively capture our students' attention ? The truth is, it's very possible to make a great presentation , with images and dynamic components that will ensure that, once the presentation is over, the students will have retained the majority of the information. In this best case scenario, students would thus just need some practice in order to process and internalize the information, applying it to the appropiate communicative situations or social contexts.

What tools should I use to make my presentations?

There are many tools to make presentations and it is oftentimes this wide variety that can overwhelm us and lead us to keep using tools we already know, even if they aren’t the best or most adequate for our needs.

With this in mind, we're laying out a brief outline of tools you can use to make lesson presentations for your Spanish classes:

• Power Point : a classic in slideshow presentations. It's easy to get (it's also available on Google Drive or LibreOffice if you don't have Windows) and equally easy to use. You can create almost anything in a very simple format, so it comes in handy for lessons on grammatical content. Drawbacks: the design is a bit outdated, so you have to be creative. Tutorial.
• Prezi : some say it can be confusing for students; however, it's very useful for any type of presentation, because it allows you to order your material and move quickly from one topic to the other. Like other tools, it allows you to link multimedia files. Drawbacks: you have to register for the 15-day free trial version. Tutorial.
• Haiku : it has a more modern design than Power Point and its templates allow you to add images and content quickly. It’s a good choice to introduce new vocabulary. Drawbacks: You also have to register for the free version, but at least there's no time limit. You won't be able to download the presentation unless you buy the full version, but you can share it with your students on social networks or Google+. Sending them the presentation means they don't have to worry about taking notes during class and can better focus on the lesson! Tutorial.
• Emaze : allows you to make educational presentations after registering for free. You can choose from many attractive templates, and can choose a slideshow format like Power Point or a format like Prezi. It's very comprehensive. Drawbacks: You can only share the presentation, and must buy the full version to download it.   Tutorial.
• Slid.es : similar to Power Point, it's also very simple to use and allows multiple people to work on the presentation, so it’s a good tool for students making their own presentations in group activities. It also requires free registration. Drawbacks: The design is not particularly attractive and also requires you to pay to download the presentation. Tutorial.

Have you used any of these tools to present content in lessons for your Spanish classes? If so, which would you recommend?

We look forward to hearing your comments!

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Spanish Oral Presentation Guide for Beginners

by TruFluency | Featured Spanish Blog , Learn Spanish , Spanish Presentation

The moment to show off your Spanish skills is here, and we’ll teach you how to wow your audience, coworkers, boss, or clients. The way you introduce and close your presentation can have a positive or negative effect on your audience. So, it’s normal that you get nervous about speaking in front of a crowd and communicating your ideas effectively.

Practicing oral presentations in Spanish helps you focus on pronunciation and clarity while broadening your academic, job, and business opportunities . However, what may be even more valuable is that it gives you the chance to take risks, gain confidence, and exercise persuasion in a foreign language.

If you have a presentation soon, and want to blow everyone’s mind, here is your guide to giving oral presentations in Spanish for beginners.

5 Engaging Presentation Openings

The first part of our Spanish oral presentation guide is to help you find the most engaging ways to open your speech.

1. Start with a Reflexive or Engaging Question

For example:

¿Sabían ustedes que la entonación de nuestra voz no es sonido sino emoción? (Did you know that the intonation of our voice is not sound but emotion?)

Starting with a question allows you to keep your audience attentive throughout your message.

2. Tell an Anecdote

55% of our communication stems from non-verbal language ; everything our audience reads through our expressions, mannerisms, tone, etc., while 38% of our communication is vocal and 7% is words.

Hence, the importance of telling a story at the beginning of your presentation, so your audience connects with what you are going to deliver. We are all natural communicators.

At first, you may feel shy about opening yourself to the world, but believe it or not: your story counts, your story inspires, and even more than you think.

3. Utilize Objects

Generate interest with an object that’s relevant to your message. For instance, you can follow a similar script to this one:

Esta cartera que hoy acompaña mi atuendo tiene un significado muy especial. Esta cartera ha sido elaborada, tejida y pensada por gente que cree en sus sueños. ¡Qué gusto estar el día de hoy aquí hablando con emprendedores que creen en construir!

(This purse that matches my outfit today has a very special meaning to me. This purse has been sewn, knitted, and created by people that believe in their dreams. What a pleasure to be here today talking with entrepreneurs that believe in building things!)

Utilizing resources as elements of your speech will help your public to relate and feel part of your speech. Everything has a meaning and a representation. Remember that your public will forget what you said but will always remember how you made them feel. So, make them feel welcome!

4. Statistics

Using statistical data will help give your statement a significant rational weight. Remember that statistics aren’t read, they’re interpreted. This forces you to describe exhaustive research about a topic.

This isn’t about boring your audience with numbers, it’s about using statistics as a tool to make people reflect on your message. An example of an introduction in Spanish with statistics is:

¿Sabían ustedes que el 80% de los consumidores que adquieren sus productos en línea confían más en las recomendaciones de sus amigos o familiares que de las propias empresas?

(Did you know that 80% of consumers that buy your products online trust more in the recommendations of their friends and family than on the ones of companies?)

5. Who are you?

Greet your audience. This is fundamental to bond with them. Say your name, who you are, what your topic is and why it is important to pay attention to you. Let’s put it into practice with this example:

Hoy me encuentro feliz de estar con ustedes compartiendo lo que sé. Mi nombre es Liam Jones, soy periodista y locutor de radio, y hoy quiero que aprendas a utilizar tu voz para hacerte escuchar.

(Today I am very happy to be with you sharing what I know. My name is Liam Jones. I am a journalist and radio host, and I want you to learn to use your voice to make yourself heard.)

Respect your essence, know yourself and regularly practice the above types of introduction.

Verbal and Non-Verbal Presentation Tips

The next part of our Spanish oral presentation guide is divided into verbal and non-verbal language.

Non-Verbal Language Tips

Your gestures can emphasize, substitute or contradict what you express with words.

Use open gestures, like moving your hands, stretching your arms and legs, and opening your shoulders. Additionally, avoid having objects in your way between your body and the audience, such as folders, books, and tables. Your face should be visible all the time.

Choose gestures that ease people’s understanding of your speech. For example, pointing in a direction.

Avoid fidgeting out of nervousness. For instance, touching your hair or glasses.

Distribute your gaze amongst your audience, so everybody feels included. You can divide your audience into different quadrants. Let’s say, four, and choose a person of each quadrant to “talk to”.

Volume and Intonation

Mentally “take measurements” of the room, so the volume you choose to use is enough for both people in the front row and in the back to hear you. Also, avoid monotonous intonation. Highlight with your voice the keywords of your speech.

Rhythm and Pronunciation

Slow down when you need to separate ideas, this reflects confidence and helps you recover people’s attention. Pronunciation should be clear , so be careful with mumbling sounds.

Nobody has the right to tell you how to dress, but it’s recommendable that your attire matches both your personality and the context of your presentation.

Verbal Language Tips

Order and structure.

A presentation that has order and structure is easy to follow, understand, and remember.

Organize your speech in parts. For example: importance, data, chronology, interesting bullet points, zoom in, and zoom out.

Use discourse markers; words that organize and connect ideas. Some examples are:

To Start Interventions El objetivo de esta exposición es… / Hablaré en primer lugar de… / Para comenzar… (The objective of this presentation is… / Firstly, I’ll speak about… / For starters…)

To Introduce Comments or Examples Por ejemplo… / Como es el caso de… / Recordemos, en ese sentido, que… (For example… / As is the case with… / Let’s remember, in this sense, that…)

To Structure the Discourse En primer lugar… / En segundo lugar… / Por un lado,…por otro lado… / Finalmente… (In first place… /In second place… /On the one hand…on the other hand… /Finally…)

To Resume the Subject Volviendo a lo que hemos visto al principio… / Como decía… / Señalaba que… (Going back to what we’ve seen at the beginning… /Like I was saying… / I was pointing out that…)

To Establish Logical Relationships Consecuentemente… / Eso nos demuestra que… / Deducimos, entonces… (Consequently… / That shows us that… / We deduce, then…)

To Conclude Tratemos, finalmente, el último aspecto… / En resumen,… / Para terminar… / En conclusión… (Let’s address, finally, the last aspect… / In summary… / Lastly… / In conclusion…)

You should adapt it to your audience’s knowledge, formality level, and the purpose of your presentation.

Sentences should be short and simple. Avoid the overuse of muletillas (catch phrases).

Oral Presentation Conclusions in Spanish

When you’re giving a presentation in Spanish, do not miss the chance to leave a good impression. The final part of a speech is what we remember the most. So, use it to deliver a message or briefly summarize what you want to convey. You can create a compelling conclusion with a phrase, rhetorical question, quote, or call-to-action.

En conclusión, cualquiera puede padecer de un problema de salud mental. (In conclusion, anyone can have a mental health problem.)

Si las personas más brillantes pueden padecer problemas de salud mental, ¿por qué nosotros no? (If the most brilliant people can have mental health issues, why can’t we?)

La mente es como un paracaídas, si no se abre, no sirve para nada. Muchas gracias, público oyente, por haber abierto su mente a escucharme en esta exposición. (The mind is like a parachute, if it isn’t opened, it doesn’t work. Thank you very much, listening public, for having opened your minds to listen to me in this presentation.)

Ready to be confident in your next Spanish oral presentation?

The key to giving a memorable oral presentation in Spanish is to be original, creative, and do something that’s unusual but true to your essence. Thus, you’ll make the difference.

If after reading our Spanish oral presentation guide, you think you still need help to prepare yourself for your Spanish presentation, count on our top-notch team of Spanish fluency coaches . So, don’t let fear of success hold you back, and book with one of our coaches.

Save 20% off your first month of lessons with code TF20 today!

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La presentación oral: 13 Ways to Teach it for AP Spanish Success

When my students first began giving oral presentations in my AP Spanish Language and Culture course, they had trouble for three reasons:

1. They had little knowledge of cultural practices in Spanish-speaking countries.

2. They struggled to finish within the two-minute limit.

3. Their presentations were completely disorganized.

In this blog post, I will explain how I addressed each issue so that my students were able to master the oral presentation section of the AP Spanish exam. Keep reading and get my F-R-E-E culture project on Spanish-speaking countries and famous hispanohablantes. Below are my best tips on how to teach la presentación oral.

1. STUDENT RESEARCH

Neither the teacher nor the students can predict what cultural practice will be mentioned in the presentational speaking section of the AP exam. Hence, the anxiety. However, just as those who live in Seattle must always have a raincoat within reach, students of AP Spanish must come equipped with knowledge of many traditions practiced in Spain and Latin America. Hence, the culture presentation. The more customs they are familiar with, the more likely it is that they will be able to answer the question with confidence. In order to fill their cultural knowledge bank, I assign a project.

At the beginning of the course, I hand out instructions for a culture project. Students must do a Google search to find cultural practices or traditions of a Spanish-speaking country. They can either choose from articles in the textbook or find their own. If they select a tradition not in the text, I must approve their choices.

I hand out and explain the instructions, so students know the requirements.

THE PRESENTATION MUST:

• Have a visual component.
• Be five minutes long.
• Include comprehension questions for the class.
• Include a quiz for the class.
• Include an additional two-minute oral presentation comparing the cultural practice with one in their own country.

While the student talks, the observers take notes. Whenever students give presentations, I also include a graded, listening component for the observers so no one is sitting idly; students are always practicing their Spanish language skills, either speaking or listening. In this case, the students must evaluate la presentación oral according to the rubric, and answer comprehension questions in the student-created quiz.

After the presentations, the observers ask the presenter questions about his or her speech, then take the quiz.

Want more details? Click the following link to access the culture project I use: LA PRESENTACIÓN ORAL CULTURE PROJECT . These instructions are for Triángulo aprobado, but you can use them with Vista Higher Learning or any other textbook or test-practice booklet. Just replace the titles where appropriate.

2. TELL STUDENTS THE LEARNING GOAL

When I was a new teacher, I would anxiously sit down to grade a project and then feel my disappointed heart sink to my toes as I read each submission. How did the students miss the target by so great a distance? Because I had assumed they knew what I expected. Surely they knew they needed to include what to me were obvious elements. But they didn’t.

Students need to know exactly what is required of them. With that goal in mind, I tell them, at the beginning, what the learning objectives are. Then I give them the rubric with even more details. Below is the learning goal I give my students for the presentación oral comparing the grading system in the U.S. to that of a Spanish-speaking country:

Given a rubric of the oral presentation, vocabulary of comparisons, a PowerPoint on the Oral Presentation, and information on grading systems, students will do a two-minute oral presentation comparing the grading system of one Spanish-speaking country to the grading system in the United States.

HERE IS ANOTHER LEARNING GOAL:

Given information on Cartagena and Macchu Picchu, students will do an oral presentation comparing an American tourist attraction to Machu Picchu or Cartagena.

These topics were in the cultural texts of our AP Spanish test-prep booklet.

3. STUDENTS PRACTICE VOCABULARY FOR COMPARISONS AND FOR THE WRITTEN TEXT

Before students attempt to discuss the differences and similarities of various cultures, they need to have the vocabulary to do so; they need to know how to make comparisons in Spanish, and they need to know the vocabulary specific to the given topic.

I hand out a list of words and phrases students need in order to make comparisons and also vocabulary of challenging words from the text we will be reading.

The words don’t automatically become part of the students’ working vocabulary just because I handed them the list of words. They need to practice the vocabulary, to see the words in context, and to let them percolate in their brains (recognition phase). Then they draw a representation of the words, write the definition, and use them in context themselves (productive).

Below is part of the list of comparisons I give my Spanish students.

Vocabulario para la comparación

• Por un lado                                     On the one hand
• Por otro lado                                  On the other hand
• En comparación con                    In comparison with
• Si se compara…con                      If one compares…with
• Es cada vez más                            It’s more and more
• Es cada vez menos                       It’s less and less
• Mientras que X…                          While X…
• Se parece a…                                 It is similar to
• Se diferencia en                            It differs in that
• Mejor / peor queue                        Better / worse than
• Aunque…                                      Although / even though
• A la inversa                                   Conversely
• De manera different                   Differently
• Sin embargo                                 However

For example, I might say the following: Escojan dos palabras del vocabulario en la página 112. Hagan los cuadros y escriban una oración para cada palabra.

Students draw a square with four boxes. Sometimes, instead of writing sentences in the last box, I tell them to write synonyms in Spanish. Below is the demonstration I show them before instructing them to practice with the vocabulary.

4. LA PRESENTACIÓN ORAL: LAS INSTRUCCIONES

LEARNING TARGET: Students will plan and produce spoken presentational communications.

After students practice the vocabulary, we read the instructions and the exam description together, in Spanish, so they understand the requirements:

• They will have four minutes to read the topic and prepare their presentation.
• They will have two minutes to record their presentation.
• They will need to use the formal register.
• They will be comparing cultural characteristics / practices, traditions of the community in which they live with those of a Spanish-speaking country or Spanish-speaking communities with which they are familiar.
• They can use any of the following examples: information they have read, heard, or seen, or personal experiences or observations.

5. STUDENTS MUST ORGANIZE THEIR ORAL PRESENTATION

It is essential that students learn to organize their presentations, or they will not succeed on the exam. Organizing helps them think better and it also helps them stay within the time constraints.

In order to organize their speech, they must:

• Begin with a thesis statement that answers the question.
• Include words of the question in their thesis statement.
• Include developing paragraphs and a conclusion.
• Use a graphic organizer to prepare: I show students how to use a Venn Diagram and also a T graphic. On one side, students put the differences, on the other side, the similarities.

6. RUBRIC FOR PRESENTATIONAL SPEAKING

I read the College Board rubric for AP Spanish Presentational Speaking with the students so they know how they will be evaluated.

7. SHOW THE POWERPOINT

Then, I show my PowerPoint, which repeats the instructions (once isn’t enough) and gives more details of what is required. Below are a few examples of what students learn when watching the PowerPoint.

STUDENTS MUST:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the culture of a Spanish-speaking country.
• Speak fluidly.
• Provide details of the culture.
• Make themselves understood, speak with varied vocabulary and idiomatic expressions.
• Speak with good pronunciation.
• Correct themselves as they are speaking when they make mistakes.
• Commit few grammatical errors
• Read the question thoroughly.
• Use pausing or transition words to give them time to think such as, “así que, pues, entonces, además…”

The PowerPoint also shows several example introductions and thesis statements for a given cultural comparison including reasons number one and two. It also shows model text for developing paragraphs and a conclusion.

8. STUDENTS EVALUATE USING THE RUBRIC OR A CHECKLIST

After showing the PowerPoint, I give students a checklist of the required elements. After they read the model presentation, I check for understanding by asking students what the requirements are for a good presentation.

Then, students evaluate the model presentation according to the rubric or checklist using the college board grading system: They give an exam score of 1-5. (My checklist was created using the AP Spanish rubric for presentational speaking.)

An easy way to give students an idea of what a grade of 5 looks like is to have them listen to past exams and guess the score. Students hear presentations of scores ranging from 1 to 5. They then evaluate the presentation using a checklist. Once they guess, I show them what the real score was.

9. SELF-CORRECTING

I train students how to correct themselves during the presentation to improve fluidity and help them sound more like a native speaker. For example, I teach the vocabulary they will need when they misspeak, such as, “Es decir, mejor dicho, o sea, digo”.

10. READ THE CULTURAL NOTE

I read the cultural note in the textbook, test-practice booklet, or text I have provided. For example, I say: Lee la “Cápsula cultural: En las terrazas de Cuzco se puede cultivar más que hortalizas” en la página 111 en Triángulo aprobado.

Then I read the question. For example: Comparaciones: Compara la atracción turística de Machu Picchu con un sitio de tu país o comunidad.

11. SOLICIT DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES USING THE GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

I solicit “semejanzas y diferencias”. I write in students’ answers on a transparency (Boy am I old), smart board or whiteboard. Students take notes in their graphic organizer.

12. STUDENTS PRACTICE WITH A PARTNER

Working with a partner greatly decreases student anxiety and makes the task more fun. Also, students have the advantage of a peer tutor.

The first time students work on the oral presentation, I give them a full ten minutes to prepare. The more proficient they become in organizing their comparisons, the less time I give them. The last few months before the AP Spanish exam, students listen to the audio prompts which only allow four minutes to prepare.

13. STUDENTS PRESENT WITH PARTNERS AND EVALUATE EACH OTHER

Students now give their oral presentations using Google Voice, Audacity, or online using the publisher’s site. I time them for two minutes using a stopwatch.

One student at a time gives the presentation while the partner evaluates using the checklist. Students turn in the checklist.

I ask for two volunteers to present before the class for extra points. The entire class grades them according to the checklist.

14. BE EFFICIENT WITH TIME

Did I say 13 ways? Here is #14.

Time is always beating me with a whip as I prepare my students to pass the test. Therefore, I must find ways to use my time efficiently. A great way to save time is to work on two sections of the AP exam simultaneously. I instruct half the class to work on the oral presentation and the other half to work on the simulated conversation for the current AP Spanish theme, for example: Contemporary Life, or Global Challenges. Half the students are doing practice tests for presentational speaking while the other half works on interpersonal speaking. For example:

• Half the class does Conversación simulada p. 117 on Audacity or the Learning Site.
• The other half of the class does oral presentation on Google Voice or the Learning Site.
• Then they switch.
• The Spanish teacher times the oral presentation for two minutes. Remember to tell the test takers to say their name and let a few seconds pass first and to say who they are when using Google Voice.

If you would rather not do all the work yourself, you can use the Oral Presentation PowerPoint and Activities for AP Spanish Language and Culture to help students master la presentación oral portion of the AP Spanish exam. This valuable resource includes everything I have mentioned in this post.

These resources can be used with Triángulo aprobado Spanish Language books or Vista Higher Learning booklets or any AP Spanish Test-prep books. Google Slides digital versions are available, too.

The 28-slide Presentación Oral PowerPoint for AP Spanish includes the following:

• Instructions on how to do a cultural oral presentation for AP Spanish
• Required elements of an oral presentation
• A sample cultural question taken from Triángulo aprobado
• Two sample graphic organizers for the “presentación oral”
• Instructions on how to write the “oración de tesis” and how to organize the “presentación oral”
• A sample cultural oral presentation with the components labeled
• Expressions for self-correction
• Expressions for pausing and transition
• 24 words and expressions useful for making comparisons
• Four possible introductions
• Three possible “oraciones de tesis”
• Two sample developing paragraphs
• A sample conclusion
• Instructions for writing the conclusion

The printables include the following:

• a checklist for self-correction or partner correction
• a lesson plan for the oral presentation following the EDI format: the learning objective, attention-getter, tension, explain/model/demonstrate, checking for understanding, guided practice, closure, independent practice/homework, and items needed to present the lesson
• a graphic organizer
• a handout of vocabulary for making comparisons
• the password to open the PowerPoint YOU WILL NEED MICROSOFT OFFICE 2002 in order to access the password-protected PowerPoint.

This PowerPoint and Activities is included in the following bundle: A P SPANISH POWERPOINTS

How do AP Spanish students record their  simulated conversations  and  oral presentations ?

So many of you have asked me what my students use to record their presentations. I will tell you what I used and also what other teachers use, so you have many options. BELOW ARE WAYS STUDENTS CAN RECORD:  

• Google Voice (What I used)
• Vocaroo  Online Voice Recorder (It’s free and I’ve heard great things about it.)
• Flip  (Used to be FlipGrid.)
• Schoology, Canvas, or any LMS (Learning Management System) your school is using.
• Audacity (I have used this as well.)
• Vista Higher Learning SuperSite
• Student Phones (Voice Memo or Recording App)
• Google MP3 in Google Classroom

READY-MADE LESSON PLANS THAT DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU

If you don’t want to write the lesson plans yourself, use the ready-made lesson plans below. They do everything for you! And you can have confidence in them since all my students passed the AP Spanish Language and Culture Exam except one during the five years I taught AP Spanish.

AP Spanish Lesson Plans and Curriculum for Tríangulo apro bado

AP Spanish Lesson Plans and Curriculum for Vista Higher Learning

Would you like more free resources for AP Spanish? And more tips on how to teach it? Click on the links below.

F-R-E-E Lesson on the Argumentative Essay for Presentational Writing (Previously called the Persuasive Essay)

Simple Tips on How to Teach the AP Spanish Email Reply for Interpersonal Writing

How to Teach the Argumentative Essay

Why I Teac h AP Spanish the Way I Do

What do I Teach After the AP Spanish Language and Culture Exam?

I hope this post has given you some ideas to help your students master la presentación oral section of the AP Spanish exam. If you found this post helpful, send the link to a friend!

If you’d like to get more tips and f-r-e-e resources in your email, subscribe to my newsletter. Just click this link and scroll to the bottom to subscribe: Best PowerPoints for Spanish and French by Angie Torre. You’ll also get a F-R-E-E 122-slide PowerPoint on Spanish verbs and infinitives.

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I taught world language for 31 years and have created countless resources for Spanish and French during that time.  I am a top seller on Teachers Pay Teachers and for the past 11 years I have devoted my time and energy to helping teachers save time, avoid burn-out, and bring their students to proficiency in the target language through the use of my proven resources. During the five years that I taught AP Spanish, all but one of my students (primarily non-native speakers) passed the AP exam most with fours and fives.

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This is a selection of PowerPoint Presentations freely available on the Internet that I decided to put together here, as I consider them useful both for learners as well as for teachers who are in a rush and need quality materials for their classes. Most of these are not mine, as you will be able to see in the original credits that accompany them. I personally do not use them in my classes as I prefer to create my own, and I really have a blast doing so, but I know many teachers would love to get their hands on this stuff. So if that describes you, I would love to welcome you to enjoy these free Spanish Powerpoints!

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And gain access to some great resources., 20+ activities to keep in mind while introducing a new spanish class unit.

Starting a new unit in Spanish Class can be intimidating.

When I start a new unit with my Spanish classes, I like to remind myself to think about *why* I plan the activities that I do. Are my activities just busy work? No. Do I want my students to remember their memorized vocabulary solely for their quiz? Also no. Does our textbook vocabulary list cover all of the essential words we should learn? Definitely not. What I want to do is simple, and easy to achieve if I stop to plan it out.

During any given unit, I hope to:

• Keep my students engaged, interested, and motivated
• Support long-term language acquisition
• Offer opportunity for student input
• Focus on language proficiency (not memorization)
• Build my students’ confidence
• Maintain strong student-teacher relationships
• Uphold high expectations
• Motivate high quality work
• Provide support and differentiation
• Provide multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency
• Include time for review when needed

A quick note:

You may wonder why I have student-teacher relationships on there. I can say, without a doubt, that the strongest aspect I bring to my teaching game is my ability to establish connections and build relationships.

My students come to class because I care about them. They know I care about them because I tell them that I do, and because I show them that I do. Some have told me they come to  school  because I care about them. “Profe, I was gonna skip today but I knew you’d be mad at me.” or “I wasn’t gonna come but I know we are working on that project.” If our students are in class, and they want to stay awake (or keep their eyes off their phones) for us, we can teach them. If they aren’t, our jobs become much more difficult. I’m not saying it’s the end-all solution but I am saying that my job got easier when I started focusing on my students as individuals instead of “just another kid” in my classes of 30+.

How do I do this? I have  a blog post about building relationships here , but a few quick things I do:

• I greet my students by name at my door.
• I chat with them about celebrities before/after class, or include celebrities in my examples.
• I include my students’ names in my examples, worksheets, and quizzes.
• I call home for GOOD reasons.
• I chat with them about video games and books. And I’m not pandering; I actually play the video games they play, and read the books they read.
• I’ll watch what they’re talking about on Netflix. They get a kick out of that one.

I do anything I can to make connections, inside and outside of my content area. I am here to teach them Spanish, but I am also here to just  be their teacher.  As someone who grew up in search of positive adult role models, I will always try to be that reliable adult for my students.

Back to introducing a new unit in Spanish Class!

Once we focus on the *why* we plan the lessons that we do, it’s important to have a wide variety of options of go-to activities for introducing a new unit. I tend to over-plan for my classes, because some classes LOVE certain activities while other classes literally groan if I mention them. I listen to those groans. I avoid those groans.

Putting likes/dislikes aside, some activities just work better for some groups as compared to others. Some classes fly through an activity where another class takes 20 minutes. Some classes beg to continue playing four corners, while other classes are just *over it* in five minutes. Some classes need more repetition and review before moving on.

So to make sure I’m never scrambling, and to make sure my students are getting as much comprehensible input as possible, I over-plan. I make sure that I have lots of activities at my disposal, and I try to explicitly plan each class with a goal. You will also notice that many of my activities involve  movement  of some sort, or they are hands-on. I find that these types of activities are especially important when introducing new vocabulary or grammar.

For example, I keep sets of  Puzzles ,  Sonidos Secretos  cards,  Task Cards ,  Cacto Conversación  cards,  Tiburones , and  more  prepped for each unit.

I keep everything organized in plastic baggies, and then everything for the unit inside a bigger baggie. My file cabinet is filled with these bags of activities.

It isn’t the most glamorous but it works for me!

Deciding which Spanish class activities to prep:

“What do I want to accomplish today?”  Do I want my students to work with the vocabulary hands-on? Is my goal to provide them with some reading to help build their confidence? Do I want them to speak, to create with the new language? To write? A little of both? Do I want them to work together or do I need some individual work time so that I can more easily assess where students are individually?

Depending on my answers to these questions, the following are a sample of the activities I tend to choose from. That being said, I do try to provide student choice as frequently as possible. This may mean I ask them which ORDER we do our activities –> “Would you rather start with four corners to get warmed up, or save it for the middle of class when we need to stretch?”

OR I may let them outright CHOOSE the activities they’d like to complete. “Today we will be focusing on speaking and writing. I have a writing activity, chosen, but for speaking what would you all prefer?  Llama Mía ,  Sonidos Secretos , or  Citas Cortas ? I have all of these ready.” 

Later in the day…. my classes may not get *all* of the options if my paper copies are running low 😉 I’m not looking to kill trees, just to provide options where I can! And anything we don’t use, will be saved for early finishers for the rest of the week. If I print it, we find a way to use it.

Spanish Class Activity Options

These are my favorite activities to have on-hand during any given unit. I prep them all at the beginning, so that my classes can move at their own pace and I can differentiate when needed.

I hope you will find something new to try!

Activities that are hands-on

I love using triangle and square puzzles to get my students engaged with new vocabulary or grammar right from the very first day of the unit! If there are a lot of cognates, or if grammatical connections can be made, I often give these as a warm-up before we even take any notes 🙂

 This proves to my students that they CAN understand what is going on.. before we even really take time to break it down! 

If it is a more difficult vocabulary list or unit, I will give these puzzles as our exit ticket on the first day or as a warmup on the second day. I also find it valuable to note that you can use these puzzles more than once! You can have students time themselves, and then try to beat that time the next day (or even later during that block.) You could have them race one another to bring in a bit of competition!

I love using puzzles so much that I have an entire blog post dedicated to them! If you’d like to find new ideas for different ways to use puzzles in class, you can read that post  here !

2. La Lluvia

This activity provides students with choice and also provides hands-on review. Students first choose which raindrops they  want  to write about. You could fill rain drops with your current vocab, or find another way to provide them with options. Once they color in their raindrops, they then challenge themselves to use the new vocab in original sentences on the other side.

The sentences can be simple, such as me gusta or no me gusta, but should find a way to show that they understand the meaning of the new vocabulary while only using the target language 🙂

Again, I have a full tutorial blog post about this activity! If you’d like to learn more about differentiation ideas and ways to promote creative writing in the target language, you can read that post  here !

3. Columnas  

Students work in a hands-on manner to categorize vocabulary. I will print our vocabulary list on one side of a worksheet, in boxes around the page. On the other side of the worksheet, I will have three categories. Students must flip back and forth to categorize their new vocab into the categories. For example, common infinitives listed on one side with “en casa” “en escuela” and “afuera” on the other side. This is great for a warmup on the second day of a vocabulary unit.

4.  Dados  

Students love rolling dice! Even if it is via an iPad app, they have fun.  I’m willing to try anything that would make conjugating more fun! For vocabulary, you could have them roll just 1 die and then prompt them to write a sentence with that vocabulary word. With two die, you could include up to 11 words at a time. This is great since vocabulary should be practiced in smaller chunks anyways 🙂

5.  Tiburones  

This is a great review game on quiz day or the day before quiz day, so later on in your unit. Strips of paper are held in an envelope. Students sit in groups of 3-4 and take turns pulling strips to translate the vocabulary word, create a sentence, or conjugate the verb appropriately.

If they answer correctly, they keep the strip. If they are incorrect, they have to return the strip to the envelope. If they pull a strip that has TIBURONES swimming on it, they have to put ALL of their strips back! (But the shark stays off to the side.) Whoever has the most strips at the end, wins! I have an editable version of this so you can make your own if you’d like a template that’s already set up for you 🙂

This one is best for grammar, but can be adapted for vocab. Students sit in a circle, and every student has 1 index card with a subject and verb or maybe with a vocab word in Spanish. On your signal, students have 15-30 seconds to write their answer on their sheet, and then on your mark students must pass the card to the student on their left and receive the card from the student on their right. This is a low movement, low pressure activity that mixes up the classroom setup and gives students a chance to collaborate in a way they may not otherwise. “Hey, psst, what did you get for this one you just gave me? Ok great that’s what I had too.”

Activities that involve movement

This is perfect for new vocab. On the day after we introduce a new unit, we usually start with Toma as the warmup. I have a soft globe ball that I’ll toss (underhand) to students as I ask them questions aloud about our new vocab. Near the start of the unit, I may use English and ask for the Spanish equivalent. As we move deeper into the unit, I will ask more challenging yet comprehensible questions in Spanish. For example, when studying common verb infinitives, I’ll ask things like “¿Qué te gusta hacer en casa?” or “¿Qué te gusta hacer afuera?”

If I want to really assess their progress, I may up the difficulty. “Dame dos actividades que te gusta hacer con tus amigos cuando hace buen tiempo.” We usually play this for just 5-7 minutes. **IF I ever notice that a particular class is very hesitant to speak, or seems sleepy… I ask everyone to stand. To prove to them that they DO know what is going on… I ask simple questions and toss the ball for answers. Students can only sit down once they’ve answered. This is a great way to remind everyone that they are capable… and that you expect them to be active participants in class!**

2. Four Corners

I am always surprised by the classes that love four corners. Typically, when I try it with one of my more reluctant classes,  they are the ones that love it!  Who would think that the students that resist work/movement the most are the ones who actually enjoy an activity that calls for a LOT of movement? Like.. the MOST movement we do! I know everyone has played four corners at some point in their life, but I want to mention it on this list because it is sometimes overlooked for fancier activities.

Just because it isn’t fancy doesn’t mean it doesn’t work!!  To make this even easier to set up, sometimes my classes play 2 corners. We do a simple agree/disagree.

This listening activity (if I speak the statements aloud) or reading activity (if I project them) is great for building student confidence. I always want them to feel good about what we are learning in class; they CAN understand, and they CAN communicate their opinions

This is an activity I had somehow never heard of, and I learned about it first on Instagram!

The amazing thing about SEIS is it can be done with ANY worksheet. Students sit in pairs, each with a worksheet but with only 1 pencil between them. One student begins filling in the worksheet, while the other rolls the die until he/she gets a 6. When they roll a 6, they shout “¡SEIS!” and grab the pencil from their opponent. Then, their opponent must roll a 6 to get the pencil back, and so forth. Whoever finishes the worksheet first, “wins” 🙂

I love adding a twist or two; for example, if you roll a 2, you can erase your opponent’s answers until they roll a 6 again! Or you have to hoot like an owl until you roll your next 6….. be silly and have fun!

4. La Silla Caliente  

This is a great vocab or grammar game if you have a longer amount of time, and if you want to assess how students are doing individually without calling too much attention to those that may be struggling.

For a detailed game walkthrough as well as free resources, please visit this tutorial blog post !

Quick overview:

Students sit in *rows* of up to 5 people. Their teammates are the members of their vertical row. The teacher projects a question on the board, and *all* students answer on a small white board (or iPad). On the teacher’s count, they all show their answers at the same time. If the first person in the row got the correct answer, that team earns 5 points. If the first person is wrong but the second person is right, their team gets 4 points, and so on.

After each question, I have the first person in each row rotate to the back while everyone up moves up 1 seat. This rotates the “pressure” of answering. This activity is essential for my classroom when I need to assess how my students are doing without calling too much attention to them.  My students sit in groups, and typical classwork assignments make it easy for my struggling students to blend in. They can speak with their group members and I don’t always know the amount of support they’re getting. With La Silla Caliente, I know exactly how all 30 students are performing, within a 15-20 minute span.

(PSA: I actually love to play this game for almost an entire class, so I wait until the end of a unit so that we have a lot of material to cover. It can, however, be adjusted to be much quicker!)

If you choose to look at any La Silla Caliente options on TPT, please know they are all editable for you!

5. Carreras  

I call this Carreras or Word Race in my class, but it may have 1000 other names. It is a much simpler version of hot seat, where there is minimal movement instead of maximum movement.

Students remain in their normal seats/groups, with white boards or iPads. I project a question, fill in, or conjugation on the board. They write their answers and hold them up to me to check when they are ready. (You can do a count-down, but I like this one to be very low-pressure. I like to watch and see who is answering first all the time… who is looking for other people’s answers before being confident enough to show their own… etc.)

6.  Citas Cortas

This is a speed-dating style speaking activity that requires movement to change partners on your signal. I typically do 60-90 second rounds. I have only have had ONE class finish all 10 rounds… we usually aim for 6-7 rounds 🙂 My checklists have about 10 questions each, as well as space for tracking the questions asked during the 10 possible rounds. On the back, students complete a self-reflection afterwards. We assess whether we felt stronger in asking or responding. We identify any vocab that was tricky. We make a plan for next time. The reflection is a great way to wrap up this speaking activity with a satisfying bow.

I have a detailed tutorial walkthrough for this activity as well, with free resources available to try 🙂 Please check out this blog post if you’d like to read more!

7. Task Cards  

I love hanging task cards around the room to get students moving.  Task cards are easy to create, and easy to adapt for any unit!

I find that 16 has been my magic number to keep this activity to 15-20 minutes including review of answers.  I utilize a mix of multiple choice, true false, fill-ins, and response questions.

I provide students with an answer sheet that has 16 numbered spaces so that they already have a designated “home” for each answer as they find it.

Depending on the class, I may challenge them to answer them all, or I may provide student choice by challenging them to complete any 12 that they choose.

Activities to provide scaffolding

1.  sentence structure worksheets.

When we are in a new unit, it is a lot to expect students to be able to produce detailed sentences without support. I call these activities “sentence structures,” but again I’m sure there’s 1000 other names for it.

I organize parts of speech/pieces of sentences into columns, and ask students to construct complete sentences by choosing from the boxes. “You must choose one word from each of the columns A, B, C, and D to construct a sentence that makes sense. Be sure to conjugate your word from column B.” (or, make sure you adjust for adjective agreement, etc.)

When students only have to make small changes, they do not feel so overwhelmed by the instruction to “write 10 sentences with brand new vocabulary.” I am always trying to build them up, and remind them of what they  can do.  As we get more comfortable, we will write without the support.

2. EdPuzzle

You can create videos that have questions embedded into them! Students can replay as many times as they need, and work at their own pace to answer your questions without fear of other students noticing they needed to listen a second or third time. I love using videos to make new vocabulary more interesting to my students. It is also great to find cultural videos to bring the language to life.

3. Conversation strips

This is another activity that is great for confidence building, especially with new vocabulary.

I love typing up fun and comprehensible conversations that use our new vocabulary into strips, cutting them out, and giving one pack to each pair of students. I then prompt them to work together to get the conversation lined up in the correct order.

You can make this a race, but there is no need to. Students are typically self-motivated because they want to “fix” the conversation when it is out of order. I did not put this into the hands-on category because IF you do not have the time to cut up the strips, you could simply type the conversation lines OUT OF ORDER and ask your students to number them or rewrite them in the correct order. 

Activities that are just plain FUN

1. taco tuesday.

My students know that Taco Tuesday is a tradition in my class. We do not play nearly every Tuesday, but maybe once or twice per unit. They get very competitive, and as you can see rivalries last throughout the year! It is a very fun game that can be adapted for any vocab or grammar unit. Students race to find the correct term on the board, and color it in their designated color. Whoever has the most tacos in their color at the end, wins! I have editable templates, as well, so that you can make your own over and over 🙂

All of my Taco Tuesday game sets (including my editable templates ) have been updated for digital gameplay. This means that every game is ready for paper or digital play!

For a more detailed activity walkthrough with differentiation ideas, please visit this blog post .

For support for digital gameplay, please visit this support blog post!

You can sign up for free resources and extra tips right here!

2. Sonidos Secretos  

This is probably the silliest activity I do with my classes, and they adore it!

For a more detailed walkthrough, please visit this tutorial blog post .

It is based off of “The Whisper Challenge” from Jimmy Fallon. To play, students first sit in pairs. One student wears headphones, and one student reads a student or teacher-created sentence from a card. They read it slowly and dramatically, but in a whisper.

The student with the headphones has to try to read their partner’s lips to “decipher” the sentence. This usually ends with my classes in absolute giggles. If you need to build morale in any certain class, I highly recommend this activity as well as Taco Tuesday (above).  Another option for Sonidos Secretos is to showcase two students at the front of the room. Have them perform the activity in front of the class, and everyone  is sure to enjoy it!!

What do YOUR classes find fun? What works for them? What gets them engaged and motivated?

It is important that we take time to provide our students “breaks.” This can sometimes be brain breaks, review days, or review activities where students feel like they are “playing” more than learning. This style may not work for everyone, but it has absolutely worked for me and made my teaching much more enjoyable. My classes have not touched a textbook in a few years, and that’s exactly the way I like it!

Last but not least, activities that call for tech

1. quizlet live (try a relay).

I love traditional Quizlet live, and for my more active classes I love to turn it into a relay. All devices are on one side of the room, and all students stand with the teams on the other side. Only one student can be near their team’s group of devices at a time. The next person can’t move until that person answers, and comes back to tag them! It gets VERY competitive! (Another lovely idea from Srta Spanish!)

2. Kahoot (of course!)

This online game gets everyone engaged. Like Quizlet, there are many sets that have already been created but you always want to check for spelling and accuracy.

Classes get VERY into this one! It has a similar setup to Quizlet or Kahoot, but students are working for “$” instead of points. You can set the game to a time limit or an earning goal. I have *never* hear my kids shout so much over answering vocabulary questions!

Taking it further

You may also be interested in the following activities to promote speaking when your students are a bit more confident with their unit:

Thank you for reading!

I hope you were able to get a few new ideas for introducing your next unit! Good luck, have fun, and let me know in the comments if you’ve had success with any of these activities with your students.

I also love to see how you incorporate these activities into your classroom, so feel free to tag me on social media! I’m on IG @theengagedspanishclassroom, on Twitter @engagedspanish, and on Facebook as The Engaged Spanish Classroom.

Please feel free to share this post with your world language teacher colleagues and friends!

Looking for more ideas to try.

Inside: Find an intro and overview of 5 of my FAVORITE activities to support proficiency in Spanish class!

Inside: strategies and resources to promote student reflection throughout the school year

Inside: Find a detailed activity tutorial and differentiation ideas for Hexagon Grouping in Spanish class!

Guau, solo guau. This is so impressive! Thank you for giving this veteran teacher new tricks in her bag!

I am so glad you liked it! 🙂

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My name is Erin and I have 10 years of experience teaching high school Spanish. I love building positive student relationships and bringing a bit of fun into my lessons to keep my students engaged!

5 Engaging Activities for a Proficiency Focused Spanish Class

My 3 favorite reflection strategies for spanish class, browse categories.

Privacy Overview

We will never forget ! PowerPoint Presentations for Spanish Class!! Click here to get out of someone else's frame... Welcome! I am a high school Spanish teacher in Massachusetts. I teach at a place called St. John's High School . We are in the process of integrating technology more and more in to our classrooms. To that end, I have created some PowerPoint presentations that I have used successfully in class. The links below will allow you to download the presentations directly. You must have PowerPoint or the PowerPoint viewer installed on your computer to view them. Otherwise you can just save them to your machine for your own use, and feel free to use / modify them as you like. In Internet Explorer, right-click the link, and then choose "save target as" to save a copy to your own computer. In Netscape, right-click, and choose "save link as" to do the same. If you do download and use them, please drop me a note to let me know. Have fun!! Download the PowerPoint Viewer here! ANNOUNCEMENT!! Some of the presentations have been moved. This page now only contains those presentations used for my Spanish I class . Page 2 (Spanish II, AP, Miscellaneous) can now be found by clicking here for page 2! First Day Millionaire!       The original, single slide was created by Christine Stanley . This version is what I use the first day of class with Spanish I to test their knowledge of Spanish culture, and to illustrate how present the Spanish language is in today's world. Music and sounds included. (388kb) Click here for instructions on how to use the "Millionaire" game. El Mundo Hispano       Basic geography of the Spanish-speaking world. Includes maps, flags, capitals, and nationalities. The maps make the file somewhat larger than the rest. (1.6mb) �Qu� hora es?       I used this presentation to review the time expressions with my Spanish I class. It includes the vocabulary and several examples for them to practice. (295kb) Los Sustantivos en espa�ol       This is presents nouns in Spanish. It presents gender, plurals, definite and indefinite articles. (311kb) Los Verbos en -AR       A quick review of -AR verb conjugations. Covers personal pronouns, verb endings, and conjugation practice. (370kb) Las Palabras Interrogativas       A review of of the question-asking interrogative words, and questions in general, how to ask them, how to answer them, etc. (332kb) El Verbo "IR"       This covers the forms of the irregular verb "IR" as well as several vocabulary expression having to do with destinations and modes of transportation. (324kb) Ser y Estar       Several examples of the differences between the two verbs are offered. There are also some in-class practice sentences at the end. See below for another example of a Ser / Estar presentation by Leni Bronstein . (254kb) El verbo GUSTAR       Always a difficult concept, this presentation outlines the basics of the "gustar" construction. Useful mainly as a review, after classroom presentation. (342kb) El Calendario       This is a simple presentation of the vocabulary and expressions used to talk about days of the week, months, seasons, etc. Also included is information on how to talk about dates, names of some important holidays, and a brief explanation of el d�a de tu santo . (467kb) Los Adjetivos Demostrativos       This one is very short, just a brief explanation of what the demonstratives are and how to use them, followed by several examples. (128kb) El Tiempo       This is a presentation I did to review the weather expressions in Spanish (9 slides). The kids liked it and I think it was pretty successful. Click on the slide image at the left to view / download the file. (339kb) Jeopardy!       It's the classic TV show-turned-review game. Thanks to Matt Hamlyn for the original version. I used this version as a final exam review in my Spanish I classes last year and the kids loved it. Includes sounds effects, single- and double-jeopardy, and daily doubles. (453kb) Click here for instructions on how to use the "Jeopardy" game. ANNOUNCEMENT!! Some of the presentations have been moved. This page now only contains those presentations used for my Spanish I class . Page 2 (Spanish II, AP, Miscellaneous) can now be found by clicking here for page 2! Look at your cursor. Cool, huh? Customize your viewers' cursor for them on any of your own web pages. Visit CometZone . Use these links to jump around the rest of my site: Spanish Links My Students Hispanic National Anthems Teacher Resources PowerPoint Presentations Student Online Projects 1999's Trip to Spain! HTML Tips and Tricks Web Design 101 My Links Sign my Guest Book My Home Page! Send me e-mail!

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Speaking Latino

Teach and Learn Real World Spanish

8 Ways to Add Spanish Culture Lesson Plans to Your Teaching

You’ve got the planning down, but now , how do you add Spanish culture and traditions to your lesson plans?

Spanish cultural lesson plans can be the trickiest to create, especially when unde r pressure to complete the language portion of the class. Think of it this way – culture is language and language is culture , so interesting Spanish culture topics are essential for the course. Communication is not just the words – knowing how and why people interact in that country is also important for communicating in the target language properly.

Culture can be as simple as learning the correct register of voice to use when speaking with a stranger versus your friend. What students are always asking for more of is the actual customs and traditions of a Spanish-speaking country. Spanish culture activities can be, and usually are , the hook that intrigues the students to learn more about the language. Keep on reading to check how you can incorporate Spanish culture and traditions into your classes!

1. Have a Cultural Calendar

In 2015, I created a Cultural Calendar, and it was a game changer. The legwork was done the first year, but in the following years, updating it was quick. In a Word document, I identified all the major holidays and celebrations from the Spanish-speaking countries with a link to an article, video, or information to share with the students. This calendar keeps me updated throughout the school year. For example, Día Nacional del Mate on November 30th, Fiestas Patrias de Chile on September 18th, Indigenous People Day, and so on.

I send a free copy of the Cultural Calendar via email every month, so be sure to add your information here to get it. Plus, there are instructions to add the electronic version to your Google Calendar and make it easier to be up to date with Spanish cultural events.

2. Cultural Presentations with Quick Activities

I also have a library of introductory cultural presentations about many topics to use throughout the year. Some ideas came from the Cultural Calendar holidays and celebrations, but others are about traditions. These presentations are in Spanish for intermediate-advanced classes and in English if I want to explain the topic to novice students. Each presentation also has a video and a couple of slides with comprehension activity.

I have identified and created about 47 cultural Google slides here.

3. Use Authentic News Articles and Media

When I see a news article, blog, video, or media from around the Spanish-speaking world that may interest students, I create 3 worksheets with Spanish cultural activities around it: scaffolded for novice, intermediate, and advanced students. 

I think about what tasks students at each level can accomplish with the same resource. While some of these Spanish cultural projects may be relevant at specific times of the year, these activities are not tied to any lesson in particular.

If you want to check them out, there are more than 75+ scaffolded Spanish cultural activities in my library.

The only scaffolded Spanish culture lesson plan that for sure should go first is this audiovisual interpretative activity about cultural appropriation and cultural assimilation.

4. Host a Fair

For novice levels of Spanish, try sticking to general Spanish culture topics for presentations and activities, like holidays, food, or music. This will allow you to explore and touch upon many countries and give the students a sampling of what is actually out in the world. 

A fantastic way to incorporate these topics is to host a Feria de comida , or a Feria de música . These “fairs” break the normal classroom routine, piquing students’ interest, but also allow ing them to really explore Spanish culture and traditions and get a basic idea of how each Spanish-speaking country is similar in their festivals, culture and celebrations and how they are different.

These types of Spanish culture lesson plans usually take two days to complete the actual fair, but it can be pretty easy to integrate them into your normal classroom activities. Here are some tips:

• Be sure that the topic of the fair coincides with the unit you are working on. This way, there is not a jarring change when you have the students work on their country during class.
• Giving them time in class to work on Spanish cultural projects is usually beneficial. Don’t overdo it because then the students take advantage of the time given.
• If it’s possible you could have the students start on their cultural fair project the first week of the unit. Give them a class period the first week and then maybe 15-20 minutes each week after ( until the actual fair ).
•   There are multiple Spanish culture project ideas to choose from, so go with what is the most comfortable for you and your class.

During the actual fair, split the class into two (or more) groups – a group that presents one day and the other group that presents the next day. You can have the groups present to the whole class, or you can do a round – robin presentation. The round -r obin is where all the presentation groups are set up and presented to a small group of students for about 6-10 minutes (depending on your class period’s length). After that time is up, the small groups will move to the next presentation, and the presenters will present again for the allotted time. The only downfall is that the students presenting will not get to hear the other presenters.

5.  Read Books With References to Cultural Activities in Spain or South/Central America

Choose your favorite book that has references to Spanish cultural events or customs, and tell your students to read at least a chapter or two.

Books for Kids

When you plan to conduct a lesson about Spanish culture for kids, you can use such books as:

Paletero Man , by Lucky Diaz

Lucky Diaz is a Latin Grammy-winning musician famous for playing bilingual indie music for kids together with his wife. In his book, the narrator searches for the ice pop truck all around his community. Little Spanish readers can encounter simple words and phrases throughout the book, as well as cultural references that can facilitate the introduction to Spanish culture topics.

Alma and How She Got Her Name, by Juana Martinez-Neal

This book will help you to explain the sentimental meanings behind long Hispanic names. It tells the story of Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela, who is embarrassed by her long name and asks her dad about it. This book is full of warmth and helps children understand the beauty of Hispanic cultural heritage.

Too Many Tamales, by Gary Soto

In this book, we have a girl called Maria who is helping her family prepare tamales for Christmas Eve dinner. She accidentally loses her mom’s stunning diamond ring and asks her cousins to help her find it. 

Thanks to this story, children not only learn that it’s better to tell the truth than to try to hide a problem but are also introduced to Hispanic food and other traditions associated with Christmas, so it is perfect for your last class before the Christmas break.

Books for Adults

Here are examples of books that can inspire Spanish culture project ideas for classes with adult students:

How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez

This novel presents a family living in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s who needed to leave their country due to political reasons. We see them trying to keep their Dominican traditions while settling in the chaos of New York City. It is not only a good starting point for introducing cultural topics but also for discussing the topic of Hispanic immigrants adapting to living abroad while maintaining their original heritage.

Like Water for Chocolate , Laura Esquivel

This is the story of an all-female family living in Mexico, focusing on the youngest daughter, who tries to become more independent and searches for her true love. 

Every chapter of this book starts with a Mexican recipe, so it is great to implement it in your cultural classes associated with local food.

The House on Mango Street , by Sandra Cisneros

The main protagonist of this novel is a girl from a Mexican-American family who goes through a journey from being ashamed of her Hispanic heritage to accepting it and finding herself. 

It is another excellent story not only mentioning Hispanic traditions but also showing why they are so important to the community.

6. Incorporate Songs Referring to Interesting Spanish Culture Topics

Hispanic music is so characteristic that it basically has to be incorporated into Spanish cultural projects if you want your students to understand the Spanish-speaking community better. 

You have many opportunities, and you can choose a typical Pop Latino song or dig deeper and select Indigenous music or other more marginalized voices.

It’s definitely a good idea to find clean songs suitable for Spanish culture lesson plans that mention various traditions, customs, holidays, or local cuisines. 

It can be difficult and time-consuming to search for such music on your own, so we have prepared a free Spanish song list . As all the songs have useful annotations, you will know what they are about and what Spanish cultural activities they are most suitable for.

7. Introduce Spanish Slang and Idioms

Learning local slang and idioms present in the Spanish language is crucial for both developing communication skills and discovering the cultural heritage. They are a significant part of every culture and make the speech more vivid and natural. On top of that, it helps to avoid misunderstandings, which could appear if an idiom used by a native speaker was understood literally.

To make it easier for you to organize such a class, we have prepared a set of printable Spanish sayings . As they have both Spanish and English explanations along with cartoonish illustrations, they can be easily understood and memorized by your students. Apart from that, we have published useful e-books serving as slang dictionaries of various local Spanish variants. They will help you introduce slang expressions from a chosen country to your classes and familiarize your students with a particular country better.

8. Explore Local Myths and Folklore

Exploring local folklore and myths is a wonderful way to learn more about the culture of a chosen country. Try to find traditional stories and legends that can be fascinating to discover no matter the age. 

Such folk tales are often associated with the history of a region, which may create an opportunity to introduce historical elements to your classes as well. 

What’s more, they sometimes also try to explain natural phenomena, so it helps to understand how people from the past tried to understand something that was beyond their comprehension at that time.  Even though nowadays there is a scientific explanation for that, it happens that the old cultural beliefs still affect people’s thinking (especially when it comes to superstitions). 

You can divide your students into groups and ask them to prepare presentations on the folklore and myths associated with a particular Spanish-speaking country. It will be enjoyable and engaging for them and will help them to acquire new vocabulary and cultural knowledge!

The Final Note

Either way, the students are learning valuable information about the Hispanic world’s culture and traditions in a fun and interesting way. Latino countries and Spain activities for the classroom will make your lessons more engaging and help your students acquire new vocabulary faster and with less effort. 

What’s even more important, they will allow them to understand the culture of the Hispanic world better and avoid misunderstandings with native speakers.

Thanks to the materials available on our website , teaching Spanish can be easier, more enjoyable, and more effective. Download them now!

Diana Caballero

I'm Jared's wife and a dedicated contributor to Speaking Latino, the Spanish Teachers Community, and the World Language Teacher Summit.

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Search Speaking Latino

Beginner & Elementary

Check out some of the materials we use in class, and feel free to download them 🙂.

Presentation for the first class

This is a great presentation for the first couple of lessons of the A1 level. This presentation covers greetings and introductions, general vocabulary, questions, numbers, etc.

Presentación primera clase.pdf

PDF File [6 MB]

Handout: 8 easy steps to introduce yourself in Spanish

This is a great handout that covers the basic steps to introduce yourself when you meet someone new. It has useful phrases and vocabulary and their translation to English. 

Great for quick reference and to revise at home.

Thanks so much to our teacher Leo for making this great resource for our students! 🙂

8 steps to introduce yourself.pdf

PDF File [69 KB]

Póster de Halloween

This is a great poster to introduce Halloween related vocabulary.

You can complement the lesson  with our Halloween flashcards and speaking activity “¿Qué prefieres? Versión Halloween”, which you can download from this site too  (see below :)).

¡Que los disfrutes! 

Póster Halloween.pdf

PDF File [1.16 MB]

¿Qué prefieres? Versión Halloween

This is a great activity to practise speaking and Halloween related vocabulary. Our students love it!

You can do this activity after you’ve introduced the vocabulary with our poster (see above), and you can also complement the lesson  with our Halloween flashcards (see below :).

Que prefieres Halloween.pdf

PDF File [472 KB]

Flashcards de Halloween

Great flashcards to revise and consolidate Halloween related vocabulary.

You can complement the lesson  with our Halloween poster and speaking activity “¿Qué prefieres? Versión Halloween”, which you can download from this site too  (see above :)).

You can do a few activities with these flashcards, with the students working in pairs:

. They repeat the vocabulary, making sure that the pronunciation is correct. “Murciélago” tends to be the trickiest one, so make sure you model the pronunciation. For a bit of trivia, I like telling our students that “murciélago” is the only word in Spanish that has the 5 vowels 🙂

. They can cover the names and drill each other, trying not to look at the poster.

. You can print them twice and do a memory game.

Any other ideas? Let us know on social @larasspanishhub! 

¡Que las disfrutes! 

Flashcards Halloween.pdf

PDF File [1,009B]

Bingo de Halloween

Really fun activity to revise and consolidate Halloween related vocabulary.

You can complement the lesson  with our other Halloween materials,  which you can download from this site too  (see above and below :)).

There are 8 bingo cards in the file, you can print 2 or even 4 in an A4 page, it works just as well. And if you have a big class you can always just give the same card to a couple of students, just as fun!

Bingo Halloween.pdf

PDF File [252 MB]

Presentación SER y ESTAR

This is a great presentation to introduce the differences between SER & ESTAR. It covers the conjugations for SER & ESTAR, their main uses (with lots of examples) and it has three pages of practice at the end.

Great to introduce this topic, which can be brain twisting for Spanish students.

NOTE: you can view and save this presentation but you can’t make changes to it, as it’s password protected for editing. Just click the READ ONLY button when you see the prompt, which will allow you to view it and save it.

Presentacion ser y estar.pptx

PPTX File [1.42 MB]

En el restaurante: ordena la conversación

This is a great activity to practise the vocabulary and phrases that we use to order food at a restaurant, prior to doing the role-play.

It’s really fun and we usually do it as a competition between teams (everything is more fun when you turn it into a game! :)). Each team gets a set of flashcards all mixed up and the team that manages to put the conversation in order first wins.

Ideally teams of no more than three students, so everyone can participate.

Great to practise at home too, if you are a student.

Ordena la conversacion En el restaurante

PDF File [482 KB]

Handout: Verb Essentials

This is a great handout that covers the introduction to verb conjugation in the Present Tense, plus the conjugation for regular and irregular verbs, including an appendix with all the stem-changing verbs.

Great to have at home for quick reference and study.

A great resource if you want to master Spanish verb conjugation once and for all!

Verb Essentials

PDF File [300 KB]

Actividad oral: saludos y despedidas

Esta es una actividad muy simple y muy efectiva que usamos en nuestra primera clase del nivel Beginner 1 para practicar conversación y poner a los alumnos a hablar desde el primer día. Una vez vistas las frases para saludar y despedirse, los alumnos trabajan en parejas para poner las tarjetas en orden y armar pequeñas  conversaciones.

A los alumnos les encanta esta actividad y vuelven a casa con la sensación de haber aprendido (y hablado) mucho.

Para clases online se podrían proyectar las tarjetas en la pantalla y los alumnos las ponen en orden oralmente, todos juntos o en parejas (siempre y cuando puedas compartir pantalla).

¡Qué la disfruten!  

Tarjetas saludos y despedidas.pdf

PDF File [19 MB]

Póster: Las profesiones

This is a great poster with the vocabulary for some of the most common professions, in size A4.

Póster Las profesiones

PDF File [282 KB]

Póster: Las frutas

This is a great poster with the vocabulary for fruit, in size A4.

Póster Las frutas

PDF File [291 KB]

De compras: actividad oral

Esta es una hoja de trabajo para aprender a preguntar y a decir el precio de ciertos productos.

El archivo tiene dos páginas, una para el alumno A y otra para el B. La idea es que los alumnos trabajen en parejas y practiquen la conversación preguntando por los precios de los productos a los que les falta el precio en su hoja. 

Esta actividad es genial para practicar el vocabulario aprendido y hacer que los alumnos se suelten un poco.  Además, poder ir de compras es una de las habilidades más importantes cuando se está de viaje en un país de habla hispana, así que esta actividad es muy relevante. 

En clase la complementamos con tarjetas con productos y la lista de la compra, para extender la actividad y hacer un role-play completo.

¡Que lo disfruten! 

Actividad oral De compras

PDF File [380 KB]

Sobre mí: actividad oral

Esta es una actividad genial para el primer día de clase (nosotros la usamos en nuestro curso Elementary) ya que les permite a los alumnos repasar estructuras y vocabulario básico para dar información sobre sí mismos, a la vez que les da una oportunidad para conocer a los compañeros.

El archivo descargable es una hoja en A4, pero si no quieres imprimirla, puedes proyectarla en la pizarra.

¡Que la disfruten! 

Actividad oral Sobre mí

PDF File [3.14 MB]

Este documento tiene una introducción a la conjugación verbal y además cubre los verbos regulares e irregulares en presente. Incluye las reglas y ejemplos, y tiene un apéndice con todos los verbos irregulares de cambio vocálico (stem-changing verbs).

Genial para tus alumnos, si eres profe, o para tener en casa como referencia, si eres estudiante.

¡Que lo disfrutes! 

PDF File [113 KB]

Juego: tatetí de irregulares

This is a classic game to practise irregular verbs. ⁠ Called “Tres en línea” in some countries, “Tatetí” in others (noughts and crosses in English), it’s really simple and fun. Our students love it!⁠

Simply print out a sheet every 2 students so that they can play in pairs.  And remind them to say things aloud, so that they practise pronunciation too, paying special attention to the conjugation of stem-changing verbs.

Tatetí de irregulares.pdf

PDF File [364 kB]

Verbos reflexivos: infografía y hoja de trabajo

This is a great worksheet to introduce and practise reflexive verbs in the present. The first page is an infographic with the verb conjugations and a few more examples of verbs and the second page has exercises. The last exercise is a listening activity that you can do as a dictation, where you read the whole paragraph for your students to fill in the gaps.

Hoja de trabajo verbos reflexivos

PDF File [267 KB]

Juego: ¿Qué país soy?

This is a great game to practise SER, ESTAR, TENER & the description of places/countries – and also to learn a bit more about the countries around the world. The last two slides have the country flashcards and the instructions for the activity.

Qué país soy.pptx

Powerpoint presentation [2 MB]

Flashcards de países

These are great flashcards to practise the names of countries. You can use them for many different activities, one of our favourite ones is the memory game (always encouraging your students to say the names aloud when they pick them :)). 

It’s recommended to laminate them and maybe print them double sided (the reverse side of the flashcards is provided). 

Flashcards países.pdf

PDF file [422 KB]

Futuro próximo

This is a great presentation on the Near Future (Futuro próximo). There’s an introduction to its uses, its grammatical structure, and a few examples of conversations and speaking activities. 

Futuro próximo.pptx

Powerpoint presentation [3MB]

Juego: Guerra de futuros

This is a great activity to practise the Near Future (Futuro próximo). In the file, you will find 5 sentences using the Futuro próximo. You will need to cut out the flashcards and give them all mixed up to each team (one set per team). They then need to make up as many correct sentences as possible, as quickly as possible. For a bit of extra challenge, some flashcards have a picture, so students need to replace the pic with a word.  Even more fun if you do it as a competition – hence the name “Guerra de futuros” (War of the Futures). ¡Que lo disfrutes!  

Guerra de futuros.pdf

PDF file [26KB]

Póster del alfabeto

This is a great poster of the Spanish alphabet (A4 size), either for your classes if you’re a teacher or to have at hand for reference if you’re a student. 

Póster alfabeto.pdf

PDF file [382 KB]

Flashcards del alfabeto

Estas tarjetas son geniales para practicar el alfabeto español.

Tienen palabras sencillas y comunes que permiten de paso aprender vocabulario.

Generalmente dividimos la explicación del alfabeto en dos clases, con muchas actividades y juegos para practicar y para hacerlo más dinámico y divertido (de otra manera puede ser mucha información para algunos alumnos).

Por eso encontrarás dos páginas en este recurso, la primera tiene palabras principalmente con las letras de la A a la J y la segunda con el resto del alfabeto. 

Puedes usar las tarjetas para muchas actividades, una de nuestras favoritas es el juego de memoria (si imprimes dos de cada tarjeta) o para simplemente trabajar en pareja y practicar la pronunciación juntos.

Que las disfrutes 🙂

Flashcards alfabeto.pdf

PDF file [195 KB]

Fichas para presentaciones

These are great flashcards to practise introductions and simple conversations where we talk about personal details. ⁠ We use them for an activity called La fiesta (at the Beginner level), where each student gets a flashcard and has to introduce themselves to and have a chat with a few other students, as if they were at a party ( and yes, we play music too sometimes 😉). ⁠ It’s a great activity to practise basic vocabulary and, more importantly, it’s great fun!⁠

Fichas presentaciones.pdf

PDF file [62 KB]

Flashcards verbos

These are great  flashcards with the most common regular and irregular verbs. There are 45 flashcards easily adaptable to different activities to practise verb conjugations + tenses, story writing, etc. ⁠

As always, it’s best if you can laminate them, so they last longer :).

Flashcards verbos.pdf

PDF file [2 MB]

Bingo de verbos regulares

This is a great game to practise regular verbs in the present, both in the affirmative and question forms. ⁠

You will need to print out one page per student and get them to read all the sentences and choose one of the multiple choices for each sentence.

It’s important to make sure that the students are familiar with the verbs and the vocabulary used. 

When they are ready, you can start reading the options you’ve chosen (like in a real bingo), either in the same order or not. To make it a bit more challenging, you can tell a story using the sentences in the bingo, and they have to extract the correct options.

This activity was inspired by the awesome Bingo games created by Ana @lapizdeele 

Bingo de verbos regulares.pdf

PDF file [44 KB]

Hoja de trabajo con verbos regulares

This is a great worksheet to introduce and practise regular verbs in the present. The first page is an infographic with the verb conjugations and the second page has more examples and exercises.

Hoja de trabajo verbos regulares.pdf

PDF file [254 KB]

Juego: Guerra de verbos regulares

Este es un juego muy divertido para practicar los verbos regulares en presente. Se juega en equipos a modo de competencia (más divertido aún si les tomas el tiempo :)). Lo único que tienes que hacer es imprimir y recortar las tarjetas (si puedes laminarlas, mejor todavía) y darle un set de tarjetas todas mezcladas a cada equipo o participante. Luego ellos compiten para armar cuantas más oraciones puedan. ¡Extra punto si logran usar todas las tarjetas!

Para agregar un elemento de dificultad, algunas tarjetas tienen dibujos, que pueden representar tanto cosas como verbos.

Para jugar en clase o en casa con amigos.

Ojalá que disfrutes de este juego y no te olvides de compartirlo en las redes sociales y etiquetarnos (@larasspanishhub).

Guerra de verbos regulares.pdf

PDF file [35 KB]

Actividad oral: Busca a alquien que...

Este  material está inspirado en una actividad muy similar de http://www.thespanishroom.com (@spanish_room_).

Es una actividad muy buena como rompehielo para el primer día de clase (la solemos usar en la primera clase del nivel Beginner  2). Los compañeros tienen la oportunidad de charlar y conocerse un poco más mientras practican los verbos regulares en presente.

Se le da una tarjeta con preguntas a cada alumno y luego estos deben ir haciendo las preguntas a sus compañeros  (usando el pronombre tú y conjugando los verbos de manera correcta) hasta encontrar a una persona para cada una de las oraciones. Lo ideal es que tengan una pequeña charla con al menos un par de compañeros diferentes.

Para clases grupales online, se podría cambiar la dinámica y hacer trabajar a los alumnos en parejas (siempre y cuando puedas compartir pantalla y dividir la clase en parejas o grupos, como se puede hacer con Zoom) y cambiar el equipo un par de veces para luego compartir los resultados en plenario con el resto de la clase. 

Ojalá que disfrutes de esta actividad y no te olvides de compartirlo en las redes sociales y etiquetarnos (@larasspanishhub).

Busca a alquien que.pdf

PDF file [42 KB]

Expresiones con tener: póster y hoja de trabajo

En este archivo encontrarás dos páginas: la primera es el póster con las expresiones con tener (en tamaño A4) y la segunda es un ejercicio de llenar los huecos. 

A mí me gusta presentar las expresiones con el póster al comienzo de la clase (a veces les doy el póster a los alumnos de tarea, para que lo miren en casa) y después de hacer varias actividades orales y juegos durante la clase, les doy la segunda hoja con el ejercicio de tarea para la clase siguiente, para que puedan practicar y consolidar en casa.

Expresiones con tener póster y hoja de trabajo

PDF file [103 KB]

De compras: ordena la conversación

Nos gusta incorporar en las clases actividades cortas y simples, dinámicas, que ayuden a los alumnos a pensar y a practicar conversación al mismo tiempo. Este es un ejemplo perfecto.

En este archivo encontrarás tarjetas que forman una conversación típica de compras. Tiene vocabulario y estructuras simples, perfectas para el nivel Beginner. 

Lo ideal es que los alumnos trabajen en parejas o grupos pequeños (de no más de tres, así tienen oportunidad de hablar más) y ordenen la conversación. Para agregar un elemento divertido a la actividad, se puede hacer a modo de competencia, de manera el equipo que conseguir armar la conversación primero.

De compras para ordenar.pdf

PDF file [77 KB]

La Navidad: póster con vocabulario

Un mini póster (tamaño A4) muy útil para introducir el vocabulario más común relacionado con la Navidad. 

El vocabulario está organizado en tres secciones: las decoraciones, los personajes y la comida.

Por supuesto que en diferentes países hay diferentes comidas típicas (y los nombres pueden variar también), por lo que aquí traté de reunir las que me parecen más comunes y universales.

Póster vocabulario Navidad.pdf

PDF file [756 KB]

Flashcards con conjugación en el presente (regulares e irregulares)

Flashcards para practicar la conjugación del presente. Hay 4 páginas, las dos primeras con verbos regulares y las demás con verbos irregulares, para que los practiquen por separado o todos juntos.

Muy buenas para clases online también. Si puedes compartir pantalla con tus alumnos, entonces las van completando de a uno. Si no puedes compartir pantalla, se las mandas por anticipado para que las tengan en casa y las puedan ir completando de a uno también durante la clase.

Como siempre, te recomendamos que las plastifiques, así te duran más.

Flashcards conjugación presente.pdf

PDF file [40 KB]

Flashcards con SABER y CONOCER

Flashcards para practicar los verbos SABER y CONOCER, que como sabemos, corresponden a solo un verbo en inglés: TO KNOW. Hay 2 páginas con ocho tarjetas cada una, y es una actividad de opción múltiple.

Flashcards saber y conocer.pdf

PDF file [509 KB]

Pósters SER y ESTAR

These are really useful posters to introduce the uses of SER & ESTAR, one of the most important (and brain twisting 😉) topics for learners of Spanish.  There’s more to say about SER & ESTAR, of course, but using the DOCTOR & PLACE acronyms is a very useful way to introduce the uses of these verbs.

Great to give to your students for quick reference. I always recommend that they stick the posters on the bathroom mirror or on the fridge, to have them at hand at all times 🙂 

Posters SER y ESTAR.pdf

PDF file [210 KB]

Póster habilidades

Este es un póster muy útil para practicar habilidades. Generalmente hacemos conversación en parejas después de introducir la estructura con el verbo PODER + INFINITIVO. 

También son muy útiles las flashcards con este vocabulario (que puedes descargar de aquí mismo, es la entrada siguiente).

¡Ojalá que te sea útil en tus clases!

Póster habilidades.pdf

PDF file [437 KB]

Flashcards habilidades

Estas flashcards son muy útiles para practicar habilidades. Generalmente hacemos conversación en parejas después de introducir la estructura con el verbo PODER + INFINITIVO. 

Sirven para practicar el vocabulario introducido con el póster de habilidades (que puedes descargar de aquí mismo, es la entrada anterior).

¡Ojalá que te sean útiles en tus clases!

Flashcards habilidades.pdf

PDF file [240 KB]

Tarjetas de bingo

¿Hay algo más divertido que un juego de bingo en la clase de español?

Con estas tarjetas, podrán  practicar los números del 1 al 99 y pasarlo bomba con una sesión de bingo ¡como si estuvieran en el casino!

En nuestras clases usamos un bolillero para cantar los números y hacerlo aún más realista, y si quieres hacerlo más ecológico, puedes plastificar las tarjetas y jugar con porotos (frijoles) o granos de maíz, lo que les quede mejor.

El archivo tiene 18 tarjetas, que puedes repetir si tienes muchos alumnos.

Muchísimas gracias a nuestra fantástica profesora Nati por crear este material :).

¡Ojalá que les guste a ti y a tus alumnos!

Tarjetas bingo.pdf

PDF file [109 KB]

Batalla naval regulares, irregulares y reflexivos

Este es un juego genial para practicar diferentes conjugaciones verbales: verbos regulares, irregulares y reflexivos. Y lo mejor de todo es que puedes adaptarlo para diferentes tiempos verbales (y para diferentes niveles de cursos).

Desde hace mucho usábamos otra versión de este juego, pero esta versión está mucho mejor porque te permite llevar la cuenta de donde están los barcos de tu enemigo, no solo de tus propios barcos.

En el archivo encontrarás tres hojas diferentes, una para cada conjugación.

Batalla naval.pdf

PDF file [145 KB]

Calendario semanal

Estas tarjetas con el calendario semanal son geniales para practicar conversación en clase.

Muy adaptable para diferentes niveles y temáticas, puedes trabajar con la hora, verbos en diferentes tiempos para practicar rutina, acciones pasadas, planes futuros, etc. ¡Hay muchísimas opciones de trabajo!

Simplemente puedes proyectarlas o imprimirlas para que los estudiantes trabajen en parejas haciendo conversación. También puedes laminarlas para volver a usarlas.

En el archivo descargable encontrarás una página tamaño A4 con dos tarjetas.

Actividad con calendario semanal.pdf

PDF file [57 KB]

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Srta Spanish

Support for Spanish Teachers

7 Fun and Engaging Spanish Project Ideas

January 19, 2023

Learning a language is more than just memorizing verbs and vocabulary words – it’s about connecting the language with real-life experiences. Spice up your middle school and high school classes with these Spanish project ideas that will make the language come alive for your students.

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Why use research projects with students?

Research projects are an amazing way to engage students with the language and give them an opportunity to explore the culture, history, geography, and important figures. These projects allow for creativity, critical thinking, research skills, and (if you want) collaboration. Research projects also help build self-confidence as students practice their Spanish, discover new things about the culture, and develop a deeper understanding of a given topic.

How to get started with research projects

Research projects involve a lot of planning and clear directions. Start by giving your students an overview of the project and outlining the expectations. Be sure to select an appropriate level of difficulty with respect to language, content, resources, and length. Once your students know the general outline of the project, they can begin searching for information to create their final presentation. Finally, you should provide check-in points throughout the project so that you can observe student progress and offer feedback as needed.

I personally like to reach out to the school’s media specialist and ask for help with research. In some schools I’ve been in, the media specialist will come into my classes on the research day(s) to help support students and for another pair of eyes on screens while students are working. As a bonus, most media specialists will know if your school district pays for any sites or resources to help your students in their research!

Spanish Project Ideas

Whether students are working in a printable or digital format, there are great options for your students!

• Holidays and celebrations
• Spanish-Speaking Countries (poster)
• Create a tour of the Spanish-speaking countries (digital)
• Explore a Spanish-speaking country (digital)
• Hispanic Heritage Month
• Afro Latinos Famosos
• Famous Women throughout history

I hope these ideas are helpful for you! I have always found that having such a clear cut, print and go templates have really helped students to organize their thoughts and create a beautiful project to share their research with classmates and peers. Check out all of my digital and research Spanish project ideas in one bundle here !

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Spanish Culture Topics to Teach Your Elementary Students

Spanish culture topics are excellent for the classroom because they are colorful, unique, and engaging for children. 

Teaching any subject to elementary students requires a regular injection of fun, excitement, and movement.

In fact, having fun with your students or kids is the best way to entice them to learn. And the Spanish language is tied to a diverse array of vivid cultures.

Let’s explore some lesson ideas and resources for you to teach about Spanish culture topics in a fun way.

Benefits of Teaching Spanish Culture Topics and Spanish Language  

How does learning about culture color the child’s vision of the world and of themselves?

Learning about culture is engaging.

It’s a vital, meaningful, real-life topic. When we learn a language, we get to explore the different cultures where that language is spoken. Studying Latin American and Spanish culture topics deepens students’ understanding of the Spanish language.

For the purposes of this article, we’re honing in on the (Spain) Spanish culture.

Culture-based lessons also provide an opportunity to practice the language in a natural way. Sometimes, you’ve just got to break free from the textbooks, grammar guidelines, and endless vocabulary lists.

Getting a sense of the Spanish culture is an ideal way to enliven the Spanish language, which is proven to strengthen your students’ memory !

4 Relevant Spanish Culture Topics 

Spain’s culture is incredibly rich and diverse. I’ve gathered information, resources, videos, and ideas for your fun cultural lessons. Check out these four fascinating Spanish culture topics! 

1. La Tomatina

This is a massive tomato fight! The annual festival happens in the Valencian town of Buñol in the East of Spain. Participants throw tomatoes purely for entertainment purposes. Since 1945, it has occurred on the last Wednesday of August at 11:00 a.m. The phenomenon is so popular that people from all corners of the world come to participate in the giant food fight. Sadly, the event in 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lesson Ideas

Use La Tomatina as a framework for students to write about holidays in the past tense. After watching videos, reading about the tradition, and discussing it as a class or with a partner, ask your students to write about La Tomatina in one or more of the following ways:

• A piece of informative, nonfiction text about the event and its origins 
• A fictional story, including when they went, with whom, and what they did there 
• A list of facts and opinions on La Tomatina
• A persuasive paragraph, recommending that people attend the festival (or not), and giving specific reasons why or why not
• A postcard, where the student writes 2-4 sentences on one side and draws a picture on the other

Key Vocabulary Words

El tomate – tomato

Rojo – red

Sucio/a – dirty

Limpio/a – clean

Mojado/a – wet

Tirar – to throw

Aplastar – to smash

La pelea – fight

La comida – food

La gente – people

Reading Resources

• Wikipedia page about La Tomatina – learn about the history of the event
• La Tomatina reading comprehension activity – comes with a handy graphic organizer (note: this resource costs $3)

Educational Videos 

• La Tomatina in Buñol – 2.5 minutes, animated, in Spanish with English subtitles
• La Tomatina footage – 2 minutes, actual footage from the 2017 festival

More Activities 

• La Tomatina Webquest – a well-organized internet-based research and writing activity; scroll down for the free PDF worksheet and teacher guide

2. Comparing Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí 

Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso were the most famous painters of their time. Both greatly influenced the art of the 21st century. Although they were born 23 years apart (Picasso in 1881 and Dalí in 1904), the cultural heritage of their native Spain shaped both artists. 

Prep the students by discussing what they know (if anything) about these two Spanish artists. Watch the videos and read the resources linked below. Then, complete this Spanish research activity to compare these two legendary Spanish visual artists. It includes creating a Venn diagram to illustrate the similarities and differences between Picasso and Dalí.

• A short cultural note on Dalí , with side-by-side Spanish and English text and reading comprehension questions
• This Pablo Picasso bio for kids gives a summary of his life, the different periods of his art, and fun facts (read the text and follow along with the audio clip)
• The Salvador Dalí bio for kids from the above site
• A simple blog post comparing Dalí and Picasso with text and visuals
• Salvador Dalí talks about Pablo Picasso is a two-minute YouTube video in Spanish with English subtitles
• Dalí vs Picasso. Raps Històrics de Catalunya is a three-minute YouTube video in the form of a rap; it’s in Spanish with Spanish subtitles
• Picasso for Elementary Students includes a brief biography of Pablo Picasso’s life and artistic style is examined with many images of his colorful painted portraits.
• Encourage students to create their own drawings and paintings in the cubist and/or surrealist styles.

3. Food in Spanish and Spanish Foods

It’s always fun and delicious to study food. ¿Qué te gusta comer? What do you like to eat? Start your engaging lesson on food in Spanish with this question. Later, move on to learning about Spanish typical foods, which are internationally famous for their zesty Mediterranean flavors. 

Use this resource with six lessons if you need to plan a Spanish unit about food. You’ll find lesson plan outlines, project ideas, and vocabulary lists about basic Spanish food words and phrases. Once your students have mastered basic food-related vocabulary, you can move on to studying typical foods in Spain using the resources below. Do a role-play where you pretend to order food in Spanish at a restaurant.

• All About Food in Spanish Using Countable and Uncountable Nouns
• 6 Spanish Foods to Learn About (and try!)
• Top 10 Foods to Try in Spain
• Older elementary students can explore the Todo Sobre España (All About Spain) website with information about the foods in different regions of the country.
• Kids Try Spanish Food – a six-minute YouTube video in English with children trying breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods from Spain
• Top 10 Favorite Foods in Spain – a quick, two-minute video with music and images of the most popular dishes in Spanish cuisine
• Host a Spanish Cuisine fair in your classroom or homeschool! Make and share different typical dishes from Spain at a potluck party.

4. Spanish Music and Dances

Spanish music is a unique mix of different rhythms, melodies, customs, and cultures. The ancient Greeks, Romans, Christians, Jews, Moorish Muslims, roaming Gypsies, and others combined their varied interests, backgrounds, and musical abilities.

Check out these three great lessons to introduce your students to the music of Spain. The first covers the flamenco dance and discusses the Romani (Gypsy) people. The second lesson teaches students a fun Spanish children’s song, and the third lesson introduces Christmas traditions in Spain, as well as a villancico (Spanish Christmas carol).

La música – music

Bailar – to dance

El baile – dance

Gitano – Gypsy

Experimentar – to experience

Escuchar – to listen

Tocar – to play (an instrument)

Cantar – to sing

La influencia – influence 

• Traditional children’s songs from Spain – this lengthy list includes lyrics and audio or video of each song
• Spanish Dances: The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity – this blog post covers information on music and costume of several Spanish dances; it also features links to videos demonstrating each type of dance
• 7-minute video and lesson on Spanish Flamenco
• 4.5-minute video and lesson on Spanish music , both old and new
• Teacher’s Guide to Spanish Rhythm and Dance from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

It’s Fun to Learn About Cultures

Clearly, teaching Spanish culture topics gives your students plenty of opportunities to learn the Spanish language. The key is to have fun.

You can always adapt the lessons and activities to your students’ unique needs and goals!

Join our Facebook group for elementary students where you’ll get free Spanish resources specific for this age group on a regular basis.

Want more fun and free Spanish content for your home or classroom? Check out these posts!

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• From Burnout to Balance: Creating a Healthy Happy Homeschool Routine
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• Home Sweet Classroom: Creating Engaging Spanish Lessons at Home
• 10 Websites Offering Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners
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Topic ideas for Spanish presentation

I’m in a college Spanish conversations class and we have to do oral presentations but they can be about anything we want them to be. I would love ideas about what to present on and the only criteria is that there needs to be interactive elements for the other students to engage with and speak about.

One of the other presentations was about poetry and had an activity in which we picked a random pattern for word order and then passed around a paper to for each person to write a word down to create a poem.

I would love to present about something that would interest college age Spanish students and be fun. Please share ideas!

Si quieres, responder en inglés o español :)

¡Gracias a todos!

TLDR: need topic ideas for an oral presentation in a Spanish class

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5 Engaging Spanish Projects for Students

Educators around the world have embraced project-based learning (PBL) as an effective learning method.

PBL is an educational approach that centers on students engaging in real-world projects to acquire and apply knowledge, skills and concepts.

The “learning by doing” method has some well-known supporters, including Confucius, Aristotle and Maria Montessori .

Today, it has modern educators tossing out their textbooks and turning to authentic, student-led learning experiences.

5 Spanish Projects for High School and Beyond

Project #1: survivor, project #2: shark tank, project #3: would you rather, project #4: walk in someone else’s shoes, project #5: advertisement, conducting a project in your class, why use project-based learning in the spanish classroom.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Skill Level:  Beginner to Advanced. The teacher can make this as detailed or simple as necessary.

Time Needed:  2 days to 2 weeks, depending on how detailed the teacher wants the project to be and how much time is allotted to students during class time.

This project is a spin-off of the hit TV show “Survivor.”   On that show, teams are dropped off at remote locations around the world and have to work together to “survive” (i.e., win the game).

Much like the show, small groups in your class are given the name of an unfamiliar Latin American or Spanish city and are asked to investigate all aspects of the culture and life there, in order to survive and become contributing individuals in that society. Students are asked to investigate local foods, shelters, resources, occupations, etc. in order to form a survival plan.

Learning Goals: Study Hispanic culture. Conduct research about cities in Latin America/Spain. Understand different ways of life. Learn life skills for living in a new place.

Problem/Question: How do we survive and even thrive in this culture?

Investigation:  Students should make a plan and support their ideas with true evidence. They should use travel blogs, maps, country profiles, etc. to make their plan.

Authenticity: Research authentic steps to survive in each place. Students should find actual places to stay, eat, make money, etc.

Presentation:  Students present their location and their plan for survival to the class. They can choose how information is presented (e.g., poster, video, role play, etc.)

Skill Level:  Advanced.

Time Needed:  Approximately one week.

This project is also based off of a popular reality TV show called “Shark Tank.” In that show, contestants are inventors who try to “sell” their product to high-profile investors. After explaining their product to the panel of investors, they try to convince the investors to get on board and invest in their product in order for everyone to make a bigger profit.

Similarly, in this project, the whole class is given a cursory introduction to a difficult Spanish unit (such as a subjunctive tense ). Small groups are then tasked with learning the material completely, and then in turn must figure out the best way to teach the material to lower-level Spanish students.

Learning Goals:  Truly understand new grammar by applying what they’ve learned and presenting it clearly and accurately. Basically, students employ the “Flipped Teaching” method.

Problem/Question: This unit or tense has been extremely difficult for students to learn in the past. What’s the best way to present the material to students in the future?

Investigation: How have others taught this material? What can we do to effectively teach this theme?

Authenticity: Researching real methods and applying them in order to transfer knowledge and teach information to lower-level students.

Presentation: Small groups present, “Shark Tank” style, to a group of lower-level Spanish students. The lower-level students vote on which group’s method is most understandable and who they want to “invest in.”

Skill Level:  Intermediate to Advanced.

I believe project-based learning can be very open-ended. This project allows students to create Spanish-related “Would you rather…?” questions that appeal to them. They can be fun or serious.

Some examples (in English) include:

• “Would you rather run with the bulls in Spain or attend Las Posadas  (a nine-day religious celebration) in Mexico?”
• “Would you rather eat Spanish Paella or Latin American Mondongo   (tripe stew)?”
• “Would you rather hike to Iguazu Falls in Argentina or Machu Picchu in Peru?”

Learning Goals:  Improve speaking fluency. Students should complete and present all work in Spanish.

Problem/Question:  Whatever the students/teacher come up with.

Investigation: Students are required to weigh the pros and cons of their decision. They must conduct research and then decide how to accurately convince their classmates to make the same decision.

Authenticity: You or your students choose real-life situations that students have to investigate and evaluate.

Presentation:  Present findings and opinions to the class (in Spanish). Have the class vote on whether they agree or disagree, and if they were persuaded by the presenter’s research.

Bonus: For a much quicker version of this project, the questions could be turned into a card game. Students draw a card and explain to the class why they would rather do one thing over another. It’s a simple but fun way to get students talking!

Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced.

Time Needed: 2 to 4 weeks.

This is a humanitarian project. Small groups must choose a Hispanic country experiencing a humanitarian crisis or problematic social issue and create a character who’s living through that particular crisis. The goal is to come up with ways to alleviate the crisis and proactively “help” their character.

Learning Goals: Writing fluency. Students are asked to write an “article” to raise awareness about their crisis.

Problem/Question:  What’s the issue? How can we help?

Investigation: Students need to conduct research and find statistics. They should evaluate what things are currently being done to deal with the situation.

Authenticity:  Students are involved in proactively looking for solutions to real-world problems.

Presentation:  Present findings to the class and write an article in order to raise awareness. Send those articles to newspapers or post them on a class blog.

Skill Level:  Intermediate to Advanced.

Time Needed:  Approximately 2 weeks.

This is a fun project that allows students to try new things. Students will need to research a certain food product from a Latin American country. The goal is to find a food that’s actually sold online (or at a local ethnic grocery store), which isn’t well-known in the U.S. and which can be purchased for a reasonable price. Students then purchase their item, test it out and try to convince others they should also purchase the product.

Learning Goals: Improve speaking fluency. Students take their products and create a sales pitch to get their community interested in the product.

Problem/Question:  What ethnic product would sell well in my community? How can I get more people interested?

Investigation:  Find information about the product. Investigate ways to use social media to advertise the product.

Authenticity:  Students try real products enjoyed in Hispanic cultures. They also investigate how to use social media outlets and engage with the community around them.

Presentation: Students are asked to create a sales pitch for their products and present them. They should incorporate social media, visual aids and a short video to sell their product.

In the Spanish classroom, PBL provides students with the opportunity to interact with the culture and the language by being immersed in meaningful experiences.

While there’s a lot of discussion out there on how projects should be conducted, you should do what works for your class. There aren’t rigid rules for how educators should implement PBL, but if you’re looking for some general guidelines , here are some things to look for:

• A focus on student learning goals.  Obviously, you’ll want class projects to be centered on student language learning goals.
• Pose a question/problem.  Most projects begin with students inquiring about a subject or topic. Inquiry then leads to investigation.
• Investigation.  Students are tasked with learning more in order to answer their question or solve their problem.
• Authenticity.  Most projects employ authentic activities and materials . Researching real-world problems and asking real-life questions lead to well-rounded students and legitimate learning experiences.
• Student-led.  Students take responsibility for their learning and study what interests them. They need to be motivated to reach their end product.
• Critical thinking.  This comes with the territory when students are questioning and investigating new ideas. When students are in groups, they’re able to bounce ideas off of each other and conduct discussions that provoke higher-level thinking.
• Review/Assessment.  Projects should be a way for teachers to assess student learning.
• Presentation. Students should be given the opportunity to present their hard work and share their findings with the world. This is essential learning for high school students. Rarely are adults tested and given grades, but they are continually required to solve problems and present solutions in their daily lives.
• Students remember it. PBL employs higher-level thinking which ensures greater retention. Think Bloom’s Taxonomy and higher-order thinking processes like analysis, evaluation and creation.
• It’s more engaging for high school students. PBL gives students the opportunity to “get their hands dirty” by using real-world topics.
• It teaches life skills. Students take responsibility for their learning success and acquire problem-solving skills .
• It’s real. Project Based Learning provides authentic opportunities to work with the Spanish language and Hispanic culture.
• It’s fulfilling for students and teachers. Instead of worksheets and rote memorization, students finish their projects with a sense of accomplishment and purpose—which also results in happy and fulfilled teachers. This is a win-win situation!

Special, interactive projects can make learning Spanish all the more fun. The excitement and interest could be further amplified when you use fantastic content as learning material, such as the kind you’d find on FluentU .

With FluentU’s diverse and growing library of authentic content, students learn and live Spanish in an immersive fashion. With video clips from Spanish media like movies and TV shows, you’re sure to find content that can work wonderfully as a basis for a project.

And FluentU’s integrated teaching tools make it simple to monitor your students’ progress as they complete exercises and review the newly-learned material.

Exposing students to life through project learning isn’t a radical concept—it’s a practical and effective method that begets positive results.

And with these Spanish projects, you can engage your students in some real-life problem-solving that will get their creative juices flowing and employ their critical thinking skills.

All this while they practice using the Spanish language in an authentic, natural way! 

For more creative ideas, check out our post on Spanish art projects next.

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8 Outside the Box Research Project Ideas for Spanish Class

• March 10, 2024

Research projects can be done at any point of the school year. They make great sub plans, independent work, group projects, final projects, and more. And they do not have to be the same old, boring research projects that students think of… a PowerPoint presentation, a trifold poster, a brochure. Let’s give students some unique options with these research project ideas. 

Here are some research project topic ideas for Spanish class:

• The 7 Wonders of the Hispanic World – From Machu Picchu to La Alhambra and everywhere in between, check out this blog post with tons of ideas for 7 amazing sites!
• Individual Country Projects – Assign each student a Spanish-speaking country and they report on the food, customs, geography, music, people, etc. 

Famous People

• Women’s History Month – check out this blog post to grab a freebie list of Hispanic women
• Hispanic Heritage Month – Here is a list of famous Hispanics organized by category: authors, artists, activists, etc.
• Endangered Animals – Unfortunately, there are many endangered species in Latin America. Your students can choose one to research and explain why it is in danger of extinction. This usually ties in perfectly with global challenges: pollution, climate change, etc. 
• Animals from Hispanic Countries – There are plenty of other animals not in danger of extinction. And all students seem to love a unit on animals. Learn about my unit on animals and grab some research project ideas from the blog post . 
• Authentic dishes from Hispanic countries – Assign each student a country to research the most common and traditional foods from that country. Students could report on ingredients, preparation steps, when it is eaten, etc.
• Street Foods – Everybody loves pizza, hotdogs, funnel cakes, and more. But what are common street foods in Latin America? Have your students do some research to find out. They can even create a mini food truck festival and bring in samples of their food if you’re feeling adventurous!

Authentic Travel

Research as if you were traveling to a country and prepare for your trip. Plan every step of the way, including airfare, hotels, transportation, etc. Then, plan a detailed itinerary with attractions along the way! Here are some guidelines for student-led virtual field trips or webquests . 

Types of Research Projects

Research Posters 

This can be done two ways for differentiation. The first is to simply give your students the freedom to design their own poster. After assigning the research topic, provide students with large construction paper and let them get to work. You should provide some guidelines including the requirements of information that you want them to research, but the overall layout and design is up to them. If you are short on time or want consistency, provide them with a generic poster that they simply fill in the information. Here are some examples that I have created:

• 48 Hispanic Heritage Month People
• 25 Animals of Central and South America
• 7 Wonders of the Hispanic World
• 25 Traditional Hispanic Foods
• 25 Women’s History Month Hispanics
• 20 Hispanic Music Genres
• 25 Hispanic Celebrations
• MEGA BUNDLE of 150 HISPANIC POSTERS

Create an Infographic

Similar to a poster, but this gives students the opportunity to design something digitally. I recommend using Canva , it is my favorite design website, and it is completely free! Here is a blog post about why I love using Canva with my students and how they can use it to design their own infographics or other projects. Infographics are a visual representation of text. It is a great way for students to summarize their research in a way that is accessible to their classmates. As students create, they summarize in brief text and with images. Then, when their classmates look at the infographics, they are not deciphering a bunch of text in the target language, but can glance quickly and still get the main ideas. 

Socratic Seminar

My favorite way to use a Socratic Seminar involves turning it into a competition. Simply having a conversation in a circle always seems to intimidate my students and bore the ones tasked with listening. BUT if you turn it into a competition, something worth fighting for, suddenly the conversations are elevated and lively.

Provide the research topic: endangered animal, famous Hispanic person, best attraction, etc. Students will choose one and research it. You should provide some guiding questions and even a graphic organizer. Then, to present their research, students will sit in a small circle with 3-5 students, while the remaining students sit in a larger outside circle. The inner circle debates the topic with a twist of competition. 

Instead of “discuss your endangered animals” – how about “The WWF has funding to save one animal. Which endangered animal deserves to be saved?” Students must defend their animal and explain why it is the most deserving of life.

Instead of “talk about the accomplishments of the Hispanic person,” – “You are all in an airplane that is malfunctioning, and there is only one parachute. Who deserves it the most? Who can make/has made the most impact on the world?”  This idea comes from the only textbook that I thought was worth saving from my Masters in Foreign Language Teaching Program – “Intercultural Language Activities” by John Corbett. It is filled with practical intercultural activities for 14 cultural areas. 

Instead of “discuss the famous attractions you researched,” – “If someone just won the lottery and had to pick a vacation, where should they go, and why.” 

Gallery Walk

I did this type of research project often. It did not require a lot of time, because it does not need to be formal in terms of presentation. Each student or group is tasked with researching their chosen topic. They present their material either on a large white board (check out my $10 Home Depot hack ) or a large piece of paper. Hanging or displaying their findings around the room, students can circulate to read about the other groups’ work. 

My favorite way to administer a research gallery walk is to have each group of students that worked together divide themselves after the research. For example, if students worked in groups of four, two students stay at the presentation and “present” as the other students walk around the room. The other two students circulate and listen to the other, brief presentations, taking notes as they listen. Then, everybody switches roles. 

Choice Boards

You can provide students with a bunch of mini research projects in a choice board format. Here are tips for designing your own choice board . Depending on your students’ level and your time frame, select how many options students must complete. Here are a few sample ideas for mini research projects:  Create a 1 minute podcast episode, draw an infographic, create a mini poster or brochure, create a quiz for the class, draw a timeline, etc.

Instagram Profile

Create an Instagram profile with a few images and captions of your research findings. The goal of this is for students to not just research information, but also images and to capture a variety of images of their research. For example, if it is an endangered animal, all 6 pictures should not just be the frog sitting in the water. Encourage them to think outside the box. Maybe a picture of its habitat, a picture of its food, a picture of a map where it is located, etc. 

Here are ways to use Instagram in Spanish class, including a FREE Instagram template , perfect for this idea!

Art Gallery

Have students create an artwork that represents their findings. They could draw the animal, person, attraction, etc. and display it around the classroom like an art gallery. Then, to incorporate their research, they should write a description about it, similar to a plaque you would find next to a piece of artwork in a museum. Display the artworks and “plaques” in the art gallery of your classroom!

This research project can be a stand-alone project, or a yearlong endeavor. I also suggest it for intermediate students and beyond. Students simply record audio of their research findings, but in a podcast format. When I taught Spanish 4, I had my students do a yearlong podcast project, where at the end of each unit or topic, they recorded a podcast episode. By the end of the year, they had an entire podcast series about their Spanish 4 learning. 

For a research project, at the end of your unit, let your students research more in-depth something that was touched on or another topic of interest to them. For example, during a food unit, they can each choose a traditional Spanish dish and record an episode on where it is cooked, the ingredients, the flavors, when it is eaten, etc. These episodes are students sharing their findings in an informal presentational speaking assessment. 

They can use a voice recorder app on their phones or computers. Then, for ease of presentation, I had my students upload each audio file into a Google Slides presentation. On each slide, they wrote the name of the episode title, a brief written summary, and linked the episode audio. 

Grading Research Projects

Projects are unique, in that there is no “right or wrong” answer for the most part. With projects, you are assessing the content, which will be different for every student. You are also assessing the layout, organization, overall presentation, effort, etc. Rubrics are the best way to ensure fair and accurate grading. Determine the categories you will assess and decide the point value. The point value depends on the length of time required to complete the project. For a one-day assignment, you may only grade something as 15 points, but a week-long research project could be worth upwards of 100 points!

Both you and your students will enjoy these outside the box research project ideas. You will have more fun grading them, and your students will have more fun creating them! I’d love to hear how you use these ideas in your classroom. Comment below!

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Download the The Use of Space in the Kindergarten presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and create big learning experiences for the littlest students! Dynamic and adorable, this template provides the visual stimuli that Pre-K students thrive on and makes your lessons more playful and exciting — after all, Pre-K...

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Writing tone, number of slides, time boxing step by step.

Download the "Time Boxing Step by Step" presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and teach with confidence. Sometimes, teachers need a little bit of help, and there's nothing wrong with that. We're glad to lend you a hand! Since Slidesgo is committed to making education better for everyone, we've joined...

Foreign Language Subject for Elementary - 2nd Grade: Spanish

¡Buenos días! Are you a foreign language teacher that wants to surprise your students with a creative, colourful and fresh template that makes them feel the Spanish feeling? This is the perfect template for you. It’s full of illustrations of typical Spanish things: beaches, flamenco dancers, bulls, food… and it...

Spanish Constitution Day

In Spain, every December 6 is Constitution Day, a national holiday in which people commemorate the anniversary of 1978's Spanish Constitution and the definitive transition to a democracy. To provide some history about this country, we have designed this new template. You'll be surprised at how easy it is to...

How to Find the Antiderivative of Simple Polynomials

Download the "How to find the antiderivative of simple polynomials" presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and teach with confidence. Sometimes, teachers need a little bit of help, and there's nothing wrong with that. We're glad to lend you a hand! Since Slidesgo is committed to making education better for...

Elegant & Luxury Project Proposal Infographics

Download the Elegant & Luxury Project Proposal Infographics template for PowerPoint or Google Slides and discover the power of infographics. An infographic resource gives you the ability to showcase your content in a more visual way, which will make it easier for your audience to understand your topic. Slidesgo infographics...

Mexican 5th of May

Mexico has one of the richest and most colorful cultures in all of Latin America, and this spectacular template faithfully represents it. Explore this presentation that we have designed with beautiful illustrations and colors for you to plan the celebrations of 5th of May, and commemorate this day as you...

How to Encourage Reading in High School: 3 Activities

Download the "How to Encourage Reading in High School: 3 Activities" presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. High school students are approaching adulthood, and therefore, this template’s design reflects the mature nature of their education. Customize the well-defined sections, integrate multimedia and interactive elements and allow space for research or...

Mother Earth Legends for Elementary

Download the Mother Earth Legends for Elementary presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and easily edit it to fit your own lesson plan! Designed specifically for elementary school education, this eye-catching design features engaging graphics, and age-appropriate fonts; elements that capture the students' attention and make the learning experience more...

Mathematics Education

Download the Mathematics Education presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. High school students are approaching adulthood, and therefore, this template’s design reflects the mature nature of their education. Customize the well-defined sections, integrate multimedia and interactive elements and allow space for research or group projects — the possibilities of this...

Grimm Brothers' Fairy Tales

Download the Grimm Brothers' Fairy Tales presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and start impressing your audience with a creative and original design. Slidesgo templates like this one here offer the possibility to convey a concept, idea or topic in a clear, concise and visual way, by using different graphic...

Spanish-suited Printable Deck of Playing Cards

Download the Spanish-suited Printable Deck of Playing Cards presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and start impressing your audience with a creative and original design. Slidesgo templates like this one here offer the possibility to convey a concept, idea or topic in a clear, concise and visual way, by using...

History Subject for High School: First Mexican Empire

From 1821 to 1823, the First Mexican Empire was a short-lived regime that established Mexico as an independent nation. The establishment of the empire was a crucial step in Mexico's struggle for independence from Spain, and it remains an important era in Mexican history. If you're an educator, our template...

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