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The school year is coming to a close and many teachers are looking for ideas to review previously learned vocabulary while adding something new. Here are five end of the year Spanish summer activities to keep students engaged and learning until the very last day! Summer Vocabulary Word Wall I love using word walls to build vocabulary and spark curiosity. Students are instantly drawn to the images and new words. Post 24 summer vocabulary words on your bulletin board to give students a visual resource to support them as they read and write in Spanish! Summer Vocabulary Bingo Game Fun circumlocution activity! All of the hard work has been done for you. Read simple clues that describe 24 words in Spanish or English. For example: "una estación del año - comienza en junio y termina en septiembre" (el verano) "la estrella enorme en el centro de nuestro sistema solar" (el sol) "a season of the year, it begins in June and ends in September" (summer) "the enormous star in the center of our solar system" (the sun) Vocabulary includes: acampar, agosto, béisbol, el bikini, el cangrejo, el helado, el sol, el traje de baño, el verano, hace calor, julio, junio and MORE! More bingo games! Summer Word Search There are so many benefits for using word searches in class. They are a low-stress way to introduce or review vocabulary. They develop word recognition and improve spelling. And they're FUN! Students love them. They enjoy the thrill of the hunt! This word search raises the thinking level by having students first define the word, then find it. Use word searches as a warm up, for fast finishers, in stations, an after the test activity or no-prep sub plans. Crossword Puzzle It's always good to offer different activities for teaching the same content. Crossword puzzles are another low-stress way to exercise your brain and improve vocabulary & memory. Find all 4 of these activities in one Summer Bundle! Spanish Speaking Activity Find Someone Who Activities are my favorite way to get students up, out of their seats and speaking Spanish. Students try to get as many signatures as possible by asking questions about their classmate's plans for the summer. Fun way to practice using ir + a + infinitive & the future tense. More Seasonal Resources Give students the input they need to talk about summer! Feliz verano.

January 2020 I love looking for ways to bring football into Spanish class. Not fútbol, but fútbol americano! As a girl brought up in the south, I was raised watching football. So when it comes to teaching numbers 1 to 100 in Spanish, I turn to football. Have you ever had a class that is so quiet? I mean, you cannot get them to talk. I am having conversations with myself in front of them, trying to figure out a way to get this early morning class of middle school students to engage with me. Our usual warm up topics (like the date and weather) were just not that exciting. It's football season and many students are wearing jerseys of their favorite players. I love football. I love talking about football with students before or after class ~ but during class? Students know if they want to get me off-task they can simply ask if I went to the game on Saturday. And I can talk football. But I'm thinking to myself, "I need to stay in the TL. I need to focus on our objective. It's not part of the curriculum. I should be teaching about fútbol instead." But I have got to generate some enthusiasm here and get these kids talking about something! So I pull up ESPN Deportes and start asking questions about the game on Saturday. Well that really wakes them up. Students who rarely participate in class begin to speak - in Spanish! This is something new, something that appeals to many of them. They love talking about football outside of class so why not bring football into Spanish class? So I decide to review numbers using scores from college football. Light bulb moment. Football season is the perfect time to talk numbers! I have created so many activities each season using jersey numbers from local college teams and NFL teams to get students excited about using numbers in Spanish. They have been such a hit with my students that I've continued to create them to promote my love of football & Spanish! Hopefully you will experience the excitement in your classroom that comes from talking about football in Spanish! (And you don't need to know anything about football to talk about the scores!) So, are you ready for some football?! It is time to talk about the top two teams in the NFL. This year it's the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. My favorite? I'm pulling for the Chiefs! The Big Game is always a hot topic, especially in the days leading up to kickoff. You can talk about your favorite teams, players and make game day predictions. ¿Quién va a ganar? Team Rosters My favorite activity for reinforcing Spanish numbers use team rosters. I find rosters for each team, project them onto the board and ask who wears which number. "¿Quién lleva el número dieciséis? or ¿Qué número es Patrick Mahomes? The boys in the room light up! The competition to answer the question is intense. Students love to show off their football knowledge. The girls get into it as well. I love this activity because everyone is engaged, learning, & having fun. As a written activity, students choose their favorite of two teams and use a roster to write the jersey numbers of popular players. This requires a lot of prep work for me. So, I do my football homework ~ with a little help from my husband! I look over the team rosters to find the most popular players from each team and then create a worksheet. Students get great practice writing numbers up to 99. For me, it's worth the work because students love it. (I have created a version for 2020 to save you some time!) Team rosters are packed with information! There are so many interesting things to talk about. You can review descriptive adjectives and comparatives while talking about height. ¿Quién es más alto? ¿Patrick Mahomes o Tyreek Hill? Or compare ages. ¿Quién es mayor? ¿Matt Moore o Mecole Hardman? Practice tener with ¿Cuántos años tiene Sammy Watkins? Students really engage. NFL Scoreboard The Monday following the big game, the topic is still hot. I project the final score on the board and ask, "¿Cuántos puntos tienen?" and ¿Cuál es tu equipo favorito? During the regular season I pull up scores from other teams around the nation. This is a regular Monday warm-up each fall (especially with college football!) If I forget to bring it up, students remind me. There are so many variations you can do with these activities. When football season ends, switch to basketball to practice numbers over 100. Talk about the teams from your school. This communicates that you're interested and paying attention to the things that matter to them. The goal is to find what interests your students and make a way to talk about it in Spanish. What I love most about these activities is they're a great way to connect with students. It's fun to find things we have in common (favorite teams, players or sports) and have something to talk about - that is interesting to them. Topics like these build relationships. As my favorite coach says, "Football unifies. In a world that is very divided, nothing brings people together like football." - Dabo Swinney There should be a lot to talk about after all of the commercials and the halftime show with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira! Be sure to check out ESPN Deportes for authentic resources. I hope you enjoy these ideas and have fun implementing them in your classroom! I'd love to see how these activities work for you. Tag me on social media: @senora.lee on Instagram or @SenoraLauraLee on Facebook. Thank you for stopping by and for spreading the LOVE of Spanish (and football!) Helpful Links: NFL Rosters - San Francisco 49ers NFL Rosters - Kansas City Chiefs ESPN Deportes Weekly Scores: NFL Scoreboard Resources: Students LOVE these football activities! Use them throughout football season and into February as it gets time for the BIG Game. Football Championship 2021 - Roster Activity Create Your Own Spanish Football Roster Activity Top 10 Rankings & Scores Templates

I am always looking for ways to bring football into my Spanish class. Not fútbol, but fútbol americano! As a girl raised in the south, I absolutely love football. So when it comes to teaching numbers to 100 in Spanish, I turn to football. In November, as our middle school number unit is just beginning and college football rivalry week is at its peak, I do an activity using jersey numbers from the two main college teams of our state: the Clemson Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks. (My team? I was raised a tiger!) Rivalry week is always a hot topic in middle school, but especially in November as the two teams are preparing to play each other again. #1 Team Rosters My favorite activity for reinforcing Spanish numbers centers around team rosters. I find rosters for each team, project them on the smart board and ask who wears which number. "¿Quién lleva el número dieciséis? or ¿Qué número es Trevor Lawrence? The boys in the room light up! The competition to answer the question is fierce. They are so excited to show off their football knowledge. The girls are into it as well. Team loyalties run deep. I love this activity because everyone is engaging, learning, & having fun. As a written activity, students choose their favorite of two teams and use a roster to write the jersey numbers of popular players. This requires a lot of prep work. Each fall, I look over the team roster to find the most popular players from each team and then create a worksheet. Students get excellent practice forming numbers up to 99. For me, it's worth the work because the students love it. (See the time saving template I created for you to create your own roster activity!) Team rosters are packed with information! You can review descriptive adjectives and comparatives while talking about height. ¿Quién es más alto? ¿Austin Bryant o Travis Etienne? Compare ages. ¿Quién es mayor? ¿Xavier Thomas o Trayon Mullen? Review forms of ser by asking "¿De dónde es Tee Higgins? and ¿De dónde son Trevion Thompson y Mark Fields? (See links below to find your favorite team roster.) #2 College Football Scoreboard The Monday following the big game, the topic is still hot. I project the final score on the board and ask, "¿Cuántos puntos tiene Clemson / South Carolina?" Some are excited to talk about the score, others, not so much. To change the subject for the sad fans, I pull up scores from top 25 teams around the nation. This is a regular Monday warm-up activity each fall. #3 College Football Rankings - the AP Top 25 As my Spanish 1 students learn ordinal numbers, we talk about top 10 teams around the country. ¿Quién es primero? It's a great way to generate excitement and make learning ordinals numbers fun. (See the time saving templates I created for you to create your own rankings and scoreboard activity!) There are so many variations you can do with these activities. When football season ends, switch to basketball. Then practice numbers over 100. You could also talk about baseball, soccer, tennis or softball (although those scores are normally very low!) Talk about your school's various teams. This communicates that you're interested and paying attention to the things that matter to them. The main thing is to find out what interests your students and find a way to talk about it in Spanish. What I love most about these activities is they're a great way to connect with students. It's fun to find things we have in common (favorite teams, players or sports) and have something to talk about - that is interesting to them. Topics like these build relationships. As my favorite coach says, "Football unifies. In a world that is very divided, nothing brings people together like football." - Dabo Swinney I hope you enjoy these ideas and have fun implementing them in the classroom! I'd love to see how these activities work in your class. Tag me on social media: @senora.lee on Instagram or @SenoraLauraLee on Facebook. Thank you for stopping by and for spreading the LOVE of Spanish! Helpful Links: College Football Rosters NFL Rosters Weekly Scores: College Football Scoreboard NFL Scoreboard College Football Top 25 Resources: Your students will LOVE these football activities! Plan to use them throughout football season and into January as it gets close for the BIG Game. *The "Football Championship" activity is fully updated for the 2021 game. Football Championship 2021 - Roster Activity Create Your Own Spanish Football Roster Activity Top 10 Rankings & Scores Templates Updated for 2021!! #futbolamericano

Attribution: By timlewisnm (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gozalewis/4533466093) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Cinco de Mayo is almost here! I love teaching about this holiday. There’s so much to celebrate! I wish I could take my students into the heart of the Latino community to be a part of a Cinco de Mayo celebration. Until that day, I’ve found an engaging video from “Moo!” at Teacher’s Discovery. This has been one of my favorite purchases and worth the expense! I love this Cinco de Mayo video for so many reasons! First, it is rich in culture and authentic. Students watch footage filmed on Olvera Street in Los Angeles during the largest Cinco de Mayo celebration in the U.S. You see streets lined with papel picado, hear mariachi music, and listen to Mexican-Americans talk about what Cinco de Mayo personally means to them. Second, this video explains the history of Cinco de Mayo. Many students have no idea why the holiday is celebrated. And, who can blame them for being confused? There are many misconceptions about the holiday that need to be cleared up! The narrators, María and Brett, will do just that. Watch these two students take to the streets of L.A. to explore answers to some important questions. What happened on May 5th, 1862? Why do we celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the U.S.? What is the difference between Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day? Lastly, students are engaged throughout the entire video as they learn how and why Cinco de Mayo is celebrated. They hear the story of the Battle of Puebla - how a small group of unequipped, inexperienced Mexican peasants defeated the most powerful army in the world! They learn about true Mexican heroes, Benito Juárez and General Zaragoza. And, they discover the national dish of Mexico, Mole Poblano with all of its surprising ingredients! So, if you are looking for an easy way to integrate culture and set the stage for meaningful discussion - download the video, serve up some agua fresca and enjoy! Your students will love it. Length: 25 minutes Cost: $29.99 (available for instant download) Value: Helping your student understand the real meaning behind Cinco de Mayo – priceless! Link: Moo! Cinco de Mayo Video (not an affiliate link) Update: You can upload this video to YouTube for Google Classroom! It also comes with a free quiz! (See link above). ¡Feliz cinco de mayo! Additional Resources: Find the resources you need to enrich and support your unit on Cinco de Mayo to Make. Learning. Fun.

Fun activities for teaching St. Patrick's Day vocabulary! Four no-prep resources you'll want to use year after year to add St. Patrick's Day vocabulary into Spanish class! St Patrick's Day Word Wall I love using word walls in the classroom to build vocabulary and decorate bulletin boards! Students are drawn to the bright images and new words. This St. Patrick's Day Word Wall has 21 Irish themed vocabulary words to give students visual support on reading or writing activities. Instant comprehensible input. St. Patrick's Day Bingo Everyone loves bingo! This St. Patrick's Day Bingo game includes 16 vocabulary words (that correspond to the word wall), 40 bingo cards and a set of calling cards. Use the cards to call words out in Spanish as students search for the correct image. There are so many ways to play! You can go for the traditional 4 in a row, 4 corners, the 4 middle squares, an X, or all of the squares around the perimeter. Simple & easy translation game to pull out at a moment's notice or for the last few minutes of class. Fun to use in small groups or stations! Also available in English. St Patrick's Day Word Search Word searches are a fun & easy, low stress activity. Not only are they FUN — they improve word recognition, spelling and increase vocabulary. Students don't even realize they're learning! This St. Patrick's Day Word Search has 18 holiday words to define & find. Great activity to have on hand for warm ups, fast finishers, stations, or easy Spanish sub plans. My students beg for word searches! St. Patrick's Day Poster I love using posters to motivate and inspire students. I do believe that "the harder you work, the more luck you have." I want my students to believe it too. Promote that hard work ethic with this More Work, More Luck poster! Build good character traits and decorate your Spanish, English or dual language classroom. Includes the English version! Hope you've found some great ideas to bring some Irish fun into your Spanish class! ¡Buena suerte! #holidays #stpatricksday

5 activities to spread the love in Spanish class on Valentine’s Day Spanish teachers, are you looking for engaging activities to include in your lesson plan for Valentine's Day? Find FIVE time-saving, vocabulary building activities for Spanish class that your students will love! Valentine’s Day Word Wall Make your bulletin board POP with 39 Valentine vocabulary words & expressions! This word wall is beautiful visual support for students as they read and write valentines. (All images have clickable links.) Valentine's Day Bingo Not your average bingo game! Read 30 simple phrases in Spanish that describe or define each word or expression. All the hard work has been done for you. Students love this game! Example clues: "un hombre con quien tienes la intención de matrimonio" (el novio) "una flor muy popular durante el Día de San Valentín, es roja" (la rosa) Spanish Valentine Cards Gently reinforce simple pronouns, yo form verbs, adjectives, ser, and masculine / feminine nouns with 27 unique Valentine's Day cards for students to exchange. Includes a blank template for students to create their own! Spanish I Spy Yo Veo Have students use the checklist and search for 17 items related to el Día de San Valentín! Word Search Define & Find 25 valentine vocabulary words in this Valentine's Day Word Search. Improve word recognition, spelling and increase vocabulary with Spanish word searches. Easy, no prep activity to use with fast finishers, in stations or an after the test activity. Hope you've found some activities to save you some time & help your students love Spanish! Click here for More Valentines Day Resources Pinnable Images:

Have your students had the opportunity to read portions of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech in Spanish? These words are powerful - and timeless! Here are a few quotes to read and discuss in class: "Sueño que un día esta nación se levantará y vivirá el verdadero significado de su credo: "Afirmamos que estas verdades son evidentes: que todos los hombres son creados iguales". "Sueño que mis cuatro hijos vivirán un día en un país en el cual no serán juzgados por el color de su piel, sino por los rasgos de su personalidad." "Ese será el día cuando todos los hijos de Dios podrán cantar el himno con un nuevo significado, "Mi país es tuyo. Dulce tierra de libertad, a tí te canto. Tierra de libertad donde mis antesecores murieron, tierra orgullo de los peregrinos, de cada costado de la montaña, que repique la libertad" Y si Estados Unidos ha de ser grande, esto tendrá que hacerse realidad." "Cuando repique la libertad y la dejemos repicar en cada aldea y en cada caserío, en cada estado y en cada ciudad, podremos acelerar la llegada del día cuando todos los hijos de Dios, negros y blancos, judíos y cristianos, protestantes y católicos, puedan unir sus manos y cantar las palabras del viejo espiritual negro: "¡Libres al fin! ¡Libres al fin! Gracias a Dios omnipotente, ¡somos libres al fin!" IDEAS FOR USING QUOTES IN CLASS Search for cognates and highlight them! Circle words you know. Underline verbs. Put a question mark on words you do not know. Choose volunteers to read aloud. Role play. Missing words. Scrambled sentences. How would you use these quotes in your class? READ Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech in Spanish El Discurso Completo de Martin Luther King Por: Univision WATCH Dr. King's speech with Spanish subtitles on YouTube BUILD VOCABULARY Honor and remember the life of Dr. King with this activity en español! Learn the vocabulary needed to get students talking about civil rights. Define & find 35 words from Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech in a challenging Spanish word search. Great for a warm up! POST DR. KING'S WORDS IN YOUR CLASSROOM "La oscuridad no puede expulsar a la oscuridad: sólo la luz puede hacer eso. El odio no puede expulsar el odio; sólo el amor puede hacer eso." "Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." Meaningful Spanish class décor. Dr. Martin Luther King Quote in Spanish FREE bilingual poster! Hope these ideas help make lesson planning in January easier and meaningful! Pin these images to save these ideas for later: Also available in English:

The number one fear in the world is public speaking! People are more afraid of speaking in public than they are of death, snakes, spiders, zombies and clowns. Jerry Seinfeld said that means “you would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.” Now imagine speaking a foreign language in public — in middle school! Even scarier. This is how many students feel when stepping into a foreign language class for the first time. The anxiety is at an all-time high. What's so scary? There is fear of failure, fear of the unknown and fear of making a mistake and being laughed at by peers. Fear is destructive. It keeps people stuck in comfort zones and prevents growth. In the foreign language classroom, it prevents language acquisition and learning. Teachers play the primary role in eliminating students' fears. It is our job to create a classroom environment where learning occurs. How do we create an environment where students overcome their fear of speaking and feel comfortable expressing themselves in Spanish? ONE. Communicate that mistakes are OK. Mistakes are a necessary part of learning. Students should not be concerned with speaking perfectly — they need to just begin speaking. The most important thing is to try. Meaning is the focus, not grammar. Every mistake made is progress! TWO. Challenge students to leave their comfort zone. Discomfort causes us to change. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do one thing that scares you every day.” First conversations in a foreign language can be scary. Encourage students to embrace fear, take a risk and do something uncomfortable. With every attempt to speak in the target language, speaking becomes easier and fears diminish. Every experience builds confidence. THREE. Create community in your classroom. Language learning happens in a social context. Help students get to know each other and find connections with other students through cooperative learning activities. This is done best with ice breakers. Activities like "Find Someone Who," “Stand Up If…” and “4 Corners” help students immediately find people who share their likes and dislikes. Students become more comfortable speaking with others when they know them better. Find ready-made Community Building Activities here FOUR. Practice in pairs. We can’t communicate as well when we are experiencing anxiety. Students panic if they have to perform a task without preparation. Give students time to work in pairs or small groups to practice conversation before presenting orally. One-on-one conversations are much easier than speaking before a large group. These types of low-anxiety interactions build confidence and help students feel more at ease. FIVE. Play a game! Not only do games reduce anxiety, they provide a necessary break from the routine, provide meaningful context, and motivate students to learn and use the language. Students will enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and competion against classmates. My favorite activity to get students talking is "Find Someone Who" - a quick and easy game that is great for novice learners. It gets students out of their seats and speaking with one another about their favorite subject — themselves! They answer questions about favorite foods, their family, likes / dislikes and so much more. Students receive a chart full of simple questions and find someone who can answer the questions affirmatively. They must speak Spanish to receive a signature. Everything they need to communicate is on their paper. It involves a lot of repetition so students focus on asking the questions and finding the right people. The classroom becomes filled with the wonderful sound of students speaking in the target language! It is a great ice breaker and helps students learn about each other. It gives students time to practice the language and build confidence. As you incorporate these ideas, you really can create a "no fear" zone in your classroom! 8 great “Find Someone Who” games to use with Spanish 1: #spanishspeakingactivities #findsomeonewho #spanishicebreakers

The TPT Cyber Sale is coming! 37 Spanish Teachers of TPT have joined together to give you a chance to win $375 in TPT cash! There are THREE different contests with lots of prizes, so make sure to enter ALL of them! Winners will be announced Monday morning - just in time for you to spend at the TPT Cyber Sale! Enter Giveaway # 2 here! Then scroll down for to find the links to Giveaway #1 and Giveaway #3 Here are two MORE chances to win! Click each image to be taken to the next contest! #tptsale

I am always looking for ways to bring football into my Spanish class. Not fútbol, but fútbol americano! As a girl raised in the south, I absolutely love football. So when it comes to teaching numbers to 100 in Spanish, I turn to football. In November, as our middle school number unit is just beginning and college football rivalry week is at its peak, I do an activity using jersey numbers from the two main college teams of our state: the Clemson Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks. (My team? I was raised a tiger!) Rivalry week is always a hot topic in middle school, but especially in November as the two teams are preparing to play each other again. #1 Team Rosters My favorite activity for reinforcing Spanish numbers centers around team rosters. I find rosters for each team, project them on the smart board and ask who wears which number. "¿Quién lleva el número dieciséis? or ¿Qué número es Trevor Lawrence? The boys in the room light up! The competition to answer the question is fierce. They are so excited to show off their football knowledge. The girls are into it as well. Team loyalties run deep. I love this activity because everyone is engaging, learning, & having fun. As a written activity, students choose their favorite of two teams and use a roster to write the jersey numbers of popular players. This requires a lot of prep work. Each fall, I look over the team roster to find the most popular players from each team and then create a worksheet. Students get excellent practice forming numbers up to 99. For me, it's worth the work because the students love it. (See the time saving template I created for you to create your own roster activity!) Team rosters are packed with information! You can review descriptive adjectives and comparatives while talking about height. ¿Quién es más alto? ¿Austin Bryant o Travis Etienne? Compare ages. ¿Quién es mayor? ¿Xavier Thomas o Trayon Mullen? Review forms of ser by asking "¿De dónde es Tee Higgins? and ¿De dónde son Trevion Thompson y Mark Fields? (See links below to find your favorite team roster.) #2 College Football Scoreboard The Monday following the big game, the topic is still hot. I project the final score on the board and ask, "¿Cuántos puntos tiene Clemson / South Carolina?" Some are excited to talk about the score, others, not so much. To change the subject for the sad fans, I pull up scores from top 25 teams around the nation. This is a regular Monday warm-up activity each fall. #3 College Football Rankings - the AP Top 25 As my Spanish 1 students learn ordinal numbers, we talk about top 10 teams around the country. ¿Quién es primero? It's a great way to generate excitement and make learning ordinals numbers fun. (See the time saving templates I created for you to create your own rankings and scoreboard activity!) There are so many variations you can do with these activities. When football season ends, switch to basketball. Then practice numbers over 100. You could also talk about baseball, soccer, tennis or softball (although those scores are normally very low!) Talk about your school's various teams. This communicates that you're interested and paying attention to the things that matter to them. The main thing is to find out what interests your students and find a way to talk about it in Spanish. What I love most about these activities is they're a great way to connect with students. It's fun to find things we have in common (favorite teams, players or sports) and have something to talk about - that is interesting to them. Topics like these build relationships. As my favorite coach says, "Football unifies. In a world that is very divided, nothing brings people together like football." - Dabo Swinney I hope you enjoy these ideas and have fun implementing them in the classroom! I'd love to see how these activities work in your class. Tag me on social media: @senora.lee on Instagram or @SenoraLauraLee on Facebook. Thank you for stopping by and for spreading the LOVE of Spanish! Helpful Links: College Football Rosters NFL Rosters Weekly Scores: College Football Scoreboard NFL Scoreboard College Football Top 25 Resources: Your students will LOVE these football activities! Plan to use them throughout football season and into January as it gets close for the BIG Game. *The "Football Championship" activity is fully updated for the 2020 game. Football Championship 2020 - Roster Activity Create Your Own Spanish Football Roster Activity Top 10 Rankings & Scores Templates

Back to School SALE! Teachers, save on Spanish activities, games & resources for back to school from TPT! Save up to 25% from August 1st - 2nd, 2018 with the code BTSFRESH. This is the best time of the year to stock up on all the Spanish resources you'll need for 2018-2019. So go ahead, fill your cart with all of the things you've got on your wish list! Must-have, time-saving resources you'll LOVE. Find materials you love for beginning Spanish, Spanish 1, and a review for Spanish 2 classes. Start with Spanish cognates for the first days of Spanish, find Spanish bulletin board ideas to provide instant comprehensible input using word walls, and stock up on no-prep Spanish-speaking practice activities. Use word searches to introduce vocabulary as a warm-up activity or for easy Spanish sub lesson plans. 5 BACK TO SCHOOL PURCHASES THAT I LOVE Do you have district shopping money and you are not quite sure how to spend it? That’s a good problem to have! Read about My Favorite BTS Purchases in a guest blog I wrote for Secondary Spanish Space. FREE RESOURCES! Have you heard? There are TWO free resource libraries full of fun resources from several of your favorite Spanish Teachers of TPT. (The top image is for elementary teachers & the bottom is for secondary.) So many great resources! MUCHAS GRACIAS. My goal is to provide you with time saving, engaging resources to make time with your students more effective and fun. Thank you so much for supporting my store and for sharing the LOVE of Spanish. I hope you have the very best back to school season! #tptsale

Teach basic classroom commands in Spanish with a game of Simon says! Play Simon says! When I think about the games we play in Spanish class, the one that my students love the most is "Simon says" or "Simón dice." (And these are middle school kids!) It does not matter what unit we are working on, students will ask to play. I usually introduce this game at the beginning of the year when we are learning or reviewing classroom commands. I love it because it involves TPR, has lots of repetition and is FUN. This is a game where everyone will want to participate. It's also a great way to quickly assess students' comprehension of class commands. You'll be amazed at how quickly they learn! Act it out! To begin, act out a motion or gesture that corresponds with each command. Students imitate and repeat several times. It is much easier to learn when you associate an action with a word. I find myself automatically acting out these commands whenever I give directions to the class. (Muscle memory!) Next, do a practice round to help students get comfortable with the gestures and routine of the game. No one is called out this round. This is pantomime, so there is no speaking involved. Before starting, remind the class that we play games for two reasons: to learn & have fun! Basic Commands Here is a list of basic formal class commands I use with my group. Use these commands when giving daily classroom instructions. There are many more you can add! Alternate saying or not saying "Simón dice" throughout the game. Simón dice... abran el libro (hold hands like an open book) cierren el libro (close hands shut) bailen (do a dance move ~ salsa, merengue or dab!) busquen (hold hand over brow to search around) canten (hold a microphone with two hands) escriban (write in the air) escuchen (hold one hand behind ear) hablen (point to mouth while mouthing hablo español) lean (hands like an open book but closer to your face) levanten la mano (raise hand) levántense (stand back up) miren la pizarra (point to eyes) presten atención (hold hands to frame the sides of your face - like a horse wearing blinders to tune out all distractions) siéntense (actually sit down) tomen apuntes (hold palm out flat & write with other hand) trabajen (pound your fist into palm like a hammer) Rules of the Game You may notice students pointing out others' mistakes and saying, "They're out!" So remind students "if you call someone out, you are out." That usually settles it quickly. A student is out when they perform an action that is not preceded by “Simón dice.” When calling someone out say, "Oh, lo siento, siéntate por favor" and they can play again next round. Also, many students will copy what others are doing. I allow that initially for a very short time. It only works until the one being copied makes a mistake. Then, both students are out. (You may want to move heritage speakers to the back of the room before you begin.) After several rounds it is time for the "eyes closed" or "ojos cerrados" round. This part is really fun! Gradually increase the speed of the game until you are giving rapid commands and students are following along. Be tricky! I like to pause and say "Ok, good job...siéntense." They'll think you are done with the game, but you did not say, "Simón dice!" Once you've led the class in a few rounds, assign a student to be Simon. Remember: Resources created to go with this activity: Spanish Commands Word Wall Spanish Commands Bingo Spanish Commands Word Search More games from Señora Lee: Find Someone Who Speaking Activities Bingo Games Word Searches Crossword Puzzles