There is nothing better than a low prep activity that takes minimal effort on my part but yields big results on my students’ part. If you are looking for some ways to shake things up in your Spanish class and love the idea of low prep…then this is for you!
1-Word Association
This activity is super low prep but great to get your students collaborating and thinking outside of the box which is what we want in our Spanish class!
First, you will need to give your students a word in Spanish. I usually choose a word related to whatever we are studying. Then, write the word vertically on a piece of paper or type it out and print a few copies.
I have my students work in small groups (usually 3-5). Once I tell them, they will brainstorm as many words in Spanish that they can think of that has to do with the topic. I give them a set amount of time to work (usually around 3 minutes).
Once the 3 minutes is up, the team with the most unique (not repeated by other groups) words wins!
Students really enjoy the competition aspect of this and they get really creative with their words.
What if they come up with a word that doesn’t have to do with the topic? I usually give them a chance to explain but I ultimately make the final decision.
This is super easy to prep and will allow for creative out of the box thinking!
2-Tell Us a Story
Students love a chance to write a good (sometimes silly) story but who has time to do this?
You do!
This is another super, low prep activity you can use in your Spanish class tomorrow!
Take your vocabulary list and pull 5-7 words that students can incorporate into a story. I usually try to pull some verbs, some nouns, and some adjectives so students have variety. I also like to pull words that do not naturally go together so students have to get creative with their thinking!
Then, give your students a few minutes to write! I usually do this individually but you can totally invite students to collaborate on this.
Here is where it gets interesting! There are so many varieties on this.
You can have students share aloud. Ask other students to illustrate to show understanding.
You can ask students to stop writing and pass to their right. They then have to add one more sentence to the new story in front of them.
You can have students pass to the left and then illustrate what they just read. I got this idea from Martina Bex at The Comprehensible Classroom- You can read more about this write-draw-pass activity here!
Like I said…so many options!
3-Story Ask…with a Picture!
You’ll need about one minute before class to prep this one.
Find a picture that has to do with your unit of study. Copy and paste it into a Google Slide and you’re ready to go!
Project the picture on the board or share on Google Classroom so that all students can see. Then, invite students to brainstorm as many vocabulary words and expressions that they can relate to the picture. You can have them do this individually or with a partner.
Once they have their key vocab, I usually ask them to share out and create a Master Class List in front of the room.
Now, you can ask students to start crafting a story. I always write the main questions on the board: Who? What is happening? Where? When? Why? How?
You can write one story as a class and then use this over and over again! Tomorrow you can project that story and ask students to illustrate. The next day you can ask students to rewrite the ending with a twist. There are so many possibilities!
As you can see I love activities that are flexible because we need to be able to adapt on the move.
If you’re looking for more vocabulary activities, check out this post on low-prep vocabulary activities you can use tomorrow!
