As the summer flies by WAY too quickly, you might find yourself panicking about what activities are you going to do in your Spanish class that first week back. That last month of summer can feel like one long Sunday Scary as you count down how many days before you are back at school.
I get it! That’s why the last few years I have tried to have a couple of activities ready to go so that my first week back is planned and I can really enjoy every second of my summer. I am all about simplicity so although I teach a variety of levels at the high school, I just level up or down the resource as necessary. The activity can remain the same, sometimes I will just create modified versions.
So- it’s August (or July for some of you) and you are staring at your blank school calendar. You have five days to fill up that first week and you just don’t know where to start. You want to do some fun stuff but you aren’t sure what your students remember. You want to engage the class but also teach them about you and your expectations. Can we have it all?!
The answer is YES! Below I am sharing with you seven great activities that you can use in your Spanish class during that first week back.
1-This or that
As easy as it sounds- present students with two options and ask them to vote for their preference. This is such a fun activity and students love this one! My students often refer to it as a “game” even though it technically isn’t- but they love it so much!
To have students show their preference, I ask them to move to either side of the classroom. This makes it interactive, engaging, and fun. Students can quickly see with whom they have things in common and who is different from them. It’s a fun and easy way to build classroom community and the best part- it’s low stakes for your students so even your shyest student will easily participate in this fun icebreaker.
I start every class with this Icebreaker (you can grab a copy here) and my students ask for this activity over and over again throughout the year!
2- Find someone who
Find someone who is an icebreaker that I think we have all done at one time or another. Students have a grid with different characteristics, verbs, likes/dislikes, etc. and they have to find a student in the class that fits into this category, has completed this activity, etc. It’s easy for students because the vocabulary for the questions is right in front of them. They do not have to come up with questions on the spot, they are forced to talk to different people, and they are using their Spanish.
3-Snowball Fight
Make a traditional (sometimes awkward) turn and talk more fun! Start with a list of getting-to-know-you questions. You want to make sure that they are level appropriate (sometimes even trending toward the easier side). This will ensure that your students will have the confidence to participate and will remain in the target language.
Then, print 4 questions on a page in a 1×4 table. You’ll want to make the font big and legible so that is’s easy to read quickly. Once you print these, you will cut them up and they will become your “snowballs”. I like to play a snowy video on the Smartboard to really set the scene.
Pro tip- if you don’t have time to cut all these (who does, really?! lol)- hand out one sheet with 4 questions to each student, have them fold and rip them apart. It’s totally fine if they are not perfectly straight edges- as long as your students can read the questions.
Make sure to clearly explain the directions before the snowball fight begins or there is a chance you will not be heard above the chaos that will ensue.
Have each student start with 4 questions. They will crumple them into snowballs. Once you give the signal/say the word, students will throw the snowballs at each other. They will keep throwing until you say stop or stop the music.
Once stopped, students must pick up a question and read it to a person near them. They will engage in conversation for as long as you have the music stopped. Once you start the music the snowball fight will pick up again.
If you want a copy of this activity, click here for the already made snowballs!
4-Class syllabus scavenger hunt
I know that some teachers want to (or have to) review the syllabus with their classes. As with anything, this has its time and place for some teachers.
Instead of just reading the syllabus with your students who most likely are not listening (let’s be honest), why not have them read the syllabus closely to complete a scavenger hunt.
You can create a super fun and engaging escape room using Flippity.net-Virtual Breakout. This is one of my favorite tools to use in my classes and once you watch the tutorial it is super easy to create.
You can come up with questions related to the most important parts of your syllabus. You can ask open ended questions like “When is Sra.’s extra help sessions?” or you can make them true/false or multiple choice (you would just give the options in the question section).
This is a fun way to make a boring syllabus interesting. It’s also a great way to make sure your students actually know and understand your classroom policies.
5-Vocab brainstorm race
A great team building activity is a vocabulary race. It’s one of my favorite low-prep activities for class. Since we are coming back from summer, I will write the word VERANO vertically. I will make 4-5 copies and divide my class in teams.
Then, students will have 3-5 minutes (varies depending on their level) to write down as many words in Spanish that relate to the theme of summer.
Once complete, the teams will share their answers out loud. If a team has a unique word that no other team has, they earn a point. If another team has the word, no one gets the point.
Warning- it gets competitive and you will have to be the judge of “relatable words”. They like to try to sneak in a bunch of randoms!
6-20 questions
This is a great way to get students to ease back into speaking Spanish. I use this 20 questions game that I made during COVID. I have students ask me 20 questions until they can guess the Hispanic celebrity.
For every question, I remove a mask. Each celebrity is worth 20 points. They lose one point for every yes/no question that they ask me. If they ask 5 questions and their final, fifth question is “Are you ___?” with the correct name, they earn 15 points. If I stump them, and they cannot guess the celebrity after 20 questions, they earn 0 points.
It’s fun and your students will come up with creative questions. It’s a great way to review all sorts of basic personal identity, sports, likes/dislikes, etc. It will give you an idea of where your students are in terms of their language learning, and it will get them speaking right away!
I usually split the class into two teams (or three depending on the size of the class).
7-Weekend chat
Lastly, a definite routine I like to establish in the beginning of the year is the Weekend Chat. I start off the year asking students about their summer. If you want to switch it up, check out this post on 10 different ways to start class with a weekend chat.
You can start with a basic- turn and talk about what you did over the summer, you can invite students to write 2 truths and one lie, or you can even have them illustrate what their partner did over the summer. The possibilities are endless!
It’s a great way to embed this routine into your class from the beginning and also a perfect way to start getting to know your students!
I know that the beginning of the year is a mixed bag of emotions. We are sad that summer is over, excited for our new classes and sometimes overwhelmed by all of the possibilities (and new preps?!). Having a few activities ready to go can make that transition from summer to school so much easier!
Have a great year!
