Last year my goal for my classes was to create strong connections with my students. I wanted a simple activity that I could use across different levels that would build a strong classroom community. I gave the Weekend Chat in Spanish a try and I am SO glad that I did. Weekend Chats absolutely helped me to connect with my students, build community all while practicing Spanish.
What is a Weekend Chat and Why do I need this in my Spanish Class?
If you’re wondering what a Weekend Chat is (don’t worry, I had to Google this myself) it is as simple as it sounds- asking your students what they did over the weekend.
Now, if you’re like me you are thinking, how in the world can I ask my students the same exact question every single week and have it be engaging?
This was my trial year so my students were my guinea pigs as I tried every Weekend Chat activity or question I could think of in my Spanish classes. Some were GREAT and some were total fails.
If you’re looking for some alternative Weekend Chat ideas, click here for 25 unique Weekend Chat prompts that you can use ALL year long!
How did students react to the Weekend Chat?
I am glad that I started to incorporate this into my weekly routine and my students really loved it too. At the end of the year I gave them a survey and asked them for their feedback on my class. Here was what one student said, “Speaking wise, normalizing the weekend chats were helpful”
I started class every Monday (or whatever day we came back from a vacation) with some kind of activity that related to what students did over the weekend or vacation. Every week, my students knew that we were going to talk about what they did over the weekend. This established routine set norms for my class and also lowered students’ affective filter. Students were never stressed about what we were doing on Monday morning because they already knew.
Besides giving them more opportunities to practice speaking and writing in Spanish, having a weekend chat each week was a great way to get to know my students. I got to know about their families, their activities, and their interests. I used this information throughout the year to continue to build connections which was my goal this year.
As you can see, my students felt comfortable in my class and as you know this is the biggest factor in getting them to take risks and speak Spanish.
This graph shows that my students know that I care about them and I absolutely feel like this was a result of the Weekend Chats. Here are some more survey quotes:
“she genuinely cares about our entire class and is interested in our daily lives.”
“she connects with her students personal lives”
What classes can I use Weekend Chats with?
Any level class (no, really!) If you are teaching Level 1, you are going to need to offer a ton of support. They will not have a lot of experience with the past tense so you may have to give them the key phrases like (yo fui, yo jugué, yo pasé tiempo con…)
The great thing about this is that it’s an activity that you can level up or down across platforms. Last year I taught only juniors and seniors so our weekend chats looked a lot different than a Level 2 class (and that is ok!).
As long as students have support, they will produce the language. I don’t have my own classroom so I give my students a Chat Mat to support language output.
How Do I Get Started?
It’s super easy to start. On Monday morning, start your class with the question “¿Qué hiciste este fin de semana?” You can support your students with these awesome Chat Mats by Sra. Dibujo- Click here to get your copy!
If you want to try out some fun and unique activities to get your students excited, click here to grab my 25 unique Weekend Chat prompts.
The best part? These will last you the entire school year so that means you are planned for every single Monday morning. Adios Sunday Scaries!
Want to try some other Weekend Chat variations? Check out this blog post with 10 Ways You Can Start Your Class with a Weekend Chat
About how long would you spend on the Weekend Chat activity each Monday?
Hi! This depends on the activity and also depends on what I want to do that day. Some of the Weekend Chat activities can last the entire class period (I teach 40 minute periods). The great thing about these is that you can cut them short when you need to or drag them out when you need to. I would say at a minimum, give yourself 5-10 minutes at the beginning of the class to go over responses.