A fun activity to consolidate vocabulary of places in town. Students cut out words and stick them onto the right picture, then draw a map of Seville based on the resulting text. This can take the better part of a lesson.
NB: For the sake of simplicity, I have taken liberties with geographical positioning - it is not all true to life...
A quick exercise for the Spanish perfect tense - pupils look at stills from The Simpsons and make a sentence in the perfect tense to answer the question, ¿Qué has hecho?
A self-guided explanation and exercises dealing with the following often-confused pairs:
si – sí mi – mí tu – tú el – él
Students figure out the rules based on a body of examples, then complete gapfill and translation exercises. I have found that this tends to clear up a lot of confusion common about accents in Spanish!
A series of listening comprehension exercises to accompany the song ‘Johnny’ by Vaya Con Dios (easily found on YouTube). The activities include: gapfill, vocabulary, verb tenses, connectives and time frames, translation.
Would suit mid-to-high ability Yr 13 students.
A worksheet to accompany the following video extract from a talk show programme in the Dominican Republic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHnmCUn4pfI
Contains a variety of listening comprehension tasks. Full answers are included on the second page.
Designed to complement the new AQA A-Level Spanish specification, topic Valores tradicionales y modernos. Nice to follow up with a discussion of students' own views of marrying vs. living together.
A series of exercises to engage with the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LypbOR9Wnc Offers a more critical look at celebrity culture within the 'La influencia de los ídolos' module of the new AS Spanish specification.
Exercises include: listening comprehension questions to be answered in English. Searching for Spanish translations of useful expressions in the video. Searching for synonyms in the video. A translation into Spanish using the new vocabulary.
Two starter activities on the Machismo y feminismo chapter of the 'Igualdad de los sexos' module of the new AQA specification.
The first activity asks pupils to unscramble words to find synonyms of some of the topic vocab.
The second activity asks them to translate some expressions into Spanish. The expressions have been specially selected as they contain little 'traps', such as a difference in articles, false friends, etc.
Pupils may use the textbook for vocab tips (pp. 54-55).
English Language A-Level lesson (AQA) to introduce students to the terminology of: embodied knowledge, schematic knowledge, co-text. Offers regular opportunities for pupils to write on the board collectively to contribute and to reflect on what they've learnt.
A starter activity in which students get introduced to some crime vocab by actively guessing it, using their knowledge of English cognates and a few hints. This tends to be quite popular with students.
A comprehension worksheet to go with a video (link in the document) featuring an Argentinian news clip on drones.
Can be used for Scientific Progress module or for Crime module, since it discusses the uses of drones by the police.
A two-slide presentation including a translation exercise (ideal as a starter) and Devil's Advocate, a speaking activity in which students are given statements to defend or argue against.
This mostly deals with the earlier parts of the Crime and Punishment unit: basic crime vocab and reasons for criminal behaviour.
A lesson to prepare students for an exam-style speaking assessment on relationships: this tests question comprehension as well as topic vocabulary.
At the end, I ask students to pack up and translate/answer one of the questions each to be allowed to leave the room.
A quiz consisting of 3 rounds (grammar and spelling, odd one out, and identify correct description for the image). Made for KS3, but could be used with lower-ability KS4. Good for revising the technology module, or if students are a little tired!
A ready grid to print out and get your students to design their own word search. My favourite way of doing this is clues in source language, answers in target language - easy-peasy and educational!
To develop comprehension and fluency, an overview of fillers and interjections:
match-up of Spanish and English, then a video making fun of celebrities who use a lot of fillers, then a speaking activity in which students are required to use as many fillers as possible.
A couple of PowerPoint presentations introducing students to a few basic phrases in the conditional (voudrais, serait, aurait...) and practicing talking about one's ideal partner.
Also deals with adjective placement and agreement.
A conjugation drill in the three past tenses studied at GCSE (preterite, imperfect, perfect), which my students have found useful for resolving confusion!
An extended activity that could take up to a whole lesson, depending on the students' level of French. Designed to reinforce the Daily Routine topic in a slightly more entertaining way.
Students read the text and fill in the gaps using words from a list. They then complete two more activities: answering reading comprehension questions in English, and doing a multiple-choice exercise in French.
NB: The two files are an EASY and a CHALLENGING version of the same thing; see what suits your class best.
A good challenge for KS3. May be suitable for lower-achievement KS4.
I follow this up by making them pick a cartoon/book character and write about his or her day in a creative way.