I am a High School World Language Teacher of Spanish, French, ESL and Bi-lingual education with 25 years of experience teaching all levels K-University level language classes. I love teaching and always ask for new responsibilities to broaden my knowledge. I am a documentary buff so I also write movie guides on a variety of Social Studies and Health related topics in addition to World Languages. I am excited to be able to share lessons with others and welcome your feedback.
I am a High School World Language Teacher of Spanish, French, ESL and Bi-lingual education with 25 years of experience teaching all levels K-University level language classes. I love teaching and always ask for new responsibilities to broaden my knowledge. I am a documentary buff so I also write movie guides on a variety of Social Studies and Health related topics in addition to World Languages. I am excited to be able to share lessons with others and welcome your feedback.
Need a quick warm up or some slides for speaking practice? 24 photos of people doing reflexive actions students can use vocabulary and reflexive verbs to discuss. I run the powerpoint several times during a unit, first time pointing things out, 2nd time practicing verbs, writing out sentences and using them for oral quiz. Works best when students have already been in the unit for a few days and can make verbs with reflexive pronouns. Download also contains a chart for students to complete for written practice.
This practice packet for negative words takes students through indefinites one word at a time, with practice sentences and detailed explanations with examples for each one. No, Nada, Nunca, Nadie, Tampoco, Ningun/Ninguna/Ninguno are all covered and there are 50 practice sentences and questions for students to complete as you explain the concept. It takes about two class periods to complete the notes/practice together or you could assign some of it as homework. Packet works best with Spanish II students or higher who are just learning indefinites or need a quick review at the higher level.
This powerpoint contains 20 photos of people with various health problems. Students look at the photos and assess what the problem is and offer a recommendation for the patient. I use these as a warm up in the beginning of the chapter and for speaking prompts on assessments, students get 3-4 photos and have to describe the problem and recommend a treatment as part of their test.
This sheet reviews the basics of -CAR -GAR -ZAR verbs in the preterite tense. It contains an explanation, 3 box charts for models and 24 verb conjugations for students to practice. There is also a list by family of the most commonly used verbs. Answer key also included. This practice works best for SP 2 students who have already been practicing regular preterite -AR verbs for a few days and are familiar with conjugation patterns. Answer key included.
This powerpoint serves as a game to review conjugation of regular AR preterite verbs and verbs that take a YO change. (CAR, GAR, ZAR) family. Directions for the game can be downloaded from the free preview file. Guaranteed that EVERY student will be engaged and practicing, this game works best when students have already been working with preterite AR conjugation for a few days or as a review before a quiz. 25 examples to practice, first person back to their seat in descending order wins the game.
This project works best in a unit with natural and man made disaster vocabulary and preterite verbs. Students should have a good grasp of both regular and irregular preterite verbs before taking this project on. Student work in pairs to create a short newscast of current events. They can use real events or create their own. Download contains instructions for project, grading rubric and an outline for students to take notes on their current event before creating their newscast, and a thematic vocabulary list. Project works best with level II or higher and each newscast takes about 5 minutes to present in class. Project could be easily differentiated to creating a video.
Click here to see a link of a finished student project:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v04UuM46M8
How well you do know the countries of Latin America? 16 short descriptions of interesting facts about each country lead students on an internet guessing game. Great for beginners, practicing countries and capitals, and learning about Spanish speaking countries in general. Webquest is in English so it could be used for a social studies class studying Latin America as well. Students can do this activity in the computer lab or as homework outside of school. I recommend the CIA world factbook website as an excellent resource to find the information listed in the clues. Webquest takes about 30-40 minute to complete.
This lesson is a great review for present tense verbs, interrogatives, giving directions and using school vocabulary. It is primarily focused on oral communication, but does have a written component for students to submit prior to tour date as well if you wanted to assign a separate grade for their written work. It works best as a final assessment for the first review unit of Spanish II, but could also be used at years end for a Spanish I class who is familiar with giving directions. Download includes project parameters, a list of helpful questions to get students thinking about what they will include, grading rubric, destination sign up chart and printable rubrics for the teacher as well as a page of suggestions for implementation. Tour takes one class period and you grade while you walk so all done by the end of the hour!
Project meets ACTFL standards 1.1, 1.3 and 5.1
Teaching the Cultural Component to a foreign language class can be challenging. This collection of 99 independent projects grouped together by interest (art, music, history, internet, etc) has something for everyone. Students select which projects to complete and present their findings in the first five minutes of the class daily. Projects have different point values based on time and difficulty levels which students combine to complete 50 points each semester. This portfolio is the ongoing work and revision of 15 years of teaching cultural topics in foreign language classes. Years later students tell me that these are the projects they found to be the most interesting and memorable in their foreign language experience because they connected to areas of personal interest. Download contains goals of investigation, step by step instructions on how to complete the projects, activity sheets for students, 99 diverse cultural activities, supporting guided adventure sheets for community excursions and an exit survey to collect their feedback year end. You will need a couple of days in class to explain to them how to do the projects and to field any specific questions they might have. I ask students to read the activity list and highlight projects of interest to discuss in further on day 2. Afterwards, every day is a new adventure as your students lead the class in their discoveries. Projects help students hone their presentation/public speaking skills while everyone learns.
This portfolio works great for home-schooled students as well, they can work at their own pace to discover as many different adventures of interest and connect them to other curricular areas such as art, history, music and culinary. Load up your printer, download is 43 pages long!
Note: You will need to insert your own "approved restaurant list" as it will vary depending on where you live and teach.
Keywords: differentiated, internet, culture, French, presentation, community, historical, artistic, culinary, communicative
This is a quick partner practice activity for that chapter on school vocabulary in every textbook when you need another thing to get kids talking to each other. 12 questions about study habits and in class behaviours, students survery their partners about how often they do these things (todos los dias, a veces, nunca) Takes about 15-20 minutes to run in class and can be just small groups or you can share out the results in larger group afterwards.
This powerpoint presentation will launch the unit on subjunctive, covering requirements for a subjunctive verb, formation of the tense and many of the irregular, weird Yo, stem changer verbs, and lots of practice examples. There are several slides for oral practice where students can shout out then check their conjugations, followed by a list of WEDDING conditions for subjunctive sentences with examples and 32 practice examples on slides with answers so students can check their work and discuss along the way. I use this presentation over the course of several days to work on subjunctives and follow up with a practice packet of additional exercises, but the powerpoint could easily carry students through the first three days of notetaking and practice. Presentation adapts nicely to the AVID style of Cornell notetaking. I was observed using this lesson and the administration loved it!
These notes and practice pages for the future tense take students through formation and usage step by step. 5 page download includes, notes, grid for conjugation of regular an irregular Future tense verbs, questions to answer in the future tense and 25 practice "si" clause sentences where students complete the sentence with either the future or present tense. There is a free write essay with prompt at the end for students to envision their future life. This works best for a Level III class or as a review for higher levels. You could use it to introduce the future tense and assign practice.
Looking for a quick and fun way to assess students knowledge of Subjunctive vs Indicative vs Infinitives before a test or quiz? Better than you game keeps all students engaged, provides immediate feedback and gets them thinking about their choices. Directions for the game are included in the preview download. Powerpoint includes enough examples of the most commonly confused situations and the immediate answers. All you have to do is cue up the powerpoint, set up the stations and the students do all the work. Game takes about 30 minutes and works best as you near the end of the unit on Subjunctive. Verbs include irregulars, CAR GAR ZAR, weird yo's and stem changers.
This four page packet reviews usage of verbs like GUSTAR (encantar, importar, fascinar, molestar, fastidiar, interesar) and then applies them to subjunctive clauses. Lesson contains one page of reference notes and charts with examples, 1 page of review simple sentences using verbs like GUSTAR and two pages of practice sentences with GUSTAR verb clauses that prompt for subjunctive. (one page of translations, one page of questions to answer) This lesson works best with a level III class or higher where students have already been practicing the basics of subjunctive usage and conjugation. Practices may be assigned as homework or completed in class together.
This powerpoint tells the famous Aesop fable of the Lion and the Mouse. 25 blanks for students to decide preterite or imperfect alternate with slides that contain the answers and rationale for their choices. Students can practice a story together and discuss their choices prior to trying some of my other practice fables as worksheets for homework. Each slide contains 2-3 sentences and is immediately followed by the the answers. This powerpoint would work best early on in the preterite vs imperfect unit after students have been presented with the reasons/concepts for each verb tense. Provides an important step for "guided practice" to reduce frustrations and stimulate discussion before students practice on their own. Free preview file is the graphic organizer on blackline for students to track their answers and reasons.
This thirty point quiz on negation goes from the very basic to sentence completion to turning positive sentences into negative ones. It works best after a few days of instruction on Negation with level II or higher as they must understand some vocabulary in order to manage the quiz. Answer key included.
Quick and easy quiz to assess knowledge and usage of these two verbs. Quiz includes two 6 box charts for conjugations, some circumstances where students must decide to use SABER or CONOCER and short sentence examples where they apply what they know to select and conjugate the verbs. Total quiz = 36 points.
Ever wish you had a list of prepositions to give to higher level Spanish students to use when they are doing journal entries or guided writings? Well, now you do! :) I let my students use these when they are composing paragraphs on assessments. I ask them to use a finite number (you decide) and underline or circle them as they write to identify they have used them.
This quiz covers conjugation of ER verbs. It contains a listening section for students to identify what subject they hear in verb endings, a conjugation box for ER verb endings, 10 short sentences to conjugate verbs, conjugated verbs where students read and convert meanings back into English and several questions in Spanish for students to answer using an ER verb. Download also contains an answer key.
This 40 point quiz covers the basics of conditional tense conjugation and usage. It contains a box chart for the verb endings, a section asking students to identify irregular conditional stems. 10 practice sentences for conjugation and an open ended reponse section where student complete sentences in the conditional based on a hypothetical situation. Takes about 20-30 min to complete and works best as assessment for Spanish 3 or higher where students have been practicing the conditional for a few days.