Spanish Teaching Resources. Matching Cards Physical Descriptions + Hair & Eyes Battleships Game.

These Spanish - English matching cards can be used to revise previous learning of physical descriptions.

Phrases:

Soy bajo.
Es alta.
Es alto.
Soy de talla mediana.
Tengo el pelo rubio y ondulado.
Tiene los ojos azules.
Tengo pecas.
Llevo barba, bigote y gafas.

You may choose to have different levels of challenge. For example,

Level 1 = match the cards and discuss the pronunciation.

Level 2 = match the cards and then have quick fire questions from Spanish to English, whereby 1 student closes their eyes and their partner reads out the Spanish cards which the student must translate into English from memory.

Level 3 = The quick fire questions are from English to Spanish.

Following checking there are 2 fun games to play, either pelmenism or a game I learnt in Japan called Karuta. In Karuta the students put the English language cards to one side and spread out the Spanish cards in front of them. I then say the English and the students compete to touch the correct Spanish card first. Whoever touches it first wins the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins.

Battleships expressions:

Tengo el pelo rubio y
Tengo el pelo castaño y
Tengo el pelo corto y
Tengo el pelo largo y
Tengo el pelo pelirrojo y
Tengo el pelo rizado y

tengo los ojos azules.
tengo los ojos verdes.
tengo los ojos marrones.
llevo gafas.
llevo barba.
llevo bigote.

Instructions
I use this battleships game (which can also be used as a lotto grid) to help students to practise their pronunciation and to reinforce new vocabulary and grammatical structures.
Firstly I ask the students to work independently in pairs to translate the expressions and discuss pronunciation.

I then check the translations and drill pronunciation.
The students secretly choose 5 squares on the top grid and then try to guess which 5 squares their partner has chosen, filling in the bottom grid with “hit” and “miss.” To choose a square say a phrase from the horizontal line and complete the sentence with a phrase from the vertical line. Where the 2 phrases meet up is the square you have chosen.
I use the English language sheet to further challenge the students: they should place this on top of the Spanish version and then try to play the game saying the Spanish phrases as far as possible from memory. I allow the really weak students to have the Spanish version next to the English version so they have lots of support, stronger students are allowed a few “sneaky peaks” at the Spanish version and the really strong students aim to refer back to the Spanish version as little as possible.
During the game I check pronunciation.