I have done this as a running reading. Students have the reading sheet in teams. They all get the first question, find the answer and Number one comes up with answer written down to collect the next question. Wrong answer and they have to go back and re-confer. Everyone in team has to take it in turns to come up. If you have not tried this as a way of getting them to work on a text do have a go.

This is not quite finished so if I develop it further I will add. My Y9s are really getting in to it and they absolutely love the crime scene investigation. I haven’t added a crime scene document because you will have to create that yourself depending on how much time and effort you want to put in but I have explained what I do in the ppt notes. It says things like -they found fingerprints on a bottle of wine left on the table-there was a …under the bed-and in fact it isn’t under the bed it is somewhere else in the room- for things like the bed- I place photos in the room-I then have a glass with lipstick on it-I have a fingerprint kit-costs £4-I have crime scene tape, and chalk-again cheap- toy murder weapon-or in this case some fake pearls from charity shop. So you see you can set it up as you like and use whatever props you like. In previous years I have got them to act out the inspector interviewing them-so where were you at, what were you doing when, what did you do between…and, What is missing is who actually killed Luisa- I always have an idea but the best activity is when the students decide and you write the ending together. In my version Carmen was the intended victim even though she is pregnant and the murderer was Felipe- he found out that she was pregnant with someone else’s child and acted out of jealousy-he also didn’t want his plans to marry Luisa to be ruined by Carmen lying to her husband and telling him that the baby is Felipe’s, something she told Felipe she would do if he didn’t help her get away from Don Navarro. Hope someone out there wants to have a go and like I say it is ripe for adaptation.

Hispano Americano is defined as a Spanish speaking person of Spanish or Latin American origin or descendance, typically living in the USA. This original and creative resource opens the door to the rich and diverse culture of the many Hispanic Americans living in the USA, examines their struggles to find a voice and sense of identity through a look at some of the stories you may not know about their history in the States, and at some of the icons who have shaped that story, which is also the story of black history and the LGBTQ+ LatinX communities. It also looks at music, cinema and TV, such as the rise of Reggaeton and Latino Trap, Jennifer Lopez but also Indya Moore the first transgender actor to appear in a top fashion magazine. It is aimed at GCSE students aiming for 7+ and at A Level students. All the texts have GCSE and A Level tasks, sometimes the text is the same but the tasks are different, sometimes the text is also different. They all come with answers so students can do them at home, or as extension work when school starts again. Some of the A Level tasks come with opportunities for debate with peers. The tasks match exam task types and also help students develop text attack skills (reading skills). They can of course just enjoy reading the texts for pleasure. It is a shame you cannot see a preview due to the number of texts provided. I have given you multiple texts here so even if you just use one or two you are getting good value. I would love it if someone would send out a review so that more teachers download it. I would love to see more of us daring to be creative and not getting bogged down by exam pressure.

How to make comparisons fun for a disaffected Y8 or Y9- well at least I think it's fun. The Wordsearch is meant to encourage choice of interesting adjectives and give you a bit of space. The next thing on that sheet could be used as a card sort if you have the time/energy. I always think getting them to put the sentence together works but I have taken to giving a sentence per pair and then a quick put it back in envelope and pass on. The jumbled version of the same grid is called a sentence machine. They work in teams with a piece of paper. Each time they correctly combine a set of words to make a sentence they send a runner to check and then cross it off in the machine. The more sentences they generate the more points and points mean rewards. The PPT introduces the structure and there are plenty of extra pics if you want to print some off and get them to generate their own example sentences in pairs.

Can be used at any level. The slides have commentary so you can see what I do with it. Great for Speaking and or writing-great just before Easter- great for getting students to use the preterite accurately, great for expressing interesting opinions. You’ll be surprised at how much speakng they do, how much attention they pay to verb endings if you turn it in to collaborative writing instead. You’ll be surprised how they remember there are alternatives to delicioso after using this activity. When they’ve finished the collaborative writing I ask them to count number of words and they often find they’ve written more than 150 and so you can then say to them that this is the number of words for Higher writing now at GCSE. Obviously it isn’t GCSE task but they do like realising that 150 words isn’t such a big deal. I do it in conjunction with an activity that I have uploaded before about the History of chocolate because it comes from Mexico and the song el chocolate by Jesse y Joy-on Youtube- really easy to hear the lyrics if you have not come across these two before. I also link it to como agua para chocolate for GCSE classes-look at an extract from the novel with an able motivated class perhaps-watch bits of film-not the saucy bits-I sometimes just show the wedding scene.

Y7 coursebooks always use classroom objects to teach colours. That never strikes me as a great idea. Singular/plural yes and masculine and feminine but not a yellow pencil. So I use it to practise dictionary skills and it really works. The whole idea is to get to the challenge which is the things you shouldn’t have in your school bag, hence the slide with the pet toad, the conkers and the fake note from home about homework. The last slide is the boy a bit older. The students I had today were happily adding their own ideas and they really understood the need to record whether noun was masculine or feminine. I uploaded the French version ages ago and so this is the exact same thing but in Spanish. It is aimed at Y7 but the principle behind it could be useful at all levels. Then we wont have to answer that annoying child who says “It’s not in the dictionary.” Later in the year I will do part of a lesson showing them on-line dictionaries, more and more schools are allowing use of phones for learning in classroom. This to me is 10 times more valuable than duolinguo.

I may have shared this before but it is about verbs linked to daily routine and getting students to use metalanguage. I love this kind of focus on describing language and students respond well if you really feel confident it is worthwhile. I don't like students to think verbs are doing words so I talk about stative and dynamic verbs and it does not scare them. The second ppt about practising routine-not new and you have probably got one of your own already-but do have a look. I have attached some word worksheets I have used in conjunction with PPT and a silly points game-have a look and you will see why it is called silly points-great idea and not originally mine.

This resource is designed to help teachers deliver the unit on dictatorships in Latin America and forms of protest for AQA and as stimulus for the individual oral project in Y13. I found it fascinating to do the research and hope that you will find it equally fascinating to use this resource. It provides original texts, that I have created based on extensive research. Sadly many of the stories are similar, shameful CIA interference, total disregard for indigenous human rights, dictators that were put on trial but not punished. There was also Operación Condor, where dictators across Latin America worked in close collaboration to pursue their victims. The nature of protest in Latin America also tells amazing stories as do some of the films included in this resource. Enjoy

This is a systematic and comprehensive look at how the Spanish Civil War has been portrayed on screen. Some of the films will be well known to you already and there are lots of good resources on films like Pans Labyrinth out there. My resources on such films may be appreciated as they focus on very specific aspects of the films and are based on a lot of research. Some of these films you and your students may not have seen and should and hopefully this resource will inspire you to watch some of them. Where background is needed to fully appreciate the film reviews I have provided it, so it will give you and your students a lot of socio-political background and historical detail too. The reviews are original and provide good speaking and reading practice. I have provided answer keys for some of the activities but not all. It is also possible to adapt the activities to suit the needs and confidence levels of the students. I have provided a How to use this resource section too. It is not aimed at one specific exam board although I may be obliged to specify when I upload it. It is aimed at Post-16, though I have used it with GCSE students too. I hope you enjoy using it as much as I did in creating it.

New GCSE and 'literature', we are doing education with Y7 so I have created this reading skills focussed ppt using extracts from les excuses de petit Nicolas\n\nUse of white boards and an element of competition stops it from being too teacher led and the great thing about Nicolas is if they like him he can come up again- we are doing les vacances with Y8 so we might add in a petit Nicolas on holiday extract

Y10 GCSE Spanish but could be used with more able in KS3. Describing your house can be dreary so I came up with the idea of a description of the prison that Pablo Escobar designed himself. It really worked as they found the story fascinating, and were able to predict the content with a few nudges. They were then willing to go on and be more creative with their own descriptions.

Ten things to do before you die-classic theme for introducing conditionals-and or just using constructions like me gustaría + infinitive- espero/tengo ganas de…generates more interesting opinions and students can be encouraged to use stronger adjective-adverb combinations Versatile because can be used at any level and made more or less challenging-the conversation can be expanded and the tense can be changed so you can say what you’ve already done, like Bungey jumping or visiting somewhere amazing or what you are planning to do-in order to raise money for charity perhaps. There are quite a lot of slides so it can be made shorter so students have to generate ideas themselves. It can be used for speaking, as a stimulus for writing, for translation practice You could easily use the slides and change language

I use this to get students in to the topic of food which can be a bit boring. I get them to prep their own answers, and then speed date to ask and answer with as many partners as possible. I am trying to get them to be more authentic in their responses to get those top marks in Speaking.

PPT is really to provoke/stimulate discussion- \n\nArticles are aimed at beginner Y12s. I have a group at the moment who are not very confident and so I tried to find relatively easy web-based articles- that would boost their confidence and also show them that talking fashion is quite fun because you can get away with Spanglish

This is a preview of a resource that I will shortly be uploading. It is an extensive review of how the Spanish Civil War and its’ aftermath has been depicted in film. You will know many of them and there will be others you and or your students haven’t seen or heard of. The main film reviews are original and come with tasks that enable students to develop their reading skills and how to talk about film. Many are accompanied by short articles that provide historical context, to make sense of the films and to learn more about the war. It is well researched and well informed. I am going to attempt to sell it as it is a labour of love and has taken me time and effort to produce. It is aimed at A Level students but you could adapt some of the articles for students aiming for an 8-9 at GCSE and or to get them interested in A Level.

With the idea of interesting students in the culture behind the language this is expressing opinions about food whilst learning about food from Spain and Latin America. It gives a great opportunity for students to get their tongues round some great words and they will often enjoy giving opinions about foods they have never tried. It brings out and challenges their prejudices.\nKey focus on speaking and does challenge students on uses of gustar and other verbs for likes/dislikes + adjectival agreement- it does need differentiating.

I have just put together display for sprucing up classroom at start of term- have had them laminated A3- For years I have been putting up classroom language signs and then failing to sustain insistence that they use the phrases so I have distilled it down to absolute minimum on one poster and have decided to challenge them to keep it going all year.\nMeetings and greetings- not all that clever really but again just to see if I can get them to say hi in Spanish spontaneously if the constant reminder is on display

Speaks for itself really. He seems to be hugely popular at the moment. This is a challenging reading but because they know something about him already it appeals to boys in particular.\n\nAlternative easier version also included that I use with weaker GCSE students and KS3

PPt will need adapting by you as goes with my particular lesson but could give you some ideas. Tick or fix for example links to a previous lesson\n\nM. Vraiment sportif-idea is that answers are printed on to card with questions for AFL on the other side- reading task differentiated as are questions for reflection and the success criteria for the writing task

I've got a big class for GCSE Spanish in September and this is my attempt to get them to revise the basics before the start of the autumn term so we can hit the ground running.\nIf you were thinking of giving Y9 some Summer work in preparation for GCSE you might find this useful to use and or adapt.