Hola a todos!
First off, thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you find something beneficial from it that you can add to your classroom right away - that is my goal! All of these games and activities can be easily adapted for any level of Spanish! If you want any further explanation on something please email me at mehlert@htschool.org or if you have tried one of these new methods in your classroom and it was successful, please let me know! :)
Now, on to the good stuff! (In no particular order)
1. Creating Music Videos
This has to be one of my students' favorite ways to practice and reinforce their grammar knowledge. Typically, as a class, we cover the grammar concept or tense of speaking first. Once I feel the students have a solid handle on it, I provide them with this rubric in order for them to create their music videos. I do allow the students to use their phones to record and edit their music videos (of course we have a conversation of what they should not be doing with their phones). Most students choose to use iMovie to create and edit their music videos. Here is an example of an 8th grade music video going over the Future tense. Hope you enjoy (they do get silly, but hey, I got them to have fun and that is what truly matters right??).
2. El Gusano
El Gusano is a board game that was actually left behind by a previous Spanish teacher at my school (thank you Laura Catherine Green) to practice any tense of verb conjugation! When my 6th graders are learning and practicing conjugation, I have them play, "El Gusano." I place students in groups of 3-4. In each group each player gets a playing piece (whatever you have laying around your classroom will work, I like whiteboard markers), one dice, and each student needs a piece of paper/something to write with. Students take turns rolling the dice and moving their playing piece. Depending on what number they roll, they conjugate the verb they land on in a different form. You could easily play this game for any tense you are studying! Each time they conjugate a new verb, they write it down on their piece of paper. The first person to get to El Fin wins! My students get so competitive and have a ton of fun with it. Don't have time to create a board game? I have had my students create the game board for me as an extension project!!! I just double check it for accuracy before I have my other students play. :)
3. Conjuegmos
If you haven't checked this website out yet for fun grammar games, it is a must! You can find the website here. It is FREE to create an account! You will be able to find everything from grammar lessons, flashcards, listening activities, and games galore! Regardless of what Spanish level you teach, you will be able to find something beneficial on this website to use in your classroom! I often have the students play games/practice their grammar on this website during my "Starbucks" mode, or during the first 10 to 15 minutes of class to help them get settled in while still actively learning and reinforcing their content. Down below you will see one of my students play verb conjugation battleship! One of their favorites.
4. Around the World
Although it seems like a simple game, it gets my students up and moving to practice their Spanish grammar! I play around the world for whatever Spanish tense we are learning. For example, AR verbs in the present tense. I first have the students make a circle around the room. I start with the first two students and give them a verb to conjugate, for example, Bailar in the Yo form. Whoever gets it correct the quickest gets to move around the circle to the next person in line with a new verb to conjugate. The game keeps moving until their is only one winner left!
5. Seis (Seis Estudiantes Contentos)
Thank you to Senorita Vallejo for showing me! If you have played el lapiz, this game is very similar! The game is very simple. I place students into groups of 3-4. Each group gets 1 pencil, one dice, and one game sheet. I make my game sheet contain whatever grammar concept we are practicing! Students take turns one roll at a time. The goal of the game is to roll a six. If the student does not roll a six during his/her turn they pass the dice to the next person. When a student does roll a dice, they get to grab the pencil and the game sheet from the middle of the table and fill in as much of the game sheet as they can! Now, while they are filling out the game sheet, the other students in the groups continue rolling the dice. If someone else rolls a seis, they get to steal the game sheet and pencil away and continue filling in the game sheet. The winner of the game is whomever has filled in majority of the completed game sheet!
6. The cup game
Another very simple game, that makes grammar fun for students! I play this game when we are practicing verb conjugation. I set up 6 different cups, each labeled with a different subject pronoun. I give each student an envelope of sentence strips. The student has to read the sentence strip and based on how the verb in the sentence is conjugated, they have to place the sentence strip in the correct cup. I make it a race to see who can get done first, but they have to be correct in order to win!
7. Draw, Write, Check
Not a big fan of technology, this game is for you! I first pair every student up. Each student needs a mini whiteboard, whiteboard maker and eraser. I use this game for both conjugation and vocabulary! Students sit in their seats back to back. I tell the students either a verb to conjugate or an English vocab word that they need to translate. They first have to draw it on their board, then write it on their board, and last but not least when I say,"Vamos," they turn around to check with their partner. If the partners have the same thing, they get a point! If you can't tell, I love making game a competition out of games to get student buy in! :)
8. Parchment Paper Stations
This is another activity that will get your students up and moving! On pieces of parchment paper or construction paper that are hung up around the room, I write a variety of verbs conjugated. For example, ellos escriben. The students move around visiting each piece of parchment paper while creating an illustration that makes sense given the verb. I tell them to keep in mind how many people are in their picture given the subject pronoun. I like this activity because it helps ensure that students not only know how to conjugate verbs but they also know what they mean in English.
9. Snowball fight!
This game can get a little crazy in the classroom, but the students have so much fun with it! I give each student a piece of paper where they write a verb that needs to be conjugated, for example, tu estudiar. Once all students have written their unconjugated verb, we have the snowball fight! Students crumple their paper up into a ball and start throwing it and picking up other snowballs to throw around the room. I will set a timer for 10 seconds each round. After the timer goes off, students pick up one snowball, un-crumple it, and write the correct conjugated form of the verb!
10. Act it out
The title says it all! I give each student a different verb to conjugate, or grammar concept to act out without words! The rest of the class has to try to guess in Spanish what their peer is acting out! A very simple tool to use in the classroom, but always effective. It gets students up and moving, but also laughing and smiling as well. :)
Which of these top 10 are you going to use!? Let me know what works for you!
