4 low-prep activities you can do with Rockalingua resources this winter

1. Picture talk in kids’ Spanish classes

In the printable version of our short stories we have a version without text that is perfect to use for picture talks and other visual activities.  Before reading the story with your class, choose a few images from this version to project and “talk about” with your students.  You may need to go over some vocabulary or you can use this as an opportunity to activate the knowledge your students might already have and generate a list of vocabulary together.  Project one of the images from the story on the board and ask simple questions (yes/no, circling, one word answers). You can use targeted structures that you want to practice as well as anything the students have already learned.  Ask questions about the images and ask more personalized questions so that students answer from the context of their own life.  You can take a look at the Teacher Tips section of the printable short story to get ideas for questions to ask with each page ;) 

For example: using pg 4 from the story without text

Showing the above image to your students, ask them:

¿Hace calor o hace frío? 

¿Hace sol? 

¿Está nevando?

Point to one student adnd ask him / her ¿Te gusta la nieve?

Point to the whole class and ask: Clase, ¿Les gusta la nieve?

Page 2 of story without text

¿Tiene calor o frío?

Point to one student and ask him/her ¿Tienes calor o frío?

Point to the whole class and ask: Clase, ¿Tienen calor o frío?

Etc...

2. Already prepared Winter short story comprehensible input session

Short stories are a great way to teach the Spanish language in context to young learners or beginners.  We recommend starting with the printed version of the Winter story and reading through the story with your class, using lots of TPR and asking the questions from the Teacher Tips page (pg. 15 and 16 in the story with text packet) to check for understanding.  Once you’ve read through the story as a class, clarified any doubts and checked for understanding, each student can work through the story on their own (interactive or printed version) and work on the games at the end  which include sequencing and comprehension activities.  

Teacher Tips and questions you can ask your class while reading the Winter short story.

Winter interactive short story in Spanish.

Comprehension question game at the end of the short story.

Sequencing activity at the end of the Winter short story.

3. Read/listen and color activity in Spanish

The winter worksheet packet for Timbo and Friends includes a coloring activity on Page 2 that can be used as a read and color or listen and color activity.  To make it a listen and color activity, have the students cover the sentence and read them aloud while they color in the picture.  You can also have them do this in pairs, with one student reading out loud and the other student coloring the pictures.  

4. Find someone who… BINGO

For the winter unit,  have students create a bingo board (or print out an already created board that is either 3x3 or 4x4 squares).  Inside the squares have students fill in words from the Winter picture dictionary

Once studets have filled their bingo charts you can start reciting words / sentences from the picture dictionary until a student call BINGO 

For younger students who cannot read, you can have them “create a bingo card” by putting their deck of flashcards from this unit out on the desk in a 3x3 or 4x4 pattern.  You can then call out vocabulary works and then they can put a marker on top until they have a line or bingo.  If you want to incorporate questions, you can ask a question as a class with each vocabulary word.  

We hope these ideas help and if you have any suggestions or other ideas please share them in our Rockalingua Teacher group on Facebook :)