New Spanish resources for kids that practice high frequency structures

¡Hola a tod@s!  Today we’re excited to talk about teaching high frequency structures in Spanish classes for kids.  Why HFS?  Because, they’re one of the best ways to get students with a limited language bank speaking with what they know and are learning.   And, the best part is that the HFS can be repeated with all different types of vocabulary, helping lower level classes produce without having to learn hundreds of verbs or feel like they’re always repeating the same information over and over again.  Another plus, is that many of the HFS can be used to express what’s currently happening in the students’ lives and relates to things they care about (I like/don’t like… I am/I’m not…, etc…).

Camaleón (¿Dónde estoy?) / Chameleon (Where am I?) 

The easiest way to teach new and useful grammar structures is by using vocabulary that is straight forward, simple and visual.  It’s even better if it’s words that students are already familiar with.  In this Spanish song for children your students will practice four HFS while reviewing the colors.  The structures:  ¿Dónde estoy?    Aquí estoy.     Busca…    Mira… can all be practiced with TPR activities and can easily be transitioned from the song to the classroom by hiding something and having the students look for it.  ¿Dónde está?  Busca… ¡Mira… Aquí está!  This theme has a song, video and lyrics page available.

Short stories with visual elements that encourage student participation are the perfect way to get your students using HFS and vocabulary in a relaxed setting.  Tengo hambre / I am hungry  short story focuses on a hungry dinosaur and what he’s going to eat but along the way uses the verbs “me gusta.”, “no me gusta…”, “voy a…”, and “tengo hambre”.  The story is versatile and can be taught from paper or digitally.  Our recommendation is to start with the printed version  which can be read and shown to the whole class as story cards, prompting the class by asking circular questions about the scene.  For example when showing page 3 you can ask the questions that are attached to the printable version and are designed to engage students while helping them remember these important structures.

¿Le gusta a Teo la ensalada?

¿A quién le gusta la ensalada? (pointing to the whole class)

¿Te gusta la ensalada? (point to one student)

Once you’ve read through the story, acted out the meaning with TPR, engaged your students with questions about the story, take advantage of the other resources that work with the HFS and include sorting activities, drawing the scene, and an online game about the events in the story.

Another short story with a different language focus is Mi amigo Bob / My friend Bob.   Work on the HFS “Tiene…” and “Es…” with the printable story and simple questions that you can use with the story cards to get the students participating before playing the online game or doing the sequencing activity that practices reading simple sentences.

Review the Top 10 high frequency structures in Spanish with this free online game.  Set it to practice the Top 10  or Top 20  high frequency verbs.   You can play it as a class if you have a digital whiteboard or on individual devices.  It’s visual, memorable and the best is that it’s fun!

Work HFS into your daily routines.  This craft, which comes with a video tutorial and printable template, reviews weather vocabulary, time and feelings.  It uses HFS “Hace…” “Estoy…” “Es…”, and if included in your daily routine is a quick and easy way to get students speaking and using the language before you even officially start your lesson of the day.    Quick tip: Have your students work in pairs asking and answer the questions or have one student come to the front of the class to ask the questions and choose classmates to answer in full sentences.

Thanks for reading along today!  We’d love to hear what you do to get your students using HFS in Spanish class!  Let us know by commenting below or on our Facebook page.  Until next time, hasta luego amigos and keep on rocking!