Top Ten Interactive Spanish Vocabulary Activities for Grades 2-12
All of these activities I have chosen fulfill the following criteria: 1. They are student centered. Students are moving and/or generating the language. 2. They maximize OTR (opportunities to respond). There are not any lines or down time. Students are all actively involved. 3. They are fun! They create an enthusiasm for the language. 4. They produce positive results! Señor Ashby’s general learning activity tip: I always stop the activity while the students are still very engaged. I love to hear students say, “ohhh” because they wanted to keep playing. This is good and keeps activities fresh. You should never play a game until the students “get sick of it”. Rather, move on to something else and come back to that activity at another time. This also eliminates many classroom management problems!
#1: Matamoscas Teléfono (Flyswatter Telephone)
Brief Description: This is a game where students pass a vocabulary word up a row of desks to the person in the front, who receives the message and swats the correct picture of the vocabulary word with the flyswatter.
Game Set-up/Rules: 1. Divide the class evenly into two teams. 2. Have a powerpoint of the pictures/ words you are learning projected on the screen. 3. Have flashcards, or a sheet with small pictures ready. 4. Place each team in its own row of desks to form a telephone line. I highly recommend desks or chairs instead of sitting on the floor. If you have a lot of students and a small room, you will need to get creative. You can have your rows snake around instead of one long row. Or, you can put desks together, but staggered so the students are passing the message up and diagonal to the person sitting in front of them. 5. Have one student for each team stand in the front of the row with a fly swatter. They are the first hitters. Also, have one student from each team stand behind the row without a flyswatter. They are the first message passers. 6. Take your flashcards or sheet to where you have the two message passers standing. Show them the picture/card. They then need to pass that word in Spanish to the first person in the telephone line. If they need help, you can whisper it to them. 7. Each person must pass the message in Spanish to the person ahead of them. They may not skip anyone, and they may not say it in English. They are racing against the opposing team. 8. Once the hitter receives the message, they must “swat” the correct image. They only get one chance. If they hit the wrong picture, the group must pass the message all over again from the beginning. The group that hits it first wins. I generally find it is competitive enough to not have to keep score! 9. The person with the flyswatter, gives it to the next person in line, and then takes the place of the first message passer. Everyone moves up to the seat ahead of them. The movement keeps the game fun and fresh!
Differentiated Instruction: Students are having a chance to produce the language independently, respond to a verbal prompt, and receive remediation by hearing the word during the passing of the message.
Assessment: Teachers have a chance to assess learners by watching them try to hit the correct image, and by seeing who can independently generate the language when they are the message passers. Tips: Have a bell or something to cue them in to be quiet when you are ready to give the next word.
#2: Matamosquitos(Kill the Mosquitos)
Brief Description: Students have a partner, and a sheet in front of them at their desks that has pictures of the vocabulary they are trying to learn. You could also do this game with grammar conjugations. The teacher says the word in Spanish, the two students race to hit the picture/kill the mosquito as fast as they can using their index finger. Keeping score is optional.
Game Set-up/Rules: 1. Partner up your students, hand out a sheet with 10-20 vocabulary words that you are trying to learn. Students put their desks together, with the vocabulary sheet in the middle. 2. Teacher calls out a vocabulary word in Spanish, students race to hit it with their index finger. In my class, students usually keep score. 3. Have a copy of the sheet on a document camera so you can point out the vocabulary word after a 10-15 seconds so they can check that they are right. 4. I usually play for a certain amount of time, about 5 minutes, and then have the students find a new partner. Sometimes, I have the winners play the winners, or even make a miniature tournament.
Tips: This is a great game when just introducing new vocabulary. Use the opportunity to assess where students are at, and to have students repeat the words after you before starting a new game.
#3: Pictionary
Brief Description: This is a great game when just beginning to have students generate the language independently. Students play in groups of 4-6. One student draws a vocabulary word on a white board, the students at their groups guess what it is in Spanish. Whoever guesses it correctly comes up to the teacher to get the next vocabulary word to draw for their group. Keeping score is optional. Game Set-up/Rules: 1. Place students in groups of 4-6. Give each group a whiteboard, and have one student come up to you for the first word. 2. Have a sheet of pictures, or vocabulary words to show the student(s) their word. 3. Students return to their group and draw the item quickly for all to see. 4. The student who guesses it first correctly becomes the next drawer.
Tips: 1. Sometimes I allow students to pick the word they’d like to draw. But, if I want to make sure certain words get called, I often will make the selection. I may pick the same word for the same group 3-5 times if they struggled with it. 2. Assess the students. How easily are they coming up with the words? How is their pronunciation? Which words took forever for them to get right? 3. Walk around to different parts of the room to hear all groups. 4. Try it with short sentences to make it more challenging!
#3B (Bonus Game) Charades: I play the same exact game as Pictionary, only for some vocabulary it is better to act it out rather than draw it.
#4: 7-up
Brief Description: I have never actually tried this game with high-schoolers, but my current 8th graders love it! They ask to play it all the time. If you do not know how to play the kids 7-up English version of this game, watch this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PczXAKHPpAI
Game Set-up/Rules 1. Review vocabulary by using flashcards. Then, ask students to raise their hand to identify one flashcard at a time. The student who gets it right, takes the card and stands in front of the room. 2. Repeat this until you have seven players standing in front of the room. 3. The rest of the players put their head down and thumbs up. The seven players each put one of their thumbs down while their eyes are closed. 4. “¡Cabezas arriba levántense!” Heads up, stand up. The players who had their thumb put down stand up. 5. Before they guess who “got them”, the teacher should have the students repeat after them the vocabulary cards that the students are holding. 6. The students must guess who got them by saying the Spanish vocabulary card. If they guess correctly, they take that student’s spot. 7. Students in front tell who they got, and the game starts again. Tips: This is a great game when you have 7-14 new vocabulary words because they get the repetition of repeating the cards, and also need to generate the language to guess. It is a good way to assess to see if students are able to say the words. If a student cannot come up with the word, say them all one more time and have them say it in Spanish. Do not allow them to guess in English.
#5: Group Bingo
Brief Description: This is a fast-paced game where students each have one vocabulary card and play on a team to get a “bingo”. When one team has all their players standing, they have “bingo”
Game Set-up/Rules: 1. Place the students into groups of 4-6. Have them put their desks together and give them each a vocabulary card. 2. The teacher will read off the vocabulary words from a list at a fairly fast pace. I usually read off a new vocabulary word every 2-3 seconds. 3. When students hear their card, they need to stand and hold the card up. Teams should work together to make sure their teammates stand when their card is said. This encourages them to keep track of all 4-6 cards, not just their own. 4. When they have all of their group standing, they yell bingo! Or, “Ganamos”. Then, everyone has 30 seconds to change cards with someone from another team, or from the extra cards I keep in front of the class. 5. Play again!
Tips: If there is a team with one less player, just have one player keep track of two cards.
#6: Hide and Seek
Brief Description: This is a game that focuses on 5-7 tough to pronounce vocabulary words. Students look for items while the class chants louder or softer in Spanish based on how close the student is to the item.
Game Set-up/Rules: 1. Pick out 5-7 vocabulary words that students are struggling to remember/pronounce. You will also need a manipulative of each item. Example- la zanahoria (carrot) 2. Send one student in the hallway, and pick another student to hide the item anywhere in the room. 3. Ask the student to return, and have the class begin to chant the name of the item that was hidden. As the searcher gets closer to the item, chant louder. As they get farther away, chant softer. (La zanahoria, la zanahoria, la zanahoria, etc.) 4. Once the item is found, repeat with another item. Students of all ages love it! There is a lot of repetition and a lot of laughs!
Tips: Decide your top volume level before you play. I personally like my classroom to be a bit wild, but you do not want to be too loud that you lose the pronunciation of the word itself, as that would defeat the point of the activity.
Research: Research says some students need to repeat a word as much as 50 times before they remember it. This is a great way to have students repeat a word 20-30 times without even realizing it.
#7. Bop
Brief Description: Students stand in a circle holding a flashcard or vocabulary item. One student is in the middle trying to bop the students on the head with a pool noodle before they can say a vocabulary word another student is holding.
Game Set-up/Rules: 1. Bring students to a large enough space where they can stand in a circle. 2. Give each student a vocabulary flashcard or item. Pictures work best, but words are okay too. 3. Choose one person to stand in the middle and give him a pool noodle. 4. The teacher starts the game by saying a vocabulary word that someone in the circle is holding. 5. The bopper needs to bop that person on the head before that person can send him somewhere else by saying another vocabulary word in Spanish. 6. The goal is to keep the bopper in the middle as long as possible. The student that does get bopped needs to go in the middle.
Tips: -Every time there is a new person in the middle, I have the students pass their cards one or two people to the right. This makes them listen for a new vocabulary word. -To make it easier on the bopper, and force the students to concentrate harder, make the rule that the group cannot say the same word twice in each round of bop. The person who does so needs to go in the middle.
#8. Sillas Locas
Brief Description: Students place their chairs or desks in a circle. One student in the middle reads a statement. If that statement is true about the students, they need to find a new chair to sit. The person caught without a chair needs to read a new statement from the middle.
Game Set-up/Rules 1. Set-up chairs in a circle and have the students sit down No chairs/not enough room? You can have the students stand in a circle and have them mark their spot with their folders. 2. Choose one student to stand in the middle of the circle, and remove their chair from the circle. 3. Have that student read a statement that they prepared ahead of time, or that the teacher had prepared ahead of time and placed in a bucket with other slips of paper w/statements on it. Examples: Me gusta montar en bicicleta. Yo llevo el color rojo. Yo tengo un perro.
4. If it is true about the students sitting in the circle, they need to find a new chair to sit in, as well as the person who was in the middle. The person left without a chair reads the next statement.
Tips: There are many variations to this. For example, sometimes I may only choose 15 activity words and Me gusta in the first month of Spanish 1. Students need to create sentences ahead of time choosing 5 random activities that they like to do. Then, they only move if the person in the middle says something that is on their paper. Every couple minutes, they need to switch papers with someone in the group so that they are listening for a different set of vocabulary.
#9. Guerra
Brief Description: Students partner up and play a war game with their flashcards.
Game set-up/rules: 1. Have students cut out/create flashcards. I just normal printer paper where I make a grid with the English word or picture displayed on one side. They write the Spanish on the other side and cut them out. 2. Students divide one set of flashcards in to two equal piles. L 3. Students put the top card out facing their partner with their hand on top of the card. 4. On the count of three, they take their hands off the card to show their partner. 5. The first person to correctly say their partners card in Spanish wins and puts both cards in their pile. 6. Ties are handled just like the game of war. The winner of the next round gets the cards from the previous round. 7. The game is over once someone completely runs out of cards, or until the teacher has them count their cards. Tips: Remind the students to make sure they come up with the correct Spanish words for cards they were unsure of. For example, if George wins because he knew Bob’s card, before George puts the cards in his pile, they should both know what BOTH cards were in Spanish before moving on to the next round.
#10. El Grupo Más Rápido
Brief description: Students in groups of two race to see how quickly they can go through a stack of vocabulary words.
Game Set-up/Rules: 1. Students partner up with one set of flashcards. All groups need the same flashcards, and the same amount. 2. Students are told they are going to be timed to see how long it takes for them to go through the set of flashcards with their partner and given 10-15 minutes to practice. 3. One partner needs to say half of the flashcards, while the other needs to do the other half. Example: Bob quizzes George on 30 cards (shows him the English side/picture and George says the card in Spanish). Then, George quizzes Bob on the other 30.
5. When groups finish, they need to stand up, and then write their time on the board. The top five groups get a prize.
Tips: The practice part is key! Students become very motivated to learn the words when they know they will be competing. If a student does not know a word, they can skip it, but they will have to come back to it before they can be finished