Instructional Strategies for World Languages
Buscapersonas/Mixer / Students circulate, asking classmates questions. After a classmate responds, he/she records the response or classmate’s name/initials according to the teacher’s directions. Students can win in one of the following ways:
- By completing five boxes in a row.
- Getting the most initials on his/her board.
- After a set amount of time, the teacher directs students to return to their seats and calls out vocabulary in context. Student mark only those pictures that they have initialed when the teacher says them. When they get five marks, they call out “Bingo!”
Inside-Outside Circles / Students form two circles. Half of the class stands in a circle facing outward, while the other half forms a circle around them facing inward. Students exchange information until the teacher signals the outer circle to move in one direction. The students now have a different partner with whom to exchange information. If time permits, the procedure continues until the students return to their original partner. The Give One Get One strategy can be added, with students exchanging cards before moving to the next partner.
Memoria en español / Pairs of students are given a set of flashcards. One half of the cards have visuals, and the other half have sentences that correspond to the visuals. The cards are placed face down on the desk. Students take turns selecting two cards trying to find a match. The student with the most matches wins.
Pesca / Similar to “Go Fish” in which sets of four cards are distributed to students. Students take turns in groups of four asking the other students if they have the matching cards that they are holding in their hands.
Bingo / Bingo in Spanish can be played using visuals, either student or teacher-created. The teacher uses the vocabulary in context, and the students mark the corresponding visual on their bingo card.
Pictionary en español / This game is played in pairs. One student is given a vocabulary word or expression. He/she must describe it without using the word or expression in their description. The other students must draw what he/she hears.
Give One, Get One / This strategy is similar to the Inside-Outside Circle. Students are given a card with a question or visual of vocabulary to be practiced. Upon the teacher’s signal, each student finds a partner and asks for the information on the card. After the partner responds, he/she asks for the information on his/her respective card. The partners then exchange cards and find a different partner with whom they repeat the procedure with their new card. Teachers may use a signal such as music, a bell, or raising a hand to direct students to change partners.
Matamoscas / This game can be played as a whole class or in pairs. Visuals for the vocabulary are arranged randomly on a page and displayed for the class. Two students come to the front, with their backs to the displayed visuals. Using flyswatters, the students listen to the statement by the teacher, turn to the visuals, and try to be the first to swat the correct visual being described. The visuals can also be placed between two students to play at their seats at the same time.
Tiered Questioning / This strategy uses questioning techniques from basic (Yes or No, Either/Or) to the complex (short answer and interrogative) to engage students during the presentation and practice of new learning.
Pinch Cards / Students are given a page of visuals displayed in two or three columns. The cards may be folded so that only one column is displayed. The teacher uses the visuals in context, and students hold up their cards as they pinch the visual being described. The cards can also be used as a partner activity, and also may be used as homework in which students cut the visuals into flashcards and write a sentence for each visual on the back.
Face Off / Give one set of flashcards to each pair of students. Direct students to lay the flashcards on the desk, visual side up. The teacher uses vocabulary in sentences or questions. As the students listen, they compete with their partner to be the first to locate and hold up the visual related to the statements or questions. Assess for understanding as the students hold up the flashcards. The student from each pair with the most cards at the end is the winner.
Information Gap / For this strategy, two students are given the same document, but each document has missing pieces of information. Students must communicate with each other using the model question(s) in order to complete the document. Examples: a student schedule, a menu, or a telephone directory.
A/B Speaking / Students take turns listening to each other and asking for information. The information is recorded on a worksheet.
Elbow Partner / Students speak to the student seated next to them.
Face Partner / Students speak to the student seated in front or behind them.
Collage / Create a collage for visuals for speaking and writing.
Quick Speak / After choral practice of a question and answer during presentation of new learning, students turn to their elbow or face partner and practice the question and answer,.
Back-to-back / Pairs of students sit back-to-back with a whiteboard and a marker. One student must describe something (such as the contents of their backpack) and the other student must draw it on a whiteboard. This activity can also be used to dictate numbers, dates, etc.
Individual Whiteboards / Each student is given a whiteboard and marker. This activity can be used as a listening activity in a variety of ways, The teacher uses vocabulary in context and the students must draw the item.
Art Work / Display art of Spanish-speaking artists to use whenever possible in the context of the vocabulary and structure being presented.
Think Aloud / Model thinking out loud in order to demonstrate possible answers.
Tracking / This strategy is used after choral repetition during the introduction of new learning. Place sentence strips for the question and answer on the board above the visuals. Hand out sentence strips with new vocabulary words to students in the class. Have the class chorally ask each student (in the order that the visuals appear on the board) the question. The student should answer as he puts the word under the picture in a complete sentence. Teachers can use this as an opportunity to introduce the third person (by having the class chorally repeat a statement about the student who answered).
Word Sort / Provide students with a set of flashcards which has two components (weather & seasons, people & adjectives, clothing & descriptions). Have students line of the flashcard visuals of the first component at the top of their desk. Then instruct students to listen placing the visuals from the second component below the correct category.
Thumbs up/Thumbs down / After giving a statement to students in a listening or reading activity, have students put their thumb up if they agree with a statement, if the statement is true, if the statement is a positive statement, etc. If a statement is negative, false, or they disagree, have students put their thumbs down. Use this strategy as a quick way to check for comprehension.
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