Lesson #1: Picture Talks
This activity is something I do with my students every week. This is called a picture talk. It is a methodology of CI (Comprehensible Input) language teaching and revolves around students looking at images and coming up with stories using the vocabulary from that lesson/week/unit.
Students use their Spanish to craft stories from the images they are seeing as a class. These images are ones that would be used from a lesson including: adjectives, clothing, etc. The students look at these images while the teacher facilitates the story asking students questions about what they are seeing and circling important vocabulary. For example:
Teacher: ¿El perro de esta foto lleva gafas? ¿Sí o no?
Students: Si, el perro lleva gafas.
T: ¿Y por qué lleva gafas el perro?
S: Las necesita para hacer su tarea.
And so on and so forth until they have created a story for each dog. This also allows the teacher to compare the photos and receive student feedback.
Students decide the names, plots, settings etc. of the stories and then participate in a “Write and Discuss” where they write out the story in their own Spanish.
Lesson #2: Los paises hispanohablantes
Understanding the cultural differences between Spanish-speaking countries is a key part of cultural competency. Cultural competency is one of the standards for Spanish language classes and a great way to showcase different cultures is to compare and contrast common aspects of the cultures. This example shows two classic plate of food- 1 from Peru and 1 from Mexico. This activity can be done with any aspect of two different Spanish speaking countries and is easy to embed into the vocabulary they are already using.
Students discuss with partners the similarities and differences they see between the two pictures shown. They use vocabulary such as comparatives and food related words.
They then share with the class, in Spanish, the differences and similarities they had noticed.
Image Sources (In order of appearance):
Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Photo by Rebecca Orlov | Orlov Design Co on Unsplash
Photo by Laurentiu Morariu on Unsplash
Hi Cierra, this is such a great idea! I love how casual it is and it creates such a safe space for students to practice their vocabulary. All too often foreign language classes feel tense and stressful. I think this is a great balance between making it fun and also a great learning opportunity!
I love this because I think it will immediately resonate with students the same way it resonated with me- I always want to talk about (my) dogs and food! I might steal your “picture talks” idea for French!
I agree with “The Rachels” and would add that both exercises make excellent use of WP image block options. Excellent images and clarity of layout of the lesson ideas.
This is such a fun lesson! I love how you incorporated the sliding photo over the food. What a fun way to learn about Spanish culture!
I love the look of this lesson and honestly wish I had this lesson when I was learning Spanish in high school cause this would have helped a ton