Teacher Tips: Spanish Class Games

I would like to preface this with the fact that at my school, I had very easy access to outdoor space with my class. Many of these items may not be conducive to your classroom, but hopefully at least one will! I have put them in semi-rank of most requested games (by that, I mean I put the most heavily requested at the top, followed by the lesser requested, but still loved and helpful games). These are in person games, but some of them may be able to be played in an online environment- especially the last three.

1. The ball game.

The first thing I love about this game is it takes no prep-work and is a super easy way to fill those last 5 to 15 minutes of the day. I played this game with all levels of students from first week Spanish 1, to upper level Spanish. It can vary in intensity, but all you need is some space to make a circle, a ball (of any kind), and a decent attitude. This can also be done with almost any subject (at the moment, I think it works with all of them, but I could be wrong). Have students create a circle. The first person will sa

y a word in English, then throw the ball. The person who catches it says the Spanish word and so on. You can have students sit down and study when they are wrong or just continue playing- it is up to you and how you think your class works best. When my students are learning the alphabet and numbers we do this game, but each student says the next letter/ number in the sequence.

Here are some ways to take it up one notch at a time:

• Student 1 gives a verb and a person, student 2 conjugates

• Student 1 give a simple sentence (noun+ verb) in English, student 2 says in Spanish

• Student 1 asks a question in Spanish, Student 2 gives an answer (this can be done with simple memorized questions for lower level Spanish or more advanced questions for upper level Spanish).

1. Vocab knock-out

Much loved by all male students and most female students, play knockout with one basketball and a list of questions/ words (and something to throw the ball into… like a basketball goal or a trash can). I would suggest keeping a list of words and questions in your room for easy access so that you can grab it when you go play the game.

Have students line up with instructions to study/ practice while waiting. The front two students face off to answer the question/ vocab word. If the front person wins (says the correct answer first), that person takes his/ her two shots (I always allow a back-up) and the second person becomes the front person. If the second person wins, the front person goes to the back of the line. I make sure to repeat questions (especially for certain students) so that students feel a need to practice/ study while waiting in line. It also encourages them to listen carefully in line to hear other questions that are being asked and the answer that goes with them. I have found this to be a great way to encourage even the most stubborn child to study/ listen. I always give students an easy opportunity when I can. If one student who struggles a lot is coming in line, I will give him/ her a heads up as to what the word will be so that he/ she can practice (I usually give this word to the student when he/she is the front person just to be fair to the person in front of them).

1. Verb baseball

I got this idea from pinterest at one point and then tweaked it over time to make it work well for my students. This has always been a … hit…. (pun intended) with my students!

There are two ways I have played this depending on the group I have:

Process 1: I take out 6 white boards (or laminated pages would work as well) and erasable markers for students to write with. I give the student the verb they will be conjugating and he/she must conjugate the verb at any base he/she is stopped at to earn points for the team. There are 6 bases representing the 6 people for which a verb can be conjugated. Whatever base the student stops at, that student will conjugate the verb for that “person” (1st base= yo, second base = tú, and so on). If the student gets a homerun (which often happens), he/ she must conjugate all 6 forms of the verb at the home base.

Process 2: In this version, students are given the questions before hitting the ball (this is for my students who will purposely get “out” so they can hit the ball again- they are teenagers afterall). Once students get the answer correct, they can hit the ball and play as normal (we just use four bases for this version and no writing materials).

1. Verb-pong

I play this with marbles and dixie cups. On the bottom of each dixie cup is a verb and a person to conjugate (example: comer, él). Inside is a point value. Students race to get their marble into a cup- once it’s in, they must conjugate the verb; if they are correct, their team gets the points in that cup.

1. Board races

This is a classic- but I have two ways to do it as well (one outside version, one rainy day version).

Inside: I think just about everyone has done this in class, so I won’t spend too much time on it. Split the class and the white board into two. Give a question and say “go” (or whatever your “go” word is). Students race from one point in the room to the board and write the answer on the board. Whoever has the first correct answer receives a point for the team.

Outside: I split the class into 4 (or so) teams and bring 4 mini white boards and markers outside (technically this could be done in a classroom or other large indoor room). Students line up in their teams on one end of a field/ area. On the other end, I place the white boards and markers. Once I give the question and say “go,” students run toward their board and write the correct answer. This works a little better than inside just because there is more space and students can go up to the board more often (as opposed to two teams of 12, I get four teams of 6).

1. Circumlocution game

If you know my teaching at all, you know that I start preaching circumlocution day one (literally syllabus day). Circumlocution makes all the difference in being able to speak comfortably, and can make the difference between two levels of fluency, so it is a little important to me that students learn how to comfortably circumlocute.

This game is similar to the game “catch phrase”. I have a stack of notecards I have written very random items on (toilet paper, bagel, sandal, earbuds). The goal is for students to circumlocute this word in Spanish so that students on their teams can guess what the word is. Students sit in a circle and every other student in the circle is their teammate. The student with the stack of words tries to circumlocute the word on top in Spanish and their teammates try to guess the English word they are trying to “think of” (example“toilet”: está en el baño, es blanco y largo). Once a student guesses the word, they take out and keep the card they just got correct then pass the stack to the next person. You can set a timer and play till the timer runs out, giving points to the team who did not have the stack at the end of the time (like catch-phrase), or have students continue until they run out of cards. I have done both and have found that which one I will do really depends (again) on the group of students but also on the objective. If the game is being played for fun, I will do the timed version. If the goal is for them to practice circumlocution and practice speaking, we use the second version.

This has three benefits: first, it helps students see how beneficial circumlocution is. Secondly, it allows them to see that they really don’t need to know every word to communicate, and lastly it helps them get over their fear of talking. Between the adrenaline and the other people yelling words, they relax and are able to just describe without thinking too much about the fact that they are speaking in front of the class.

1. DND (Spanish version)

I have edited all the little character profiles to be more specific to Spanish for my own class. If that is something you want to see all the details of, I am happy to write it up, but for all intents and purposes, this can be played like normal with all the normal character profiles and whatnot, just in Spanish. This is a great way for students to practice conversing and speaking as the whole concept is to talk with each other.

1. Spanish Mafia

I always change the characters around for this as well. I just write down the description on notecards. I like naming characters after marvel heroes and villains, so the floor is yours- be creative! But once again, this forces students to at least listen (I always give pretty detailed stories to go along with each round) and encourages them to argue in Spanish (once again not thinking, just talking).

Those are my favorite games to play in class, but if I think of more, I will be sure to make another list! As always, any ideas you have, leave them below!