Remembering Tricky Verb Endings. Mnemonics in the Language Classroom.

Ever wonder why it’s so hard to remember verb endings? It’s because our brain is designed to forget things that have no context in the real world. Let’s face it, remembering if a verb ends in ar or ir means nothing to our survival as a human being so we forget it easily.

We remember interesting images!

However, we still need to teach those tricky verb endings in Spanish. Most of the time, language learners can learn these with comprehensible input activities: movie talks, level appropriate readers, and games that recycle high frequency vocabulary. These place the word in context and therefore easier to remember.

Another great way is to provide a memorable picture, idea or mnemonic. For example, the image below is inherently interesting making it a great way to teach the word bombilla and the verb flotar in the present continuous: La bombilla está flotando. Since light bulbs don’t normally float, it’s an easy picture to remember, and the verb sticks in our brain.

My other favorite tools are mnemonics. Here are few classics for teaching Spanish.

Irregular subjunctive verbs. DISHES: Dar, Ir, Saber, Haber, Estar, Ser

This comical one fo the irregular Informal Tú commands. Ven Di Sal Haz Ten Ve Pon Sé Check it out with Google Images and you can find some great posters for this!

I invented one to remember the Irregular Past Participles of some common verbs. It helps when teaching the past perfect and present perfect in Spanish.

Mr. V. Peach DVD.

This crazy little character sticks in a students’ mind. Who wouldn’t remember a famous peach?

Mr. V. Peach DVD Spanish Poster

Mr. V. Peach DVD. Muerto, Roto, Visto, Puesto, Escrito, Abierto, Cubierto, Hecho, Dicho, Vuelto, Descubierto.

This crazy little character sticks in a students’ mind. Who wouldn’t remember a famous peach?

Hang on a white board or on a wall facing students so they can see it all times.

I made this to fit on a three standard sized pages to give the effect of a long poster. Then, I printed them on a nice yellow card stock to give it a pop of color. Hang it up a white board with some fun magnets (I have a couple of Guatemalan magnets on mine) and you have teaching tool you can use all year. Write a few questions on the board next to the poster and you have an easy warm-up or exit ticket for your lesson.

We hope you enjoy your new poster!

Leave a comment below about your favorite mnemonic for learning Spanish!

Using Puzzles with Young Language Learners

Who doesn’t love a puzzle? Done right, they are a great way to learn vocabulary and grammar. My older students are always willing to solve a good crossword or word search. “Crucigramas” and “sopas de letras” are easy to prep, fun to complete and provide another way for students to review vocabulary.

Younger students love puzzles too! I teach my own daughters Spanish at home. This summer, I wanted to teach them basic high frequency verbs and structures they could use to speak in Spanish right away. I also needed something age appropriate that uses clear but fun pictures they could easily understand. These elementary level language puzzles were the key.

Here are my favorite ways to use these puzzles for elementary or middle school Spanish students.

A PowerPoint slide highlighting gustar and nadar, and showing a Cenote in the Yucatán in Mexico.

1. Introduce the vocabulary first with some fun visuals. I make Google Slides or Powerpoint presentations of the words. Use interesting photographs that incorporate culture when you can. For example, if you are teaching the structure “me gusta comer” then you may want to add in a fun photo of a gigantic Paella in Spain!

2. Tell a short story with a couple of select pictures. Use the structures in the puzzles over and over. You can also do a Movietalk with any short clip or music video you find online. I love to use Pixar shorts and other readily available material on Youtube. You may be interested in our blog post about how to do movietalks which you can find by clicking here.

3. Once students are familiar with the words, use the puzzles as either a group or individual activity. Picture crosswords have the added benefit of making students decipher meaning from the clues. I also differentiate in class by making word strips to use as extra clues for kids that need a little more help.

4. Use a different version of the puzzle as review for another day, homework, or as a substitute lesson plan. Mix it up with a different format. I like to use crosswords first and then word searches as a review.

Our elementary and middle school puzzles bundles have no prep worksheets that are print and play. With cut and paste activities, drawing, sorting and writing, they make learning fun for the youngest learners. I know my daughters love them!

In short, have fun with puzzles and remember that kids just want to have fun!

The Power of Drawing to Teach Spanish ¡A Dibujar!

When you need a go-to class activity that is fun and useful, let your students draw. Drawing can be a powerful tool for reflection. Let’s think about the benefits of drawing in Spanish class:

• It’s simple to set up and requires little to no-prep.

• Every student is participating! It’s hard to do nothing if you’ve been asked to draw.

• Students demonstrate their understanding of the text, class discussion or video.

• It’s fun! Most kids like to draw!

• You can keep the drawings. Hang them in the classroom or post them on the board for discussion.

Small student whiteboards are good to have on hand but if you don’t have any, plain paper will always work.

Printable comic strip templates work great too. You can download a free set of ours at at our TpT store by clicking the image below. Keep a set of crayons or washable markers on hand to make the drawings more fun.

Free Comic Strip Templates

Download

Here are my favorite Spanish class activities which are easily adapted to other languages and subjects:

1. Scene Drawing. Hand out student whiteboards or use plain paper. Students draw a scene from the book or text you are reading. When finished, have them discuss with a friend.

2. Game Drawing. Using small white boards, line up students in pairs. Have one line of students with their back to the board at the front of the class. Project or hold up a word and tell the students that can see it to draw it for their partners. Tell the partners to guess what it is. They can ask yes and no questions too. This is great for speaking practice!

3. Cartoon Strip Drawing. Hand out a simple cartoon template. Tell students to make a comic strip of a scene in a movie they just saw or from a book you are reading in class. Tell them to use speech bubbles. Once finished, have them pass their comic to another group. That group can then write down what is happening (present tense) or what happened (past tense) in the comic. All of our Cuéntame un Cuento lesson plans include two unique comic strip templates to retell the story they wrote.

4. Drawing for assessments. Use drawing on a quiz to show reading or vocabulary comprehension. I like to add a small Extra Credit question that includes drawing. I make it easy since my goal is to lower tension and add a little fun to the quiz. Here is a picture of one I recently included on a quiz about Kristy Placido’s TPRS book on Frida Kahlo. In this question, students had draw Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera (they had already seen some photos of them together) and show their physical differences. They turned out to be super fun!

5. Class Artists! In this activity, assign one or two students to be the artists for the activity. Then, ask and answer questions to the rest of the class to make up a crazy story that targets vocabulary or structures you want to cover. The artist students draw the ideas from the rest of the class. Follow up with students doing a retell by writing the complete story on their own paper or on the board.

We have some FREE Comic Strip templates in our Teachers Pay Teachers Store. Get them here and try them out in class!

These are just a few ways to add a little art to Spanish class! You may also like our previous blog post about our Day of the Dead drawing and craft activities. ¡Celebra el Día de Los Muertos!

Happy drawing!