Spanish Classroom Activities for Daily Routines

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An important part of learning a language is the ability to talk about day-to-day things such as what you've done, how you feel and what you plan on doing for the rest of the day. These provide an excellent foundation for both practicing conversation and for learning further vocabulary. If you can talk about daily routines, you can make small talk in Spanish, which lets you practice on a day-to-day basis and improve whether you are in class or not.

1 Introductions

Open each class by having each student introduce himself, then talk about how he is feeling that day. As each student learns more vocabulary words you can add to this, having each student start talking about what he did that day and what he will do later in the day. This helps build conversational confidence by incorporating daily routines into Spanish classes.

2 Flashcard Pickup

Draw or purchase flashcards with pictures of people carrying out daily activities, such as waking up, brushing their teeth, making dinner or other activities. Divide your class into two teams, and put the flashcards on the floor. Call out a daily activity, and have one student from each team run to find the card that corresponds to it. The fast pace of this game will encourage quick memory access, which is key for learning a language.

3 Charades

Keep your class divided into teams, but have one person from one of the teams come to the front of the class and act out a daily routine. The first student to call out the correct term gets a point for her team and gets to come pantomime for the next round.

4 Picture Guessing

Have a student from one of the teams come to the front of the class and draw one of the daily routines. Follow the same rules as charades -- whoever calls out the right vocabulary term first gets a point for his team and also gets to draw. You can also make this slightly different by giving one student from each team a marker or piece of chalk. Call out a routine and have him race to the board and draw the action you are referring to. Whoever draws the daily routine first gets a point for his team.

Sam Grover began writing in 2005, also having worked as a behavior therapist and teacher. His work has appeared in New Zealand publications "Critic" and "Logic," where he covered political and educational issues. Grover graduated from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Arts in history.

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