First Week of Spanish Classes: Lessons & Lessons Learned!

I’ve just started my 21th year of teaching, and as usual, I come off the summer feeling like Drew Barrymore in 50 First Dates, where she goes on numerous first dates with the same person ,due to acute amnesia. Despite keeping fairly organized files, I experience a total memory lapse of anything I did last year. It takes me a while to get back into the groove. However, despite these challenges, I managed to make it through the week with new routines, finding a happy medium along the way.

One action I took RIGHT AWAY was to use the Google Doc tab feature to load up all of my beginning of the year necessities. It is not perfect, but there is a balcony view. I have it saved as “Dashboard” on my bookmark so I will never have to swerve in and out of folders again during the beginning of the year.

Did you miss a post? Check out 10 Activities to Start The New Year- Most of the free and we have some in French too!

Lesson #1 Reuse, Recycle, and Repeat!

On the first day of class, I tried something new—I used the same activity for everyone! This was the first time I’d ever done this. Normally, I have specific “All About Me” activities tailored to each class level, but this week (same as last year, – I learning). I decided to take a page out of Kelly Ferguson’s playbook. A few years ago at a conference, she shared her strategy of using the same activity for multiple classes, with some level of differentiation. So, I implemented the activity below, which doubles as both a “Getting- to- Know -You” exercise and a way to facilitate seat changes.

Click here to print and use with your class.

Lesson #2 Make It Make Sense

How Well Do You Know Me Activity

This year, I changed it up a bit for my level 1 students. For all other levels, I used the one below.

Click here for the activity and instructions on how to create your own!

I used this activity across all my classes. While I could have enhanced it with pictures for better comprehension, time was limited! I’ve made a note to create a slideshow for next year.

Here’s the twist: each student had a set of true/false cards (below). After I read a statement, they had to quickly choose the correct card. If they got it right, they earned a point. If they grabbed the wrong card, their partner won that round. The activity was lively, and I was surprised by how many students believed I had the money to attend the Olympics in Paris!

Click here for the true/false activity

Reuse, Recycle, and Repeat!

You can use these cards for almost anything—whether it’s after reading a short story, discussing a painting, or doing a picture talk. Ideally, I would have made a set for each student, but with limited time, I decided to gamify the activity instead, and it worked out pretty well.

Un Verano Memorable

This activity was for my upper-level students. Click here for the freebie.

Lesson 3# Find a Routine That Works

If you’re anything like me, you find a routine, implement it, and then it kind of fizzles out like a passionless relationship. This could be because the routine doesn’t align with your personality. I was trying routines that just didn’t work for me because I thrive on communication. So, I realized that had to be at the core of what I do, and once I made that shift, everything fell into place.

Click here for the Campanazo activity

Keeping Students Accountable

Now, I am going to be totally honest: I haven’t finished all the norming activities for the first week. Mainly, because I gave students this syllabus activity that was sort of like a test. I wanted to make sure they understood the grading policies, and consequences for cheating. Our school is cracking down.

Click here for the activity. Please note that this is tailored my syllabus, but the idea is to create questions or scenarios to help them understand.

News! I was featured in the Author Spotlight on Teacher’s Discovery’s Page (to my surprise)! I am truly honored. I’ve worked with them for the past 5 years, and the collaboration was been supportive and wonderful.

Here’s the link to their page

Author Library – A.C. Quintero

Comprehensible Novels for the Classroom

“Kick back and let acquisition do its work!”

Discover the perfect novel for any classroom with our extensive library, tailored for every level and interest. Each book comes with proven teaching materials designed to captivate students through engaging storylines, language use, authentic expressions, and essential grammar structures. Empower your teaching and keep your focus where it matters most: on your students’ learning!