Ok – so you probably read that title and thought, “She’s crazy!! Mondays are the worst!” But honestly, I do love Mondays because we do Spanish speaking activities. Check it out:
On Mondays, I start all of the my classes (even my Spanish 1’s ) with students talking about their weekends during our “Weekend Report”. I write this question on the board for student reference, “¿Qué hiciste este fin de semana?” and ask for volunteers.
If you don’t get any volunteers, just pick a random student to start. Ask the question and then encourage students to ask follow-up questions.
For example, if a student says, “Fui al cine”, other students could ask:
Monday Spanish Speaking Activities
At first, students will struggle to speak and that’s okay. Help them out by writing any tricky words or expressions on the board. Very quickly, they will need to know how to say things in the past tense.
Want to learn more about this philosophy?
Option 1 – The Seating Chart Method:
- Use one 8 x 11.5 sheet with a rectangle for each student’s desk.
- Write the student’s name by the rectangle (where his/her desk is in class).
- Staple or tape this sheet to the top of the folder that you use for the class. That way, you’ll always have it nearby. Pro Tip: Use a different color folder for each class).
- Write a tally mark by the student’s name each time they participate. Pull this out from time to time throughout the quarter during speaking activities to encourage class participation.
- To keep track of which students have participated that day, use a different colored pen each time.
Option 2 – The Class List Method:
Option 3 – Participation Squares:
- Give each student 3 small squares of colored paper. Have them write their names on both sides of each square.
- At the beginning of class, have a few students pass out the squares or leave them on a side table for students to pick up as they come in.
- Each time a student participates, they give you one of their squares.
- Call on students who don’t usually participate to ask follow up questions. Help them come up with ideas. ¿Te gustó? ¿Te divertiste? ¿Qué tal la fiesta/la pelicula/el partido de fútbol?
- Point to question word signs with authentic realia to spark ideas for asking questions. Keep these posted on the wall for student reference throughout the year.
- The activity continues until each student has used up their 3 squares. If you are pressed for time, pass out fewer squares per student.
Why It’s Worth It:
As your students get better at speaking, ask for a bit more. Instead of “Fui al cine”, ask them to add on to the sentence. Ex. “Fui al cine con Paco para ver la Guerra de las Galaxia.”
You will be amazed how well students speak by the end of the year if you do this every Monday.
4 Comments
This sounds like a wonderful idea and would love to do this! How soon in Level one do you begin this? I think I could get my level 2s there… just worried I'd get deer in the head lights look. Have any videos?
Hola,
I’ve done this for awhile now and the results haven’t been what I had hoped for. For one thing, my students will tell me they didn’t do anything over the weekend or they will say the same things week after week–I worked or I went to my Mom’s house. (I tell them about my weekend also) So, it gets dull and I don’t do it as much. Ideas?
Secondly, they don’t retain the words to talk about what they did. (and they’re very inconsistent about bringing their notebooks) Any ideas for me?
Gracias.
Hi Alora,
If they’re doing the same things every week, keep asking more details. Why are you working? What are you saving money for? Describe the most interesting person that you work with. How many hours did you work? How did you get to work? Did you get a ride? Did you drive? Did you walk? What is your boss like? Etc. And if they’re tried about talking about their own stuff, tell them that they can make up what they did to make it more interesting.
If they don’t have notebooks handy, keep a running list on your computer and project it for them to see during the conversation. Hope those ideas help.
Hi Alora,
I do something similar to this but I created a powerpoint with some of the most common “I did” verbs, such as I went, I saw, I spent time with friends. This way the kids have something to reference as we go through.
The first semester of Spanish I, I ask the kids mostly yes or no questions. What did you do this weekend? Did you have homework? What class was it for? Did you have a lot of homework? Etc. I focus more on the response and comprehension of the questions for my lower level students.
I get VERY repetitive answers from some students, and a variety from others. My kids tell me all the time that they didn’t do anything. I am not personally annoyed by that-they are really good at that structure now. Regardless, they’re hearing a variety of those first person responses from classmates.
Lastly, I let this activity run its course. Unless we get into a really good conversation about something, and I naturally have more I want to ask the kids about, I don’t spend a ton of time on questioning each student. Especially in my classes where I have a large number of novice students, I’ll ask 5-10 students what they did, ask if anyone else has anything they want to share about their weekend, and then we move on. Maybe that would be an easier way to get started with it. 🙂