Archivo de la categoría: Actividades de Lectura/ TPRS

El Gato Ayuda: Beginner Spanish Story to Practice -AR Verbs

This cute, short story is ideal for beginners who are just getting started with -AR verbs.

Learners can build confidence as they repeat the refrain, «y el gato ayuda» and perhaps read along with the rest as they wait for the next hilarious cat gif!

This blog post includes the video story as well as a free PDF activity sheet.

Expansion activity: Students can write a similar story about another animal that helps (el elefante ayuda, el pingüino ayuda, el oso ayuda, etc.).

If you share this with your students, I would love to know how it goes! Any feedback is always welcome and appreciated 🙂

YouTube video of story

Here’s a Free PDF Activity Sheet for Download!

el-gato-ayuda.-activity-sheet.-ar-verbs-1Download

Learn Spanish with Stories: La casa embrujada

I used this short, spooky story to review making comparisons, using prepositions of place, and vocabulary for describing houses.

Here is the video story narration:

Here is the activity sheet that I used in class that you can download.

I´d love to know if you use this story in your classroom!

«La-casa-embrujada» Activity-SheetDownload

El desfile de los alebrijes: A Story in Spanish for Beginners (Video & Text)

3 alebrijes

     Many of our students have gotten to know the fantastically colorful and imaginative alebrijes of Mexican folk art through the film Coco. This video-story allows students to build upon that background knowledge and acquire new language while watching compelling film coverage from the Desfile de los alebrijes, an annual parade sponsored by the Museo de Arte Popular in which hundreds of alebrijes come to life throughout the streets of Mexico City.

     I play this video first with no volume and lead students in identifying what they see. After watching and discusisng the video, students design their own alebrijes by drawing and writing a detailed description. Finally, students share their unique alebrijes with their classmates in lively, small group discussions.

     You can click «CC» in the lower right corner of the video to turn on accurate Spanish subtitles. Also, here is a full transcript of the story if you would like to use it for reading activities: El desfile de los alebrijes Full Text Transcript (PDF)

     Enjoy the video! Any comments are welcome and appreciated. I’d love to know if you share this video with your students!

«Un día típico de un estudiante» Read-along story (video & free activity sheet)

un día t«Un día típico de un estudiante universitario» is a read-along story for beginner-level students. There’s a special focus on «yo-go» verbs, por versus para, and food vocabulary, my class’ learning objectives for this unit.

There’s one notable absence: reflexive verbs! Usually ubiquitous in any daily routine story, I have left them out of this sequence because my total-beginner students haven’t learned about them yet. My goal is for students to become comfortable with writing and talking about daily routines and sequences of events in a contextual narrative before we reach the next unit in which the main focus is daily routines with reflexive verbs!

Download the free PDF activity sheet here:  Un día típico PDF HANDOUT

And here is the video narration of the story!

Any comments or suggestions are welcome. If you use this activity with your students, I’d love to hear about it!

Learn Spanish with Family Guy! Video & Activity (Free PDF)

Family Guy THUMBNAILBefore making this activity a few years ago, I polled my beginner Spanish students about the most well-known families from a TV show or movie. The Kardashians won, but Family Guy consistently took second, ¡so I went with la familia Griffin!

First, we watch the video below together to provide comprehensible input for introducing family vocabulary.  I pause frequently to ask «circling» style questions, all in the target language, Spanish. (Click here for a great video on circling by Kaizen Teaching).

Next, students work together to fill in the blanks with the target vocabulary. Click here for a free, printable PDF of the handout! Or click here for a LiveWorksheets copy that can be filled out online!

Finally, students put what they learned into production by writing a similar description of a family on the back of the handout. Here are the instructions I project on the board:

¡A escribir! Descripción de una familia
Use the Family Guy presentation as a model

  • Describe una familia famosa (de la televisión, el cine, un libro, la historia, etc.)

  • Usa el vocabulario para expresar las relaciones entre los miembros de la familia.

  • ¿Qué hacen los miembros de la familia?

    • –Escribe 1-3 frases sobre cada persona.

  • Dibuja (draw) un árbol familiar.

I instruct the students who finish writing early swap papers to do peer editing.

Any feedback welcome in the comments! I´d love to know if you use this activity in your classroom or have any suggestions for expansion/improvement!

La Monumental Rosca de Reyes de Zacatecas: Story and Activities (preterite versus imperfect) (culture: holiday celebrations)

rosca title page imageMain Street is closed for the whole city to enjoy 2 kilometers of cakes! Yes, this really happened! I came upon this scene January 7th of last year in Zacatecas, Mexico, and have been wanting to share this fun celebration the day after Día de Reyes with my students ever since. The result: this read-along video story (narrated by a native speaker from Zacatecas) and accompanying handout for story-based activities. I hope you will find it useful to incorporate into a unit on holidays, for targeted practice for preterite versus imperfect, and/or as a reading comprehension activity.

The following activity sheet features 5 components:

  • Vocabulario – quick prep for understanding key words in the story

  • Comprehensión de lectura

  • Conversación y escritura– retelling the narration to solidify comprehension and practice narration in the past tense

  • Gramática – Preterite versus imperfect cloze activity

  • Conexiones y culturas – internet search for other celebrations and written description of other ways Día de Reyes is celebrated

Download the PDF here! Rosca story activity sheets (2 pages)

Here´s the video…

And here´s a PDF with just the text of the story: La Monumental Rosca de Reyes de Zacatecas Printable Story

Also, teachers, if you would like to download this story as a Powerpoint or a PDF for a printable book for your classroom, I have uploaded a bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers! Click here!

Any feedback is welcome in the comments!

Yo soñaba: Un cuento para practicar la narración en el pasado (video & activity sheet)

Yo soñaba thumbnail image.png

This relaxing story is a great way to practice narration in the past (preterite and imperfect) and calm down a rowdy classroom!

You can download PDFs of the free activity sheet and answer key below. The writing prompt on the handout can also be modified as a conversation activity (or as both).

Yo soñaba: Hoja de actividades (activity sheet)Yo soñaba handout image

Yo soñaba. Clave de respuestas (answer key)

Thank you to Samuel García for writing and narrating the story. Samuel is an author and teacher from Zacatecas, Mexico.

¡Que disfruten el video!

El panda inteligente: Mini-lectura interesante con preguntas de pensamiento crítico

Antes de leer:

¿Conoces estas palabras?:

(Haz clic para ver la definición en el dicciónario)

darse cuenta

embarazada

engañar

el comportamiento

Después de leer:

Responde a las siguientes preguntas con frases completas.

1. ¿Crees que este panda es inteligente o tramposo (o los dos)?

2. ¿Conoces una historia de un animal muy listo? ¿Qué hizo este animal? (Si no conoces una historia verdadera, ¡puedes inventar una historia creativa!)

Panda inteligente

¡Más!: Haz clic aquí para ver otro chiste sobre un guepardo listo…

 

Poema ilustrado: Pero no lo hiciste (pretérito vs. imperfecto, condicional)

pero_no_lo_hiciste

La Semana Santa en Guatemala: Un cuento para practicar el pretérito y el imperfecto

UPDATED OCTOBER 2021!

Hi all,

have updated these materials with a few minor edits to the story & an improved video narration featuring a native speaker’s voice & better sound quality.

Here are the updated materials! I would love to know if you use them in your classroom 🙂

Updated «Semana Santa en Guatemala» PowerPointDownload
Updated «Semana Santa en Guatemala» Activity SheetDownload
Updated «La Semana Santa en Guatemala» Clave de RespuestasDownload

 

__________OLDER, ORIGNIAL POST____________

In keeping with my TPRS challenge for the semester, here is the short story I made for ch. 8 of the textbook Unidos. (Click here for ch. 7’s story!) This (very) short story is for practicing preterit vs. imperfect as well as vocabulary based on Semana Santa in Guatemala.

Here are links to the materials I made based on the story:

semana santa guatemala hoja

Hoja de actividades: «La Semana Santa» (PDF)

Clave de respuestas: «La Semana Santa» (PDF)

This handout on Live Worksheets (students can fill out, submit, and check answers online)

Powerpoint: «La Semana Santa en Guatemala«

Here’s a video of me reading the story. I make these to give my students (and a small number of youtube subscribers!) the option to read along with me at home.

Also, it is important to note that this story does not provide in-depth details of Semana Santa en Guatemala. My students already watched videos about it, so this story and activity sheet serve to reinforce and practice key concepts. Here are some other video resources about Semana Santa in Guatemala.