Archivo de la etiqueta: cuentos

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
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Regular Preterite Verbs Short Story & Activity: Mi amigo y yo probamos nuevas comidas en San Juan, Puerto Rico (Video & PDF)

This activity is designed for beginning learners to get introduced to regular preterite verb conjugations while practicing with vocabulary for food & drinks. It also invites students to learn more about Puerto Rican food.

The first half of the video introduces regular preterite verb conjugations for -ar & -er/ir verbs. It also explains “spelling change” verbs (-CAR, -GAR, -ZAR –> -QUÉ, GUÉ, CÉ) with the examples llegar – yo llegué and pagar – yo pagué.

Note: This activity does not include any irregular or stem-changing verbs.

The read-along story begins at minute 5:48 of the video. It is narrated by a Spanish-speaker from Zacatecas, México.

The free PDF activity sheet features prompts for pre- and post-viewing discussion, charts & brief questions about regular preterite conjugations based on the video, and a cloze activity with the story.

 Any comments or suggestions are welcome!

 If you use this with your students, I´d love to hear how it goes!

Video URL: https://youtu.be/EQvMuObI60k

Download Free PDF Activity Sheet:

Estudia Feliz regular-preterite-handout-probamos-comida-en-san-juanDownload

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!

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!