This exercise is aimed to strengthen the student's ability to express oneself in writing. By writing an autobiography in Spanish, the student receive practice writing in the first person and describing personal traits, hobbies and accomplishments. Instruct students to write a one-page summary on their interests, likes and dislikes. As an alternative to this exercise, have the student interview a colleague and write a biography about the other person's life. This exercise will put emphasis on the student's ability to write in the third person and to learn new vocabulary.
Reading out loud in front of others is a great way to boost confidence and to improve pronunciation in Spanish. Obtain a copy of a local Spanish newspaper for each student in the class, or print an article from an online Spanish-language newspaper such as El Pais, El Mundo or ABC. Have the class follow along as each student reads a short article and comments on it. Repeat until each student has the chance to read out loud.
This exercise allows students to be creative and humorous while learning new vocabulary and improving their writing skills. This activity can be completed individually or in groups. Pass out comic strip pages with the text bubbles blank and ask the students to create a dialogue, filling in the blanks. For more creativity, use a blank piece of paper, requiring the students to create both the scenes and the dialogue. Ask the students to share their comic strips with the class upon completion.
This reading/listening activity strengthens the student's ability to comprehend spoken (sung) Spanish while reading printed song lyrics. Print the lyrics to a song in Spanish. Select random words throughout the songs and remove them from the printed lyrics using either a marker or white-out. Print a copy of the song lyrics with some missing words and pass them out to each student in the class. Play the song while the students listen. Have them read along and fill in the words that were left out. Students must listen, and fill in the blanks with the appropriate missing words, making sure that the words fit into the context.