Shopping, navigating and ordering food at a restaurant are key survival skills for visiting another country. Ask students to create a clothing ad or a catalog with descriptions of each item available. Have students write directions for one another to follow directing them to a certain location within the school. Alternately, you can write directions for a scavenger hunt where students have to collect a stamp or sticker at each station to prove they were there. Take a field trip to a restaurant with Spanish-speaking staff and menus that are written in Spanish. Arrange ahead of time to have the waiters speak to the students only in Spanish. Students must order in Spanish and engage in small talk around the table in Spanish.
In any language, expressing feelings, making a complaint, giving advice or apologizing are necessary skills for negotiating relationships and business transactions. Give students a scenario and let them express how the situation might play out in Spanish. Alternately, ask students to write a Spanish dialogue between two or more people that involves feelings, complaints, advice or apologies and perform it in front of the class.
In any culture, people have free time that is filled with sports, hobbies and parties. Students can give oral reports or demonstrations in Spanish about their favorite hobbies and sports. Hold a Spanish hobby fair where students teach each other about their hobbies while speaking Spanish. Play a game, and give all directions in Spanish. Plan a class party, and have the students design the menu and write recipes in Spanish using correct food names and cooking terminology.
Being able to write in Spanish is an important measure of well-rounded fluency. Email, poems and journals give students a chance to put their knowledge of written Spanish to use. Share an email address where students can contact you, and give them assignments to send you email in Spanish. They can also write letters to pen pals in Mexico, Spain or South America.
Magazines and newspapers provide a rich source of material to start discussions on current events. Students can read Spanish language newspapers and magazines and give oral or written summaries of articles. They can also write opinions about issues in the news in preparation for class discussions of current events in Spanish.