Inside:  Activities and my plans for teaching Episode 2 of  Season 1 of Tierra Incógnita.

Welcome back! If you're just stumbling upon this post as you research teaching with TV shows or because you want to start teaching Tierra Incógnita in your classes you should checkout this blog post that is full of ideas on how to pre-teach and teach Episode 1.

Let's jump in to Episode 2:

On Monday (35min class) we watched Ep 2 and students had  a viewing guide I created with screen shots from scenes through out Ep 2 and quotes that are said in those scenes by the characters. Their job was to match the quote with the correct scene and characters as the watched and then to go back and based on familiar words and context attempt to translate those quotes from the show.

Then the next Monday (35min) we did a Clip Chat  using screenshots with prompting questions and PQAs to review what we had watched.

We then took one block day  (85min) to review vocab using a  Quizlet to review some essential vocabulary and played a super fun circumlocution game  called Pasa la palabra.

Here's how to play Pasa la palabra:

You need a set of words (about 1-3 words per students in class) these words should be words your students are familiar with and you feel they can describe  to others. I choose my words and then make a Quizlet with the words, and instead of translations I have them match the word with a Spanish description and have them play that for a little to familiarize them with the words first.   I then put each word NOT description on it's own card you can do this by writing them on notecards or typing and cutting out.
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Then split your class into two teams. I like to do this before hand and preemptively balance abilities on the two teams.

The game plays   in three rounds. If you've ever played Monikers (a great board game btw) it's the same as that game. Each students gets a turn of 1 min each round lasts as long as their are cards left. Play rotates every min from one team to the other back and forth.

Round 1-  Student can say as many words in target language as they want  to get their team to guess the word as long as they don't say the word. If their team guesses the word they keep the card as a point for that round. Then the round goes to to the other team and their player get's one minute to do the same until all cards have been guessed in round 1.

When all cards have been played have each team count them up one card is one point then re-shuffle them and start the second round continuing play to the next student in the next teams turn who should be going next.

Round 2- Instead of saying however many words as they want to they can only say ONE word. It must be the same word for that card their entire 1 min -- this is where paying attention in round 1 PAYS OFF. 

Again, When all cards have been played have each team count them up one card is one point then re-shuffle them and start the second round continuing play to the next student in the next teams turn who should be going next.

Round 3- This round no words, only actions students have to act out like charades the vocab word.

The repetitions  are great. The circumlocution is great. And the FUN is the best part. The team with the most points between all 3 rounds win.

Finally, we did a super short reading assessment where students matched scenes from the show with descriptions using high frequency and familiar vocabulary to assess that the Spanish gained from the show was being acquired by students.

If you're interested in grabbing these activities and assessments for your own class you can find them HERE.

And if you have any questions comment them below!

-Sierra

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​¡Hola colegas! The final push is here for me before the highly anticipated and dare I say it – needed break from school. I love my student’s, but sometimes distance and time apart makes the heart grow fonder, if you catch my drift.
That being said, I know I am not alone in brainstorming and planning for those weird days before break when it feels like over half your students are gone and no new learning can take place either because it doesn’t make sense to do it with half your students gone OR because admin have mandated it so… We’re all working with different time frames and energy stores, so I hope at least one of these might inspire you or that you can Frankenstein some together to make it work for you in this season of teaching.

So here is my brainstorming-- 7, easy, low prep ideas you can steal for your plans:

1.Musical Chair
Sometimes the magic of the season comes in the form of a magical transformation of your room! I have a desk free classroom and students constantly joke that it’s perfect for playing musical chairs which I actually haven’t done yet with them, so having them come into the room the day before break to see it transformed into their wildest dreams – a circle instead of our traditional rows sounds pretty fun! Here’s a Spotify Playlist of Spanish Holiday Music to make it even more festive. (and if you need a refresher on how to play Musical Chairs here you go!)

2. Picture Talk and Draw That! Mode
Project a festive winter picture and introduce students to some basic vocabulary through Picture Talk– Srta Spanish has this great video walking you through how to Picture Talk if you’ve never tried it. Then you can play Draw That! Mode on Gimkit.  Draw That! Mode has one student drawing while the rest try to guess the word so even if you don’t have a Gimkit account you could live play in on your white board and have students in teams trying to guess aka pictionary, but the Gimkit mode allows you to use less energy and sit back and relax if that is what you need.
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Here’s an example of the type of    Gimkit Set  you'd want.

3.   Adivina la canción (Guess the song!)
A super fun time filler that I learned from Elizabeth Detlinger is to play Spanish covers of songs and have students guess them. You can have this be in small groups racing other groups for a more competitive spin OR you can just play as a whole class. Here’s a playlist of Spanish Covers of Hits or Spanish Covers of Christmas Songs depending on your school and demographic. I highly recommend you think about representing ALL students as much as you can around the holidays.

4. Craft it up!
There are SOO many cute crafts out there from different creators, so you can definitely find something fun and festive to do if your students like being creative. I’ve enjoyed making holiday cards and having students write a message to a teacher on the inside in the past. You can grab the template and instructions HERE.

5. Quién sabe, sabe
If you haven’t played the game Quién sabe, sabe (an adaptation of the board game Wits and Wagers) for the world language classroom by Nelly Hughes I cannot recommend a better game and the Comprehensible Classroom has done ALL the heavy lifting and made versions of it on SOOOO many different topics – such as this Christmas themed one.
This game is incredible for comprehensible input and learning numbers/number repetitions.

I am not going to explain exactly how to play, because Martina has a great blog HERE. I am just simply going to say that if you haven’t played it yet you NEED to and you and your students are going to love it. You can easily fill a whole block playing and their resource has everything you could possibly need to play at any level.

6. Los muñecos de hombre en el jardín (Snowmen in the Garden)
This is a super fun brain break/game most commonly called statues in the garden (estatuas en el jardín), but I love to give it a seasonal spin and call it Los muñecos de hombre en el jardín. One student stands in the center of the room and everyone else stands around the outside. I make students touch the wall. The person in the middle is turning around and looking at their peers. If the student in the middle is looking at you then you CANNOT move you are frozen (snowmen). However, when they are not looking you can WALK towards them. If the person in the middle catches a snowman moving I have them point and say ‘fuera’ and that person must return to the wall and touch it again before moving towards the person again. The first person to touch the person in the middle wins and gets to be IT on the next turn. 

Here’s a blog with an awesome example video from La Maestra Loca to help you conceptualize how to play the game.

7. Color by Word

I first heard of this activity from Courtney’s blog (Profe Zulita) and it’s my go-to-emergency sub plan and now I’m thinking it could be a great before or right after break activity. Here is her blog explaining how it works, but I have created some coloring pages that are winter themed HERE if you would like to shake it up and make it more seasonal. 
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I love that no matter which of these activities you choose you’ll be creating a moment to connect and build relationships with your students. And if you need to hear it from someone – it’s OKAY and encouraged to take some of your class time and fill it with the fun stuff that makes your students enjoy school. Whatever you decide to do before break with students I hope you have a restful and relaxing time off from school and come back refreshed in the New Year. ¡Hasta el año nuevo!

Inside: Fun ways to use Quizlet, Gimkit, Blooket, Kahoot!, and Quizziz that you may not have considered yet!

Like all world language teachers I love using a good online  site as an activity with my students and over the years many of them have gotten far more engaging then just simply racing to match terms -- such as Gimkit  and Blooket with their  various game modes -- which if you haven't been using you definitely should.

That being said,  if you came here wanting to know how to use these as the are intended this blog is not for you. This blog is for LEVELING up how you use them, by manipulating or  implementing new rules to get students moving or collaborating in a new way with the classic online vocab/review games! 

For each of these activities  you will need a  set on that site   and students will need personal devices. I recommend computers NOT phones. My school has a cellphone ban, so it's a nonissue for me, but I imagine these activities would be hard on small handheld devices. iPads would work better-- just turn off the auto-screen shut off before playing in settings.

Quizlet (Quizlet Relay Races alá Mis Clases Locas):

Set-Up: Start the Quizlet Live game and have students add themselves on their personal devices . Once they are added  , select create groups. Instruct groups to  to find a space to sit all their computers in one line. Instruct one student to stand facing the screens of the computers and the rest of the team to be behind NOT looking at the screens.

Students the rotate each questions so that one student is looking at ALL the screens and selects the correct answer. This is the relay part. So they answer their question and then join their team behind the computers and the next student tags in to answer the questions. I allow students to talk  to their teammates, but only the "IT" student can look at the the answers and select their answers for their question.

First  team to answer all the questions and win the Quizlet Live wins the Relay Race! You'll get students  moving AND collaborating in a new way!

Gimkit (Musical Chair Gimkit):

This activity works best with either the Classic  Mode or my favorite for this game Hidden Identities mode. Instruct students that the goal is to be at the winning computer at the end of the time you have set.   You as the teacher will be turning the volume on the Gimkit on and off.

Start the game as normal, each student at their own device, but tell them that when they hear the music they should stand up and walk around the room. I like to instruct my students to just walk in a circle around the outside of my room.   Then after a minute or so of them playing like normal-- you turn your volume up so the music is playing. Students leave their computer at their spot and walk around the room.  When the music turns back off they sit back down at the closest computer to them and continue playing. Do this every 45-60 seconds and you will get students up and moving and practicing in a new and different way.  Whoever is at the winning computer at the end of the game is the winner NOT the owner of the computer unless they happen to be the same person.

Blooket or Kahoot! (Pop-Up Digital):

This gamified version of Blooket is a digital adaptation of the Pop-Up game from Sra Chase. Instead of reading questions out loud and having students answer or translate like in the orignal version of the game (which is also so fun! and you should try!) I play a traditional version of Kahoot! or Blooket -- the game mode where a question is projected and everyone answers , multiple choice, and there is a countdown and then use this game mode to change it up. 

This has a little more setup then the other options, but I promise it's worth it. I pre-divide the class into two teams  and assign each student a  number and mark different information to help me scaffold during the game such as -- English learning students, high flyers, and lower proficiency students-- I do my best to put students of similar abilities against each other aka with the same number, but on opposite teams. This requires a little of thought or prep on your part, but I usually can quickly do it in a couple minutes. If you aren't already using Flippity Name Generator for making groups -- you should! For example if I had an imaginary class of 10 (wouldn't that be the dream...):

My key of symbols:

EL - English Learners  (-) Lower proficiency (+) higher proficiency

Team 1)
(EL) Sierra   (1)
(-) Micahel (2)
Trey (3)
(+) Sabrina (4)
Austin (5)

Team 2)
(EL) Myriah (1)
(-) Brady (2)
Kailee (3)
(+) Brayden (4)
Grayson (5)

I then start the game. Teams are sitting together. Everyone answers the question. When time is up -- I will say ONE number and the people from both teams with that number will race each other to stand up  (aka pop-up) and say the correct answer.  I use the tracker paper from Sra Chase's Blog to keep track of who I have 

I like playing this game with a Blooket or Kahoot!, because students have a chance to check their answer before actually answering in front of the whole class like the none digital version of this game, so it's great for students that are slower processors or who have anxiety and want to know they are right -- also if they were wrong now they have a better chance of being right after eliminating a wrong answer.

Quizziz (Quizziz Connect Four):

I first saw a rendition of this  game from Jen Schooley Ries (TPT Cosas Divertidas) when she was playing it with Quizlet. However, I do not have premium access to Quizlet, so I couldn't do it with my students.  Something about they could only take the test version of the Quizlet so many times before it asked them to get the Premium account.

What you do need is a quiz version of a set that students can take over-and-over again . Great for lots of repetition or review . I found using a shorter quiz on Quizziz and giving them the homework link worked for this game in my classes. Put students in groups of 3-4 and have ONE student open the homework version of the quiz (linked somewhere they can access) on their computer -- this is extra work , but I like to have a few quizzes that are targeting different skills over the subject we are reviewing, so they can rotate or choose what they want to practice first.

Assign each group a symbol:

Group 1 - ⭐
Group 2- 🩷
Group 3-🔺
⚫, 😊 , ❌, ✅  Etc.  

Draw a large connect four board on your white board -- literally whatever fits on your board. I think I usually do like 5X9.

The groups all hit start on their quiz at the same time. When a group finishes a quiz they show you the finished page-- I tell them they need an 80% or better. If they have that 80% or better they then can either draw their symbol in any box on the board OR erase the symbol of any other group. They then return to their group and start the next quizz or repeat the same one. Play to a set amount of time (group with  the most symbols on the board wins) or until a group get' s   a Connect Four. 


No matter which of these new takes on classic digital games you try I hope it brings some joy to your classroom! Happy teaching and let me know what you think!

Inside:   Introducing the tv show Tierra Incógnita  and watching Episode 1 ideas!

This blog is about 3 years in the making if I am being honest, but it's about one of my all time favorite things.-- teaching with authentic tv shows. I first saw this in action during my time student teaching with Allison (Mis Clases Locas)  when she was using  the classic, El Internado in her Spanish 2-4 classes.

Since then I've used lots of different shows in my Spanish classes including, but not limited to, other favorites such as Go! Vive a tu manera (Materials I use with this show HERE and HERE), Latin Street Foods (Awesome free materials HERE), etc.  I was teaching Spanish 2 and 3 and using Go! Vive a tu manera in Spanish 2 -- I would have loved to  keep using it in Spanish 3, but the semester length classes  meant that I had students in Spanish 3 that never took Spanish 2 with me, so they didn't have the previous knowledge with the show and would have needed to rewatch the episodes while others had already seen episodes in Spanish 2 -- which they didn't  want to rewatch. So  I was in a predicament... I want to watch a show, but WHAT show. 

Disclaimer: I have always paid for my own streaming sites to be able to use these shows in class and I find it very worth it in my opinion. I know that isn't the reality for every classroom or every teacher.

Luckily,  Allison discovered and shared about Tierra Incógnita and using her super easy to implement with ANY episode templates   (also her resources would make GREAT sub plans if you need them), I was able to whip something together super quick that year to use with my students. I (really WE)  fell in LOVE with the show. It's a little spooky with a good mystery storyline and suspense, but totally appropriate for high schoolers. It's not quite as high school musical, cringy as Go! can be in my opinion though students loved that about that show, too. 

Tierra Incógnita is a Disney+, TV 14 show that is located in a fictional town, Cabo Qwert, in Argentina.  The show follows a teen boy, Eric Dalaras, and his family as they try to discover what happened 8 years ago when his parents mysteriously disappeared from the amusement park their family owed.  There are secrets, suspense, mysteries to solve, and plenty of adventure. Think modern Scooby Doo.

Over the next 2 years  , because I taught on 95min blocks, I had to make additional materials and activities to go along with the episodes to fill that time and in the process I  made games, review slides, introductory activities, etc . and it quickly become one  of my students favorite parts of our curriculum. I have been using this show exclusively with Spanish 3 students, but it can be adapted to use in 2 or upper levels as well. I haven't really used shows with Novice Low-Mid students and find I prefer to start a show after I've read a novel with students, so they have some of the language skills I think are necessary for them to actually enjoy watching the show. I've been dying to  share more about what I've been doing with this show with all of you , so here is:

PART 1 - Before Watching and Episode 1!  

**Download my FREE materials HERE  , so you can follow along as I describe my plans!**

Depending on how long your classes are you totally don't have to do everything I do, since I at one point taught 95min blocks I have a little "arsenal" of stuff made now and you can totally pick and choose what works for you and your classes. I'm also presently teaching Spanish 3 and Advanced 3, so I am  making Novice and Intermediate versions of most of my activities.

I'm going to walk you thought my present reality  and plans of introducing this show this week to my Spanish 3 students. My schedule is a little different then it was in the past. I  see all 170 of my students on Mondays. We have a late start for PD and then have an 8 period day (35min classes). The plan is to watch the show on Mondays , instead of how I traditionally did it every Friday in the past. Then I see my odd class periods in an 85 min block (Tuesday and Thursday) and my even class periods  opposite that (Wednesday and Friday). For that reason, myself and my amazing colleague  have put together the following plan and materials and I'm so happy to share them all with you!

Monday (35min class):

Introduce characters using Bunches of Hunches  (alá Señor Wooly). I hang pictures of the characters all around my room and then give students a sheet of paper with descriptions on them. (Novice have full descriptions and Intermediate have sentence starters to help them make their own predictive descriptions) Their job is to write the letter of the character that they best feels goes with each description.  I then project pictures and ask students to  share the predictions they choose. This way we are getting to see the characters before we watch, they are being exposed to language  for them to make predictions, and they got LOTS of repetition and input from me.

Day 1 (Tuesday/Wednesday) (85 min class):

I will introduce each character and some background of the show using Personalized Questions and Answers and some guided notes and slides to help students connect to characters and associate them with their names , as well as introduce them to some vocabulary we would be seeing in the first episode.

We will then watch Episode 1 and they will complete the appropriate level of a event ordering viewing  activity  -- I find that viewing activities keep students engaged with the input of the show. Additionally, I should note that I do not use English subtitles , but Spanish ones and find that  most students comprehend the show quite well, because of the supports of the pre-teaching activities. With any time left in class after watching Episode 1 they can work on the viewing activity.

Day 2 (Thursday/Friday) (85min class):

Students turn in their viewing activity -- sometimes if there is time I go over it with them as a class, but not always. I do a "Clip Chat" using stills/screen shots from the episode and circling to review what happened in Episode One -- this way if anyone was gone they get to "watch " the episode as well and can participate in the class. We then play either a Quizlet Relay Race or Gimkit Musical Chair Round to review vocabulary used in  Episode 1/the show. Then finally we will play the Marker Game with statements about Episode 1 to review what happened.

If you want to check out any of these activities or materials mentioned for teaching this engaging and fun show in Spanish class they are all 100% editable and FREE on my TPT.

And if you have anything you'd like to share  please email me at [email protected] and I'll add them to this blog! 

-Sierra 

Inside:  How to play this  engaging, comprehension based, role playing game in your world language classes.

Elimination. Werewolf.   Mafia. (Although many tend to stay away from this name and rightfully so),  Etc... This game is known by MANY names and is a pretty common  deception based, role playing game that has been adapted not only by various board game/card game companies over the years, but by language teachers all over the world. Martina Bex blogged about it HERE and has some great scripts that can be used all year round. I found that I tend to like playing more like Sra. Chase describes on her blog HERE as it's more accessible for lower-level students. ( She also has version for French, German, and more on her blog)

No matter the level of students-- this game can be easily adapted, played with 0 tech if you'd like or need, is incredibly communicative and comprehensible, as well as SOOO engaging. When I say this is the #1 asked for activity by students after I introduce them to it-- I mean it! Your students will be talking about it for months to come.

What is it?

In the version I play (which you can get HERE). The class is transformed into a town that is being plagued by  a mummy (or mummies). It's important to note that my resource has a general "Halloween" vibe. I found using this theme made the game more comprehensible for my students, but you can play it at any point in the school year, so I will be using my terms for roles moving forward instead of traditional roles like angel, doctor,  villain etc. I also don't like any  death or violence in my game, so most of the time I have the mummies scare the townspeople into comas that they all wake up from if they mummies are captured and I have the mummies get arrested. 

Each student is given a role via cards from a deck of cards. Depending on the number of students you have in class you can increase how many students are playing as each role. Really the only prep comes from prepping your cards so you have the appropriate combination and number for each of your classes. Which I can usually do in a few minutes while students do the quick word search warm-up which is included in my  resource. 

In a class of  25 for example I would prepare my cards as following:

3 Aces (Mummies) - their job is to attack and elimante all the other people in the game
1 Queen (Witch) - save the townspeople, so they can arrest all the mummies
1 King (Detective) - identify the mummies to help the townspeople arrest them
20 # cards (Townspeople) - arrest all the mummies before they are all put in commas

(Really their are 5 major roles cards. So let's do some math -- # of students in your class -5 major role cards = how many number cards to add to your pile)
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Now pass those cards out to students with the importance of keeping identities secret stressed.

Here's how to play:

1) After cards have been passed out I always  review roles and who does what and when. You as the teacher will narrate the entire thing. In my resource I have included a typed out and simplified script to read on slides that include pictures of card and their corresponding jobs to help keep you in the target language while  explaing the game, but also for the sake of time never feel bad if you want to explain the HOW part to students in English. They'll get plenty of good input during the game.

The script in my resource is along the lines of:

"Everyone in the town goes to sleep (students close eyes.) " BONUS TIP: I like to play instrumental "spooky" music in the background and walk around as  I talk to cover up the sound of students moving etc. during the game.  "The mummy (mummies) wake(s) up. The mummies attack ONE person." They mummy points at the person they want to attack. You as the narrator need to remember who , so I recommend writing it down. "The mummy goes to sleep" "Now the witch wakes up and gives a potion of protection to one person. The witch goes to sleep" The witch points at one person to save.   I would also note who that is. If that person is the same person that the mummy chose they are safe from the attach. "Now the detective wakes up." They point at one person. You nod your head yes if they ARE a mummy and NO if they are not. "Now the detective goes to sleep." "Now the town wakes up" And all students open their eyes.

Now that morning has  come it is your job as the narrator to explain who the victim was if there was one and what happened. In my resource I have included 25 simple scripts for victims as well as one for if the witch correctly gives the potion , but you can really do whatever is comprehensible for your students.

On my resources slides I have provided some simple phrases for students to use if they would like to participate and be a part of the conversation, but as the narrator and teacher it is my NUMBER ONE job to supply as much comprehensible input via the scripts and repetition of the story, so I mostly just tell them what happened and then instruct them to vote by pointing at who their vote is on the count of 3. Who ever get's the most votes is "arrested" and exits the circle and cannot talk.

I instruct students that are eliminated that they are in comas and also CANNOT talk. But they can silently observe. Because I am deskelss I like to have students rearrange chairs into a circle and then as they eliminated I have them move their chair from the circle, so it's easier to tell who is in or not.

Who wins? How does the game end?

**The mummies win if they outnumber all other cards aka "townspeople and the major roles helping townspeople".

**Townspeople win if they arrest ALL mummies.

I do not announce if the witch or detective are eliminated I continue narrating their jobs so students don't get disheartened and they get maximum input repetitions.

Don't want to do a "Halloween" themed version? Check out Martina's themeless ones HERE OR this Christmas one from Sra. Chase.

You have other "themed versions" you'd like to share? Email me at sierra.depping and I'll add them to this blog!

Inside: New, trendy classroom decor and materials to share with students.

Anyone else a fellow Swifitie?!  NO? That's okay, (but you're seriously missing out!)

Many of you are probably aware of how popular Taylor Swift has become this summer with her re-releasing her albums and her tour and if you weren't just google  it!  At her concerts fans have started trading friendship bracelets and that's where I took the idea for the bulletin or door decor from. On top of that, there is a common phrase of being in your "_____ era" (Boy Mom Era, Teacher Era, etc.) because of Taylor Swift which is where the Spanish Learning Era comes from  and I think it will be a big hit with students. I thought it was a fun way to spark conversation about how students can take their own  Spanish learning outside of the classroom, so to help you all out  I have compiled some  lists to help you all!

​Grab the resource to display these ideas with students as a bulletin board or door decor --> HERE!

1) Listen to Spanish music.
Here are some playlists I recommend! 
 Canciones para la clase,   Alvaro Soler,  Morat,  Cleaning Kit en español,   Camilo  

2) Read Spanish novels or comics.
Comics en español,  Wayside Publishing Comprehensible Novels -- if you  have a classroom library and you already do free voluntary reading that's  a great way to start and if a student is interested in reading more outside of class don't stop them! I've found that Spanish versions of popular graphic  novels like Heart Stopper and Nimona are super popular.

3)Watch Spanish television or movies.
Netflix: Go! Vive a tu manera, Siempre bruja,  Maya en los tres, 
Disney+: Tierra Incognita,   Viaje al centro de la Tierra, Mexico: Nailed It!

4) Create a Duolingo account.
No, I don't think Duolingo is an actual way to learn a language without other comprehensible input and means to acquire language naturally, but it is an easy support that can help with spelling and vocabulary acquisition. I also find that students become naturally competative when placed in classes and can see where  they stand as a class. In my humble opinion any Spanish interaction outside of the classroom is good and can't hurt.

5)  Listening to podcasts in Spanish.

If you don't already use these in your classroom I highly recommend using them! These are best suited for students at a  Novice High or Intermediate level  unless they have additional support. Duolingo Podcasts,  The Unlimited Spanish, Cuéntame Podcast, Un Día en español

Hopefully  having these resources in your toolbox can help you give sound recommendations to students as they continue their Spanish learning journeys.

I was first introduced to the Plate Sketch Game by Cynthia Hintz 5 years ago when I was student teaching with Allison Wienhold (Mis  Clases  Locas) and recently I was re-reminded of how fun and engaging , but also input heavy this activity is thanks to the teacher's guide for Bianca Nieves y los 7 Toritos by Carrie Toth (Somewhere to Share). We had a great time using this activity with the novel -- one of my favorite teacher's guides of all time.

Materials:
Cheap  paper plates
Sharpies
A script of what to say!

How to play:
1) Pass out one paper plate and one sharpie  to each student.
2) Instruct students to put the plate on top of  their head and that they will draw what their teacher describes WITHOUT talking. Spanish example: "Pónganse el plato encima de la cabeza.  Clase, mientras yo describo, quiero que Uds. ¡dibujen! Dibujen lo que describo pero ¡no lo vean!"
​3) Then slowly say your script "In the center their is a boy"  and add on to it. "In his right hand he was an apple" "Behind him their is a house" "The house as 4 windows and a door" etc.
4)At the end compare their works of art and continue to circle "Does Dan have the boy in the middle?" "How many windows are on the house in Hailey's artwork?" etc.
5) Finally, you can award points for each thing in the right place or vote as a class for the best overall/most accurate or clear.
6) Finally, have fun and be ready for lots of laughs!
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Holiday ready-to-go, themed options:

El Día de San Valentín  - by Profe Sierra
Check out Mis Clases Locas blog for a Navidad themed version

And if anyone else makes a version wants to share please email me at [email protected] I'll add it to the list to share with everyone!

Resentimiento, also known as Trash Ball or Grudge Ball, is a review game I remember playing back when I was in high school (specifically in math class of all places) and I've seen it pop-up various times in different teacher's guides and curriculum throughout my time teaching, so I thought I would type up my own blog to reference about this classic game. It's often in rotation for me as it requires so little prep, but is extremely engaging and gets students moving. I did not invent this game, honestly who knows who did, but you can also read about it on  this blog from Martina Bex if you would like to see it explained somewhere else-- she also explains really well how to introduce and set up this game so there are no hard feelings from students (believe me there can be it's very competitive.)

This game is for me-- a no-prep game which is a reason I love it. Here's what you need to do!

Prep: You need a list of questions /tasks to ask your students. You can predetermine these, pull them from the top of you head as you go, put them on a slideshow  they can be fill in the blank, true/false, open ended it's totally up to you.

Set Up:
-You need a bucket , bin, or trash can for students to aim at
-a ball for them to shoot with. I use a small soft one from Amazon
-tape or place rulers on the group to indicate the two locations students can shoot from one pretty far away from the basket and one about halfway to it
-Place your class into teams this works best if you have at least 3-4 teams but I have done up to 6 depending on the size of my class
-Have each team come up with a Spanish team name and then write them on the board. Below each team name draw 10 Xs.

Start the Game:
- I arbitrarily choose a team to start . I tell them the game is going to  make them resent people and have grudges so they might as well start with me. :) 
-I ask the first team a question.
* If they answer correctly: A  team member will get the ball and decide which line to shoot from. If they miss they get to erase 2 Xs from any other team (you can never do anything to your own teams Xs only other teams) If they shot from the line closer to the basket they get to erase 4 Xs and if they make it from the back they can erase 5 Xs.
*If they answer incorrectly: That team must add  2 Xs to the board, again they can't give them to their own team they must give them to other teams.

-When taking or adding Xs a team can decide to divey them up however they want. That might 4 to one team or 2 to one and 2 to another or each gets 1 taken away.

You can end the game after so much time or if you have a certain list of questions you want to answer or 2 min before the bell rings it's up to you and your student's engagement. The winning team is  whoever has the most Xs at the end of the game and even if a team's Xs are all gone they can come back when other teams miss a question and have to add Xs to the board.

Hope you and your students have a great time reviewing and creating memories!

Reviewing content before a mastery check or assessment is a great  chance to gamify your classroom and still get in lots of student-to-student collaboration and  repetitions of  key structures or vocabulary for a unit.

This blog isn't going to dive into  how I teach using Sr. Wooly, but instead just one activity that I did. I traditionally teach Guapo, Confesión de Víctor, and Feo as a trilogy over a week or two in Spanish I. I like the story, vocab, and ability to work in that description, clothing,   and other classic vocabulary  sets since I don't teach a traditional  curriculum. I think it makes it more authentic and engaging for sure!

I think this game can be easily adapted to any content or topic with a little creative thinking. I like that it ties in random/luck like The Unfair Game, The Lucky Reading Game, Grudge Ball or Decisiones which  are all review games we love here in my classroom.

What you need:
-A common topic students are familiar with and have been working with!
-Task cards - simple tasks that require students to show mastery or practice using information covered in class (Translate, Write, Draw, Fill -in -the-blank,Write a question, etc.)

-Posters or drawings on the board you can assign or hid random points behind. For my Víctor review it was different headshots of Víctor from throughout the story.

-A way to indicate that a team has chosen a poster (a piece of paper, writing initials on the board, dragging and dropping an image if you have an interactive board) I used 'Víctor's signature' so he was effectively singing the headshot as a way to keep it all on theme.

All of my materials for this Victor version are linked at the end!

How  to Play: 

1) Place your students into groups of 3-4 students
2) Set a timer for how long you want to play (30ish min is good! But less can work , too)
3) One student comes up and gets a task card and takes it back to their group. You can see my Víctor Trilogy ones HERE. (I cut them apart and printed them on different colored paper for each group for my own organizational needs)
4) When a group thinks they have the answer they bring the task card up and if it's right they get a   signiture to place on the headshot they want to. If it wasn't write give them a hint or point out whats wrong and send them back to fix it.
5) They keep going repeating steps 3-4 until the timer runs out.
6) They you flip over the posters to reveal how many points each was worth. Multiply it's worth by how many signatures each group they assigned to each specific poster.

Watch a video explanation HERE!

For example:
If Equipo Morado  had 5 signatures under the poster worth 5 points, 6 under the one worth -20 , and  7 under the poster worth  50 points. So that team would have 655. (But I also make my students do the math in Spanish to review numbers and because they are better mathematicians than I am). You can make them worth 5, 10, -5 . It really doesn't matter. It's all random. I would recommend changing it from one class to the other or they'll tell each other which ones to pick! That's  why I write on the back of my laminated posters each class with random point amounts.

Here are my slides for the Víctor Autograph Review if you happen to also teach these or want to see what it looks like as well as the  posters and signatures.

I'd love to hear how you adapt this game to other topics!

Technology is a beautiful thing, when it works, right??... Well hopefully it usually works for you and you can use some of these sites , games, and ideas to enhance your lessons and make your lives easier!

I am always looking for websites and other fun things to make class more engaging OR my life easier, so with no further ado and in no particular order here are 10 websites I use often in my classroom and some of the ways that I use them!

Gimkit
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Gimkit is a student favorite, especially with all the new and different game modes coming out. Students answer multiple choice questions, listen and click an answer, or type in an answer in order to gain money or energy to complete different game mode tasks. My students love the fishing mode, draw it mode (think Pictionary-- it's awesome) and tag. mode This is a paid subscription , but my district does pay for it.  The reason  they pay for it and the real reason I love it  is that with the paid subscription I can get data on my students. After they finish playing I get a student-by -student write up that shows how many questions they answered, words they missed, words they never missed, etc. I love assigning Gimkits as we read novels so I know what vocabulary we need to focus on or target during that unit. I also like that Gimkit has a HW option like Blooket where you can assign practice or review to students to do on their own. And as you will hear with many of these, I love that other teachers have created lots of sets for almost any curriculum or novel and I don't have to recreate the wheel.

Blooket

A student favorite no matter the level. I like that the modes are engaging and as new ones come out my students get excited to review or introduce content using the interactive fun modes. I like to use the traditional, kahoot-esque modes for  reviewing content as a class. I also like this mode for assigning homework , review materials, or extension activity options. There are so many sets available on this website as well. I've rarely had to make new ones.


*GAMEIFY BLOOKET AND GIMKIT*  with Musical Chair on Gimkit/Blooket

Not that Blooket  and Gimkit aren't already fun , engaging, games, but let's take it to the next level and make it a movement-based game. As students play I randomly yell Levántate and students have to stand up and walk around the room. When I yell Siéntate they have to sit down and begin playing at the computer closest to them. The goal is to be at the winning computer when the timer runs out. You will have to set expectations of sitting down where they are closest and not purposefully sabotaging computers etc. You can have everyone put in a code name in Spanish instead of their real names so that kids don't look for certain computers.

Quizziz

This website has assessment, instruction, and practice (HW) options . I  like assigning them as HW as a comprehension check for students. It will give the m a percentage and clearly let them know if they should move on. It's fun to do a class/group one at the end of the unit or before summative assessments because it will break down questions by which was hardest, etc. It also  gives a class percentage so you can see how proficient your students are. It still has a game aspect just not various modes like Blooket and Gimkit. There are lots of assessments created by other teachers on there as well. I do not pay for a subscription by any means I just use what is free or create what I need. I like them for reading standard checks.

Quizlet

Quizlet is like the ancestor of Blooket and Gimkit. In many ways Quizlet walked, so some of these other sites could run... that being said it probably has the most sets available over the widest range of topics and curriculums. It's also  a great option for students that want flashcards or something like that. I post links or provide them often so students can review before retakes.

*LEVEL UP* with Quizlet Live Relay Race

This is a  student favorite every year and you can read how to do Quizlet Live Relay Races from Mis Clases Locas. Seriously, your students will love it and it get's them moving!

Educandy

Another great option for student individual work time , extension, or intervention. This site takes any set of vocabulary you may have and creates lots of little games for students to play to practice. These games include tic-tac-toe, crosswords, memory, word searches, etc. Not as organized as other sites nor as many sets, but it's pretty easy to make them from Quizlets. However, it can only be played on as an app, so your students would need personal devices OR a classroom iPad as a station is a great way to use it.

Flipgrid

Flipgrid is a site that allows you the teacher to pose a question verbally or written to your students and they respond  with videos. I use these often for speaking assessments, because it's great for students that don't want to talk in front of others as well as it allows me to listen to them speak as many times as I need to in order to give an accurate score. Students can also respond to each other by recording video responses to each other's questions. It's free, it's user friendly, and it's great if you're going to be gone and you still want your students to talk and give them feedback.

Flippity
Flippity.net is powered by Google and houses a variety of templates from Google Sheets that become things like Jeopardy, Word Searches, Name Wheels, Digital Break-Out Rooms , etc. No more wasting time on formating or creating just punch in your information and let the template do the work. I highly recommend the name wheel which I use often because it makes groups for me, puts students in order for conferencing, and so much more. 

EdPuzzle

This site really blew up during the pandemic, but I still love it for review, extension, and intervention. I also love using it for movie talks , because those aren't my favorite CI activities to do. But basically you can  link any YouTube video and insert questions throughout the video that students need to respond to. I use the free version and pre-made videos other teachers have made. I like to use these for listening assessments sometimes , too.

Garbanzo

This is an education website that is tied to the SOMOS curriculum from the Comprehensible Classroom by Martina Bex. You can read more about it at her blog here. I often use it to intro a new SOMOS unit in Spanish I or as extension as we go through the unit. I like the data it gives me and the repetitions my students get in. They are adding more stories and podcasts and things all the time!

Sr.Wooly

Sr. Wooly is a video and graphic novel creator and it is AMAZING and so worth every cent. We use curriculum money to buy our subscription. I love that each story has assignments housed on the site and that they come with activities, lessons, and a very collaborative community. It's a great sub plan and you'll gain access to several graphic novels if you're wanting to teach with novels.

*BONUS* saying 10 websites has a good ring, but I also use,

Duolingo

I have all my students create accounts day one and any time they finish fast they know that it is what they are supposed to be working on with free time in my class. They could also choose to free read from our classroom library, but most work on duolingo on their Chormebooks. I also use the podcasts often in my upper classes and will be sharing more on that soon.

What sites do you use in your classroom? Am I missing any on this blog?