How to make comparisons fun for a disaffected Y8 or Y9- well at least I think it's fun. The Wordsearch is meant to encourage choice of interesting adjectives and give you a bit of space. The next thing on that sheet could be used as a card sort if you have the time/energy. I always think getting them to put the sentence together works but I have taken to giving a sentence per pair and then a quick put it back in envelope and pass on. The jumbled version of the same grid is called a sentence machine. They work in teams with a piece of paper. Each time they correctly combine a set of words to make a sentence they send a runner to check and then cross it off in the machine. The more sentences they generate the more points and points mean rewards. The PPT introduces the structure and there are plenty of extra pics if you want to print some off and get them to generate their own example sentences in pairs.

I think I've shared this before but this is a slimmer version for Y8 or Y9 beginners as opposed to GCSE. Aim to make doing routine and working with present tense a bit more fun by describing the day of a Vicky Pollard type character.

Aim is to do invitations and modal verbs but make it more fun by having a scenario where A is keen on B but B does not want to go out on a date and ends up having to be blunt. There are typical excuses with je dois + infinitive but then a dictionary/translation skills exercise that adds in such things as It is a full moon and I am going to turn in to a werewolf. When they write their own dialogues they end up having more fun than the classic text book dialogue that has them saying they cant because they've got to go to visit their gran.

More than one lessons worth for teaching how to describe home/bedroom. Students can then use to write about own house and create Ads to sell their dream home. I also get them to write a description of their dream bedroom because more creative-changing rooms idea. Properties in the sun is a challenge to get them using more interesting vocab. Silly points is someone else's game so thank you to whoever put that on TES- but I have made it in to describing home- Play with it so you can see why it is called silly points. Students absolutely love it and they work really hard on the tasks- You can adapt any way you like and at any level- so you can do things like -10 seconds to give me 10 words for....

I have done this as a running reading. Students have the reading sheet in teams. They all get the first question, find the answer and Number one comes up with answer written down to collect the next question. Wrong answer and they have to go back and re-confer. Everyone in team has to take it in turns to come up. If you have not tried this as a way of getting them to work on a text do have a go.

i use it with GCSE students who have only done Spanish for a year and so I want to revise physical description but want to move them on to GCSE style writing quickly could be used with a bright Y9 class too

Vocabulary support sheet for describing appearance for KS3 or KS4

Taken from an article published by Reuters and edited. Higher reading task but with vocabulary for support and questions in English

This is not quite finished so if I develop it further I will add. My Y9s are really getting in to it and they absolutely love the crime scene investigation. I haven’t added a crime scene document because you will have to create that yourself depending on how much time and effort you want to put in but I have explained what I do in the ppt notes. It says things like -they found fingerprints on a bottle of wine left on the table-there was a …under the bed-and in fact it isn’t under the bed it is somewhere else in the room- for things like the bed- I place photos in the room-I then have a glass with lipstick on it-I have a fingerprint kit-costs £4-I have crime scene tape, and chalk-again cheap- toy murder weapon-or in this case some fake pearls from charity shop. So you see you can set it up as you like and use whatever props you like. In previous years I have got them to act out the inspector interviewing them-so where were you at, what were you doing when, what did you do between…and, What is missing is who actually killed Luisa- I always have an idea but the best activity is when the students decide and you write the ending together. In my version Carmen was the intended victim even though she is pregnant and the murderer was Felipe- he found out that she was pregnant with someone else’s child and acted out of jealousy-he also didn’t want his plans to marry Luisa to be ruined by Carmen lying to her husband and telling him that the baby is Felipe’s, something she told Felipe she would do if he didn’t help her get away from Don Navarro. Hope someone out there wants to have a go and like I say it is ripe for adaptation.

Alternative to Semana Santa History of chocolate-reading comp-I do it as a team competition-so they all get first question and then dont get 2nd one until show me answer to first. Expressing opinions about chocolate with blind chocolate tasting if you are feeling generous Jessie Y joy sing in Spanish-really easy to understand-all about love and chocolate-good you tube clip

Y10 GCSE Spanish but could be used with more able in KS3. Describing your house can be dreary so I came up with the idea of a description of the prison that Pablo Escobar designed himself. It really worked as they found the story fascinating, and were able to predict the content with a few nudges. They were then willing to go on and be more creative with their own descriptions.

Y7 coursebooks always use classroom objects to teach colours. That never strikes me as a great idea. Singular/plural yes and masculine and feminine but not a yellow pencil. So I use it to practise dictionary skills and it really works. The whole idea is to get to the challenge which is the things you shouldn’t have in your school bag, hence the slide with the pet toad, the conkers and the fake note from home about homework. The last slide is the boy a bit older. The students I had today were happily adding their own ideas and they really understood the need to record whether noun was masculine or feminine. I uploaded the French version ages ago and so this is the exact same thing but in Spanish. It is aimed at Y7 but the principle behind it could be useful at all levels. Then we wont have to answer that annoying child who says “It’s not in the dictionary.” Later in the year I will do part of a lesson showing them on-line dictionaries, more and more schools are allowing use of phones for learning in classroom. This to me is 10 times more valuable than duolinguo.

Not particularly original but emphasis on developing listening skills so you might want to take a look. I have added the assessment that we do at the end of the unit so you can see what the listenings are leading up to. Not a brilliant test but you might find it useful and or infinitely adaptable. The peer listening activity where students adapt dialogue and then read it out to another pair for speaking and listening practice works well if set up right.

I may have shared this before but it is about verbs linked to daily routine and getting students to use metalanguage. I love this kind of focus on describing language and students respond well if you really feel confident it is worthwhile. I don't like students to think verbs are doing words so I talk about stative and dynamic verbs and it does not scare them. The second ppt about practising routine-not new and you have probably got one of your own already-but do have a look. I have attached some word worksheets I have used in conjunction with PPT and a silly points game-have a look and you will see why it is called silly points-great idea and not originally mine.

I have done this for Y9/Y10 before but not Y7. Just to get away from same old same old- getting them to learn how to describe the weekend of a teenager from hell V the Saturday of a good two shoes- so I always leave the toilet seat up and shut myself in my room instead of I play football and I watch TV. Or I always go to the supermarket with mummy and I do my homework the minute I wake up. It isn't that much more difficult actually and they respond well to it. I've just added some conventional matching tasks on end-nothing new but good cover.

PPT is really to provoke/stimulate discussion- Articles are aimed at beginner Y12s. I have a group at the moment who are not very confident and so I tried to find relatively easy web-based articles- that would boost their confidence and also show them that talking fashion is quite fun because you can get away with Spanglish

PPt and accompanying resources to help embed rules for mon,ma, mes in context of family with Y7 I have used Thierry Henry's family and then some actors just to add cultural relevance. Not particularly original but you might like to use some of the practice activities So quite a few of the slides on the ppt are actually printable activities- quite a lot of differentiation which you might find useful. Alain le lait- on you tube, quite fun and could be improved and turned in to a rap. I have included lesson plan as done for an interview.

Hispano Americano is defined as a Spanish speaking person of Spanish or Latin American origin or descendance, typically living in the USA. This original and creative resource opens the door to the rich and diverse culture of the many Hispanic Americans living in the USA, examines their struggles to find a voice and sense of identity through a look at some of the stories you may not know about their history in the States, and at some of the icons who have shaped that story, which is also the story of black history and the LGBTQ+ LatinX communities. It also looks at music, cinema and TV, such as the rise of Reggaeton and Latino Trap, Jennifer Lopez but also Indya Moore the first transgender actor to appear in a top fashion magazine. It is aimed at GCSE students aiming for 7+ and at A Level students. All the texts have GCSE and A Level tasks, sometimes the text is the same but the tasks are different, sometimes the text is also different. They all come with answers so students can do them at home, or as extension work when school starts again. Some of the A Level tasks come with opportunities for debate with peers. The tasks match exam task types and also help students develop text attack skills (reading skills). They can of course just enjoy reading the texts for pleasure. It is a shame you cannot see a preview due to the number of texts provided. I have given you multiple texts here so even if you just use one or two you are getting good value. I would love it if someone would send out a review so that more teachers download it. I would love to see more of us daring to be creative and not getting bogged down by exam pressure.

Ten things to do before you die-classic theme for introducing conditionals-and or just using constructions like me gustaría + infinitive- espero/tengo ganas de…generates more interesting opinions and students can be encouraged to use stronger adjective-adverb combinations Versatile because can be used at any level and made more or less challenging-the conversation can be expanded and the tense can be changed so you can say what you’ve already done, like Bungey jumping or visiting somewhere amazing or what you are planning to do-in order to raise money for charity perhaps. There are quite a lot of slides so it can be made shorter so students have to generate ideas themselves. It can be used for speaking, as a stimulus for writing, for translation practice You could easily use the slides and change language

Boys really loved the Parcour lesson and I have never got so much speaking done with a Y8 class jsut by talking about extreme sports instead of conventional sports. Show them the clip at the start of Casino Royale before doing either of the reading tasks and you will be very popular too. first reading task is in English-team speed reading challenge then you can opt to do the one in French as well or instead.