GAMES FOR THE SPANISH CLASSROOM
TWISTER
Twister, what a lovely and funny game. For this game you need the very known game “twister”. You play this game with your students the same way with the same rules that is played in the regular way. The only difference is that you need to call the colors and body part in Spanish. This is a great way for kids to practice vocabulary related to colors and body parts in Spanish. But if you would like to get creative, you could make/print some images/pictures in a circle form and tape those to the colored circles to practice other vocabulary words, such as action verbs, animals, weather, etc.
¿QUÉ ES?/ ¿QUIÉN ES? (what is?/ who is?)
This is a good game for practicing any kind of vocabulary. First, give students small pieces of paper (cards size) and. have them brainstorm and write down words on those pieces of paper (people, places, things, characters, etc, you can decide the topic first). Or, you, as the teacher, can create your own cards. If you had them make the cards, collect them. Stick to proper names or terms in English with lower levels. To start the game, the teacher describes the word on the card aloud without saying the actual name. The first kid who guesses the word correctly gets the card. Then, the student who gets the most number of cards wins. You can add parameters such as giving a signal before allowing guesses to begin.
SIMON DICE (SIMON SAYS)
This game is Simon Says. The teacher is Simon initially. Whenever he/she says, for example, “Simon dice que bailes” (Simon says to dance), the students have to dance. If he/she says, “dice que bailes” (says to dance), then the students shouldn’t dance. Then, whenever the teacher starts the command with “Simon dice que…”, the students should do what the teacher (Simon) is asking them to do, if he/she starts the command like this “dice que…” then students shouldn’t follow that command. Eventually, you can give this role to students, for them to be Simon. This game works perfect for practicing body parts, verbs and directions. You could have a winner by eliminating kids whenever they make a mistake and either don’t follow the command when you say, “Simon dice que…” or follow the command when you say, “dice que…”.
CAMBIA DE SITIO SI… (CHANGE SEATS IF…)
This game is a good brain break from worksheets or hard work, if you have the time. Have the students sit in a circle. Then, the teacher says “cambia de asiento si…” (switch seats if..) followed by something that is connected to the topic/unit you are teaching or that is relevant to the class (for example, if you are wearing black shoes, if your favorite color is red, if you are wearing a sweater, etc, making sure you use Spanish as much as you can). The students for whom the “if…” statement applies must get up and find a new seat. You can make it interesting by eliminating kids from the circle if/when they get it wrong.
EL MARCADOR (THE MARKER)
I love this game for small groups. This game works as a quick review for any topic. First, put students in pairs, across from each other, with a marker in the middle. Have some questions or statements in Spanish ready to go. Give the question or statement aloud– true or false. If it’s false, students should leave the marker alone, but if they touch it accidentally, they get -1 point. If the statement is true, first student to grab the marker gets 1 point. Make sure to explain this very well to the students before you start and that the pencil or marker is always in the middle of both students.
BINGO
This game is literally the same as we know it. You, as the teacher, only have to create those “bingo sheets” with the images or words you want to use (depending on your topic), for example, clothing, and make small boards that contains clothing images/words and make them all different. You call out the words in Spanish and they have to see if they have it either as an image or as a word in English. For you to be able to reuse this boards, make sure you give each student some sort of pieces for them to put on top of the word/image that they got as a marker, that way they don’t mark it with a pen, and you can reuse it.
Or another fun way to do it is for the kids to make the bingo sheets. For that, just print blank bingo sheets and give it to the students. Then, you could either give them a list of vocabulary (the one that you all are working on) and have them draw those words in the different blank squares they have (but make sure they all do it differently by drawing the words in different places, not coping their peers). Or, you could call out a word, for example let’s say you are reviewing emotions and you call out “feliz” (happy), and kids have to draw it wherever they want on their blank bingo sheet (which is a great way for them to practicing listening). Then, wait until they are done drawing that word and call out the next one and so on until they all have their whole bingo sheet complete with images (they draw). Now, it is time to play.
DOS LINEAS (TWO LINES)
This game gets everybody listening closely. This game can last 10 minutes up to 45 minutes. Divide the class into two groups. Then, line students up across from each other forming a parallel line. Number the students so everyone has a pair (1-1, 2-2, 3-3, etc.), they don’t necessarily have to stand/sit in order, they just need to remember their number (pair similar-leveled students if possible.) If you have an odd number of students, just assign 2 numbers to one student on one side. The easiest way to assign numbers is to have everyone stand up, and as you point and say a number, they sit down.
Have some questions or a vocabulary list or some statements in Spanish ready, before you start the game and also a board to put the teams’ points. Ask a question or state something aloud. Repeat the statement a few times for the students to have time to think. Then call a number. The students who have that number are the ones who are supposed to answer aloud. The first student to answer or translate correctly gets a point (which means their group gets a point). For the students to have some movement, you could have them be seated in those 2 lines, and once you call out the number, both students who have that number have to stand up and answer aloud. The fastest one earns the point for their team, unless the answer is incorrect, then the other student has the chance to answer and earn a point for their team.
Before you begin, remind the students that there is only ONE JUDGE, and that person is the teacher.
MATAMOSCAS (SLAP IT)
This game is also known as Flyswatter (Matamoscas) because you put the images on the board and students who are called come and slap the correct image with a flyswatter. But you can also play it in groups. For that, make students get together in pairs or groups of 4, or you can make the groups. Then, give each group the same set of picture cards, face-up on the table. You, as the teacher, call out the word in Spanish, or give a sentence that describes that word, also in Spanish. The first student who slaps the correct card according to the word/sentence that the teacher said, gets to keep that card. At the end, the group of students with the most cards win, or the group that gets the most cards first wins.
I personally like the images on the board. This is another option. For that, you put the images from the unit you are working on with the students on the board. Then, you separate the whole class in 2 groups and have them get together. Then, you call 2 students (one from each team), either by random, in order or by using popsicle sticks and give them each a flyswatter. Then, you say the word in Spanish aloud or a sentence that describes the word, and the students need to think and slap with the correct image that matches the word/sentences that the teacher said. The first student who slaps the correct image earns a point for their team. At the end, the group with most points wins. This game can go as long as you want to.
CUCHARAS (SPOONS)
I love this game. Have everyone sit in a circle, facing each other. Shuffle the deck of cards. Place spoons in the middle. There should be one less than the number of players; in other words, if there are seven players, then six spoons should be in the middle of the circle.
Deal each player four cards. With the remaining cards, form a stack. To begin a game, the first player takes a card from the deck and places it into his hand. He or she decides whether to keep this card or not. He or she quickly discards one card from his hand and passes it, face down, to the next person in the circle (in clockwise order).
The goal to try to get 4 of a kind. Once a person gets 4 of the same rank of card, he or she is now eligible to grab a spoon from the middle. Once anyone takes a spoon from the middle, the rest of the players can now grab a spoon, even if they don’t yet have four of a kind. In order not to lose, you must grab a spoon in time. The last player (the one who was not successful in getting a spoon) loses and must leave the circle. Decrease the number of spoons by one and repeat this process until there is only one winner left.
To make it work for the Spanish classroom, make a deck of cards that, for example, have verbs in English and in Spanish, or you could have a picture (that describe the verb) and the verbs in Spanish, or it could be for describing people, pictures and the adjectives in Spanish. Then, the students would have to find 2 matching cards, for example, a card with a picture of a runner and a card with the verb “correr” (to run), and a card with a picture of a person dancing and a card with the verb “bailar” (to dance). Then, that student has 4 cards, which are 2 matchings cards. Then, the rest of the game is the same as describe above.
VERDAD Y FALSO (TRUTH OR FALSE)
This is a very simple and fun game, and it is great to use in the Spanish classroom!
Make groups of two, have them seat together, give them one pencil and put it in the middle of both students. Then, specify that this is a true or false game, which means whatever statement you say they have to figure it out if it’s true or false. If it is a false statement, they don’t grab the pencil, but if it’s true they have to grab it. Clearly, whoever grabs it first earns a point. You can say the statement or write it on the board. If you only say it aloud, make sure you say it twice, for every student to have the chance to listen to it clearly.
This game can be applied to anything, you can use it for any vocabulary, for example, a hand is “una mano”, which it a true statement, or any grammar, or you can even use it for a book reading unit, by giving statements from the book.
SOPA DE LETRAS (WORDSEARCH)
This is a fun game. You, as the teacher, have to create a word-search, with any content/topic you want. This game is great to practice any vocabulary. For you to make this word-search, you have to make sure you use Spanish in the word-search and put the words they need to search in English in the bottom. That way, they have to think about the meaning of those words in Spanish for them to finding those in the word-search. This word-search can be done online, there are plenty of websites that make it for you.
After you have the word-search done have the students get in group of two. Give to each of them a word-search paper, have them seat in front of each other, give them 1 pencil, 2 dices and, for them to not copy from each other, put a folder in between them. Whoever rolls a 6 first, let’s say student A, starts to look for the words with the only pencil, while the other student, student B, is trying to roll 2 of the same number/kind (two 4s, two 5s, etc). When student B rolls 2 of the same kind, he/she takes the pencil and it is his turn to look for the words, while Student A tries to roll 2 of the same kind and so on until one of the students finishes finding all the words correctly.
DIBUJA, ESCRIBE, PASA (DRAW, WRITE, PASS)
This is another fun game that incorporates drawing, writing and reading with one another, which is great for language acquisition. It would probably be more applied for full sentences to make it more challenging, but it can certainly be applied and adapted for Spanish beginners with simple and small sentences.
To start the game, make groups of 4, no more than groups of 6. Have them seat together. Give to each student a piece of paper and have each of them write a sentence, related to the unit you are working on or past units (as a review), in their own paper. Then, below their sentence, they have to draw a picture that illustrates the sentence they just wrote above. Follow by that, ask them to fold the paper so only the drawing is visible. Once that’s done, ask them to pass their paper to their right peer. Now, the students look at the picture they received and have to write a sentence that describes it. Again, pass the papers to the right. Now, students read that sentence and have to draw what they just read. Finally, repeat this process until every student has their original paper back in their hands. If you want to have a winner from each group, maybe have them vote what was the funniest evolution between sentences and pictures, or the most accurate one.
MEMORIA (MEMORY)
This is a phenomenal game that can be applied to any vocabulary and can be used with any age. To make it more fun you could have students make the matching cards by drawing some pictures (the match would be one picture and one word in Spanish) or write the words (the match would be one word in English, one in Spanish). It can even be applied for questions and answers, translations, conjugations, etc.
In order to start, put the students in groups of 4 and give them paper that is already cut in squares. Then, give them the list of words/vocabulary they are going to use to make those matching cards. Once the students finish the doing the matching cards, let them play in their groups and have fun. To make it more interesting, you can also change the groups once they’ve already played one time, for students to see different cards, styles, pictures, sentences, conjugations, etc. This is a great game to practice any type of vocabulary as it can involve drawing, writing and reading, and connecting those with one another.
20 PREGUNTAS (20 QUESTIONS)
This is a very good game for practicing speaking and having students communicate with questions. To start, choose a student who to sit in front of the class, choose a person/thing/animal/item, whatever you want and tell that student what you picked. All the students need to ask yes or no questions to guess what the answer (what item/person/animal you picked). If the class makes more then 20 questions (and haven’t guessed the answer), the student in front of the class wins, but if the rest of the students guess in less than 20 questions, they win.
Another way to do this is by putting a picture of a famous character (or whatever you want) onto the students’ back or forehead. Then, the students have to walk around asking each other questions for them to figure it out what/who they are.
An easier way to start is for you, as the teacher, to model this game and be the “student” who seats in front of the class first, by having a picture in your back (that a trusted student taped in your back) and you ask questions to the class to figure it out what it is, or you can just pick yourself and have the class ask you questions to figure it out. Also, you could give them some sort of topic to make it easier, such as “animals”, body parts” or “classroom items”, etc.
¿ADIVINA QUIÉN? (GUESS WHO?)
This game is very well known as “Guess Who?”. It is similar to the “20 Questions” game but it involves a board. You can use the board that is already made that comes with the game, or you can make your own. If you make your own, you can pick whatever topic and vocabulary you want to use, such as people, items, animals, sports, etc. In order to start, put the students in partners and give to each of them a matching board. Each student has to secretly pick one of the images from their own board (can´t share their selection). Then, students have to take turns to ask yes or no questions, to try to eliminate possible elements from their boards and guess what their peer picked. The first student (in the group) to correctly guess their peer´s selection wins.
To make it a longer process and/or if your students like to draw, you can have them make the board.
MANO NERVIOSA (NERVOUS HAND)
This is a great way for students to practice numbers in Spanish and have fun with it. It is a very easy game, not input-heavy, very fun and effective for practicing numbers. First, make groups of 3-6 students, and provide each group with a deck of cards. Divide the deck of cards between each member of the group, they all (in the group) have to have the same number of cards (or close). Then, students start (one by one) to put down cards in the center, in a circle. They have to recite numbers 1-14, one by one, each time they lay down a card. If the number said matches the number that was put down, the last person to slap the cards in the center gets all those cards. The point is to stay out of cards. Then, the first person who gets rid of their cards wins. But the rest of students can play still until there is one person who loses.
Also, another thing to make it fun is the following: if somebody got nervous or by mistake slaps the cards in the center (or almost slaps them), then that person gets all those cards, which is why this game is called “mano nerviosa” (nervous hand).
EL CUBO (THE CUBE)
“El cubo” (the cube) is a fun game for practicing verbs. The only material you need a cube (it doesn’t matter what material is made of). In each side of the cube you write the following: act, write sentence, sing, draw, say sentence and the last one blank.
Separate the class in 2 groups, you can make the groups or let them make those. Then, throw the cube and whatever it says on the top is what one student from each group has to do with the verb you give them in Spanish.
Let’s say you give them the verb “cocinar” (to cook) and “act” comes up in the cube, then those two students have to think in what is that verb in English and act it out. Whoever does it correctly first earn a point for their group. If “write sentence” comes up in the cube, then the students have to write a full sentence with that verb on the board. If “sing” comes up, they have to pretend to sing a song that includes that verb (either make the song up or sing a song that has that verb). If “draw” comes up in the cube, the students have to draw a picture that explains that verb they got. If “say a sentence” comes up, students have to say a full sentence including that verb and do it correctly. Finally, if they get the “blank”, they both get to pass. Make sure you give the verb you want them to use after you throw the cube.