I absolutely love utilizing games and hands on activities in EVERY LEVEL of Spanish class. Games aren’t just for middle school! In my high school classroom, they help me engage even the most reluctant students. Games bring fun and spontaneity into the learning process and they provide a great opportunity for me to formatively assess my students’ progress.
I used to think that games were only appropriate for review right before a quiz or a test, but over the past 9 years I have developed various games and activities that are helpful during all stages of the learning process. Yes, review games are appropriate before a quiz or other assessment, but they can also be used seamlessly as warmups or exit tickets, brain breaks, and more. Often, hands on activities feel like games for our students, and there doesn’t have to be a competition aspect for something to be FUN.
Almost everything I do in my classroom can be tied back to my focus on positive teacher-student relationships. I believe that my relationship with my students has been the biggest game changer for me over the past few years. Developing strong relationships has made classroom management easier and I am seeing more language use and higher proficiency levels! I plan my lessons with my student relationships in mind. Utilizing games and hands on activities has helped me in these relationships, and has helped me strengthen student proficiency.
When I am able to incorporate these activities into my lessons, my students tend to have more fun and therefore so do I. If we are all happy, and we are all engaged, then my students are learning 🙂 Above all, I am improving relationships today which will in turn help me to reach them tomorrow!
You can read more about my games and how I use them here, or check out my favorite games and hands on activities below!
Yes, speaking can and should be fun! Low pressure leads to enhanced student participation and output.
We don’t always need competition to bring the FUN.
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