September 25, 2021

Hello! Here I’m sharing the phrases I use in school with my students. With the younger ones (First grade) I work on phrases that help them get things they need. For example: “Necesito agua por favor.” This phrase means ” I need water please.” It is a very important phrase in my Spanish classes as it allows students to get other things too by changing agua to other things they need. “Necesito un lápiz por favor.” (I need a pencil please.) “Necesito el papel por favor.” (I need the paper please).

Then I have lists that are specific for 2-3 and 4-6. We spend about two classes practicing these and I also introduce classroom objects. Then, as the year progresses, I remind student of more and more of the phrases.

Here I am sharing the lists I use. (There are two 4-6 phrase vocabulary sheets, one with common phrases and then the second one with phrases most likely that a teacher would use, and the student’s. I usually copy it double sided.)

I always ask students to keep this list handy in their Spanish folders (4-6) so they can refer to them and use more and more of these phrases.

This is a video I created with some of the phrases. I thought of younger learners (K-3) when I made it:

In 2024, I used a bee theme to begin the year. These past years I try whenever I can, to unite my Spanish language efforts with social justice and this includes caring for our environment. Bees for example pollinate 80% of the world’s plant crops, including 90 different food crops. And just to give you an idea of how terrible the situation is just in our country 25% of the managed bee population in the United States has disappeared.

So… I created a beginning of the year activity that included creating a bee hive with hexagons that represented is child in my class. They decorated them and wrote a goal they had for Spanish class. Also in its back they wrote something they pledged to get better at respect taking care of the environment. For these activities we usually brain storm and I write the words in Spanish on the board, sometimes with a symbol or with the child’s 3 first letters of their name so then, they can write them down into their hexagon.

I also created worksheets and a new game. The worksheets including vocabulary sheets of the phrases nicely typed are part of this 26 page packet I just published it HERE for $1.99. If you enjoy my website this is a great way to support my work. This is a preview of the packet as it was too large to post at the TPT website:

And here are some photos of the worksheets:

The game is something I like to call Useful Classroom Phrases Puzzle, and combines a puzzle with a Bingo game and can be played both ways. my students really enjoyed it!

Below is a preview and HERE you can purchase it for $2.99.

also back in 2023, I wanted to make the practice of phrases a little more engaging and …fun! So I decided to use a puzzle/game activity I call “Papelitos.” Papelitos are basically words on paper strips in Spanish. And the idea is that I will say a phrase in Spanish or English and students have to use the words in the paper strips to form the phrases.

You can see the activity in detail HERE in case you want to try it. My students liked it a lot!