How to Write Effective Spanish and French Lesson Plans, Simplified

THE LEARNING OBJECTIVE

The first component, and the most important, is the learning objective.

Before determining my learning goals, I must first look at the standards. Um…which ones? The National Standards, the State Content Standards, the ACTFL Can-Do Statements, The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, the ACTFL Standards?

Agh! I’m so overwhelmed!

Using “Can-Do Statements” helps you find objectives and you should know your State Content Standards. However, if you don’t have hours to plow through your state standards, consider my simplified version: Embed French and Spanish culture (with comparisons of students’ own and that of Spanish-speaking countries) and knowledge of other subjects matters; assign tasks requiring the use of the target language outside the classroom; and provide opportunities for students to read, write, speak and listen to authentic resources, not necessarily in every lesson. Now, let’s begin planning our daily lesson.

How to write effective French or Spanish Lessons: Know what your learning goal is.

Know what your learning goal is. Before creating a lesson plan I always ask myself, “What do I want my middle school or high school students to be able to do at the end of this lesson? Or even more immediate (for younger students): What do I want them to be able to do at the end of the period?

If I don’t know where I’m going, I’ll never get there.

First, what function do I want my students to perform? This function should be part of a THEMATIC UNIT, or topic. Let’s pick “celebrities,” for example, and compare some American stars to a few Spanish-speaking ones (Embed culture).

For example, students will: Talk and write about famous Spanish speakers; write a comparison of American singers and Spanish singers; describe themselves and others orally and in writing; and write an essay describing the physical appearance and personality of friends, family members and celebrities.

Below are learning objectives taken from my lesson on describing people. (On the left is a list of items needed for this lesson.)

USE ACTION VERBS

The goal statement must be specific, focusing on ACTION verbs: Students will write about, listen to, identify, talk about, present orally…” The more specific the goal statement is, the more likely the students will reach the goal.

PROVIDE FOUNDATIONAL KNOWLEDGE WITH CULTURE, GRAMMAR, OR VOCABULARY LESSONS

Second, what knowledge (vocabulary, grammar, cultural facts) do students need to know to achieve these goals? At this point, I make a list of vocabulary and related expressions that will help my Spanish students express themselves on the chosen topic. Otherwise, they will speak English or use Google Translate, Chat GPT, or other AI tools, because I have not supplied them with the sufficient vocabulary to accomplish the tasks I’ve given them. (Learn more about how to prevent academic fraud in this posts: How to Keep Students from Cheating with Chat GPT and AI and How to Keep Students from Using Google Translate)

Ways to Practice New Language

A great way to help students assimilate the new words is to incorporate them into a TPRS story. For example, here are the TPRS stories I use for the Spanish Classroom Objects vocabulary: SPANISH CLASSROOM OBJECTS TPRS STORIES AND COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT ACTIVITIES

You can also play listening games, such as Bingo, The Paired Grab Game, the Vocabulary Board Game, Pictionary, or Charades, assign listen and draw activities, or Google Drive activities, role-play, act out the words with the students, or act out scenarios in small groups. It is important, however, to always use the new vocabulary words in complete sentences while playing these games, except, perhaps, when first acting out the words.

At the beginning of the year, French and Spanish teachers may wish to label the classroom objects and school supplies, items to which students will often refer, and provide students with the Spanish word for these items, and for high-frequency and useful words. I give my students a list of “Frases útiles.” This greatly facilitates the use of the target language in the classroom.

Or, let’s say you will be teaching the daily routine in your language learning class. What Spanish words do students need to know before you begin? I would teach them a few body parts so that when they learn reflexive verbs such as, “cepillarse, lavarse,” they will easily assimilate the phrases, “cepillarse el pelo,” or “lavarse la cara.”

For the purpose of my lesson on describing people, I teach all the words below, the necessary grammar (masculine and feminine endings), and a few parts of the body to help with recognition of the phrases, “los ojos azules,” and, “el pelo negro.”

VOCABULARY LIST

Related Expressions

Necessary Grammar

Create Your Assessment and Rubric

Next, I develop an assessment and accompanying rubric to verify that students can demonstrate the learning objectives in real-life communication. I always model what the finished product will look like (e.g., “Here’s an example of what an A looks like”) and give the rubric to the students at the beginning of the lesson so they know exactly what is expected of them. Otherwise, the results will inevitably miss the mark.

Here is the model I used for the biography students wrote using the adjectives.

Here is the rubric: (Later on, and in succeeding levels, the rubrics will be written in Spanish or French.)

Choose Your Strategies, Resources, and Activities

Once I know exactly what I want the students to be able to do, I begin to brain-storm the strategies, resources, and activities that will get the students where I want them to go.

As I am brainstorming, I make sure to include the French or Spanish teaching resources and Spanish materials I will need in order to keep my class functioning in the target language – the subject of a future blog in this series.

I articulate the learning objectives with the students at the beginning of the class, explaining what we are going to do and what THEY will do at the end of the lesson to demonstrate proficiency. That’s called tension which will be discussed in my next blog as we continue to talk about how to write effective lesson plans. Stay tuned!

I hope this blog gave you some ideas for how to write effective French and Spanish lesson plans. I look forward to hearing from anyone who would like to comment.

TODAY’S FREEBIES AND FREE LESSON PLANS:

Sample Lesson Plan on Physical Descriptions

Spanish Adjectives Listening and Writing Assessments

Spanish ER Verbs Lesson Plan

Click here to see the Spanish Adjectives PowerPoint and Interactive Notebook Activities

DO YOU HATE WRITING LESSON PLANS FOR SPANISH CLASS?

If you really dread the task of writing your own lesson plans, don’t do it! Go home early! Why reinvent the wheel when I have spent thirty years writing Spanish curriculum and polishing lesson plans that DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU? They even have embedded links to digital versions for distance learning.

Click here to see my Spanish One Lesson Plans and Curriculum for an Entire Year. You will not need Spanish textbooks with these lessons but you can use them in conjunction with your textbook if you like. The print lesson plans can be downloaded from TPT or from Google Drive.

Save over 25% when you buy the Todos preparados Spanish 1 and 2 Lesson Plans and Curriculum together.

Click here to see my AP Spanish Lesson Plans and Curriculum for an Entire Year

Click the following link to see a short video about the TODOS PREPRADOS lesson plans: Todos preparados Lesson Plans

For more information about how to craft a good lesson plan, click here: Teaching World Languages: A Practical Guide

ONE MORE FREE RESOURCE:

Have you tried interactive PowerPoint games? They are super fun, great practice during the recognition phase for comprehensible input and they are self-correcting. You don’t have to correct anything! Take a look: Numbers PowerPoint Game

If you would like more freebies and teaching tips, make sure to sign up for my blog! Scroll to the bottom to sign up.

This is the first in a series of eight blog posts on how to write an effective world language lesson plan.

Below are the following seven posts:

Effective World Language Lesson Plans, Part Two (How to Add Tension)

Effective World Language Lesson Plans, Part Three (The Hook)

Effective World Language Lesson Plans, Part Four (How Explain, model, demonstrate)

Effective World Language Lesson Plans, Part Five (How to Check for Understanding)

Effective World Language Lesson Plans, Part Six (How to Add the Best Comprehensible Input)—Hint: Spanish songs, video clips, classroom readers, TPRS stories, teacher talk, visuals, games, books)

How to Choose the Best Practice Activities for World Language—Must engage all students, use all the senses, use interactive activities, allow me to conduct the class in the target language, etc.

How to Plan an Effective Closure Activity

ONE MORE FREE RESOURCE:

Would you like to have access to more PowerPoint games like this one? They are super fun, great practice during the recognition phase for comprehensible input and they are self-correcting. You don’t have to correct anything! Take a look: Numbers PowerPoint Game

If you would like more freebies and teaching tips, make sure to sign up for my BLOG! Scroll to the bottom to sign up.

Happy teaching!

Angie

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