The Best Spanish Lesson Plans Begin with an Enticing Hook

Have you ever had a hard time getting into a book? A sermon? An article or essay? Why?

There’s no hook.

Nothing to suck you into paying attention so you forget that you’re tired, sick, or distracted because you didn’t finish that task you were working on before you had to come here and listen to me.

Is that better?

Every successful screenwriter and author knows if she doesn’t captivate your interest in the first minute, she’s lost you.

When students come to us, they are distracted, tired, overwhelmed, worried about boyfriend/girlfriend issues, stressed. Some haven’t eaten or have trauma at home. How are we going to reel them into a lesson?

With an attention-getter

I begin every lesson in my Spanish class with a meme, joke, visual, song, video, or ANYTHING humorous related to the day’s lesson. I get many of these from this Pinterest Board. I have labeled most of the memes according to the vocabulary or grammar concept we will be studying. Not only am I provoking a chuckle, I’m leading my Spanish students where I want them to go.

As you can see, I include this in my Lesson Plan Template under, “Anticipatory Set” so I don’t forget to include it.

Here is an attention-getter I use before teaching the house and chores vocabulary. (The answer pops in after they do the activity.)

Here’s another one.

SPANISH TEACHING RESOURCES—BELOW ARE HUNDREDS MORE READY-MADE ATTENTION GETTERS:

Can you believe I compiled or created 100 memes, jokes, songs, and other attention getters for Spanish One and 108 for Spanish Three? And they’re FREE for you!

 It’s challenging to come up with resources that get a laugh from beginning Spanish learners because they have such a limited vocabulary. It took me years to accumulate these.

Click on the link or the image to get them: SPANISH ONE ATTENTION GETTERS

These attention getters include most of the vocabulary and grammar of first year Spanish: days of the week, months of the year, definite articles, family members, greetings, commands, adjectives, food vocabulary, the verbs SER and TENER, time, Spanish numbers, the verb HACER, and much more. My students love the songs and engaging videos. All are in Spanish.

Level Three Spanish teachers will love these 108 SPANISH 3 ATTENTION GETTERS written in the target language. Use these hooks in your Spanish lesson plans to draw your students into the learning experience. You can tie them into your vocabulary lessons, stories, or grammar explanations.

Embed Student Photos into Your Activities

Another guaranteed way to reel students in is to incorporate their photos into the activities. I often begin my bell-work activity with questions about students next to their bigger-than-life photos. Instant engagement every time! And titters, of course.

Spanish Educational Videos and Video Clips Attention Getters

I often joke that if I put a television screen around my head, all students would instantly pay attention.

They love videos!

For that reason, I often start the class period with a video that includes repetition in context of the vocabulary or concept I am teaching for listening practice and to provide comprehensible input of the Spanish language. All videos have comprehensible input activities that recycle the language and digital versions for distance learning. All actors in the videos are Spanish speakers for authentic language. (I make a cameo appearance in the Body Parts video.)

If you’d like to include more hooks in your Spanish lesson curriculum, check out these Spanish videos. They integrate seamlessly with any grammar or thematic unit.

FOR SPANISH ONE VIDEOS

Spanish Greetings

Spanish Clothing

Spanish Adjectives and Describing People

¿De dónde eres?

Spanish Gustar Videos

¿Qué te gusta hacer?

La hora y las clases: Telling Time in Spanish

Spanish Verb Ser

Spanish Possessive Adjectives

Comprehensible Input for Using Two Verbs in a Sentence

Ir a infinitive Spanish Video

FOR SPANISH TWO VIDEOS FOR YOUR SPANISH LESSON PLANS

Spanish Parts of the Body and Health

Spanish Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

Spanish Irregular Verbs

Saber vs. Conocer

Spanish Comparatives and Superlative Videos

Spanish Present Progressive

Spanish Reflexive Verbs and Daily Routine: 2 Videos

Spanish Prepositions of Location

Spanish House and Furniture Interactive Video

SPANISH THREE, FOUR, AND AP SPANISH

Day of the Dead Videos

Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives

Spanish Present Subjunctive

Spanish Subjunctive: Las cláusulas adjetivales

Spanish Conditional Tense

Spanish Future Tense

Spanish Present Perfect Tense

Preterite and Preterite vs. Imperfect Stories: 7 Videos

Another way to use videos as hooks is to make them interactive with EdPuzzle or Movie Talk at the beginning of class time.

Vocal Music

A great way to lure students into your Spanish lessons, get them excited about language learning, and introduce Spanish culture is with music. It’s a universal language and students love it. They have so much fun singing they almost forget they are learning. (Here is a caveat: It’s helpful to stay current on modern music and pop cultural icons. The best way to do that is to ask the students what musicians or bands they like or, if you’re in a bind, Chat GPT. I confess, AI is my new best friend!)

I hope these tips and resources inspire you to create engaging and memorable Spanish lesson plans that captivate your students from the start and make language learning fun and effective.

Next time we will talk about direct instruction and how to choose activities and resources to achieve your learning goal.

Resources for Christmas Vocabulary in Spanish

Are your middle school or high school students mentally on vacation? Using lots of good tension, fun interactive activities, and captivating visuals will keep them focused on the lesson. This PowerPoint and activities will engage them while teaching them the Christmas vocabulary and cultural practices in Spanish-speaking countries. (Click on the photo)

In case you missed the two previous posts on how to write effective world language lesson plans, here they are:

How to Write an Effective World Language Lesson Plan, Simplified—The Learning Objective

Effective World Language Lesson Plans, Part Two (The Importance of Good Tension)

Here are the posts 4-8:

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)

How to Choose the Best Practice Activities for World Language

How to Plan an Effective Closure Activity

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