How to Play Spanish Pictionary in the Classroom

Spanish Pictionary helps students to relax and learn at the same time.

Learning Spanish can sometimes be an intimidating experience for students. Making a pronunciation mistake, saying the wrong word and speaking in public are all factors that affect a student's verbal participation in class. A key in helping students to overcome their fears when learning Spanish is to create a relaxed yet focused environment where students can practice their Spanish.

Things You'll Need

• Whiteboard or blackboard
• Whiteboard markers or chalk
• Watch or cellphone with a timer
• Index cards

Instructions

1. Create a list of words in Spanish geared towards the students' language level. Make the list a mix of verbs, nouns and adjectives.

2. Write each word on an index card.

3. Split the class into two teams. Explain to students that one student will draw the word on the index card. The rest of the team has one minute to guess the word in Spanish. If a student knows the word before the minute is up, she can yell it out. The second team cannot offer any clues or give the answer, unless the first team doesn't have an answer after one minute. Emphasize correct pronunciation of the words in Spanish. The appointed drawer for the first team chooses an index card.

4. Give the student a minute to draw the word. The students cannot ask for any help understanding the word and must draw it to the best of their ability.

5. Ask the first team to guess the word in Spanish, if they haven't yelled it out already. If they can't guess the word, or guess incorrectly, ask the second team for an answer.

6. Play for a certain amount of time, or words, or point percentage.

7. Reward the team with the winning time with a prize.

8. Use the words from the game as the lead-in to a class writing assignment or homework assignment.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not use false cognates in the game.

• Do not use words in Spanish that sound very similar or are exactly the same in English.

• Play "Reverse Pictionary": show drawings or pictures, and have students write the word down on a piece of paper.

References

• Oberlin College: Educational Resources for 1st and 2nd Year Spanish
• The Internet Picture Dictionary: Spanish