Fun Games for Learning Spanish Verbs in Past
Learning Spanish while having some fun is not such a stretch. Children and adults both learn best when their attention is focused, and games just naturally work. Inserting verbs into play can be a painless way to teach the language. Help students understand that there is more than one way to express the past in Spanish. A specific moment in the past as opposed to a general conversation about the past will make the difference in how the verb is used.
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For the Very Young
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The song "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is perfect for this game, and kids love it. The past tense words "had," "was," "went," "followed," "laughed and played" seem to form a progression from simple "had" to harder "laughed and played." Mary Tenía un Corderito is not the only children's song using a lot of past tense verbs. How about "Itzi, Bitzi Araña" (Itsi Bitsi Spider)? Nursery rhymes, such as "Hey, Diddle, Diddle" (Tirintín tin), will have the same appeal since children will be familiar with them.
Active Games
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Have each student form small groups and decide what role they will play in a make believe family. "Daddy" may decide that he has to fix the car because yesterday "el auto se rompio" (the car broke down). "Mommy" must make a casserole because Sue "se infermo." Hand out cards with the chore to be done and the reason it must be done having to do with something that happened in the past. Extend the play to the office, at the grocery store or at the dentist. Charades is another fun game that will get children moving. Have children take turns taking a slip with a Spanish past-tense verb and acting it out for the other children to guess -- in Spanish, of course.
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Word Games
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Make flash cards with an English word on one side and the Spanish word on the other. Have the student not just guess the right Spanish word but also use it in a sentence. The word "escribi" (wrote) may result in a sentence such as "Escribí una carta a mi madre" (I wrote a letter to my mother). Students could play with the flash cards in pairs or small groups. Bingo is a game children will enjoy. Find printable bingo cards showing actions on the MES English website. Read the Spanish past-tense verbs, and have children match the words with the pictured actions.
For Homework
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Make up a word search puzzle using past tense verbs. List the English word and have the student find the Spanish word in the puzzle. These can be made as simple or as difficult as the students age and experience require. For example, for elementary-school children, start out with 10 words, build the word search with the Spanish words in across, up, down and diagonal directions. For another homework assignment, ask older students to make their own crossword puzzles using at least five past-tense Spanish verbs. Students can then exchange puzzles in class and try to solve them.
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References
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