Jeanette Moszeter

Although Santa Claus can be seen all over Latin America, traditionally it was the three Wisemen—Los tres Reyes Magos— who delivered the gifts to Latin children on the night of January 5 for the Epiphany celebration on January 6. This is just a silly, fun activity that can be done in under 10 minutes while you continue to work on your regularly scheduled lesson for the day. I would do this activity either before Christmas break or after Christmas break depending on when we returned to school. If

A list of common AR, ER, IR stem changing verbs in Spanish. Your students can flip through this chart for the changes in both PRESENT tense and PRETERITE tense. For your left brain learners, seeing these all written out in chart form helps them remember where the changes take place. For right brain learners, try this tea pot exercise: Tell your students that Ar and Er Stem changing verbs do not stem change in the preterite, but that the rebel IR verbs do, and the changes are different  in the pr

A list of common stem changing verbs in the present tense and in the preterite tense. Practice pages for both tenses. This is a self checking activity. Students fold the paper in such a way as to cover the answers. They write their suggested answer. They unfold the paper and see the correct answer. Please let me know if you find any errors. Due to Parkinson’s, I have to use talk to text, and it will sometimes go back and change the sentence three sentences back, or I may add extra letters due to

I put this list together to help my students avoid the pitfalls of false cognates when writing. When they use a dictionary, they tend to pick the first word that looks like the word they are using, i.e. a cognate. Sometimes that works great – – respond, responder. Other times, not so well--embarrassed, embarazado (pregnant). Please feel free to contact me if you think of others that I have missed.

If your students are having difficulty knowing when to use the subjunctive with indefinite or negative antecedents in adjective clauses, review these notes with them and then try this pair practice. The pair practice is my original work which was made to match the vocabulary in our textbook. Feel free to modify it to fit your vocabulary list. Put students in pairs. Student A has the prompt and the correct answer for Student B and vice versa. or The students can work individually by covering the

A list of common IR stem changing verbs in Spanish. Your students can flip through this chart for the changes in the PRETERITE tense. For your left brain learners, seeing these all written out in chart form helps them remember where the changes take place. For right brain learners, try this teapot exercise:Tell your students that Ar and Er Stem changing verbs do not stem change in the preterite, but that the rebel IR verbs do, and the changes are different in the present tense. Admit to the stud

Are your students overwhelmed when deciding between él, le, lo, se, su and suyo?! Just print out this color coordinated chart. The students can use it by first determining the role a given pronoun plays in the sentence. If it’s a doer, it’s a subject pronoun from the first column. If that pronoun is a receiver of action, your student will have to look at columns two, three and four. There are example sentences at the bottom of each column to help your student determine what role the pronoun is

A set of notes on the use of the Subjunctive with impersonal expressions and with verbs of certainty vs. doubt. Then, you have 2 pages of practice sentences which can be done as oral pair work, white board pair work or individual practice. I based my notes on a workbook, Amsco Workbook in Spanish in three years, which is out of print. The revised version is not the same. If you can find an old copy, buy it! Other than the RAE site, this is one of the best 'go to' reference sources available

Just a list of acronyms to help students learn demonstrative adjectives, irregular verbs in the future/conditional tenses, ser vs. estar, preterite versus imperfect, present tense endings, and others. Also a section on funny techniques students employ when trying to learn vocabulary. Most of these acronyms have been in general usage for many years, and there’s no way to ascertain the origin/author. I did find the author of the weirdo chart: on Reddit ssmokestackk. Please let me know if you find

Just a fun, silly activity to get students up and moving while practicing commands and places in the city. The blindfolded Student B must act out the commands given to him/her in Spanish by the sighted Student A as they make their way through an imaginary city. Give about 10-15 mins. for Student A to visit the various places while directing student B. Then, the students reverse roles. (I took a video of the students to edit later for class. That way you can record any funny incidents that occur

Most mnemonic devices like DOCTORES/PLACER invented to help students distinguish between SER and ESTAR are great, but they don’t go far enough to explain some special cases like…. Events versus Locations Why does Vivo/Muerto need Estar? Adjectives that change their meaning when used with Ser or Estar Why do you use Estar when you would normally use Ser for radical change? Estoy casada o soy casada. A group of native speakers weigh in. See if these notes help.

Three pages of teacher notes on the formation and use of participles alone, after estar and after haber. Included is a list of irregular past participles. There are two pages of oral pair practice activities and one page is a translation with answers to test their knowledge of past participles used as adjectives. Please let me know if you find any typos. I have Parkinson’s and have to use talk to text which sometimes goes back and changes words three sentences later.

We had already learned direct object pronouns and had previewed indirect object pronouns. These notes and pair activity were designed to help my students distinguish between the two. I included a few stinker verbs like buscar/ esperar that carry their own to/for, escribir (you don't write people; you write something to people), creer (you don't believe people; you believe what they say) and others. I didn't explain Leísmo. I thought that was too much information for the moment. Please let m

Just a quick activity to get your 3rd yr. students (maybe second year students at the end of the year) to review all the Spanish personal pronouns and possessive adjectives. Go over the color chart with the students, and then let them work in pairs to do the first practice activity. Afterwards, you challenge them on the second activity to work individually, and anyone who gets 100% or only misses one gets candy. Be sure the students go over the information in the bottom row of boxes from subje

If your students are confused with the demonstrative adjectives, this poem will help them. My students told me that the poem allowed them to proof their own tests. They would write what they thought was the correct word in the blank example: esa that (f./a.) iglesia. Then they would cover up their answer, say the poem to themselves and discover their error. “far away all start with A’s. I don’t have a word that starts with an A. This is wrong. ” So, they then picked the matching form,

If your students are getting confused with what all the various tenses mean and how to form them, just hand them this cheat sheet/review sheet. Also, I included some mnemonic devices to help them. please let me know if I made any typos. I have Parkinson’s; so, sometimes my shaky hand hits more than one key.

Rather than just telling students where and why I to Y changes take place in both present tense and preterite tense, why not help them discover where and why the changes take place? This document takes you step-by-step through model verbs explaining why each change takes place. It is assumed that students know about weak and strong vowels vowels. After the model verbs, there are several short practices of the students can use. Knowing the why behind the changes is important because that way stu

If you’re looking for a way to spice up your lessons, here are a series of vocabulary and grammar games. Most have been around for ages; a couple are my originals. I included the sources when I could find them. Games like Blindfold/City tour, Lobo/Lobito, Tableros en el corredor, Fajitas en la frente, Relay alphabet game, Fling your teacher, Tabú, la Batalla naval, ¿Quién soy yo?, and others.

Reflexive pronouns can have many uses and meanings other than just expressing actions done to oneself. In these three pages, you will see a list of common reflexive verbs, other uses of reflexive pronouns written in Spanish and in English, and finally some pictures that show a reflexive action versus a non-reflexive action. Included—3 pages of notes, two written activities with answer keys, odds/evens oral activity for pair work, and A Conversar, a speaking practice in pairs. ( For A Conversar.

Trying to motivate students to learn new vocabulary and use old vocabulary is a challenge. Just saying the word is boring. These activities encourage students to engage in pair work with their partner as they learn to talk around the word (Circumlocution). They use manipulative like post-its, markers,and white boards. There are instructions on how to obtain/make inexpensive white boards. Please let me know if you find any typos. I have Parkinson’s so I have to use talk to text, and sometimes it