Spanish SMARTBoard Activities for Each Stage of Fluency
Achieving High Levels of Fluency
Although it may seem that language is acquired at a spontaneous manner, this is a false assumption. Learning Spanish should be viewed as a process where students are interacting with the language through various methods including experience. Spanish SMARTBoard activities shared at the SMART Exchange are useful for teachers who want to extend student experience in their curriculum with interactivity at the pre-production stage and at each stage thereafter until fluency has been achieved.
Stage 1: Pre-Production
Lasts up to 6 months after exposure to the new language.
In the pre-production stage students are mostly listening rather than talking, providing the teacher with non-verbal cues of their engagement in the learning process. In this stage, student involvement should be focused on gaining their attention and relaying important information through the use of visual aids and accepting yes and no responses to questions.
SMART Tech Notebook Lesson: Spanish Pronouns
This lesson on Spanish pronouns uses lots of visual aids for students who are not ready for speaking.
Stage 2: Early Production
The second stage of language learning, known as early production, overlaps the first. Students still do a great deal of learning but teacher talk time should decrease rather dramatically. This is a time when students are building and using their vocabulary and participating in whole group activities. Students answer teacher questions with the “who, what, and where” and nonverbal responses with role-play integrated into instruction.
SMART Tech Notebook Lesson: Futbol - Vocabulario sobre los viajes 1
Build vocabulary with this set of games centered on Spanish pronouns. Several pictures are included to increase the likelihood of interaction.
Stage 3: Speech Emergence
Begins at least 1-3 years after exposure.
Teachers engage in a small amount of talking in this stage with social language in full use. Students speak in short sentences and phrases. Problem-solving in their second language is occurring with the ability to answer “how” and “why” questions, label and compare, and describe in detail.
SMART Tech Notebook Lesson: Spanish Adjectives
Students define and translate Spanish adjectives from English as part of a whole class activity involving teamwork and requiring speed.
Stages 4 and 5: Intermediate Fluency to Advanced Fluency
These stages begin 3-4 years after exposure.
By the time students reach the fluency stage the teacher speaks minimally with students engaging in dialogue and writing in the language they are learning. Students provide support to answers to" how" and “why” questions by conducting research.
SMART Tech Notebook Lesson: Palabras opuestas
This lesson is useful for students in the intermediate fluency stage. Students can practice writing sentences in this activity through illustrations when palabras opuestas.
SMART Tech Notebook Lesson: Acabar de y adverbios con -mente
Students work on changing adverbs into adjectives that end in -mente. The lesson includes student practice, and it’s useful in conjunction with the text “Es-spa~nol”, U3, E2.
While Spanish SMARTBoard activities are listed here under a particular heading, it is important to note that stages may overlap and you may find lessons useful at stages other than those they have been attached to.
