Here’s an activity for your visual learners. Some of my students complain when they have to draw in class (This isn’t art class!), but ALL of them love to share and compare their drawings. I made this worksheet to go along with our “estar + feeling” lesson:

WORKSHEET: Mi diccionario visual — Los sentimientos (Word format)

Students illustrate a vocabulary term, put it into context by creating a simple sentence, and then think about a strategy that can help them remember the meaning of that word. This activity can be easily adapted to any vocabulary lesson, and students can compile their sheets into a folder to create their very own visual dictionaries.

Here’s a funny (albeit incomplete) set of drawings from one of my Spanish I students:

Creado por J. Gonzáles

Here’s another interdisciplinary activity using estar + feeling:

WORKSHEET: Communicative Activity 10 — Y tú, ¿cómo estás? (Word format)

Students go around the room asking one another how they feel all the while keeping a tally of responses. After the whole class has finished, the class collectively comes up with a bar graph to represent our current mood (¿Cuántas personas están cansadas? ¿Enfermas?). While it’s fun to see them argue about whose data set is right or wrong, be sure to remind them not to switch up their stories during the activity, else everyone will have a different bar graph at the end!

Communicative activities are fun ways for students to get out of their seats and practice their speaking skills without being put on the spot, although sometimes it’s hard to get them to stick with the TL. For more awesome ideas on speaking activities, visit las chicas over at The Creative Language Class, who offer some great tips on how to encourage students to evaluate their own output during speaking activities!