Student engagement is not just a lofty educational ideal with a constantly moving target. It is a reality that you can make happen every day. With the right language learning resources, you can see the fruits of daily student engagement in the raised hands at every desk, the cheerful banter in the classroom, and the beaming smiles on your students’ faces. Here are the top Spanish language learning resources that will boost student engagement and bring renewed joy to your classroom.
Magnetic Spinners
Student engagement is best reached when students’ craving for variety is met within consistent practices. Magnetic spinners add an element of surprise to typical language learning activities like grammar exercises, deciding on details in storyasking, or choosing student volunteers. Try arranging subjects and verbs around two spinners to infuse a spirit of playfulness in conjugation drills, or create a wheel of activities for students to spin when it’s time to choose a brain break. Whether you use them for grammar-based or acquisition-driven instruction, magnetic spinners give students a hands-on way to participate in decision making in the classroom that instills renewed ownership of their language learning journey.
Question Words Signs
True student engagement in language learning takes the form of two-way communication where students feel supported, valued, and successful. Question words signs are more than just classroom décor—they are essential resources to build in the pacing, scaffolding, and vocabulary that students need to participate in class discussions. Point to the appropriate sign every time you ask a question to slow down your teaching and help students process your messages. Soon you will see students not only responding with confidence to your questions, but also formulating their own questions in the target language to go deeper into classroom conversations.
Tina’s Weather Station
Nothing inspires student engagement quite like conversations about the topics that matter most to them. Tina’s weather station helps you establish an opening class routine that starts with the weather and takes you and your students wherever the conversation leads. Use the momentum of this daily small talk ritual to dive into important events in your students’ lives, share their opinions of and reactions to these events, and build a stronger classroom community. Your students will be so drawn into the conversation, they won’t even notice how much Spanish they are learning in the process!
Teen Faves Rejoinder Signs
Your students want resources that let them make the target language their own. Teen Faves rejoinder signs inspire students to give voice to their engagement with fun Spanish phrases that bring a humorous and lighthearted response to almost any classroom situation. These phrases are ideal for adding flavor to class discussions, spicing up dialogue in co-created stories, or implementing a passwords routine at the start of every class period. Teen Fave rejoinder signs don’t just boost vocabulary—they also build students’ confidence to interact with the language and with each other!
When you fill your Spanish classroom with student-friendly, engagement-boosting resources, joyful language learning becomes an integral part of your classroom culture. Find more ways to use these and other classroom resources in the free Engagement Essentials Guide for Spanish Teachers.
