Incorporating Noun Patterns and the Sound-spelling Link
Into A Spanish Lesson
Background to the lesson:

Y9, top band group, who have studied Spanish for nearly three years.

Using ¡Arriba ! 2, currently working through the fourth unit “Visitamos
Sevilla”, which deals with a visit to a friend’s house, meeting the family,
borrowing things etc..

Section 4 “¿ Qué hay para cenar ?” deals with ‘language at the table’.
The three exercises given by the text book are dull and formulaic. The
lesson detailed below is the first look at this section, and uses the
peripheral vocabulary - things you put on the table and foods. Some
revision, some new vocab.

During the previous lesson, pupils had carried out a ‘Find the odd one
out’ exercise, which proved very popular and kept their attention for the
full hour. It focussed their attention on the need to use formal
grammatical terminology and to apply grammar rules that they have
learnt over the last three years.
The lesson:
Materials needed:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Copies of words cut up for pupils
OHT copies of same words
Spanish dictionaries
Give pupils the twenty words on cards.
Ask pupils to sort the words into Gender groups. Put three columns on OHP - Masculine,
Feminine, Not Sure.
While pupils are sorting the words on their desks, ask one pair to sort your OHT copies (with OHP
switched off).
Switch on OHP to show the words as sorted by this pair. Does anyone think there are any words
that should be moved to another column ? Once the columns have agreed, pupils should copy
down the “Not Sure” list.
Now pupils sort the words for meaning. Again, put the three columns on the OHP - Food, Utensil,
Not Sure. Ask one pair to sort the OHT copies as before. Discuss with class as before - are there
any words that should be in another column ? Once the columns have agreed, pupils should copy
down the “Not Sure” list.
Pupils now have two lists of words. Point out that they need to find the genders of some and the
meanings of others. How can they do this ? How will they be able to tell the gender from the
7.
8.
9.
information given in the dictionary ? Give a limited time for pupils to find the necessary
information and write it down.
Ask pupils to sort the words again, into groups of words that form plurals in the same way. Don’t
tell them how many groups there should be. Discuss as a group in the same way.
Finally, ask pupils to sort the words according to certain sounds - “th”, “the”, “y”, “b” and “zz”.
Point out that not all words will be used. Discuss as a group in the same way.
Final step: using the knowledge that they have now acquired about each word, ask pupils to make
up some “odd ones out”. Give limited time and then ask volunteers to read theirs out and invite
others to say which is the odd one out and why.
Here are the columns that we ended up with:
Gender:
Meaning:
masc
fem
not sure
vaso
cuchillo
plato
tenedor
sopa
tetera
cafetera
ensalada
cuchara
taza
pimienta
servilleta
fruta
arroz
flan
carne
mantel
sal
aceite
vinagre
food
sopa
arroz
ensalada
flan
carne
pimienta
sal
aceite
vinagre
fruta
utensil
vaso
plato
servilleta
not sure
tetera
cafetera
cuchara
taza
cuchillo
mantel
tenedor
Plurals:
add -s
sopa
tetera
cafetera
ensalada
cuchara
taza
carne
vaso
cuchillo
plato
pimienta
aceite
vinagre
servilleta
fruta
Sound:
add -es
flan
mantel
tenedor
sal
change z
to c and
add -es
arroz
th
taza
arroz
aceite
the
ensalada
y
servilleta
pimienta
b
vaso
zz
red herring - this sound
does not exist in Spanish !
tenedor
cuchillo
vinagre
sopa
cuchillo
arroz
mantel
tetera
plato
cafetera
tenedor
ensalada
pimienta
flan
sal
cuchara
aceite
taza
vinagre
carne
servilleta
vaso
fruta