Conversational Spanish Topics/Themes
Emphasis on what students can DO with the language.
Prepares our students to live and work harmoniously in multilingual communities at
home and around the world.
Topics studied in Español para it:
Greetings, farewells, introductions
Asking names
Asking for personal information
Classroom people and objects
Rooms in the school
School personnel
Musical instruments
Professions
Expressing feelings
Health
Descriptive words
Commands
Expressing what we do
Colors
Shapes
Days of the week
Months
Parts of the body
Animals and their sounds
Habitats
Circus
Age-related and birthday expressions
Food-related vocabulary
Table settings
Family
House
Rooms
Parts of the house
Furniture
Kitchen appliances
Stereo equipment
Transportation
Traffic
Destinations
Weather
Seasons
Clothing
Numbers 1 – 50/ 1 – 100/ 1 - 1000
Money
Expansion Ideas:
Foods for restaurants/fiestas
Preparing foods
Following directions
Time
Sports and other activities
Countries/Continents
Geography
Buildings
Parts of buildings
Importance of studying a
second language
Stores and buildings around
town
Locations/following street
Directions
Methods:
Flashcards, posters, visuals
Technology
Songs
Games
Rhymes, tongue twisters
Total Physical Response / Storytelling
Newspapers
Gestures/body language
Dialogues/skits
Mock phone conversations
Listening to music
Hispanic holidays
Themes:
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At the tourist office
o Create a tourist office which offers brochures listing hotels, emergency
services, restaurants, stores, transportation information, maps of the
area and special events.
o Students will brainstorm what aspects of a typical tourist office they
need for their creation.
o Students give customers directions to places.
o Students can work together to write to a chosen tourist information
center in a selected region to request information and brochures.
Creating a shopping mall
o Students create a new shopping mall for a specific region in a target
language country.
o Compare shopping there to shopping in the US.
o The imaginary mall has to appeal to many different types of shoppers,
include restaurants and merchandise that is suitable for the location.
o Must reflect the culture being studied – not American culture.
o Students will learn idiomatic expressions related to shopping.
o Students can use their artistic talents to design advertisements, store
logos, etc.
Discovering a country
o Explore music from the specific country.
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o Conduct research on economics, culture, history, politics, geography,
etc.
o Compare the “discovered country” to the US.
Latin American Geography
o Learn and use basic geography terms.
o Use description adjectives to tell about places of interest.
o Create relief maps and flags.
A day in Madrid (or any city)
o Locate 5 – 6 places of interest.
o Plan a trip lasting one whole day.
o Students must research costs and stick to their pre-decided budget.
 Include entrance fees, lunch, shopping, transportation, etc.
o Compare meal times, transportation, food, prices and products.
Where are you?
o Each team is given a set of directions but each set is in a different
numerical order. One student from each team leaves at the same time
with one set of directions, different from the others. They follow the
directions and return to tell the teacher where they arrived.
o This can also be done with maps and written directions. Students start
at a certain point, follow the directions given and tell where they end
up.