Fun and Engaging Ways to Review for Finals in Spanish Class

¡Hola profes!  I don’t know about you, but I cannot believe that May is winding down already!  Maybe it’s the craziness of this month – field trips, school concerts, state testing, AP testing, and more – but I feel like the time is flying by!

While I’ve still got a few weeks of school left, I’ve begun thinking about how to prepare my students for their finals.  I typically spend three or four 45-minute class periods reviewing, and these are some of my (and my students’) favorite activities to practice the material we have studied this semester.

Printable Task Cards

There are SO MANY different ways to use task cards to review!  If you have never used task cards before, they are easy to make!  Basically, you take an index card and write a question or prompt on it that is related to the topics you’ve been studying.  That’s all!  If you want, you can also type them and print them out – this is a great option if you want to add images, but don’t want to draw them yourself!  I recommend numbering your task cards – this is helpful for organizational and review purposes!  Personally, I think 30-40 is a good number of cards to have.

Here are my top 3 ways to use task cards for review:

• Hang task cards up around your classroom or in the hallway outside your classroom.  Have students move around and write down the answers to the questions.  You can make it so that different students have different questions to answer at certain times (for example, boys answer odd numbers and girls answer even numbers, then have them switch after a set amount of time) – this can help avoid crowding at the cards.
• Put students in pairs.  Divide up your task cards and distribute a few to each pair.  Students should hold up a card for their partner to answer.  (For this, is it helpful if you have the answer, or if it is an open-ended question, the way the answer could be structured, on the back or on a separate sheet of paper, so that students can be sure their partners are responding correctly.)
• Tape the task cards to your board to make a Jeopardy-style trivia game.  Assign each card a points value.  Divide students into teams, and then have students come up to the board and take a card to earn points for their teams.

If you like the idea of task cards, let me save you time, energy, and stress!  Check out my favorite ready-to-print task card sets below, or browse all my sets here!

Digital Task Cards

Digital task cards provide the same review benefits as printed task cards, just in a different format!  I would say that digital task cards are great if you’re looking for more individual practice or review.  Here are two formats I use regularly in my classroom:

• Boom^TM Cards.  Boom^TM Cards are digital task cards which tell students immediately if they have the correct answer!  Students can retry until they get the answer correct.  You can use Boom^TM Cards for free, with advanced reporting features available with upgraded memberships.
• Google Slides.  You can make a deck of digital task cards by treating each slide of your Google Slides presentation as an individual task card!  These are easy to assign to your students, as Google Apps are compatible with Google Classroom, Canvas, and other learning management systems.  It is also simple for students to share their answers with you and for you to give students feedback on their responses!

Here’s a FREE digital task card set on weather that includes both Google Slides AND Boom^TM Cards versions!  

Here are some of my other favorite Boom^TM Cards and Google Slides digital task cards sets:

Scrambled Sentences Puzzles

I adore scrambled sentences puzzles because there are so many ways they can be used!  Full disclosure, though: there is some prep work required at the beginning, but once you have your puzzles made, you’ll have them for years to come!

Making scrambled sentences puzzles is easy, if a bit time-consuming – all you have to do is write some (6-9) sentences in Spanish pertaining to the topics you’ve been studying.  The sentences can be as simple or complex as you like, as appropriate for your students!  Then, you type them up in large font, print as many sets as you’ll need for your class, laminate them, and cut out each individual word.  Pro tip: Print each set on different color card stock.  This will help keep you organized!  Place each set of mixed-up sentences into a plastic baggie or an envelope for safe-keeping.

In my classroom, this is a group activity – I think groups of 3 are ideal, but you can make this work with groups of 2 or 4 as well.  When you are ready to have your students do the activity, have groups put their desks together (if they do not already sit in groups) so that they have a large surface area to work with, or have them sit on the floor so they can spread out.  Students should open the plastic baggies or envelopes and get out all of the words they’ll use to form their sentences.  Then, it is their job to unscramble the sentences you wrote and put them back together!

One of the reasons I love this activity so much is that, as students work together with their groups, you’ll see them reason together why sentences are right or wrong.  For example, if you’re studying family and adjectives, one student in a group could put this together: “Mi hija es alto.”  However, another group member will likely point out that “alto” will not work because “mi hija” is a girl, and so another adjective needs to be used.  This is excellent to review the concepts that students will encounter on their finals!

Variation: Sometimes, especially in lower-level classes, I don’t have my students unscramble all the sentences.  I might ask them to come up with 3-4 awesome sentences using whatever they find in the baggie.  This is a nice confidence booster for novice-level students as they see that they can create with the language!  Students also enjoy this variation because they like to see who can come up with the funniest or most original sentences.

Possible Extension Activities: If students finish quickly or just need an additional challenge, you can have them write their own original, corresponding follow-up sentences or questions.  For example, if you’re doing family and adjectives and the sentence is, “Mis hermanos menores son graciosos y simpáticos,” students could write back with something like, “¡Qué guay!  Nuestros hermanos son simpáticos también, pero son tímidos” or, “¡Qué interesante! ¿Y cómo son tus padres?”  

When all groups are finished, you could have groups circulate throughout the room and read the sentences that the other groups created with the cards.  Have them evaluate what they saw with Post-It notes: what is one really good sentence and why, and what is one mistake that the group made?

Want to try this out?  Check out my ready-to-print scrambled sentences puzzles here – AND they have digital options for Google Slides included too!

Board Games

Board games have been a fantastic way for students to practice virtually any concept!!  Many years ago, I created a template on Microsoft Word by creating a table and removing the gridlines of the boxes I didn’t want to use until I made a winding path.  Then, I fill the spaces with a verb to conjugate, a sentence with a blank to fill in, a question to answer, a picture to identify, or whatever will reinforce the content of the unit!  I also add special spaces, like “Lose a turn” or “Move _____ spaces forward/back.” 

To help make game play easier, I also have an instruction sheet that tells students how they should move through the game board and how to win.  Since I usually keep my games the same, I can reuse these instruction sheets over and over again!

To play the game, I place students in groups of 3-4.  Each group gets a game board, an instruction sheet, game pieces, and dice.  You can raid your own board game collection at home for game pieces and dice if you like, or you can purchase them.  (I bought a pack of game pieces and a pack of dice on Amazon in 2012, and I still consider it to be one of the most worthwhile purchases I ever made for my classroom!  I use them CONSTANTLY!)  Students move through the board and complete the task on each space.  I tell my students that they have to answer correctly in order to remain on the space (otherwise, they have to go back to the space where they started their turn), but you can make your own rules!   

To make this a speaking activity, have your students verbally give the answers.  If you prefer written practice, I have each group use a mini white board where players should record the answers.  Group members should confirm if each answer is correct or not.  I circulate throughout the room to settle any disputes or answer any questions about this!  

Board games typically take about 15 minutes to play in my classroom.  If you want the game to last longer, students could always play again – it’s likely they will land on new spaces and have the chance to correctly answer questions they got wrong the first time they played!

If the idea of board games intrigues you but the idea of making them does NOT, feel free to check out my full collection of games here.  Let me know if you do not see a topic that you’d like me to create!  Below are some options that you may enjoy: 

Jeopardy-Style Trivia Games

My students LOVE to play Jeopardy-style trivia games as a review!  They get very competitive and work well with their teammates so that they can win!  

Like board games, these trivia games can be customized to review virtually any topics.  This versatility is one of the major draws of this activity, in my opinion – once you have a template that works for you, you can edit it to meet your needs!  

I personally use PowerPoint to create and play trivia games.  You can find numerous templates online if you want to make your own games!  Fill in your questions and your answers, and you are set!

Now, onto game play during class time.  I have tried many different ways of playing trivia games, and this is the one I find to be the most effective and engaging:

1. Classroom set-up: I like to divide my desks into rows for this game.  (Rows?? you might be thinking, but I promise I have a reason!).  On the first desk of each row, I put the following items: a mini white board, a dry-erase marker, and an eraser.
2. I divide my students into teams of 3-5.  Each team gets their own row.  The person who is sitting at the front desk is responsible for writing down the answer to the question for their team for that round.  Students can ask for and offer help to their team members, but the first person has to be the writer.
3. I project the game board slide with the game categories and points values on my Smart Board so that all students can see it.  Next, I decide which team gets to pick the first category/points value.  (I usually have teams try to guess a number that I have written down on a piece of paper, and the team that is closest without going over gets to choose.) 
4. When the team has selected their category/points value, I show the question or prompt.  Students write their responses on their mini white boards.  The first team to hold up the correct answer wins the points.  If none of the teams respond correctly, no points are awarded.  I keep track of the teams’ points on the board.
5. Return to the game board screen.  I have my students rotate so that the first student, the one who wrote the last answer, moves to the back of the row and all other team members move up one seat. The team that won the points on the first questions chooses the next category/points value. 
6. Game play continues in this fashion until all questions on the game board have been attempted. 
7. Students then complete Final Jeopardy.  Teams make a wager that will be added to their points totals if they answer correctly and subtracted if they answer incorrectly.  You can decide if you want to give your students a time limit or impose any other restrictions! 
8. Finally, I add up the teams’ final points and award a winner!  I usually offer a small prize for the winning team – a piece of candy or a bonus point on an upcoming test are my go-to prizes.

Game play usually takes a full 45-minute class period for me from start to finish.

Interested in trying a Jeopardy-style trivia game in your classroom?  Here are some of my favorites, or browse ALL my games here!

I hope this was helpful, profe! Summer is almost here; we’ve got this! Have a wonderful week!