The best source for listening activities are authentic videos/audio. Below I have some of the listening resources I use in my classroom. The beautiful thing about listening is it can be the base of everything. For example, have the students listen/watch something and give them a follow up activity. The follow up activity can include reading, writing, or speaking. Below I have examples of each mode of communication as a follow up to listening.
Reading – Create a summary (paragraph format) of the listening with fill in the blank or circle the correct answer. If the students followed along with the listening they should be able to choose or write the answer. This is great because it reinforces the vocabulary used in the listening and helps fill in some blanks the students may have had during the listening. I will often post the listening as a mp3 file on my Google Classroom. If your school is not a Google school, the next best thing is edmodo. By having a page to post listening activities, the students are able to re-listen to the audio as many times as they want for homework if they don’t finish in class.
Writing – Have the students create a summary, ending to the listening, or reaction. Any grammar tense can be incorporated with this. When teaching subjunctive I like to have my students write a reaction for example.
Speaking – Have the students speak for 1 or 2 minutes doing a cultural comparison. They must compare what they watched/listened to with something found in the U.S. I have my students record their voices by using the recording tool found on my site called GRABAR TU VOZ. There is also Audacity (it’s free – just ask your tech people to install it). Another great way to have the students record their voice and it’s super easy is for them to use any free voice recording app on their smart phone and have them email it to you or share it to your Google Drive.
Speaking is one of my student’s favorite things to do and extremely important. Speaking can really boost the students confidence up when they realize how much they know, they get their point across, and they have fun doing it.
Below are just a few speaking activities I do. I will post weekly a variety of activities for free that can be used in the classroom.
1) Circumlocution
I have my students arrange the desks so one can see the board/smartboard and the other student has their back towards the board. Each student has 1 partner (sometimes there is a group of 3 due to an odd number of students in the class).
a) A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words – I have a picture on the board. The student who can see the picture must describe the picture in detail without saying what it is while the person with his/her back towards the board draws what their partner is describing. I set the timer for 2 minutes usually for this activity, but it can vary based on the difficulty of the picture. Once the 2 minutes are up, the student drawing can turn and look at the picture to compare his/her artwork with the picture on the board.
Click link for a collection of picture I’ve used in the past: speaking-pictures.docx
b) 4 Words – I have 4 words on the board. They can be nouns, adjectives, or verbs. The student who can see the 4 words must describe the words without saying the word. They can not use hand motions or sound effects. They have 2 minutes to describe all 4 words. The person with their back towards the board is guessing the words. Once the timer is up I ask them who got 2 words, 3 words, and 4 words. They get excited if they can raise their hand. I’m just happy they’re speaking entirely in Spanish and having fun doing it. Based on the difficulty of the 4 words on the board, you decide if the person guessing has to guess in Spanish or English.
An example of 4 words that the person would guess in Spanish: car, kitchen, eye. to put on makeup
An example of 4 words that the person would guess in English: candy cane, UFO, pacifier, headlights
c) Te toca a ti – This is a great speaking game for clothing, adjectives, and the verbs Tener (to have) and Llevar (to wear). Awesome for levels 1 and 2. Put all the desks in a circle. All the students sit in or on their desks except for 1 student who is in the middle. The student in the middle says : Una persona que lleva una camisa negra (a persona that’s wearing a black shirt). Every student wearing a black shirt must run and find a new desk. The person in the middle runs and tries to find a desk. They must move at least 2 desks. Below are some examples of what the person in the middle could say:
-Una persona que lleva rojo
-Una persona que tiene una hermana
-Una persona que tiene (insert a teacher’s name from your building)
-Una persona que lleva aretes
-Una persona que tiene pelo rubio
-Una persona que juega al fútbol americano
-Una persona que lleva unos zapatos azules
Authentic Videos/Audio
Here is a collection of what I currently use or have used. Be sure to check back as this collection will constantly be growing. Also check out my Spanish Listening Board on Pinterest where I keep a lot of random listening sources.
Spanish 1
Video/TV Show – Mi Vida Loca
Audio – National Spanish Exam Practice Website
Audio/Video – Spanish Listening Website
Spanish 2
Video/TV Show – Extra en Español
Audio – National Spanish Exam Practice Website
Audio – Spanish Proficiency Exercises from University of Texas
Audio/Video – Spanish Listening Website
Spanish 3
Video/TV – Extra en Español
Video/TV – El Internado
Audio – News in Slow Spanish
Audio – National Spanish Exam Practice Website
Audio – Spanish Proficiency Exercises from University of Texas
Audio/Video – Spanish Listening Website
Spanish 4
Video/TV – El Internado
Audio – News in Slow Spanish
Audio – National Spanish Exam Practice Website
Audio – Spanish Proficiency Exercises from University of Texas
Audio/Video – Spanish Listening Website
Audio – Spanish Resources AP Spanish Practice