Tag Archives: verbs

French & Spanish Digital Writing Activity: Moving Verbs

Sometimes students know the meaning of verbs. Sometimes they know the forms. But, isn’t it great when they use accurate verbs in the correct context?

Put that together with a no-prep, time saving activity for you and it’s even more than a simple win-win.

Simply share these digital activities with students and they will move through a seamless process of identify meaning and forms and then putting it all together and writing their own sentences

This no-prep-for-the-teacher activity makes sure that your students don’t just master meaning and forms. They will combine these skills and write accurate and meaningful sentences on their own.

Take a look at the French version:

and the Spanish version:

 

French & Spanish Digital Verb Form Activities

I have done a paper version of this activity, but now I do them digitally using Google Slides™.  Students are actively engaged in their language learning with these interactive digital squares verb form activities.

To complete the puzzles, students begin with a subject/infinitive from the number column and locate the correct form in the letter column.  They then find the corresponding square in the grid, such as 1E, 5G or 7B, and drag a red dot to it.

Each completed slide creates an obvious pattern that can be quickly graded by the teacher. There is an answer slide included with the solutions for each slide.

This video shows how to do the activities.

These digital squares activities can be used in class or remotely for:

  • Quick review
  • Activity for students who finish other activities early
  • Do Now (individual puzzles)
  • Homework (multiple puzzles)
  • Classwork (individual, group, station)
  • Substitute lesson plans

The activities are ready to go right away. All you have to do is share with your students.

Digital Google Slides™ Activities to Focus on Verb Meaning & Accuracy

This activity is an effective follow up and extension to comprehensible input activities.  Once students have seen (in writing) and heard verb forms in context the next step is to begin the process of producing language.  I like to use activities that show students various possibilities and have them choose the accurate form based on their interaction with the language forms. If you are moving away from direct instruction of verb conjugations try this out with students.  If they have had sufficient contextualized exposure to the verb forms and meanings you will likely see that students can choose the correct form based on what “sounds right.”  When this happens we know that they are progressing in their proficiency and moving toward accurate language output.

French & Spanish Digital Google Slides Activities French & Spanish Digital Google Slides Activities

Here is another way that includes the infinitive of the verb.French & Spanish Digital Google Slides ActivitiesFrench & Spanish Digital Google Slides Activities

I then take it a step further and have students write a sentence that show that they understand the meaning along with the form.  They have some question words to support the process.

French & Spanish Digital Google Slides Activities French & Spanish Digital Google Slides Activities

This activity is also useful when working with students in a PACE lesson, particularly in the co-construction and extension parts of the process.  Keep in mind that this is best used with students when they are detecting patterns with forms in an inductive (implicit) lesson, rather than deductive (explicit) lesson.

Deductive instruction is a “top-down” approach, meaning that the teacher starts with a grammar rule with specific examples, and the rule is learned through practice.

Inductive instruction is a “bottom-up” approach, meaning that the teacher provides examples of the structure in context and students make observations, detect patterns, formulate hypothesis, and draw conclusions

The inductive (implicit) approach focuses on meaning along with the forms  communicatively.  The deductive approach focused more (or maybe even only) on the forms. Brown (2007) reminds us that “While it might be appropriate to articulate a rule and then proceed to instances, most of the evidence in communicative second language teaching points to the superiority of an inductive approach to rules and generalizations.”

I have done these activities with Powerpoints with the entire class. You can take a look at some examples in the post.

I am also using digital activities more with students and now have them do this activity using Google Slides™ that can be shared directly through Google Classroom™ and students get their own copy. Ideal for distance learning, homework, in-person classes or blended, hybrid model.

Brown (2007).  Principles of Language Learning and Teaching.  Pearson Longman

Verb and Vocabulary Speaking and Writing Activity (Shipwreck)

This is a fun and engaging way for students to practice verb forms or any type of vocabulary.  I call this shipwreck (Naufrage, Naufragio, Hǎinàn-海难, Schiffbruch, Naufragium).  The board has 1oo squares, you can use fewer or more depending on the level of your students.

Foreign (World) Language Verb and Vocabulary Activity (French, Spanish) wlteacher.wordpress.comIn the example below there are subjects and infinitives in each box.  Students play against an opponent and choose a box.  He then says or writes the correct verb form.  The example below has the student put the verb in the past tense in French.  If the opponent agrees that it is correct, the player gets to  color in the square with his color, then it is the opponent’s turn.  If the opponent does not agree with the response the teacher is summoned to verify.  If the answer is not correct the player loses that turn.  When a player gets three boxes in a row of his color he gets a point, which is recorded on the bottom.  Each play has a different color and employs a blocking strategy to try to prevent the opponent from getting three boxes in a row.  This works well with vocabulary (students either translate or use the word in a sentence) or adjective/adverb forms as well.

Foreign (World) Language Verb and Vocabulary Activity (French, Spanish) www.wlteacher.wordpress.com

You can make these activities in a WORD Document or you can download these activities that are ready to use:

Foreign Language Writing Prompts with Outlines

Foreign (World) Language Writing Prompts and Outlines (French, Spanish) wlteacher.wordpress.comIn an effort to try to cut down on the number of drafts that students need to write, particularly when the language issues are in the areas of spelling, accent placement, verb forms and adjective agreement, try using this approach.  Give the students the topic in advance of an in-class writing assignment along with the prep sheet (see example below).  The prep sheet is for student use and reference during the writing assignment in class.  The left hand side has room for brainstorming and outlining, while right hand site has spaces for nouns, verbs in the infinitive, verb conjugation tables and any other grammatical or mechanical language element that students need to focus on.  Students then write in class and use this sheet, which they have completed on their own based in the topic.  This information is essentially what students will need to reference when working on additional drafts that the teacher has corrected.  This approach has students notice and reference on their own and will most likely make an additional draft unnecessary.  Try having students write on a topic with and without this type of sheet and see how the student work is different.  The grammar topics on the right side should reflect the topic and what the teacher wants the students to use while writing.

Verb Reference when Speaking and Writing

This handy reference for students has verb forms on both sides. I photocopy it on  card stock (two-sides) and cut it into strips so that students can put it in their books, usually in the lesson we are currently studying.  My students really like having this easily accessible reference so that they don’t always have to go looking through their book for verb forms when speaking and writing.  The example below is for beginning/intermediate students, but more advanced students would benefit from more advanced verb forms and conjugations.

This handy reference can be made in a WORD document by making columns or text boxes.  You can also download them completed in French and Spanish here: