Intro Spanish Topic Explanations

TOPIC EXPLANATION
(and aligned
objectives)
Telling time *Warm-up = review numbers
(1C2)
* Review numbers 1 – 60
Numbers are easy, you just have to memorize 1-15 and the tens and use the pattern.
Review the pattern for creating numbers in Spanish is just the “tens and ones” added
together
Examples: 48 = 40 + 8 = cuarenta y cuarto
Mini activity to practice numbers (call & response counting, cold calls using the pattern, etc)

*Telling time in Spanish is just using the numbers and a few other vocabulary
words
Optional: Introduce time expressions (son las/es la/media) through a powerpoint with visuals
so students can figure out what the different words mean – possibly through a day in the life
of the teacher story
Example: Picture – woman waking up “son las siete y media 7:30” & teacher says “me
levanto” pointing at 7:30 while saying “seite y media”

Teach vocabulary “y media”, “y cuarto”, “menos cuarto”, “son las”, “es la”, “a las”, “a la”.
Teacher emphasizes the ONE TRICKY part of time is you use “es la” and “a la” instead of
“son las”/a las” to say “it is”. Grammatical explanation of why is not necessary as it only
confuses students.

Subject *Define “subject” & “subject pronoun” in English

pronouns The subject of a sentence tells ________ is doing the action.
(2A1) Example: Marla listens to music. Marla = subject

*Subject pronouns replace people’s names to indicate who does an action: I, you, he,
she, we, they
Example: She listens to music. She = subject pronoun
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* Teach the subject pronouns in Spanish

Here are all the subject pronouns in English. Then show all the subject pronouns in Spanish
in chart form with the singular side and the plural side. Tricks to remember the subject
pronouns:
- “tú” rhymes with “you”
- “”we” is the largest group of people because it is talking about everyone else & yourself &
“nosotros” is the longest subject pronoun

* Explain the difference between singular & plural subject pronouns

Teacher asks what students see in common between the left and right side. Emphasizes the
difference between singular and plural subject pronouns. Singular subject pronouns talk
about 1 person and plural subject pronouns talk about more than one person.

* Good activities to reinforce subject pronouns:

- TPR gestures (e.g. “yo” point to yourself, “tu” point out, etc)
- Be sure to first say the words and do the gesture while students just do the gestures,
THEN teachers says words & gestures and students repeat words & gestures, THEN teacher
says word and students do gestures, optional teacher does gesture and students say words

- Ms. Jackson song (lyrics to memorize the subject pronouns set to Ms. Jackson – see
wiki)

Conjugate *Review subject pronouns

ser to
describe * Define “ser” & explain its importance
people (2C3) Ser means to be so it is an important verb because it allows us to describe people by saying
“I am”, “you are”, he is”, etc. All we have to do is learn these phrases.

*Present the chart (Yo soy = I am, Tu eres = you are, etc) and explain that it is
very important not to mix and match verbs from the chart
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Yo soy Nosotros somos

Tú eres

Él / Ella es Ellos/as/ustedes
son

Example: “eres” = are and “son” = are, but you can’t say “Tú son” you have to use the
verb that is next to subject pronoun in the chart
*Tricks for remembering which form of “ser” goes with which subject pronoun
- “yo” has a “y” and “soy” has a “y” (try having students come up with these tricks)
- “es” looks like “is”
- “nosotros” is the longest subject pronoun and “somos” is the longest form of “ser”

*Practice with call and response “when I say “yo” you say “soy” “yo!” “soy! “yo!” “soy!”
…

Match * Introduce adjective vocabulary first (avoid adjectives that end in “n” & “ista” at
gender/plural this level)
ity of an
adjective *Define “adjective” in English
(2C4) A word that describes {people, places & things” is an adjective

In Spanish, adjectives that describe boys end in “o” and that describe girls end in “a”
Adjectives that describe boys are called “masculine” adjectives because “masculine” means
“male”
Adjectives that describe girls are called “feminine adjectives” because “feminine” means
“female”

Example: ADJ FOR BOYS END IN –O ADJ FOR GIRLS END IN -A

Keith es estudioso. Jazmyn es estudiosa.
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Gary es muy simpatico. Courtney es muy sympatica.

*Explain the exception for adjective that end in “e”

The only time you DO NOT change the ending is when an adjective ends in “e” . Adjectives
that end in “e” NEVER CHANGE

Example: Keith es inteligente Jasmine es inteligente

• On a separate day introduce plurality

*Define plural
Plural means more than one. In English, we make things plural by adding “s”. Example” boy
 boys”. In Spanish, they do the same thing. Just add “s” The only difference is in Spanish
they make adjectives plural too.

Example: Ella es atletica Ellas son atleticas

In a way, they say “The girls are athletics” – they make the adjective plural too

Conjugate -Memorize the parts, repetitive practice.

Tener (3A2)
Subject pronoun explanation:

-Subject pronouns are words that we use in place of proper names as the subject
of the sentence. In English these are: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they.
Conjugate -Memorize the parts, repetitive practice.
Estar (3B1)
Ser v. Estar Ser is more permanent Estar is more at the moment
(3B1)
Ser
Characteristics & Origin
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Estar
Feelings/Mood
Temporary conditions
Location

FTL = “Feel the Love” – easy way to remember the three components of estar – everything
else is SER

Make nouns Definite vs. indefinite articles

and articles
plural (3B3) Definite – talking about a specific thing
Indefinite – talking about a non-specific thing

1. Find the noun

2. Make noun plural:
a. End in a vowel, add “s”
b. End in a consonant, add “es”
c. End in “-ión” add “es” and take away accent
d. End in “z” add “es” and change the z -> c
3. Check for an artictle:
a. el (not él)
b. la
c. un
d. una
4. Make the article plural.
a. el (not él) -> los
b. la -> las
c. un -> unos
d. una -> unas

Describe *Review that all objects in Spanish have a gender.

 Intro Spanish Topic Explanations

objects using In Spanish, some objects are feminine (girl objects) and some are masculine (boy objects).
indefinite It’s completely random what object is which gender, but you can tell by the word for “the”.
articles (3B4)
Review definite article for “masculine” words “él” and for “feminine” words “la” . Show a
pencil “el lapiz” with a bowtie on it and a calculator with a girly face & bow to illustrate this
concept. Another good visual is to show masculine words in blue and feminine words in pink.

Usually masculine words end in “o” and feminine words end in “a”

*Explain the words for “a” in Spanish

The masculine word for “a” is “un” and the feminine word for “a” is “una”
The easy way to remember is feminine words end in “a” and “una” ends in “a”
You can tell if a word is masculine or feminine by the word for “the”
Example: el lápiz  un lápiz la leche  una leche

-AR Verb *Review INFINITIVES

Conjugation Review that an infinitive is a verb, meaning TO …. (run, swim, write)
In Spanish, verbs end in -AR,- ER, or -IR. We know something is a verb when it ends in AR,
ER, or IR.
Examples: nadAR – to swim
corrER – to run
escribIR – to write

Infinitives tell us an action, but infinitives are verbs without a subject. -- We do not know who
does the action with an infinitive.
Example: Nadar, by itself does not tell you who swims.

*Teach SUBJECT PRONOUNS

Subject Pronouns allow us to talk about WHO does an action.
Show examples in ENGLISH first, as some students may not be familiar with the grammatical
concept of subject pronouns.
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Example: In the following sentences, circle the SUBJECTS or SUBJECT PRONOUNS. Ask
the question, who is doing the action?
He plays basketball.

Then, put the SUBJECT PRONOUNS in the chart, explaining, it will be very useful for us in
Spanish class. **Review or teach the difference between Tu and Usted** Also, explain the
meaning and use of Ustedes (and Vosotros, if necessary.)
I We Yo Nosotros
Nosotras
You Tu
He, She They El, Ella, Ellos, Ellas,
Usted Ustedes
*Define CONJUGATION
Conjugation is just a fancy word to say we are giving verbs a subject.

When we conjugate cannot say I to swim or Yo nadar, we have to change the verb to agree
with the subject.

We see this in English, too.

Example: Verb – to sing. I sing. You sing. She sings.

In English, the ending of the verb sometimes changes depending on WHO you are talking
about, but the rules aren’t really clear.

In SPANISH, the ending of regular verbs change following CLEAR rules, so you can tell the
sublect based on the ending of the word!

*Present AR VERB ENDINGS in the PRESENT TENSE.

Yo Nosotros O AMOS
Nosotras
Tu AS
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El, Ella , Ellos, Ellas A AN

Usted Ustedes
*Explain the STEPS to CONJUGATION
In order to go from an AR infinitive (nadar – to swim) to say a specific subject swims, you
follow the following rules:
1. Take of the AR ending.
2. Find out the SUBJECT of the sentence.
3. Add the AR Verb Ending for the given subject.

Example: Yo nadar. Step 1. Yo nadar Step 2: Yo nad Step 3: Yo nado.

Use gustar • Review Plural and Singular nouns

and encantar - el, la, los, las
in singular - +s for words ending in vowels, +es for words ending in consonants
and plural
contexts • Reviewing/Introducing Definite articles
(4A1) - which are singular, which are plural

• Review of the use of gustar

- A mi, a ti, a él, a ella (a nosotros , a uds, a vos, a ellos, etc)
- Making it a question
- Negating/affirming
-
• Introduce the verb “encantar”
- Explain it meaning “to love”
- Pitfall: this is not romantic love
- Emphasize “to really like” and that rules parallel “gustar” rules
- Possible to emphasize the strength of encanta through motions/acquisition

• Introduce the use of gusta vs. gustan, encanta vs. encantan

- a= singular objects, an= plural objects or lists
- emphasize that the use of a/an depends on the objects being liked or loved, not
 Intro Spanish Topic Explanations

WHOM is doing the liking or loving

• Extension : this is taught in food unit, but applies to all preferences.

Conjugate *Review –er/ir endings & the steps to conjugate a verb

preferir and
querer (4A2) *Define the “stem” of a verb
The stem of the verb is the part of the verb that is left after you take away the ending.
Example: Beber stem = beb / tocar stem = toc

*Preferir & querer are stem-changing verbs

This means that you conjugate them following the exact same steps as with regular verbs
EXCEPT there is one more step. Step 2 after cutting off the ending = the “e” changes to “ie”
when you conjugate it

Make it a very visual process and think aloud as you apply the steps to “preferir” –
underline the “ie” or color code it to make it stand out.
Conjugate –IR *Warm-up – ask students to conjugate the verb “ir” using the steps we’ve learned
(5A2) for er/ir verbs
Students will see that if you cut off the ending there is nothing left, so we cannot conjugate
“ir” normally. It is an irregular verb.

*Irregular verbs are verbs that don’t follow the rules of conjugation. This means
we have to memorize how they are different.

Example:
Yo voy Nosotros vamos
Tú vas
Él/ella va Ellos van

*Here are some tricks to memorize irregular verbs

“Ir” means “to go” like “Vvvvvvvvroooooooooom” – so we can remember that “ir” when
 Intro Spanish Topic Explanations

conjugated starts with “v”. Once you remember that, the endings are the same as with
regular verbs.

PRACTICE: CHANT vvvvvvvvoy, vvvvvvvvvvas, vvvvvvvva ….

Conjugate Warm-up – Review stem-changing verbs

jugar (5A5)
*Jugar is a stem-changing verb – let’s see why by conjugating “jugar” following
the regular rules

Example: Yo jugo What does “jugo” mean? Juice! We don’t want to say “I juice”

*When we conjugate “jugar” we have to change the “u” to “ue”

SHOW CHART and make a show out of changing the “u” to “ue” by underlining it or
color coding it

IR + a + Topics to Review:
infinitive -Ir
(5C1) -Infinitives

Conjugating IR (to go)

Yo voy
Tu vas
El/ella/usted va
Nosotros vamos
Ellos/ellas/ustedes van

Infinitives: Form of verbs that end in –AR, -ER, or –IR. Is the form of the verb that is not
conjugated, i.e. not changed so that it agrees with a subject. The “to” form of ther verb:
Cantar- to sing, Comer- to eat, Preferir- to prefer.

Ir + a + Infinitive
- There are two ways to talk about the future in Spanish: the future tense, and ir + a +
 Intro Spanish Topic Explanations

infinitive
- Ir + a + infinitive is a way to talk about what you are going to do.

How to use it:

1. Conjugate “ir” for your subject
2. Add the “a”
3. Use the infinitive form of the verb/ action you are going to do
Ex: I am going to eat= yo voy a comer
He is going to dance= el va a bailar
Use • Discuss objective. What is a possessive adjective?
possessive - Have someone define the noun “possession” (ownership)
adjective in - Define an “adjective” (describing words)
singular and - Define that possessive adjectives describe ownership
plural forms -
(6A3) • Have students identify these adjectives in English as they come BEFORE the
noun:
This is ________ pencil. (my pencil.)
Now sean is holding it, it is ______ pencil (his pencil).

• Introduce the Spanish “short” possessive adjectives as they come before the
noun.
-mi, tu, su, nuestro, vuestro, su

• Have students identify these adjectives in English as they come AFTER the
noun:
The pencil I am holding is __________.
Now sean is holding it, the pencil is _______________.

• Introduce the Spanish “long” possessive adjectives as they come after the
noun.
-mio, tuyo, suyo, nuestro, vuestro, suyo
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• Spiral the fact that in Spanish, adjectives must match the word they are
describing.
- Example that connects to prior knowledge: chicO guapO, chicOS guapOS, chicA
guapA, etc.

• Remind students that these words are adjectives too, so they must match in
their singular/plural/masculine/feminine forms.
- mi libro/ mis libros…. Libro tuyo, libros tuyos

• Reinforce with whiteboard practice.

Describe how Topics to Review:

family 1. Family Members:
members are Abuelo-grandfather
related (6A4) Abuela- grandmother
Madre- mother
Padre- father

Hermano- brother
Hermana- sister
Tio- uncle
Tia- aunt
Primo/a- cousin
Sobrino/a- niece/nephew
2. Possessive adjectives
mi- my
tu- yours
su- his/hers
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nos- ours
3. Little words: el/la= the, de=of, es=is

Describing how family members are related:

Think about what you are going to say in English.
Ex: the mother of my mother is my grandmother.

Then translate the sentence into Spanish (this is a situation when you can translate directly)
- La madre de mi madre es mi abuela.
Ex: the sister of my mother is my aunt = la hermana de mi madre es mi tia