Spanish Lesson Plans

Spanish lesson plans are for Spanish teachers, by and large. Lesson plans should be prepared with a proper structure. If they are Spanish lesson plans for teaching in school, then they need to conform to and be based on the school curriculum. They also need to be a plan that is easy to follow for both the teacher and the pupils.

Spanish lesson plans, like any other kind of lesson plan, needs to start with an aim. The aim sets out the desired outcome of the plan. It spells out exactly what will happen, or should happen. The amount to be learned by the pupils will be known beforehand, and what they will reasonably be able to achieve at the conclusion of the lessons.

Most Spanish lesson plans will start with something simple. They will introduce the pupils to simple everyday words that are useful and commonly used. This will prepare them to listen out for the words and recognize them when they hear them spoken, thereby giving the pupil a chance to respond correctly and accurately at the right moment.

The plan could start off by showing the pupils how to greet others in Spanish. Simply saying "hola" is at least a start. Anyone who has tried this to a person whose first and only language is Spanish, and received a natural response, will know how intensely satisfying it feels.

An advance on saying hello or even goodbye is to ask people how they are. We do it in English all the time, so it should come as no surprise to learn that Spanish speaking people do it too. Asking after someone's welfare when you meet can be as simple as saying, "¿cómo estás?" This simply means, "how are you?" The less formal way of saying essentially the same thing is "¿que tal?"

This would also be a good moment in the Spanish lesson plans to introduce the concept of accented letters. You will notice that the first above Spanish phrase has an accented letter "o" in the first word, and an accented letter "a" in the second. This simply shows the reader where to place the emphasis. Without the accent on the first word it could be rendered as "comOh," and the second as "eSStas." The accent simply does away with any confusion that could arise.

Our simple example of Spanish lesson plans might next teach the pupil how to part company with someone. The Spanish word for "goodbye" is well known: "adios." However, there are other ways to effectively say the same thing. A very common one is "hasta luego," which means "until next time" or "see you later," and "hasta mañana," "see you tomorrow."

There is one small problem with the greeting and parting salutations in Spanish. The people who actually speak the language every day have a habit of saying "goodbye" when they meet. The thinking appears to be along the lines of since we are about to part we may as well say the goodbye bit now as we meet! English speakers find it puzzling to hear someone they have just met say, "hasta luego" or "adios."

Our Spanish lesson plans should conclude with the important question that requires an answer, "how will the pupils learn?" This may be delivered by them listening to a native speaker, perhaps the teacher, or to pre-recorded matter.