Three Low-Prep Spanish Class Activities for When You've Lost Your Voice

You know when you get to school and realize you absolutely should have taken a sick day?

Your throat hurts, your voice is barely there, and your lesson plan involves you explaining new grammar for 20 minutes. Apparently, Yesterday You was feeling optimistic. 😂

Now you’re looking at that plan and wondering what your Spanish students can do today that doesn’t require you to talk.

Here are three low-prep activities your Spanish students can do with almost no talking from you. Each serves a different purpose, so you can choose based on what your students need and what you have the energy to manage:

🇪🇸 Independent culture work: a Spain webquest.
🤩 Vocabulary review: Pictionary or charades.
📝 Current grammar and vocabulary practice: a one-period writing-and-drawing project.

One distinction before we get into the directions: less talking from you does NOT necessarily mean a quiet classroom. If you also need quiet, you’ll want the webquest or mini-project. Pictionary and charades are going to be loud.

1. Use a Spain Webquest for Independent Culture Work

A webquest gives students a clear task they can work through independently while learning about a Spanish-speaking country.

My free Spain webquest guides students through researching Spain’s geography, history, food, and culture using selected websites. The questions and reading are in English, so students don’t need you to introduce new vocabulary or translate the directions before they can begin.

That makes it an option for middle and high school Spanish classes across levels. You can use it for a culture day even when your students have different amounts of Spanish under their belts.

How to Set It Up

Give students access to the webquest and its linked websites. Post your expectations for how they should work and what they need to complete by the end of class.

The webquest is designed for approximately a 50-minute class period, although timing will depend on your students.

You’ll still be available for questions, but students can complete the research without you leading them through each answer.

Let Students Handle the Follow-Up Discussion

I like following a webquest with a discussion so students can compare what they learned. But that doesn’t mean you have to be the one asking every question.

Post a few discussion prompts and have students talk with a partner, or assign a student to lead a small-group discussion.

For example:
❓ What did you learn that surprised you?
❓ Which place in Spain would you most like to visit, and why?
❓ What’s one thing you want to learn more about?

You can also save the whole-class discussion for another day. The independent research can be today’s lesson.

2. Play Pictionary or Charades for Vocabulary Review

If your students need vocabulary review and already know how to play Pictionary or Charades, either game can work with very little explaining from you.

The setup is almost identical. In Pictionary, students draw the vocabulary word. In charades, they act it out.

How to Play

1️⃣ Divide the class into two teams (or more if you want smaller groups) and have one student from each team come to you.
2️⃣ Show both students the same vocabulary word.
3️⃣ Send them to draw or act it out for their teams.
4️⃣ Award a point to the first team that guesses the word in Spanish.
5️⃣ Rotate students and repeat.

Write down the word and show it to the students. You don’t even have to say it aloud.

Use words from your current unit, bring back vocabulary from earlier in the year, or combine the two. Choose words students can reasonably draw or act out.

With enough vocabulary and rotating turns, this can take up most or all of a 50-minute review period.

A Very Important Warning About the Noise

Pictionary and charades will be incredibly loud. You will have to tell students not to scream.

They get excited. They want their team to win. Apparently, knowing the Spanish word for “chicken” becomes an emergency when there’s a point involved. 🙃

Post your volume expectations before you start, including a clear signal for stopping the game. Familiar routines will help you manage it without repeatedly calling over the class.

But if you have a headache and the thought of students shouting guesses makes you want to crawl under your desk, choose one of the independent activities instead.

For more detailed directions, you can read my posts about each game:
Pictionary ("win, lose, or draw") blog post
Charades blog post

3. Assign a One-Period Mini-Project for Grammar and Vocabulary Practice

For a quieter option that stays connected to your current unit, have students write sentences and illustrate them.

That’s the basic format. You can change the topic without having to teach students a whole new activity.

Use vocabulary and grammar they’ve already practiced, so they can spend the period applying what they know rather than waiting for you to explain something new.

Choose a Task That Fits Your Unit

👗 Clothing: Describe what someone wears in each season and draw each outfit.
🥘 Food: Create a menu and write sentences describing the dishes.
📆 Preterite: Write about what different people did last year and illustrate each sentence.

Keep the scope small enough to finish during that class period. This is a one-day assignment, so there’s no need to turn it into a weeklong production with presentations.

Put the Requirements on the Board

Give students a clear number of sentences and illustrations, identify the vocabulary or grammar they should use, and tell them when it’s due.

For a clothing activity, your directions might look like this:
Divide your paper into four sections, one for each season. Write two complete Spanish sentences in each section describing what someone wears. Use our clothing vocabulary and the forms of llevar we’ve practiced. Draw an illustration that matches each description. Turn it in at the end of class.

Adjust those requirements for your students’ level and the time available. Have a student read the directions aloud, and leave them visible so you don’t have to repeat them throughout the period.

The drawings show what the sentences mean. They don’t need to be masterpieces.

Choose the Activity You Can Manage Today

If you want students working independently on culture, use the webquest. If you want vocabulary review and can handle the noise, try Pictionary or charades. If you want quieter practice with your current unit, choose the writing-and-drawing project.

Students can research, review, and write without you leading a whole-class explanation. Pick the option that fits today, put the directions where everyone can see them, and let students do the work.