Inside: Scope and Sequence for Spanish 1-Spanish 4 using novels and comprehensible input curriculum without a textbook. Mis Clases Locas curriculum for Spanish class. High School Spanish curriculum using comprehensible input.
Author – Allison Wienhold
Originally published June 1, 2018 & most recently updated on June 4, 2025
Spanish Curriculum – Mis Clases Locas Curriculum
Over the years I have looked at many different Spanish curriculum plans. Remember I have had ultimate freedom as a #deptof1. So, I have had the chance to try out a lot of different Spanish lessons from a variety of Spanish courses for my Mis Clases Locas curriculum.
To be honest, I started creating my own Spanish curriculum, when I realized what worked for me, was a mash-up of many different styles and resources. A traditional curriculum based on vocabulary words and a specific grammar concept from a textbook no longer served me.
My Spanish students thrived using the Spanish language in culture rich units, with lots of physical movement. Practicing authentic language skills using music, novels, culture of all Spanish-speaking countries, and more.
First, when planning a High School Spanish curriculum, it would be helpful to read this post – How I Create a CI Curriculum for Spanish 1-4.
This is where you will see the thought process of lesson planning for a year, month, and week, using my lesson plan templates.
If you teach French, make sure to check out French 1-4 Curriculum.
Below you will find my ideal curriculum. Click on the links for previous blog posts explaining the units or resources to make your life easier. If you are interested in getting many of the resources I use, I would suggest starting with the Spanish 1 Mega Bundle & Spanish 2/3 Mega Bundle (or the same thing on TPT Spanish 1 Mega Bundle) & Mega Bundle Spanish 2 or 3, as well as clicking the links below.
Mis Clases Locas Curriculum – my ideal Spanish Curriculum
Since I have always taught all levels at once, my high school Spanish curriculum has always been a mash-up of my own resources & resources from others.
While I do not currently have my own classroom, what you see below is what I would use in my ideal situation, with the freedom to use what I want.
It is important to note that I started moving quickly to keep student interest. This includes reading some books in the style of 1 novel in 1 week. This is why it might seem like I have more content listed than in other years.
I also pick and choose from SOMOS units. When I use Somos units, I cut them down to about 1 week. I skip most story activities and other things I am not a fan of. (For a typical new lesson story unit I: Intro vocab, do a quick story, and get right into the culture of the unit). Then we move on the the next lesson, which is usually a different type of language learning style unit.
NEW >> You may also be interested in Spanish Curriculum for Middle School
Spanish 1 Curriculum
This could be used as High School Spanish curriculum for Spanish 1, or later middle school Spanish.
Only teach Novice Spanish? Get the new Year of Novice Spanish Bell Ringer set (or the same Year of Novice Spanish Bell Ringers).
Teach many levels & want to have them all use the same set? Get Para Empezar Bundle 2025 from my store OR the same NEW TPT Para Empezar 2025 – year round
Spanish 1 Mega Bundle (or the same thing on TPT Spanish 1 Mega Bundle)
(includes many resources listed below)
*Depending on if Spanish 1 has had Exploratory Spanish (which includes Super 7 unit, & SOMOS units 1-3), will depend on where you start in Spanish 1. The plan below is assuming a quarter of exploratory. If you are starting from scratch in 9th grade, use my Exploratory Spanish quarter one & move forward from there.
Spanish 1 Quarter 1
- Week 1 plan with Proficiency Introduction using 1st Week of Spanish Back to School BUNDLE
- Super 7 Present Unit Bundle or from my shop Super 7 Present Tense Spanish BUNDLE
- During Hispanic Heritage Month – song of the day
- SOMOS units 1-3 review or do quickly + unit 5 (maybe Ferdinand)
- El Capibara con botas unit – w/ Ecuador Reading , Cultural Stations: Capibara y Ecuador
Spanish 1 Quarter 2
- Guapo/Calvo/Feo – Sr. Wooly Victor Trilogy Unit
- Mexico/Day of the Dead Unit w/ Day of the Dead & Mexico introduction, Coco
- Tumba – quick novel read in the style of 1 novel 1 week
- música indígena – for Native American History Month in November
- Choice unit depending on time & access to novels El Ekeko – novel unit OR SOMOS units 6 & 7
- Navidad/ 3 Reyes – cultural unit
Spanish 1 – Quarter 3
- During February – Afro-Latinx song of the day
- Food – w/ SOMOS unit 8 – Latin Food/Elote & Canela – film unit
- Valentine’s Day Activities
- Colombia – w/ Biblioburro, Yipao & La Bicicleta
- Peter va a Colombia – novel unit & Encanto
Spanish 1 – Quarter 4
- During March – March Madness Song Bracket
- Las Fallas – Cultural Unit or get the same Las Fallas unit in my store
- Billy la bufanda – Sr. Wooly Unit
- Selena movie- (for Selena’s b-day in April) or get the same Selena guide here
- Legends Unit w/ Somos Unit 9 – El Cucuy & Chupa OR Maya y los tres
- El Silbón de Venezuela – novel unit
- Culture Project – Final or get the same project in my store
Spanish 2 Mis Clases Locas Curriculum
Para Empezar Bundle 2025 from my store OR the same NEW TPT Para Empezar 2025 – year round
Spanish 2/3 Mega Bundle from my shop OR TPT Mega Bundle Spanish 2 or 3 includes many resources listed below
Spanish 2 – Quarter 1
- Mi verano past tense unit intro – Question Cards – Mi Verano & Find Someone Who
- La Tomatina – cultural unit
- During Hispanic Heritage Month – song of the day
- Imperfect Unit – using Hybrid Imperfect Bundle
- Intro Past Tense Ir – FSW & Fue Question Cards + maybe some Somos 2.1/2.2
- Fiesta Fatal – novel unit
Spanish 2 – Quarter 2
- Amnesia – Sr. Wooly Unit
- música indígena – for Native American History Month in November
- Living on $1 & Which Way Home w/ Esperanza – novel unit & La Misma Luna – film
- 3 Reyes Magos & Winter Holidays
Spanish 2 Quarter 3
- Return from Winter Break
- Go! Vive a tu Manera intro & then watch each Friday
- Preterite Unit – Super 7 – Preterite Bundle
- Felipe Alou – novel unit w/ Pelotero (baseball & DR) or Vivo (Afro-Latinx) film
- During February – Afro-Latinx song of the day
Spanish 2 – Quarter 4
- During March – March Madness Song Bracket
- Las Fallas unit
- Sr. Wooly – wooly week song
- Bianca Nieves – novel unit – with Bullfighting, Spain & Ferdinand film study
Required to teach commands too? >> Teaching Command Verbs in Spanish
Spanish 3 High Spanish Curriculum
Show each Friday. For 2025 I would pick Tierra Incógnita using Tierra Incógnita Season 1 Spanish class guide. Past shows I have used are: El Internado (now hard to find & older) & Go! Vive a tu Manera (pretty cheesy)
Para Empezar Bundle 2025 from my store OR the same NEW TPT Para Empezar 2025 – year round
Spanish 2/3 Mega Bundle from my shop OR TPT Mega Bundle Spanish 2 or 3 includes many resources listed below
Spanish 3 – Quarter 1
- Mi verano past tense unit intro – Question Cards – Mi Verano & Find Someone Who
- Preterite Unit – Super 7 &/or Imperfect Unit Super 7 (could be done quickly as a review)
- Sr. Wooly Unit – La Dentista song
- During Hispanic Heritage Month – song of the day
- Intro Costa Rica & El Medio Ambiente + Pachamama
- Robo en la noche – novel unit (past tense)
Spanish 3 – Quarter 2
- Sr. Wooly Unit – Billy y las Botas
- música indígena – for Native American History Month in November
- La Llorona de Mazatlán – novel unit
- NEW Chupa film &/or El camino de Xico (both Mexican films with legends)
Spanish 3 – Quarter 3
- Return from Winter Break
- Vidas Impactantes – mini lit circles – each group reads one biography
- During February – Afro-Latinx song of the day
- Literature Circles – full novels – focusing on past tense (Ideas Problemas, Frida, Noche de Oro)
Spanish 3 – Quarter 4
- During March – March Madness Song Bracket
- Sr. Wooly – wooly week song(s)
- Voces Inocentes film study
- Vida y Muerte – novel unit w/ MS13 Stations
Spanish 4 High School Spanish Curriculum
Show each Friday. For 2025 I would pick Tierra Incógnita using Tierra Incógnita Season 1 Spanish class guide.
Para Empezar Bundle 2025 from my store OR the same NEW TPT Para Empezar 2025 – year round
Spanish 4 – Quarter 1
- Mi verano past tense unit intro – Question Cards – Mi Verano & Find Someone Who
- Super 7 Future Unit /Spanish Future Tense High Frequency Verbs BUNDLE El Futuro Simple
- During Hispanic Heritage Month – song of the day
- 48 hours novel unit (new) w/ Pachamama & Environment (if not used in Sp3)
Spanish 4 – Quarter 2
- Literature Circles – full novels
- Introduce Conditional w/ Conditional – FSW
- Sr. Wooly Unit – Encerada en la escuela
- música indígena – for Native American History Month in November
- Vidas Impactantes – mini lit circles – each group reads one biography
Spanish 4 – Quarter 3
- Return from Winter Break
- Cajas de Cartón– short story unit with Postville Raid
- During February – Afro-Latinx song of the day
- Vector – novel unit
Spanish 4 – Quarter 4
- AAPPL test prep
- During March – March Madness Song Bracket
- Sr. Wooly – wooly week song
- La Calaca Alegre – novel unit w/ El Orfanato film study
For constant resources for teaching with novels, follow this Pinterest board
Alternate Hybrid-Block Mis Clases Locas Curriculum
The 2020 school year started out with me teaching on a Hybrid Block with distance learning. This means I taught a semester of Spanish in a quarter, on a block schedule. I taught 100-minute classes of Spanish 1, Spanish 2, and a combined Spanish 3/4 every day. But, students rotated being in person and online every other day. So digital access language teaching was needed as well.
My curriculum was much different than in other years since I needed literally everything to be posted digitally on Google Classroom. Also got through about half of what we would have done in a typical year. Due to circumstances, we did very few novels. My new digital High-Frequency verb units were created for that strange year & they SAVED me. See the following blog posts for more details.
- Hybrid Spanish Class- 1st week of school
- Distance Super 7 Verb Unit modifications
- Hybrid Teaching – Teach Online & In-Person
- Block Schedule in Spanish class
So if you need to teach virtually, paperless, or want more ideas on curriculum, please see below for my 2020-2021 Spanish 1-4 Curriculum.
Spanish 1 Semester 1 High School Spanish Curriculum
in a quarter on a Hybrid Block – Para Empezar – year-round
- Name Game Speedball & 1st Day of Spanish Class
- Super 7 Hybrid Bundle
- Somos 1.1 Flex
- Sr. Wooly – Las Excusas
- Somos 1.2 Flex
- Teri la Tortuga story Super 7 review – El Tuerto Guty
- Sr. Wooly – Billy la bufanda
- Cultural Unit depending on the time of year – Q1 – Day of the Dead & Q2 – Winter Holidays
(Then they had a quarter off of Spanish)
Spanish 1 Semester 2 – in a quarter on Block
Semester 2 started Hybrid but moved to an everyday block schedule. So we got through a lot more this semester with more contact time. I tried to mix up the type of units to keep it fresh with 100-minute classes & we played a lot of Blooket.
- Sweet 16 Hybrid Bundle
- El capibara con botas, Chapters 1-4, Chapters 5-9, Chapters 10-14 & Assessments
- Somos 1.3 Flex
- Sr. Wooly – Adonde vas?
- Somos 1.4 Flex
- Sr. Wooly – Diego
- Ferdinand + Somos 1.5 Flex (bullfighting)
- Canela
Spanish 2 Semester 1- in a quarter on a Hybrid Block – Para Empezar – year round
- 1st Day of Spanish 2
- La Tomatina
- Intro Go! Vive a tu Manera (then between each unit we did an episode of Go!)
- Sweet 16 Hybrid Bundle
- Somos 1.9 Leyendas
- Sr. Wooly – Amnesia
- Somos 1.11 Deportes
- Cultural Unit depending on the time of year – Q1 – Day of the Dead & Q2 – Winter Holidays
Spanish 1 Semester 2 – in a quarter on Block
Semester 2 started Hybrid but moved to an everyday block schedule. So we got through a lot more this semester with more contact time. The big goal for semester 2 of Spanish 2 was introducing the past tenses. Once we moved to everyday classes, Friday we would watch an episode of Go! Vive a tu Manera
- 1st Day After Winter Break
- Intro Past Tense Ir – FSW & Fue Question Cards + Somos 2.1
- Imperfect Unit – using Hybrid Imperfect Bundle
- Sr. Wooly – La Dentista (in past tense)
- Felipe Alou Unit – including the film Pelotero
- Sr. Wooly – Victor Trilogy (Guapo, Calvo, Feo) – split between other units
- Somos 2.1 & 2.2 – preterite tense
- Las Fallas unit
Spanish 3/4 Semester 1- in a quarter on a Hybrid Block – Para Empezar – year round
Teaching both Spanish 3 and Spanish 4 during the exact same block was quite a challenge. It was my largest class, and it had a huge range of proficiency levels. It included the very high Spanish 4 students, who had been with me for 6 years since 7th grade exploratory & earned I5 on the AAPPL test.
Also, the same class period included Spanish 3 students who had not had class for 6 months. Many did 0 virtual work during the shutdown, and who were very much still novice Spanish 2 level.
The Spanish 4 students had watched El Internado the year before & the Spanish 3 students had watched Go! Vive a tu Manera. So together we opted to instead watch Street Food Latin America between units as our show. We found it worked best to do the same content across both levels most of the time but to differentiate among the students.
- 1st Day of Spanish 3/4 – Mi verano preterite review
- Review Past Tense – Preterite Bundle + Somos 2.11 – past tense fable
- Street Food Argentina
- Vida y Muerte Novel Unit – Resources, Introducing Vida y Muerte, Vida y Muerte Lesson Plans
- Street Food Peru
- AAPPL test or El Banco Sr. Wooly for those who chose not to test
Spanish 3/4 Semester 2 – in a quarter on a Block
- 1st Day After Winter Break
- Street Food Bolivia
- Literature Circle Unit – using Sp3 – Robo en la noche & Sp4 La Calaca Alegre
- Street Food Colombia
- Sr. Wooly – Billy y las Botas trilogy (we realized these classes had not done Wooly all year)
- Street Food Mexico
- El Medio Ambiente – Mar de Plastico Unit + Pachamama & El camino de Xico
- Sp3 – Sueño hecho realidad E reader & Sp4 – Cajas de Cartón – short story unit
Past years curriculum
- Curriculum Year 6 – Teaching Spanish with Novels
- Curriculum Planning for Upper Level Spanish
- How I Teach Spanish Without a Textbook Curriculum Year 5
- Curriculum Year 4
- Curriculum Year 3
- French Comprehensible Input Curriculum
Teach Middle School Spanish?
Free 1st Day of Spanish Class Activity!
My go to activity for every level of High School Spanish, is always Name Game Speedball. Grab free slides below.
