Something that Spanish I always seems to struggle with early on is telling time. We practice it each day by doing La Bienvenida, but getting the “menos” side of the clock is usually tricky for some students (especially those who struggle with math).
I had found an activity last year where students make a “watch” by making a clock face on a strip of paper, and then go around asking each other for the time. It went pretty well, and gave students the opportunity both ask and tell the time multiple times. The issue was they were only practicing telling the time that was on their own watch, and I wanted them to have a variety of practice clocks. My first class started out walking around, but the issue was with this shy section, they were all just avoiding asking each other and barely speaking. Spur of the moment I came up with the following solution:
- Students make a “watch” with the time of their choice
- The class makes an inside/outside circle (or in my class set up it works better to have 2 lines facing each other).
- On side is the “mom” or “dad” and the other side is the whiny kid who can’t read the clock.
- The whiny child hold up their watch and says “mammmmmiii, ¿Qué hora es?” (mom what time is it)
- The “parent” then responds with the time in Spanish.
- The students then switch roles.
- The teacher rings a bell and one side rotates, so everyone has a new partner.
- This continues until they have gone through each partner
What worked well:
- Students loved playing the part of the whiny kids.
- Everyone was involved and always had someone to talk to.
- There was a lot of repetition and students felt much more confident telling time at the end of class.
What are your favorite activities for practicing telling time?
