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Spanish Class Word Wall

Spanish High-Frequency Word Wall

After year one of teaching I knew that I somehow needed to find a way to reinforce the high-frequency words since students were always struggling with remembering words like but, if, and of. Inspired by a post from the Creative Language Class discussing the 100 words that make up 50% of the conversation, I knew I needed to make these little words a priority, but the question was how?

Spanish Word Wall High Frequency Words



While in graduate school I spent quite a bit of time subbing, mostly in elementary classes. I was impressed by how every little bit of classroom space was utilized in many elementary classes, and a common feature in many was the “Word Wall.” I decided to use the 100 high-frequency words as the basis for my own word wall, sorted by letter. You can download the basic 100 Word Wall here. 

What is included in this Spanish Class Word Wall Posters & Flashcards

  • ✅ 100 High-Frequency Words in Spanish in an editable Google Doc
  • ✅ Two versions – Spanish only version, as well as a version with English as well!
  • ✅ 18 google doc pages of high-frequency words in Spanish
  • ✅ Small words & minimal ink needed to print
  • ✅ Either version can be printed on 2 slides per page to save paper & space

* In the cover picture I used black ink, printed on colored paper, using Spanish only

Spanish Word Wall

How do you use Spanish Class Word Wall Posters & Flashcards?

  • ✅ There are many ways to use them to meet the needs of your class!
  • ✅ Print, laminate, and hang in your classroom as a bulletin board all year
  • ✅ Add magnets on the back to be able to switch out focus words on a whiteboard
  • ✅ You could introduce 10 words each week to study for Spanish vocab words & quiz at the end of the week.
  • ✅ You could print these on cardstock for each student to use as flashcards to study these important little words that make up a lot of Spanish conversation.
  • ✅ Be creative & let me know how you use them!

Spanish Word WallReflecting on the Word Wall

While in theory, these seemed like a great idea, I failed at actually teaching and incorporating this word wall in my daily lessons. It took up the whole board all year, but did students really get as much out of it as they could have? Probably not. So today I took it down, and am trying to figure out how I can do better next year. 

  • Number – Is 100 words too many at once? Should I add a certain number each week?
  • Content – Are these even the words I should be focusing on?
  • Phrases – Should phrases be emphasized instead of individual words?
  • Organization – Should they be sorted by letter? If not, how?
Should I even have a Word wall? Or would there be a better use of this space? I would love feedback. 🙂

UPDATE – A Focus on High-Frequency Verbs for communication

 

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    I LOVE the idea of a wall of those little words. I think adding them each week sounds good but adding them in context. Maybe (since its a blackboard) you could make some little mark as you introduce each word and then try to see how many marks you can get by the words in one year? Like how many ways can we use if or but in a structure this year? 🙂 Definitely phrases over words so they naturally pop out when students are talking/writing. Hmmmm… the sorting is an interesting question. I'm interested to see what others think! I'm going to be doing some rearranging this summer, I think I need to give this a try! Thanks for the share!

    • Anonymous says

      Thank you for your input! I love the idea of marking by them as they are introduced, maybe even in multiple colors for the different levels. Do you think they should be translated to English on the wall? I am glad I could help!

  2. SpanishPlans says

    Totally! I've used 2 different types of word walls in my classroom. I use the alphabet chalkboard toppers and then put sentence strips post it notes under the letters.
    1) Cognate Word Wall: If we come across a cognate in a reading, we add it to the board.
    2) Verb Word Wall: includes most common verbs and their translation. Good reference for students

  3. Anonymous says

    Thanks for your feedback! On your verb wall are they conjugated or infinitives? I love the idea of a cognate word wall!

  4. Sra Schauer says

    We started a cognate wall this year, and it has been a huge success! Anytime my students see a cognate in our reading or hear me say one, they announce it. I write it on a 1/2 sheet of white copy paper with a marker and the student draws a picture to represent the word. They love it! (And it has definitely drawn their attention to them.)

    • Anonymous says

      I love this idea!! It is awesome that it is the Students who are creating it & that there is a picture instead of a translation. Gracias!

  5. Unknown says

    I've seen this in a lot of elementary classes and couldn't figure out a way to put it in my class. I like this idea a lot! My kids DEFINITELY struggle to retain all of the words they've learned, even basic ones like tener. This is a great idea. Did you write the English and Spanish word on your word wall?

    I think I would do it maybe 10ish words at a time and build up to the whole list. I have all regular students and doing more than 10-20 words at once tends to overload many of them. The same on quizzes. Any more than 20 questions and many of them will give up without even reading the questions, guess, and fail the quiz.

    • Anonymous says

      This past year the words were just in Spanish, but I think next year I will add the English translation for a while when they are new on the wall. I have seen other teachers write in dry erase on the laminated words in English, and then erase later in the year.

  6. Sassy Señorita says

    have you thought about categorizing words by part of speech? that's what i'm thinking of doing for this year. some of my categories (so far) are nombres, verbos conjugados, infinitivos, sustantivos, cognados, cognados falso, preposiciones, adjetivos and i plan on having students add them as they come up.

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