Inside: Creative ways to us travel videos in Spanish class. Teaching students about the diverse Spanish-speaking countries through travel videos in Spanish. How to do martes del mapa in Spanish class.
Author – Allison Wienhold
Published – January 27, 2025
Creative Ways to Use Travel Videos in Spanish Class
Incorporating authentic resources is key to creating an engaging and immersive Spanish language-learning experience. One of the best tools for teaching Spanish culture and geography are travel videos. Whether you’re looking to spice up your travel unit or integrate culture into your lessons, here’s how to use travel videos in Spanish class to teach Spanish-speaking countries, culture, and more.
>>> Read more about Teaching Spanish Speaking Countries.
If you are required to “teach the Spanish-speaking countries,” I have found that travel videos in Spanish and music of the Spanish-speaking world offer a unique opportunity to teach Spanish-speaking countries of the world in a more engaging way. I am going to focus more on travel videos in this post.
Travel Videos in Spanish Class
If you have been following Mis Clases Locas for a while you might know a few years ago I started using a new Spanish Class Routines. For teachers who needed a way to start class I started martes del mapa.
I created a Google Slideshow with one video for each Spanish-speaking country. My martes del mapa slides became a popular hit. Beyond using it on Tuesday to start class, other teachers used it for Viaje viernes.
Many teachers started pairing the one Spanish-speaking country video with my one song from each Spanish speaking country music slides. Teachers loved using my Hispanic Heritage Month Music Bracket along with the Spanish-speaking travel videos.
From questions I have gotten from teachers, as well as their creative ways to use the Spanish travel slides, this blog post was born.
What to Do with a Travel Video in Spanish Class
Travel videos are a versatile tool that can transform your lessons. Here are some creative ways to use them:
Introduce Spanish-Speaking Countries
Use travel videos to explore Spanish-speaking countries and their unique cultures. Students can watch videos highlighting landmarks, traditions, and daily life, building both cultural knowledge and vocabulary. Depending on the level of students and goal, you can use Spanish Speaking Countries Videos in ENGLISH for a culture class or Exploratory Spanish.
Activity idea: Have students create a travel journal after watching a video. They can summarize the highlights, write about what they learned, and share their favorite destinations in Spanish.
Practice Spanish Listening Comprehension
Travel videos can provide authentic input from native speakers, helping students improve their listening skills. You can use subtitles or captions for beginner learners and turn them off as they advance. Martes del mapa 23 has more Spanish narration in travel videos or with facts in Spanish. This is the version I would pick for upper level Spanish. Or you can get martes del mapa 23 from the Mis Clases Locas website shop!
Activity idea: Give students a task to do while watching. This could be comprehension questions about the video. Or have students do a free write ask about cultural elements, landmarks, local foods mentioned in the video. Depending on what you are practicing in class students could write in the conditional tense about if they would like to travel there & what they would do.
Incorporate Cultural Comparisons
Use travel videos to spark discussions about cultural similarities and differences between Spanish-speaking countries and your students’ home culture. Yo can use videos to hit both the ACTFL culture and comparisons standards.
Activity idea: After watching, lead a class discussion or have students complete a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the featured country to their own.
Highlight Positive Diversity
Show videos from a variety of countries to emphasize the diversity within the Spanish-speaking world. Focus on positive aspects of all places. This can include landscapes, cultural traditions, tourism and more. This a not a time to zoom in on political issues, poverty, natural disasters or other negative sides of different places.
Activity idea: After watching a travel video have students compile a list of all the reasons why they would want to visit the new place.
Support Vocabulary Acquisition of Your Travel Unit
You can use Spanish-speaking travel video for your Spanish travel unit. If needed, you can highlight travel-related vocabulary, such as transportation, food, and geography. You can pair the travel videos with your required vocabulary lists. A travel unit is the perfect time to bring in travel videos. Here’s how to make the most of them:
Activity Idea 1: Create a travel-themed vocabulary scavenger hunt. Students check off words from their travel themed vocab list as they see or hear them in the video.
Travel Unit Extension Idea: Plan a Dream Trip Have students plan an imaginary trip to a Spanish-speaking country. They can use the travel videos for inspiration and present their itinerary in Spanish.
Use the Spanish Travel Videos as Bell Ringers for Spanish Class
One Country/Video Per Week
Depending on your schedule you can pick one day per week to focus on travel. I called it martes del mapa, but you could also do viernes del viaje or miércoles del mapa if other days work better. All of my slides are 100% editable so you can easily change to make it fit your situation.
You can pair a Spanish-speaking country video with my one song from each Spanish speaking country music slides. Some teachers have a set country each week. They use the travel video on Tuesday. Then the song from that country on Wednesday from my HHM Spanish Music Bracket for Música miércoles.
One Spanish Speaking Country Video Per Day
During Hispanic Heritage Month in Spanish class, many teachers loved using my Hispanic Heritage Month Music along with the Spanish-speaking travel videos. Some teachers focus on one Spanish speaking country per day of Hispanic Heritage Month. They use both the travel video & the music video both from the same country.
If you have flexibility in your schedule you can do the following to dig deeper. You can do all this in the target language if possible.
How to Do Martes del Mapa in Spanish Class
Martes del Mapa (Map Tuesday) is a fun way to teach geography and culture. Here’s how to incorporate travel videos into this activity. If you have flexibility in your schedule you can do the following to dig deeper. You can do all this in the target language if possible. It is all up to how much or how little you do depending on tie & your goals.
- Choose a Spanish-Speaking Country – Each time focus on a new Spanish-speaking country. Use my ready to go Google Slides that pair the map with a travel video that showcases the country’s highlights.
- Start by introducing the country of the day with the martes del mapa slides.
- Introduce the name, capital, and nationality.
- Introduce the maps & geography of where in the world this country is by using the maps, both zoomed in and a far out view of what continant, etc. You can do a “Map Talk” (C/o Ben Tinsley) to go deeper into where this is located.
- Watch the included video.
- Discuss the listed questions about the video.
If you also want to add in the Hispanic Heritage Month Music, you can also do the following.
- Introduce the artist and song of the day & their nationality.
- Watch the music video.
- Discuss the music video & your feelings about it. (See Talk About Music in Spanish Class)
Discussion Question for Any Travel Video in Spanish Class
If you want to dig deeper, pick one or multiple of these questions to discuss any video in your language of choice. This allows students to more deeply reflect on what is and is not shown of any given country in a short video clip.
- Who do you see represented in the video & who is missing? Does this video reflect the population?
- What places do you see represented in the video & what is missing?
- Discuss what was shown of the country and what might not have been shown and why.
- How would you compare what you saw to your community?
- Have you been here or somewhere like it?
- If you have been there, does this video reflect your experience?
- Would you want to travel here? Why or why not?
- Would you move to this place? Why or why not?
- Discuss differences between cities and rural areas.
- Who made this video? How does this change what is shown and not shown?
Martes del Mapa Extension Ideas
If you want to fill a whole class period about each Spanish-speaking country, here are more ideas to go deeper besides pairing the video with Music from that country.
Interactive Map Activity
Use physical maps or digital tools like Google Earth to explore key locations from the video. Have students locate major cities, landmarks, and regions mentioned.
Cultural Deep Dive
Many teachers do Country Projects. After the video, assign students to research a cultural aspect from the featured country, such as music, festivals, or food, and share their findings with the class.
A teacher used my martes del mapa 2024 and said “I used this resource as a starting point for a Spanish-speaking country research project with my 4th & 5th graders. I used the videos to introduce each country as students took notes, and then each chose which country they were most interested in researching further. It was a great way to catch their attention. Plus, I like that the videos introduced my students to all Spanish speaking countries, including ones they didn’t know anything about and otherwise may not have chosen to research.”
More Ways to use Travel Videos in Spanish class
- Have students draw with what they see while watching each video.
- Have students write down what they see while watching the video.
- Assign the whole slideshow of videos as a 1-2 day cultural sub plan.
- Mute and narrate what you see similar to MovieTalk or Clip Chat.
- Add in questions with the video on EdPuzzle.
- Students write down any words in Spanish they see or hear.
- Project one travel video each day of Hispanic Heritage Month in Spanish class.
Ready to go Martes del mapa Slides
If you do not have time to dig and are looking for ready-to-go collections, I have a few that I have named “martes del mapa.” The goal of martes del mapa is to expose students to geography and the diverse countries of the Spanish-speaking world with short 2-5 minute travel videos. Most do not have any dialogue, so they are accessible to all levels of Spanish students.
Each slide focuses on a different Spanish-speaking country. I created them as a part of my weekly classroom routines. The original idea was to use one each Tuesday as a bell ringer or brain break. But, you could use the whole slideshow as a couple of days mini cultural unit about Spanish-speaking countries. This way students leave Spanish class with a better understanding of the diverse places and people who speak the language.
NEW martes del mapa 2025
Martes del mapa 2025 has all travel or tourism videos, with a mix of Spanish narration and no speaking. This version has a flag included, as well as 3 questions in Spanish to discuss the video. Plus, the new option purchase martes del mapa 2025 from the Mis Clases Locas website shop!
NEW Spanish-speaking travel videos in ENGLISH
All videos with no speaking or in English. This was requested for an Exploratory Spanish or Culture & Civilization class, but it would also work with ELL or ESL students. This set is all in English. In particular, the country, capital, nationality, and questions about the video are all in English. NEW update also has the same videos but with the country, capital & nationality in Spanish. So there are 2 sets of 22 slides included now!
The tourism videos either have no speaking or a few have some narration or words included that are in English. You can also get Spanish Speaking Countries Videos in ENGLISH from my website store.
More Spanish Videos with Narration
- martes del mapa 2023 – all videos, with more Spanish narration in travel videos or with facts in Spanish. Also, this version now has a flag included, as well as an extra question in Spanish to discuss the video. This is the version I would pick for upper level Spanish. Plus, the new option purchase martes del mapa 23 from the Mis Clases Locas website shop!
- Martes del mapa 2024 has all travel or tourism videos, with a mix of Spanish narration and no speaking. This version has a flag included, as well as 3 questions in Spanish to discuss the video. Plus, the new option purchase martes del mapa 24 from the Mis Clases Locas website shop!
More Travel Videos without Narration for Spanish Class
- martes del mapa 2022 – all videos, one from each country. Most videos do not have narration, which makes this version great for novice Spanish.
Other martes del mapa Options
- martes del mapa –a mix of infographics & videos, one from each country
- 1 year of Martes del mapa– a mix of music videos & travel videos
FRENCH TRAVEL VIDEOS
- share with your French teacher friends
YouTube Video – Travel Videos in Spanish Class
If you prefer to learn via video, check out this short video from me to learn more about using travel videos. (If you find it helpful, would love it if you like the video & subscribe to my Youtube channel!)
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Get a free sample of bell ringers including martes del mapa by entering your email below.
Looking for Upcoming Virtual Spanish Teacher PD?
Make sure to check out Spanish Teacher Professional Development 2025. I will be speaking at The {FREE} World Language Teacher Summit the last week in January & would love to see you there!
>> Get all the info & grab your Free Ticket to couch PD all about sustainable planning for many preps!
Final Thoughts
Travel videos are a powerful resource for teaching Spanish-speaking countries, culture, and geography. They bring authentic content into the classroom, helping students connect with the language in meaningful ways. Whether you’re planning a Martes del Mapa activity or diving into a travel unit, these videos will inspire curiosity and deepen understanding.
Do you have a favorite way to use travel videos in Spanish class? Share your tips and ideas in the comments below!
