WELCOME to class
14This is a routine that has been a part of my class from the very beginning. I am always looking for ways to let my students lead class and encourage students to use Spanish at the same time. One activity I have found does both… “La Bienvenida.”
This is a short welcome lead by one student a day. I give my students a little outline of what they should say but encourage them to modify it or add anything extra. Students like watching each other speak in front of the class. It is good repetition and one of my favorite routines because it lets me watch the class use the language and interact with each other. Plus, everytime I have been observed, that is one thing that is always mentioned afterwards. Administrators love how student focused it is!
It goes like this…
¡Hola y bienvenidos a la clase de Espanol!
Me llamo ____________ y soy de ___________. Me gusta ___________ y __________ .
¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy?
¿Qué hora es?
¿Qué tiempo hace afuera?
¡Hoy es un buen día!
Other students in the class are free to respond to the questions in any way they would like.
Here are some variations:
Sometimes we pretend it’s opposite day and everyone answers the questions wrong.
After Spanish 1A, I use my bucket of questions and the leader draws 3 questions and it gives some surprise to the class.
For level two, we flip a euro (and they learn “heads” and “tails”) and if it’s heads then they do the bienvenida like normal. If it’s tails, then the WHOLE class leads the bienvenida from their seats and the 1 person in front of the class answers their questions. 
This is pretty funny.
Also, for the upper level classes, I create questions very specific to the current unit of study. For the food unit… “What did you eat this morning?” “What is your favorite fruit?” or “What do you want to eat for lunch today?”
I create a sign up sheet for this, and have a student who is in charge of alerting the leader each day before class starts. I ask that each student do this at least 1 time each trimester. For ultra shy students, I will allow a friend to help them or let them lead it from the back of the class. (One boy left the class and yelled it from the doorway so his classmates couldn’t see him!)
After most students have done this once, I will put a card that says “la bienvenida” under a desk and have them look under their desk to see who the lucky winner is! The next day they all look under their desk before they sit down but then I’ll have them get the dictionary out from under the desk and the one with the card in the dictionary wins.
Lastly, sometimes past students come back to visit my class and I’ll have them lead my current students. Sometimes they “wow” the class and other times we get to laugh at them a little.
Let students get some time in the spotlight and run class for a little bit! Welcome to class!
Megan
rachel573
Kara
Me encanta esta idea! Voy a hacerlo!
Qué buena idea!
Soy Profesora de Inglés acá en Chile. Me encantó tu blog, enseñas el idioma de una forma espectacular, la cual me motiva mucho. Saludos desde Chile
¡Gracias Nancy!
When do you generally start having the students do this activity?? Just wondering how long it takes them to learn the necessary vocabulary.
Usually by the second or third week. They need help but they learn by doing it!
is this before or after you take role with the ball? Do you also show a pelicula at the beginning of class? (saludos de Texas)
You could order it however you want – I have probably tried every possible combination. I usually do the bienvenida, attendance, pelicula, goal for the day, then some sort of input activity…
I like to have THEM start class. They seem to quiet down quicker for their peers – and I don’t have to do it!
Hey girls – 2 questions. I remember seeing a post about a hand-out you give to the students with useful words and phrases that they can use throughout the year, but I can’t seem to find it now, could one of you post a link to it here? I think it just had basic words on it like también, luego, entonces, etc.
Also, I forgot to click “give me a reminder through email” when I left my last comment…so I never received your answer and can’t find it now. My question was about which games/activities you use to have the students practice the necessary classroom phrases “puedo ir al…..” “no entiendo” etc.
Thanks! Hope I’m not too much of a bother! It’s my first year teaching :/
-Kyle
Kyle-
I think you’re looking for the post “Little words make big difference.” type that in the search bar. The other is idea 50 – teaching those important class phrases.
http://creativelanguageclass.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/idea-50-give-students-the-necessary-tools-to-use-the-language-in-class/
I’ll leave some ideas with your other question.
Great ideas. I like the picture of the newspaper you have used, can you remind me which site you used to create it? Thanks
@nessalovesshoes
[...] This is a routine that has been a part of my class from the very beginning. I am always looking for ways to let my students lead class and encourage students to use Spanish at the same time. One ac… [...]
I love this idea, and have been thinking of doing something similar!!! So great to see you have already tried it and are having success…question: do they look off a piece of paper or have to have it memorized?
I let them look off the paper. Eventually they stop getting it out because they know it. Success!