I love using games in the classroom because when my students are having fun, that’s when learning takes place. When they’re enjoying themselves I know they’re going to retain the information much better than memorization of the vocabulary. They have something to make a connection to what they’re learning.
After using the vocabulary in stories and in conversation with the students with special person interviews, one activity that I like to do is ¡Yo tengo! ¿Quién tiene?.
This game is an engaging whole class activity that will keep your students on their toes while they work together to reach the end of the game. It’s great for review. It’s also great for the end of class when you have a little extra time left in the period.
How do you play?
Each student will have a card or multiple cards that has a question and a response. It’s kind of a popcorn activity that goes from student to student. Responses bounce across the room from student to student and it is so fun to watch because they have to stay focused to help finish the game as quickly as possible.
First things first, pass out the cards. Some students will only have one card. If you have extra cards, you can pass out more than one to different students.
Then, the student with the starred card or the marked card will start the game by asking the question ¿Quién tiene?
For example,
¿Quién tiene paciente?
Another student has a card that says “Yo tengo “patient”.Once that student has answered their question, they have to answer ask the question ¿Quién tiene? question at the bottom of the card and it keeps going on and on the next person.
¿Quién tiene paciente?
Another student has a card that says “Yo tengo “patient”.Once that student has answered their question, they have to answer ask the question ¿Quién tiene? question at the bottom of the card and it keeps going on and on the next person.
The game should end with the person that started the game because they never said there “I have” card.
It’s going to be a little rocky at the start or if it’s the first time that they played the game but once they get the hang of it they get really excited and really into trying to finish the game as soon as possible.
One thing that you can do is challenge the students in your Spanish class to complete the game as fast possible and put a timer on the board so they know how much time they have and how long is taking them and they know what their goal is to finish.
To step it up a little more and make it a little more competitive you can challenge different Spanish class periods to see who can finish fastest! My students even get competitive within the class to finish faster.Have your tried ¡Yo tengo! ¿Quién tiene? Do you have any twists to the game? Tell me about it in the comment below. 👇🏾😀
Jade
