I love to let students be in charge of finding their own vocabulary words! I find the are more likely to remember them when they discover them on their own. Sometimes, this is hard to do. Many students look up the wrong word in the dictionary or use a translator incorrectly. However, if they get the vocabulary from an authentic source then the words are usually used in context and many times include a picture.
For a clothing/shopping unit there are tons of sources that students can use to figure out new words! Mine all found the main clothes items from the El Corte Inglés website. The next day they found around 10 clothing accessories from the People en Español magazines (which is also online) that I have in the room. ZARA – España is another great online shopping experience.
Here are a few glances at the authentic resources my students had their hands on…
In the end, they found their new vocab (without a dictionary or translator) with a big dose of culture. They were asking tons of questions about what they saw! Success!
What other great resources can students use to find their own vocabulary instead of just getting a list in class?
I love this idea, and I have a unit coming up on clothing. I’m just wondering exactly what you had them do as an assignment when they visited the site?
Day 1 was in the lab and they were given a scenario where there luggage was lost by the airlines on their family vacation to Spain. For compensation they were given a 1000€ gift card. They had to buy new clothes fr their family members. They had a simple chart and had to note what they bought, what department it was from, and the price. Day 2 was creating notes to use later from finding clothes and accessories from the magazines. I’m always encouraging them… Don’t work just to fill out a sheet. Constantly see what you can figure out!
Hola! First of all, thank you for sharing your great ideas with the rest of us. I’m a student teacher, currently in the middle of creating a clothing unit and would like to incorporate this great activity. Just one question, how did you ensure that the student’s did not get off task or ensure that they are looking for specific vocabulary, i.e., jacket (chaqueta) and not blazer or cazadora as it is on the website? – Thanks-
The entire website is in Spanish so they can’t really get off task. If they say “jacket” in Spain, I wouldn’t care if my students used that too. I used a scenario where they had to buy new clothes for their whole family and write down wha thy bought, what department it was from, and how much it costs. They learned so much more than my actual written activity. They also looked at toys, videogames, shoes, underwear…in the end, they old navigate their way around a Spanish language website. They figured out men’s, women’s, kids, electronics, and even many sub categories. They googled how much 1000 euros was in dollars and compared thir fashion with Spanish fashion! I gave they a task to help them focus on clothes but they all learned more based on personal interest! Don’t worry about them playing around on it! Give them freedom to explore and thy will be learning without even realizing it!
She didn’t mention my favorite part of her activity. She gives them a ‘list’ of pictures that they label in TL using the magazines, newspapers, websites, etc. No translating needed! Then they have notes to refer back to.
I like it!!
Do all of your students have access to a computer/iPad/ec in class? I am limited in my technology at my school. However, I am working on getting more magazines, etc in class
I have 10 iPads in class, so I best use them in stations. I think kids need to be 1 on 1 with them. For the corte ingles day, we went to a computer lab. I love having the magazines. I have about 50 now and they work with almost any topic. At first, I use them to introduce cognates. The ads are great for food, shopping, and there is tons of info about family, music, and movies! (you should check into some technology grants if your school is lacking a little!)
I do now, but Megan does not have a 1:1 ratio. She is the queen of stations so they rotate around to solve this issue or takes them to the computer lab. This activity is worth the trip!
I need the summer just to get all these ideas ready! I’ve been keeping a running word document all year with ideas that pop in my head so I can print it out this summer and organize what I need to make it happen. I also use pinterest the same way.