The English verb “to be” is rendered by both the verbs ser and estar. After students have studied the rules well, they can play the following Spanish grammar word matching games to gain practice. They can have fun creating their own games!
Using Games
Who says teaching Spanish has to be all hard work and no play? When students are relaxed and having fun, they are more likely to enjoy and remember what they are learning. Here are some ideas for games that you can use to teach Spanish grammar.
Getting Started
Prepare some questions and answers on slips of paper. Put the questions in one hat or basket and the answers in another. Each student will pull a question and an answer. If his question and answer go together, he gains a point. He then pulls another question and answer. Each time a question and answer do not match, the student must prepare his own matching question and answer. He gains two points if the teacher confirms that they are correct. Students continue like this until all the original questions and answers are out of the basket or hat.
Here are some questions and answers. You can create many more of your own.
¿Quien es? - Es Luis
¿ Es usted ingles? - No, soy español
¿De dónde es? - Es de Barcelona
¿Es usted francés - Si, soy francés
¿Es Ana delgada o gorda? - Ana es gorda
¿Dónde está Jorge? - Está con su novia
¿Dónde está María ? - Está de vacaciones
¿Está abierta la tienda - Sí, la tienda está abierta
¿Están perdidos? - Sí están perdidos
¿Estás en Madrid ? - Sí estoy en Madrid.
¿Estas contenta allí? - Sí estoy muy contenta aquí
Por and Para
The prepositions _po_r and para are a little more confusing than the verbs ser and estar. Both words translate the English word “for," but they do not mean the same thing. Students playing Spanish grammar games with these words should think of por as looking back to the roots, origins or causes of a thing through, by means of, because of. Think of para as looking forward to the result, aim, goal, limit or destination.
Play the following Spanish grammar games with these words. Students can work in teams as the por team against the para team. Students of each team take turns forming sentences. The teacher should monitor to confirm whether they used the correct preposition. The teacher may also supply the students with sentences by writing them on the board, leaving a space for the students to insert the correct word. For each correct sentence a student creates, his team receives one point.
Here are some simple sentences to practice with.
Salieron por la noche
Pasan por la calle
Lo llamaron por teléfono
Lo envíó por avión
Por viente dólares puedes comer bastante bien.
La carta es para Ramón
Las flores son para mí.
Es mi vuelo para Argentina.
Voy a comprar mucha ropa para niños
References
- Por and Para Spanish Grammar Game; http://www.spanish.cl/Grammar/Games/Por_Para.htm
- Ser and Estar Spanish Grammar Game; http://www.spanish.cl/Grammar/Games/Verbos_Ser_Estar.htm
