Wouldn’t you love your students to read more in Spanish and reinforce the different modes of communication? But don’t want to try the same boring format every time? And wouldn’t it be cool to incorporate more examples of interpersonal writing too? Interpersonal communication in authentic scenarios is a key piece to language students’ development and tie in easily with can-do statements. Plus, your advanced placement students will be better prepared for the ap exam with more exposure to the interpersonal mode. Read on in this blog post to find out about my top 10 ways to get my high school students reading in Spanish!
Different Activities for Interpersonal Writing:
•Email reply: Do you have an AP program at your school? This is perfect for your upper-level students, including Pre-AP classes, to prepare them for the AP exam.
•Text messages / fake Whatsapp response: Ideal for middle school or high school students!
•Social Media thread: Survey the whole group to figure out the most popular social media platforms. Lean into the ones that they use the most to encourage engagement.
•Invitation to an Event w RSVP: Ask your class to submit ideas for what types of events they would be invited to. Some examples are weddings, communions, homecoming, prom, etc. Create a variety of short RSVP readings based on their responses. Then divide the class into small groups to read the invitation and write a response in Spanish. Letting them work in groups to pool their ideas is perfect for your novice mid-students.
•Dear “Abby” Write for Advice: Survey the class to determine the main issues that they face. Some examples might include wanting to quit a sport, struggling in a particular class, wanting more independence, wanting to borrow their parent’s car, etc. Create some scenarios based on their responses that they can read, identify the main idea, and respond to using simple sentences. If you’re working with intermediate levels, you can do this activity as an entire class! The teacher writes the response on the board while students throw out suggestions. This way you can help assist if they need help with the subjunctive.
•Job Posting: This is perfect independent work for your upper-level Spanish students and quickly and authentically makes connections to the real world. Plus, this easily springboards into a natural interpersonal speaking practice activity to extend the lesson, some of the best ways to encourage authentic conversation.
•Write a letter from a fictional character (Don Quixote, Ratón Pérez): This is one of my favorite ways to extend a cultural activity or to build off of a reading unit with short stories or novels.
•Blog– You can create your own or use an authentic resource. There is obviously an important difference between the two, so if you’re using an authentic blog consider diving them into pairs of students to tackle the reading.
•Snail mail / Postcard: Postcards are my favorite format for interpersonal reading because not only are they shorter content, but they also make beautiful Spanish class decor once you’re finished! Check out my favorites which build in a ton of cross-cultural comparisons here.
Interpersonal activities are essential activities for Spanish teachers to build into their lessons, so let’s get excited about mixing it up in your Spanish class with an easy way to incorporate interpersonal reading and writing! Your students can create all sorts of beautiful writing in the target language by using all these different formats while building their language skills. And I hope that these ideas are a great way to reduce the time language teachers spend creating lesson plans! Have fun!
PS- Would you love some NO PREP interpersonal Spanish reading passages?
These are my FAVORITE interpersonal reading passages for my novice lows / lower-level students. They’ll simplify your lesson plans for Spanish class so you can use that extra time for grading papers, meeting with students, or even a hot cup of coffee! And these are a simple way to collect writing samples from your students. Click on the image below to check out these no-prep Spanish reading passages.
Related blog posts:
What are Interpersonal Reading & Writing Activities for Spanish Class?
How to Easily Make Interpersonal Writing Activities into Presentational Speaking & Writing
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