Lesson Plan - Learning About the Weather in Spanish

Teaching students how to speak Spanish is a complex process. Each student learns differently, but there are a few fun classroom activities that can get everybody involved and speaking Spanish with each other. Learning how to talk about the weather is important for beginner level students. Read on to find out more about a useful activity that works to help students master phrases associated with various types of weather.

Step 1 - Get some index cards and a sharpie before class. Count out the same number of cards as there are students. On each card, draw a picture that represents a certain type of weather condition. For instance, if there are 5 students, you could make a rainy card, a sunny card, a snowy card, a windy card, and a cloudy card. For additional weather related words, see the link to another article at the bottom of this article.

Step 2 - On the back of each card, write out the corresponding phrase in Spanish. For example, on the rainy card you would write "está lloviendo" (it is raining), and on the cloudy card you would write out "está nublado" (it's cloudy out). Once you have a card for each student, you are ready to begin the activity.

Step 3 - Have students stand up and get into pairs. Moving around a bit can help students loosen up a bit in order to try speaking in Spanish.

Step 4 - In pairs, one student will ask the other "¿qué tal el clima?" (how's the weather?). At the same time, they will hold up their index card with the picture for their partner to see. The student must then attempt to answer the question. For example, if a student holds up an index card with a picture of sun and a stick figure sweating, their partner would respond "hace calor" (it's hot out).

Step 5 - After each student in the pair has asked and answered a question, the pairs should change. Students mingle and move on to the next person to repeat the process and learn a new phrase associated with the weather. The answers will already be written out on the backs of the cards, so students can correct themselves as they go along.

Once each student has been paired up with all the others, it is time to wrap up the activity. The teacher can have students sit while they go the the board. The instructor will then sketch each weather condition on the board and ask the students to express the condition in Spanish for review. This is a simple little exercise that gets students speaking and interacting with one another. They should be familiar with all the phrases by the end of this interactive activity.

Vocabulary for Weather and Water sports in Spanish For a list of weather words and some water sports that your students might enjoy.