Thanksgiving Activities for Spanish Class

Inside: Lesson plans and activities for Thanksgiving in Spanish class

Thanksgiving is one of my absolute FAVORITE holidays. Halloween doesn’t even come close, in my opinion (and yes, I will arm wrestle you over this). Today, I want to share some of the ways I bring Thanksgiving spirit into my Spanish classes, without leaving the Spanish behind!

You can either use these  activities as stations (Check out my post on stations here!) or just pick one or two for the week leading up to the holiday!

Watch the Video

Thanksgiving Activities for Spanish Class

The first thing I want to share with you is this digital and printable story. It’s about a little turkey who’s trying to convince his family they should escape from the farm, but they’re all focused on hiding and disguising themselves instead! He gets pretty frustrated about it. There is a cute little twist at the end, to surprise your students, too! If you’re familiar with Boom Cards, you know I love how they give the kiddos instant feedback, and the other thing I love about them for digital stories is that the audio is embedded right in there for them to listen and follow along. Both the printable and digital versions include comprehension activities to go with it!

Talking about escaping turkeys, this movie talk is one of my favorites to use in November! I have free resources to go with it on my blog, with screenshots and activities all ready for you.

A reading option for you that is very simple for your novices is to have them check out infographics! I have a few gathered for you on my Pinterest board. You can print and hang them around the room and have students do a gallery walk and pick out a piece of information they understood from each one, or you could dig deeper into one of them. Change the task to fit their level – Ones might look for cognates while twos answer questions! Up to you. Check out my Pinterest board here for some more images! I really love the one with different ways to say turkey!

If you want to do a gallery walk with even more reading, you might like this set! It has 12 students talking about how they are going to spend their Thanksgiving break, in language that is comprehensible for your learners. The readings include:

• Name(s)
• How they feel about the break/holiday
• Where they’re going
• What they’re going to eat
• Who they’ll spend time with
• 1 thing they’re thankful for
• Vocabulary support in the form of footnotes

As with all of my gallery walk sets, it includes printable and digital options, as well as an additional reading comprehension option for Google Slides and Boom Cards, so there’s a whole bunch of ways you could use these activities!

Bring out..the TURKEYS!

Seriously. The Turkey of Thankfulness is one of my favorite activities, and it’s super accessible to novice learners and upper levels! This is definitely one of those activities where you can just slightly change the expectations and boom – applicable across levels. Spanish 1 students can easily list nouns and upper levels can write more complete and complex sentences – all sharing what they are thankful for!

If you wanted to, you could definitely do the “hand turkey” – students might remember that from grade school! Check out this link for a print and go turkey and printable banner and letters!

If you’re not into the turkeys (or maybe you did them last year and need to change it up) you might like this scaffolded writing sheet!

Finally, I love these print and go or post and go writing options. You can use them before or after break, but personally I prefer them for the day after break for a low prep way to ease back into things! For more info on how that might look, check out my video here on first day plans for after break.

Speaking Activities for Thanksgiving in Spanish Class

Sarah Breckley shared this post with two options for sharing Thanksgiving feelings in her Spanish classes and I love it! You can be sarcastic and silly with it, or they can be sweet and sincere! Either way.

Have you ever played “Add-on”? Each player adds something to the list, and then the next person says the first, thing and adds something to the list. In this case, you could definitely play “Add-on” starting with the phrase, “Nosotros damos gracias por..”!  You could play with the whole class or in small groups.

Listening Activities for Thanksgiving in Spanish Class

This may be the best part! If you’ve seen my Música Miércoles post, you know that I am loving using music in my classroom. Here are my top two picks for Thanksgiving songs:

1. “Gratitud” by Fonseca – This is what I would call an “oldie but a goodie”. It’s also super straightforward! There’s no analyzing, it’s a clear list! There’s a ton of words that even your novice students can recognize.
2. “Si No Te Tengo A Ti” by Álvaro Soler – Who doesn’t love Álvaro? His songs are full of fun rhythms, and he sings clearly! This song is nice because there’s a LOT of “tengo” in it so students hear it a lot, but the chorus is also really comprehensible. To connect it to the holiday students can do a little reflecting to talk about what is important to them. Love it!

Seasonal Conjugation Practice Activities

Let’s chat about some conjugation options. Sometimes you have to have your students practice and memorize the forms, so let’s do it in a fun and seasonal way!

With this conjugation craftivity, students grab a turkey, add a verb (or you assign them one), conjugate on the feathers, then color, cut, assemble, and hang!

Turkey Hunt Boom Cards – In this instant feedback review game, students practice different sets of verbs, all the while getting closer and closer to their Thanksgiving turkey!

Conjugation Turkey Practice Worksheets – similar to the craftivity, but no cutting or gluing – just print and practice! This one also would give students more practice than the craftivity because each page includes a few verbs.

Coloring sheets for novices – these are perfect for a very chill day before break. Let them choose a page and practice!

Do you do anything for Thanksgiving in your Spanish classrooms? What do you like to do?

Drop a comment below, or tag me on Instagram @srta_spanish! I love to see what other people are doing in their classroom!

Spanish Teacher Tees

If you’re looking for a fun tee to wear during your lessons, check these out!