La Tomatina Activities and Lesson Plans for Spanish Class
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La Tomatina is just one of those events that is SO fun to teach. I mean, when you first introduce it to the students they’re in disbelief! A giant food fight? People sell tickets to it? Huh?? Once you get into it, it’s suddenly on the top of every students’ bucket list. Awesome!
If you’re looking for a way to introduce your students to the history and culture behind the holiday, here are a collection of Tomatina resources I’ve used in my classroom! You’ll find learning activities, books, printables, readings, graphic organizers, and more!
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Watch the Video
Reading Activities
La Tomatina Books & Readers
If you’re looking for something cute and simple for your novices, Food Fight Fiesta: A Tale About La Tomatina is super cute – AND it’s written by another Spanish teacher!
I also enjoy the story Daniel el Detective: El caso de la entrada perdida. It’s been on my FVR Library List for awhile and it does a great job including information about the culture while Daniel tries to solve the mystery!
I think this could be a great fit for starting the year with Spanish 2. It has a pretty low word count and lots of familiar language, plus, it’d be easy to tie in the celebration during August when you’re welcoming your students back!
La Tomatina Infographics
Infographics are also a great option for reading. You can do all sorts of different activities with them, depending on the levels of your students! Here’s a few I found:
La Tomatina Cultural Reading
This reading activity includes a lot of options for your students so you can mix and match it across levels! Both the infographic and the graphic organizer pages come in Spanish and English so you can combine them however suits your students’ needs.
Listening Activities
Here are a few options for listening activities to teach about this holiday!
Watch this video by Tío Spanish. You could even turn it into an Edpuzzle.
This video is a good “warm up” or pre-reading option for your students as she gradually introduces vocabulary.
And, this page from Spanish Unicorn has a listening file as well as several pre-made comprehension activities!
Digital Activities for La Tomatina
Next, you know I love Virtual Field Trips, especially to reinforce geography while we explore culture! Students navigate the map, read descriptions, look at pictures, and watch embedded videos. As they do so, they fill out the graphic organizer, or answer comprehension questions! Click here to check it out!
Boom Cards are a great option for a digital lesson on La Tomatina! (New to Boom Cards? Check out my post here to learn more about Boom Cards!)
This set starts with a reading and listening activity to introduce students to the festival. Then students complete some comprehension questions, order a timeline of events and unscramble sentences in Spanish to reinforce their understanding! Click here to check out the set in a short preview.
If you’d like, I have bundled these resources together! You can grab them both here and save off the individual listing.
La Tomatina Activities and Lesson Plans for Spanish Class
I hope those give you some helpful ideas! How do you educate students about La Tomatina in your classroom? Do you do anything special for the day, or is it a normal day of class? Let me know!
