Spanish 1 Lesson Plans: Spanish Story for November

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Are you looking to bring some fun comprehensible input for your Spanish classes this fall? Let’s practice clothing and color vocabulary with your Spanish 1 students with this fun Spanish story for November!

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Let’s Add Some Creative Output to Your Spanish Story for November

If you’ve already read the story and worked through comprehension, this is the perfect time to give your students a chance to create. One simple idea is to have them write an alternate ending. Maybe the turkey’s plan works a little too well. Maybe another family member shows up with an even more dramatic outfit. You’ll get lots of giggles, but also some solid writing practice as students review clothing, color, and family vocabulary, all through the lens of your Spanish Story for November.

Not all students love writing paragraphs, so offer a comic strip version too. A few boxes, some quick dialogue, and voilà, you’ve got a low-pressure creative task that lets your students show what they’ve learned. Plus, they’re practicing without even realizing it.

Vocabulary Included in this Spanish Story for November

The reading includes:

common verbs (quiere, lleva, dice)
family vocabulary
- abuelo/a
- familia
- mamá
- padre
- papá
- primo
- hermana
- hijo
- tío
clothing vocabulary
- botas
- camisa
- casco
- corbatín
- gafas de sol
- gorro
- pantalones
- ropa
- sombrero
- suéter
- traje
- vestido
- zapatos
color vocabulary

This is written in the present tense, perfect for your novice students!

How to Use this Spanish Short Story for November:

Pre-Reading Activity

Start with a pre-reading or warm up activity. Levántense si is a great way to make sure your students are familiar with the clothing and color vocabulary in an easy way!

You can play this one a few different ways! Have students stand up if.. or move places if.. or raise a hand if.. – totally up to you and your students! Call out a word or phrase in the target language based on the vocab you want to practice and students will do the action. For example, “Stand up if you are wearing jeans”, or “Raise your hand if you’re wearing purple today”. Just refer to the list above for your wordbank!

Learn more about this game in the blog post on 20 Vocabulary Games here!

Reading

Print the short story in color or black & white. Read it out loud to your students, have them read it alone, in pairs, or in small groups – totally up to you! You can really do this any way you like. I personally like to just read the story together. Learn more about ways to read out loud here!

Students can rely on the included vocabulary support as they read!

Comprehension Activities

The download comes with several comprehension activities! The first is a Read and Draw sheet. Students will read the sentences pulled from the story and illustrate to show comprehension. Learn more about this activity in my blog post here!

There is also a coloring comprehension sheet! Students will read the story, write the relationship with the main character, then color according to the information. This is great to check their family, clothing, and color vocabulary!

Students can also complete a summary sheet to retell the story. This is great for the start of a second day of activities to check and see if they remember what happened!

Finally, there’s a “disguise a turkey” family member activity! This is an illustrate and writing activity for a little bit of output. Students will imagine another family member that fits right in, and design the costume for them!

From Stories to Speaking: A Quick Oral Activity

Once students are familiar with the characters and vocab from the Spanish Story for November, try this: put them in pairs and assign each group a character from the story. Their job? To describe what their character is wearing, without saying their name. Then, other pairs try to guess who it is. It’s a quick way to sneak in speaking and listening while keeping the energy up.

These activities stretch your Spanish Story for November over a few days without feeling repetitive. They’re light, creative, and give your students more chances to interact with the vocabulary in meaningful ways, and best of all, they’re fun for you too.

Additional Activities

While you can use this as a one or two day lesson, if you have a three day week before break, you might want to stretch this Spanish short story for November a little bit more! After students complete the disguise a turkey sheet you can have them do a gallery walk to check out each others’ work, and get even more practice.