Spanish Cognates Worksheet & Reading Activities

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Are you working with novice Spanish students? Add Los Cognados to your lesson plans! Teaching Spanish words and English words that overlap is a great way to help students new to second language learning to get a jump start on Spanish vocabulary and connecting the meaning of the new words to their prior understanding.

This Spanish cognates worksheet & reading activities set is great for middle school and high school Spanish students! Two different readings and activities are included to introduce your students to cognates used by Spanish speakers. One reading is shorter than the other so you could use them as differentiation options, or just save one for a different point of the year!

Why Teach Spanish Cognates

All Spanish teachers should teach their students about Spanish cognates! For first time learners, cognates are a powerful tool to help them make English Spanish connections and develop their language skills. As students connect the meaning of a word to vocabulary they already know, it aids in understanding and helps keep them from being overwhelmed as they learn a new language.

How to Use this Spanish Cognates Worksheet

You can use this set of activities in a bunch of different ways! They’re super helpful when students feel overwhelmed by “too much Spanish” to help them focus on what they can understand. Use them for:

introducing the topic in your Spanish English cognates lesson
a fast finisher
a great starter activity at the beginning of class
sub plan at the beginning of the year
growing confidence on the first day of class
welcome your novice language learners to Spanish class

Teaching a lesson using cognates is the best way to start the first day of school with your Spanish I students – they’ll be amazed at how much they already know!

What’s Included

This set of readings and activities includes more than just a single Spanish cognates worksheet. Here are all of the included pages:

Two different short texts
- Full page Spanish worksheet with comprehension questions in English and activities to show comprehension!
- Half page format – circle cognates and illustrate to show comprehension!
- DIGITAL Version for use with Google Slides – students type and move shapes to interact with the text. Editable link to the Slides is in the download!
Answer Keys
Printable page for use with any text to emphasize cognates as a reading comprehension tool

There is a pdf version – print and go, and a digital version – post and go! Both options are low prep for you to use easily in your classroom setting.

This is designed for novice students – you could even use this the first week of their language learning to help them learn a reading strategy to help your students be successful.

An additional page is included that can be used with any reading! Give your students a news article or a book and have them find the cognates. Great for a sub-plan or reinforcing the strategy at any point in the year.