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Creative Ways to Teach the Subjunctive
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by Debbie Galloway
Centennial High School
Franklin, Tennessee
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| | Activities for the Subjunctive and Its Conjugations
1. To teach the conjugations of the present (or past) subjunctive, have students clap the conjugation with a partner. Have each pair of students clap right hands together for the yo form; left hands together for the tú form; then both hands together three times for the él, ella, and Ud. forms; then back to right hands for the nosotros form; left hands for the vosotros; and both hands together three times for the ellos, ellas, and Uds. forms. As they clap, they say each verb form. For example, hablar: hable, hables, hable, hable, hable, hablemos, habléis, hablen, hablen, hablen.
2. To practice more with conjugations, play hot potato by passing some small object between rows of students. The teacher may begin by saying any verb infinitive and then passing the object to the first student. The student has five seconds to say the yo form and then pass the object to another student to say the tú form, who then passes to another to say the él, ella, Ud. form, and so forth until the conjugation is complete. If a student gives an incorrect answer or does not answer, the next student does the same verb form until someone answers correctly.
3. The game of Concentration can also be played to practice with conjugations. The game can easily be made with big index cards (5 by 8 inches) and magnets for whiteboards or tape for chalkboards. Using 36 cards, write the Spanish form of the conjugation on half the cards (on one side) and the corresponding English form on the other half of the cards. Write across the top of the board A, B, C, C, D, E, and going down the left side, write 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Line the cards up in columns, attaching them with tape or with magnets so that the printed side is face down. Divide the students into two teams, and let one student at a time from each team take a turn. The student will call out two cards, such as "A uno" and "Che tres." If there is a match, turn the cards over to display the correct answer, and the student gets an extra turn. If that student misses, the cards are placed back face down, and the next team takes their turn. After all cards have been turned over, the team with the most points wins the game.
The Subjunctive in Noun Clauses: WEDDING
To teach the uses of subjunctive in noun clauses, categorize the different types of verbs into WEDDING:
- Wish/Want (querer, desear, preferir, and so on)
- Emotion (alegrarse, sorprenderse, enojarse, and so on)
- Doubt (dudar, no estar seguro, and so on)
- Denial (negar)
- Impersonal Expressions (Es importante, bueno, malo, necesario, and so on)
- Negation (No + verbos como creer, pensar)
- God (ojalá)
Activities Using the WEDDING Method
1. To practice the uses of WEDDING, have students brainstorm several different ways to begin the sentence (only the WEDDING part). Then have them brainstorm once again to provide appropriate endings using a variety of verbs in the subjunctive. They may write these on the board or speak them orally.
2. Using individual whiteboards (or just paper), have students practice the WEDDING uses by providing them with the beginning part of the sentence (the WEDDING part and then asking them to each come up with appropriate endings. For example, the teacher might say: "Espero que mi maestro . . . ." Then each student would provide an appropriate answer such as, "no nos dé mucha tarea." Have each student keep a tally of points for the correct responses he or she provides, and then give rewards (such as a bonus on the next quiz) for all who reach a certain number of points.
3. Have students work with a partner to tape-record 10 questions and answers each with the WEDDING uses. Have each student ask and answer one or two questions with each use. For example, one student may ask, "¿Qué esperas que tu familia haga este fin de semana?" The other student may answer, "Espero que vayamos al cine."
4. Have students journal orally on cassette tape and also in a notebook using a variety of the WEDDING uses. For example, a student might say or write, "Estoy alegre que haya una fiesta este viernes."
5. Have students watch a short, preselected video clip of a news program or some other program or movie in Spanish that is rich in the WEDDING uses. Have students write down or comment on the uses heard, and explain to the class why the subjunctive was necessary.
6. Choose a passage (such as those used in the reading section on the AP Exam) or an article from the Internet or a magazine that uses the WEDDING uses of subjunctive. Have students work in pairs to read the article or passage aloud, identify the uses of the subjunctive, and explain to each other why the subjunctive was necessary in the sentence.
7. Using a picture sequence (such as those used on the AP Exam), have students brainstorm ways to express the actions using as much subjunctive as possible, focusing on the WEDDING uses. They may then either work with a partner and write out a script to tell the story or individually tape-record a two-minute story sequence focusing on the WEDDING uses already discussed.
8. Have students listen to directed-response questions (such as those used on the AP Exam) or provide students with written directed-response questions and then have them brainstorm different ways to answer the questions using the WEDDING uses of the subjunctive. Have students tape-record their answers or write them on paper, focusing on the WEDDING uses already discussed.
9. Have students listen to short dialogues or narratives that use the WEDDING uses (such as the listening sections on the AP Exam), identify the uses of subjunctive, and explain to each other why the subjunctive was necessary in each case.
10. Provide students with essay topics (such as those on the AP Exam) and have them brainstorm key sentences that would support that topic using a variety of the WEDDING uses. Then have students write a 200-word essay focusing on the WEDDING uses already discussed.
11. Have students work with a partner to make an oral presentation using the WEDDING uses with given situations. For example, the teacher may assign one pair of students the situation of "Una cita romántica." The students would then pretend they are in that situation and brainstorm five to 10 different sentences they could say using the WEDDING uses. For example, one may comment, "Espero que mi novio(a) y yo vayamos a la playa para nuestra cita." The other student may respond by saying, "Ojalá que caminemos en la arena en la playa." Other situations could include the following:
- En un restaurante elegante
- En un viaje a Europa
- En un parque de atracciones
- En el parque zoológico
- En el museo de arte
- En un concierto de rock
- El primer día de escuela
- Las vacaciones de verano
- Una fiesta de sorpresa
- Un partido de básquetbol/fútbol/béisbol
12. Around the room, post sentence strips that emphasize the WEDDING uses. Write on one strip the WEDDING part of the sentence, such as "Los estudiantes se alegran de que . . . ." Then have another sentence strip that would finish the sentence, such as "no haya clase el sábado." It is helpful to have the WEDDING strips of paper be the same color (such as yellow) and the subjunctive strips be another color (such as green) to highlight the two different clauses.
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