Preparation:

1. Select two videos in which speakers tell a similar story which include content relevant to your class
2. Create a chart for students to fill out information about each speakers. Consider   what you want students to focus on (for example: vocabulary, culture, pragmatics, general comprehension) when designing the chart.

In Class:

1. Give each student a copy of the chart and allow them a few minutes to look over the content
2. Ask the students what questions you might ask the speakers to elicit this information and what type of vocabulary you might hear in their answers
3. Play each video
4. Have them complete and discuss their answers in groups. For less advanced speakers, you may give each group a copy of the transcript for extra guidance.

Preparation:

1. Select one to two videos which include several relative vocabulary items. (Use the keyword search or topics to help you find the best videos for your vocabulary unit)
2. Create a word bank which includes any key words from the video and additional related words from your vocabulary list that are not in the video. (Use the vocabulary tab next to the transcript for suggestions on keywords)

In Class:

1. Give students the word bank and instruct them to circle only the words they hear in the video
2. Have them compare their answers in pairs or small groups and discuss how the non-circled words related to those they did hear (possibly included synonyms and antonyms and have them identify those pairs)

See documents.

1. View videos from SpinTX of native speakers talking about celebrations.

2. Work with a partner to create an interview.

3. Work with a partner to create a Spanish party invitation and present it to the class.  

(See  lesson plan document for detailed steps.)

Prep:

1. Select a video in which the speaker makes use of the pragmatic feature you are teaching. (Use the function tags to help you find the best videos for your topic).
2. Generate a worksheet which includes: a space for students to write down observations from the video and set of follow-questions you’ve created related to the video.

In class:

1. Give students a warm up activity which involves the pragmatic feature you are focusing on.
2. Have students watch the video and simultaneously write down the uses of the pragmatic feature they hear.
3. In pairs, have students ask each other these questions so they can practice incorporating the pragmatic feature.

Preparation: Prepare a procedure for compiling lists and generating word clouds.

In the Lab:

1. Students individually compile lists of the words that come readily to mind when they think of a topic.
2. Students search for that topic on website and keep track of words used in the videos.
3. As a class compile the words into two lists and generate word clouds for them.
4. In small groups and/or as a class discuss differences between word clouds.

Preparation: (If you will be using pie charts), prepare a procedure for doing so.

1. Identify rule to test.
2. Review rule as a class.
3. Individually or in small groups search for target word, phrase, grammar form, etc.
4. Determine whether rule is being followed in each case.
5. Determine how frequently rule is actually being followed (optional: generate pie charts to compare how frequently the rule is followed).
6. As a class have a guided discussion about how often the rule is followed and how / when it is flaunted.

See lesson plan document.

Preparation:

1. Select one or two videos in which speakers discuss a topic that is relevant to your class. For example, videos in which stereotypes are discussed.

In Class:

1. Show the video(s) to the class.

Have students discuss the topic using the vocabulary and grammar being covered in class. Students should focus the discussion around the content of the videos. (In our example they could discuss the different points of view of the speakers about stereotypes held by native Spanish speakers about individuals who use Spanglish.)

1. Teacher models for students what questions about family history might look like.
2. Students practice asking each other family history, using information provided to them about made-up patients.
3. Listening activities focused on family history, using a SPinTX video.
4. Listening work, and coming up with follow-up questions for a “patient” in a SPinTX video.  
5.  Students individually consider follow-up questions for a third video, and complete a brief self-evaluation.

More detailed instructions are included in the lesson plan document.

Preparation:

Select several (e.g. 6) videos which contain the grammar and vocabulary that you are covering in class (you can search for these by using relevant topic searches or vocabulary searches and then filtering for the relevant grammar)

In Class:

1. Break up the class into groups.
2. Assign each group one of the preselected videos.
3. Have each group carefully prepare 5 questions about the video. The questions should be formatted the same way questions are formatted in the exams the students take in your class. (E.g. if you don’t have T/F questions on your exams, they shouldn’t prepare T/F questions for the quiz.)
4. Some examples include: having students identify which of the listed vocabulary words is a synonym or antonym of the indicated word in the video based on context cues, having students explain why a specific grammar feature (such as the subjunctive verb tense) was used in a particular case, having students answer comprehension questions about the content of the video, etc.
5. You should give the students a decent amount of time (20 – 30 minutes) to write down their questions.
6. Each group presents its questions (via doc cam, chalkboard, or google doc) and then shows their video while their classmates answer the questions. Or, each group turns in its questions and you type up and correct each set of questions, and then post them as homework.

Preparation:

1. Select one video for the class (or if each student has access to a computer you can select multiple related videos) that relates to your class content.
2. Create a blank out.

In class:

1. Show students the title of the video and have them hypothesize as to what the video will be about. Perhaps if they don’t have many ideas, tell what topic tags the video has as well.
2. Tell students they will listen to the story 2 times and subsequently will write the story in their own words.
3. Play the video once and have students take notes. If the focus is on vocabulary, have them write down keyword. If the focus is on a verb tense, have them write down main verbs in their conjugated form.
4. In groups, students outline the story. If the focus is on vocabulary, have them write key word for each point. If the focus is on a verb tense, have them write which verbs and tenses that might be used for each point. Additionally they should generate a set of questions about parts of the story they didn’t understand.
5. Play the video a second time to see if they can answer the questions generated and fill out any gaps in their outline.
6. Have students write the story in their own words. This may be a homework assignment or done in class depending on the length of the video.

1. This activity works well when you have a few extra minutes and want your students to practice the grammar you are going over right now.

2. Break up the class in groups/pairs.

3. Each group/pair should look up 5 uses of the target grammar in the SpinTX videos. (e.g. students can search for meaning-changing adjectives by searching for key words such as “list*”, they can search for the subjunctive using the grammar tags available in SpinTX or using the subjunctive triggers that you are currently covering in class, they can search for the pluperfect by searching for imperfect forms of haber, they can search for present perfect by searching for present tense forms of haber, they can search for gustar-type verbs using keywords such as “interesa”, etc.) 

4. Students should write down the five different examples as well as a brief explanation about why the target grammar is being used in each example. (e.g. here they are using ser listo because their dad is a smart guy, vs. here they are suing estar listo because the speaker wasn’t ready for the test that day.)

Preparation:

1. Search for key vocabulary, grammar, and/or cultural topics in the SpinTX corpus.
2. Copy and paste the most relevant sentences into your quiz/exam.
3.  This is a great way to obtain content for multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, and verb conjugations.