- Many Spanish teachers have tried and failed with the "drill and kill" approach to Spanish instruction. In this model, children merely repeat, ad infinitum, what they hear, but have no purpose or context for the new information. In the interactive model, children are given several diverse contexts for using Spanish, making the new information immediately useful and cementing concepts.
- An interactive Spanish curriculum is multimodal, integrating reading, speaking, writing and listening skills. It address multiple learning styles, including visual, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, linguistic and mathematical. Teachers can use interactive exercises with homogeneous or heterogeneous groups.
- Games are a popular interactive exercise for Spanish learners. Play Simon Says, Red Light/Green Light, Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar, Concentration and other games using target Spanish vocabulary. Songs, rhymes, chants, poems and music are another effective activity, because they serve to move concepts from short-term to long-term memory. Dramatic play is another way to boost use of Spanish phrases or vocabulary in context.
- The benefits of interactive Spanish lessons are numerous. It encourages the whole group to get involved, allowing everyone maximum practice time with the language. Effective activities access various levels of production and encourage children to help one another with tasks. Teachers can use flexible grouping, open-ended projects, discovery learning, centers and other innovative structures while integrating Spanish.
- Assessment is the greatest challenge in an interactive Spanish classroom. Teachers often use forms of authentic assessment, such as portfolios, to measure progress. Rubrics can be another helpful tool to measure skills objectively. When students are engaged, teachers should take the opportunity to observe pairs or groups in action, taking notes about specific challenges and individual students' progress.
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