Show 'n Tell

In order to encourage our students to say more than a few words at a time in the target language, I sometimes like to assign short ‘show-and-tell’ presentations. Here are the instructions as I’ve written them for my 1001 students:

After a short practice session, each student will present a five or six-sentence description in Spanish of a visual they’ve brought to share with the class. Each student should be prepared to show a visual and explain its importance. Your presentation should be entirely in Spanish and given without the aid of notes. For example, a student might bring a photograph of a family member and describe that person to the class.

Some ideas of possible topics include:
1. A photograph of members of your family – tell who is pictured, describe each person briefly, and tell something that each person likes to do.
2. A Spanish-language song, artist, or album you like – tell where the artist is from, briefly describe the artist, tell how old she/he is, and say something about his/her style.
3. A page out of your weekly planner – tell something you do on each day of the week, and give the time for which it is scheduled.
4. A photo of yourself at a Salsa Night - describe the club where Salsa Night is held, tell where it is in Atlanta, tell the time it opens, and what days and times there is Salsa dancing.
5. A menu from your favorite Mexican restaurant – tell its name, where it is, when it opens, what you like to eat there, and a brief description of the restaurant.

Students must prepare in advance, since they have to bring a visual, but I encourage students to simply speak about the item they’ve brought, rather than trying to memorize a prepared speech word-for-word.