Spanish speaking activities built around a familiar topic make learning natural and memorable. Below I use short Spanish phrases about school life and explain them in English, so you can practise vocabulary and present tense verbs in real context.
Typical school week
Start by learning simple, high-frequency sentences about the school week. Use the Spanish lines to model pronunciation and then explain or paraphrase them in English.
“Generalmente hay cinco días de clases.”
Translation and note: This means “Generally there are five days of classes.” It uses hay (there is/there are) to describe routines. Ask learners to form similar sentences: “Generalmente hay…” and name other routines at home or work.
Daily schedule: mornings to afternoons
“Las clases empiezan por la mañana … y terminan por la tarde.”
Explain: Classes start in the morning and end in the afternoon. Use this to practise time expressions and verbs like empezar (to start) and terminar (to finish). Ask students to describe their day: “Mi clase de matemáticas empieza a las nueve.”
Holidays and breaks
“Los estudiantes tienen descansos o vacaciones tres o cuatro veces durante el año escolar.”
Explain: Many US schools have multiple breaks — autumn (Thanksgiving), winter holidays (Christmas and New Year), sometimes a spring break in March or April, and the long summer break ending in May or June. Use these phrases to practise months, seasons and the verb tener (to have).
Subjects and electives
Use the list of subjects to build short speaking prompts. Read the Spanish nouns, then ask learners to say whether they study them.
- Inglés — English: “Estudio inglés y literatura.”
- Matemáticas — Algebra, geometry, calculus: “Mi clase favorita es álgebra.”
- Ciencias — Biology, physics, chemistry: “Tengo clase de biología los lunes.”
- Arte, música, drama — Creative electives that invite descriptive language.
Practical Spanish speaking activities you can use
Here are simple, repeatable activities based on the school-schedule content. Each one uses the language from above so learners practise grammar and vocabulary naturally.
- True/False statements: Read a Spanish sentence about a schedule and learners answer “verdadero” or “falso.”
- Timetable swap: Pair learners to describe their weekly timetables in Spanish and ask follow-up questions.
- Roleplay: One student is a teacher describing the school day; the other is a parent asking about holidays and subjects.
- Picture prompts: Show an image of a classroom or calendar and have students make sentences: “En enero tenemos vacaciones.”
- Compare and contrast: Students describe how their school differs from the example: “En mi país, las clases terminan más tarde.”
Use these Spanish speaking activities to focus on present-tense verbs, everyday vocabulary, and natural question-and-answer patterns. For fluency, repeat short phrases and encourage full-sentence replies.
Final prompt to try
Ask learners:
“¿Cómo es tu escuela? ¿Cuál es tu horario?”
Have them answer in Spanish using the structures above.
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