Practicing Spanish Positives and Negatives: Narratives

After students have had a chance to master the isolated concepts and practice using positive and negative words, it's essential that they try putting it all together. In this activity, students will create a narrative that uses both positive and negative Spanish words. It’s common for students to struggle with this concept more once it’s time to use it in a fluid narrative. Thus, the narrative is a good opportunity to correct misunderstandings and cement mastery.

A good premise for the narrative is an anxiety dream, for example where the main character prepares diligently for a speech, but in the moment forgets everything or walks into the cafeteria on their first day at a new school and no one is there. However, students can choose to tell a story about anything so long as it is school appropriate! For reinforcement purposes, students could also be required to provide the English version of the story, title blocks with the targeted word and its translation above the narrative, or color coding for positives and negatives.

This activity also provides a great opportunity for students to practice speaking out loud. Once they've finished their narratives, students can perform them with a classmate. Students can also pick out the use of positive and negative words in each other's stories!

Student Instructions

Create a narrative of at least three cells that includes all of the positive and negative words as well as the many forms of alguno and ninguno.

1. Click "Start Assignment".
2. Using appropriate scenes, characters, items, and textables, create a narrative.
3. In the title box, identify the different vocabulary words in each cell and their meaning.
4. Use the description boxes to add additional detail about your story.
5. Save and exit when you're done.