Games with Spanish Proverbs

We left off last week playing around a bit with idioms. I also mentioned that this week I’d propose activities that you could use to get started teaching proverbs and the challenging lexicon these include.

One thing I will never tire of repeating, even at the risk of being annoying, is that these types of activities should only be used with intermediate level students. I don’t even want to think about the level of panic that an A2 or beginning B1 student would experience lost out in this downpour of archaic language and meanings that don’t make sense at first glance.

One of the first things we’ll do in the classroom is make clear that proverbs are a phenomenon shared by all languages, as these are phrases that reflect popular wisdom. This wisdom is similar in all cultures, although the cultural references used to express it may be different (in china for example, where bread is not a food staple, the Spanish expression “a buen hambre no hay pan duro”, should probably be translated with a reference to rice, for example).

Now we’ll do a matching activity that places special focus on expressions that are formal. Expressions created and / or accepted by a community must contain at least one of the following three fundamental criteria: they may establish a cause and an effect (Qien con niños se acuesta, meado amanece), they may rhyme (Ande yo caliente y ríase la gente), and finally, they may contain a paralleled structure (Al pan, pan y al vino, vino).

Teaching Activities

To do the matching exercise, you could use a document like this one:

You could say that this 49-expression list is a bit excessive. Okay, maybe you’re right; just choose the ones that sound the most common or the most “curious” to engage students and inspire a smile. Consider for example “Lo que come el mulo, caga el culo”.

You can start the exercise by working together as one big group to classify the expressions into the three categories mentioned above. The next step, which is of great importance in my opinion, is taking a look at the meanings which may remain more or less hidden behind each expression. You could take the exercise one step further by asking students to think of an equivalent expression in their own language, if possible.

It’s probably best to do this next part of the exercise during a different class period, so the information has a little time to settle. Now you can use a game, like dominos, to join the first and last part of each expression. Just make and cut out some cards like these, and hand them out to the students; you can divide students up into two groups, into pairs, or they could do this individually. A suggestion: the lower the Spanish level of your students, the bigger the group should be so they can discuss, negotiate, or ask for information from the rival group, as the group work may help less secure students get over their fear/embarrassment of making a mistake.

As for the presentation and design of the game, that depends on each teacher, as they say, Cada maestrillo… (1) a perfect example of what we’ve been talking about.

So that’s the foundation of the activity, upon which you can create as many different variations as your creativity or your time permits.

As we all know: A buen entendedor... (2)

(1)     Cada maestrillo tiene su librillo.
(2)     A buen entendedor, pocas palabras bastan.