Activities to Teach Double Object Pronouns and Spanish
- Grammar exercises are the bread and butter of language teaching in any language. Although they can seem dry, they are effective in helping students speak proper Spanish. Grammar exercises for double object pronouns in Spanish involve getting students to fill in the two blanks in a sentence that represent the two pronouns. For example, in a grammar exercise based on the sentence "Mario te doy ___ cerveza a ___," the two blanks are filled in with "el" and "ti", since the sentence refers to "the (el) beer (cerveza)."
- When learning a language, it is not enough to practice it on paper. You have to also speak it out loud. This applies for grammar as well as pronunciation, since conjugating in real time is harder than conjugating when you have minutes to think about it. The best way to teach your students double object pronouns in Spanish by speaking, is to have your students converse with you, and to use sentences that include double object pronouns. When you use a sentence with a double object pronoun, ask your students to identify it.
- Visual activities can help students learn to identify and use double object pronouns in Spanish. One of the best such activities is to show your students cartoons that involve two objects, then have them write sentences based on these images. Once your students have learned about double object pronouns, and practiced conjugating them in grammar exercises, tell them to write Spanish sentences describing these images that include double object pronouns.
- Group learning has many benefits, one being the fact that it is more engaging than memorization exercises. For language learning, group activities are indispensable, since they help students to develop conversation skills. One group activity for teaching double object pronouns is to have your students discuss different situations where double object pronouns occur. The key is, the students must actually discuss the topic in Spanish, so that when they mention a double pronoun, they actually speak it in Spanish. Students may also write down the sentences they come up with, to help bring the lesson home.
