Words ABOUT MY WORD WALL

One of my favorite ways to procrastinate is lurking in, I mean learning from, my teacher Facebook Groups.  A question that seems to come up frequently is whether or not to have a Word Wall.  In this post I plan to answer some frequently asked questions, explain why I love my Word Wall, and share a few of my student's favorite Word Wall activities. 

Why have a word wall?
Did you know the 100 most commonly used words in Spanish make up roughly 50% of Spoken Language?  In fact, learning the first 1000 most frequently used words in the Spanish language will allow you to understand 76.0% of all non-fiction writing, 79.6% of all fiction writing, and an astounding 87.8% of all oral speech.  ​You can read more about this study here.  As a language teacher, my primary goal is to help my students communicate​ in the target language.  That makes these words super stars, and words I want my students repeating frequently.  That is why a word wall, with compelling pictures, is a great use of classroom space.  I love watching my students wander over to the word wall when in search of a word or inspiration for a story.  Sometimes an intriguing picture on one a card they weren't even looking for will take their story off in a new and unexpected direction.  


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​Pictures, Spanish, and English?
I like to have pictures, Spanish, and English on each word on my wall.  I include pictures for several reasons.  First, I am an elementary teacher.  Some of my students are pre-literate, and some of my students are slow readers.  Having pictures as well as the Spanish and English words helps students that are not strong readers (yet).  Pictures on the cards also makes it easier to spot the correct card when students are looking for a particular word.  When I designed the Word Wall for my classroom I spent hours looking for interesting pictures.  While it was a lot of time to spend creating a resource, another advantage of having pictures on my cards, is that when I introduce these words to students, I have many easy ways I can talk about each word. For example, in the below picture for 'escribe' (write).  I can say, "Is a boy writing or a girl writing?"  What does he write?"  "What does he write with (a pencil or a hand)?  Why does he write (for more advanced students)?  You can go on, and on, mini stories about the words help them stick in student's memories.  
​Finally, the pictures are compelling and interesting to look at, my students love exploring the word wall and talking about the pictures they see there.   That is what we want when we teach a language,  compelling input! 
When it is time for a test, I use a big piece of butcher paper to cover the Word Wall.  I take it'd down, fold it up, and put it above my cupboard after testing.  I've used the same sheets of paper for several years.
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Why not just the Spanish word?
Past practice seem to suggest that students should not see the English at the same time as the Spanish so we can be 'immersed' in our new language.  That immersion is not nearly as effective though when the input is not comprehensible.  When we talk to a young baby, we do not speak in complex sentences and hope to achieve understanding.  Instead we speak to them slowly, using simple words and gestures. This helps the baby understand the language more quickly.  As teachers, we can be even more efficient as we can directly teach students what each word means (since we usually can communicate in English clearly with the student).  Telling a student the meaning of a word until they can acquire it speeds up learning time because all the time the student would have spent guessing the meaning of the word, can now be spent with the meaning known in meaningful repetition.  Plus, look at the picture below.  If the student had just learned the word 'rápido/fast' and did not have the English as a guide, they might not be sure if the picture meant man, run, fast, jaguar, scared, or any number of variants.  The picture that may seem obvious to us, could be very confusing to someone else.  Especially as some cultures emphasize different words as important in speech.  For an interesting read on that topic click here. 
In addition, I have found that once students do not need the English words, they simply stop looking at them and use the Spanish.  I made the English words smaller in my set on purpose, so that the Spanish word would be more eye catching.  You can buy my set here, or you could make your own set (free) with this list by clicking here.

What can that Word Wall do for me other than take up space and look pretty?
There are a surprising number of activities you can do with the Word Wall.  I made two copies of my original wall when I created it, cut the words, into strips, and laminated them.  One set I put on my wall, and one I keep use in the classroom for activities or when I have a few extra minutes. .  What useful activities you wonder?  Quite a few actually...

• "Yoga"- When I first introduce these words, we create a gesture to go with each word.  As a warm up for the next class (and to review), I call out the word, and everyone makes the gesture.  I put them in different orders and try to combine words when possible "Write on the head of your friend."  "Eat the pencil (I clarify that their is no actual pencil eating pre-activity) of a girl with blue eyes.  You could go on and on...
• Simon Says- Use this activity to review previous words. I am sure many people have used this game before, but a quick explanation just in case.  The game is that the teacher (or a student) is in charge.  They Say 'Simon says (in the target language of course), "soft hair" and everyone would make the correct gesture.  If they do not say 'Simon says' before they give the command "touch your feet" anyone doing the gesture is out (even if they made the correct one).  This is a fun chance to practice some game vocabulary.
• Charades or Pictionary- For these games, we play as a class the first time, and then in smaller student groups.  When playing as a class, I use the Word Wall set that I have prepared for class activities.  When students play in individual groups I give them this master list (I have a class set copied that I leave out for student access, as either of these games is good for students that finish early). To play Charades divide the class or group into two teams. one student draws one of the high frequency words from a hat.  They act it out without words, if their group can guess it correctly they get a point, if they cannot guess it the other group can try to steal the question (this keeps both groups listening the whole time).  Pictionary is similar to charades, except with whiteboards.  Each student has a whiteboard, one person still draws (or chooses) the word to guess . Instead of acting it out like in Charades, they draw it out.  When students on their team think they have the correct answer they write it on their whiteboard and hold it up.  The other team can steal in case of a wrong answer. This can also be played with students yelling out their guesses, but I like the chance for extra reading/writing.
• Storyboard -  Arrange the 'game set' of World Wall words into presorted groups around the classroom (pick words that would be easy to include in a story, boy, water, man, etc.) Students have to 'collect' a word from each hidden spot, and then include their (in small groups of around 4) target words in a short story or comic strip.  To increase repetitions, hang the stories or comic strips students make around the room and have students do a "Gallery Walk' and read the other stories.  They can try to guess which words are from the list, or leave a comment in Spanish!
• Soccer/Volleyball-  To play soccer take 3 or 4 of the words and hang them at the opposite end of the classroom in a line.  Divide students into teams.  Each team has a soccer ball.  Call out a word in English, and have students kick the soccer ball to the correct word. Students can cheer for their team or help (but only in the Target Language of course).To play volleyball divide the class into two teams.  One team serves, and the other team hits the ball back. Play continues until a team is not able to return the ball to the other side.  For our example, lets say Team A  knocked the ball into Team B's side and nobody was able to return the serve.  Since Team A knocked the ball onto the other team's side, they get a chance to answer a Spanish question; if Team A has the answer incorrect or doesn't know the answer, Team B has a chance to steal (keeps students paying attention).  Whichever team gets the question correct gets the point, and play continues. I like to use a row of desks as the net, and a giant beach ball (the kids like it better, and we describe the volleyball and practice size, colors, etc.).  A team 'serves' and hits the 'ball' across the net to continue play to a set number of points (a chance to practice numbers in the TL).
• Matamostcas/Scavenger Hunt- For "Matamoscas/Fly swatter" divide the class into 2 to 4 teams. Students can cheer for their team (but only in Spanish of course).  The teams get into lines, the student in the front of the line gets a (clean) fly swatter.  The teacher lays out the high frequency word wall words from her list (or stands next to where they are glued on the wall).  The teacher calls out the target word in English, and the students that are competing (holding clean fly swatters) try to 'swat' the correct match to the word the teacher called out. Team mates can help in the TL. Play continues to a set number of points.  When a player has taken their turn, they go to the back of the line and it is the next student's turn. Scavenger hunt is the same basic idea, except scatter the words around the room and let the students find the word the teacher calls out (no fly swatter needed).
• Website- I only see my students twice a week for 36 minutes, so I like to sneak in as much Spanish outside of my class time as their busy schedule allows.  One way I did that, was to create a website that students WANT to go to as often as possible.  When I made my Word Wall, I created a separate page for every 10 words or so; each page includes cartoons, stories, songs, music, and a place to listen to the words with a video.  My students love playing on my page, and several parents tell me their student cheers when it is time to do Spanish 'homework'  If you would like to use the website resource (free), please click here. 

I hope this has helped you in you decide whether or not a Word Wall is worth the space in your classroom, personally I find it to be an invaluable resource, and one that I will always welcome.  Share below if you have ideas I missed and you want to add..
 If interested you can buy my set here, or you could make your own word wall using this master list (free) by clicking here.

In response to a few questions I've received on this post I am adding these full sized pictures of what my walls look like, as well as my classroom doors.