Tener que + infinitive is one of those topics that I have to teach (haha, get it?), but never really sinks in for the kids. This year I was looking for a new way to teach it and I came up with an idea that worked so well, I just had to share it! (I crack myself up!)
I go over the traditional notes and explain what it is, but this takes about 5 minutes.
Then I ask for a volunteer and whisper the plan to him/her.
“I’m going to show you a slide and tell you to do something. The word will be on the board if you don’t know what it means. The first time you tell me ‘no.’ Then I’m going to pretend to get mad at you and tell you to do it again, and you will still say ‘no.’ Finally, I am going to tell you that you have to do it and I want you to act out what I say.”
Here’s an example:
Teacher: Simón, Bebe el agua.
Simón: ¡No!
Teacher: (Thrusting her hands on her waist and wagging her finger at him angrily) ¡Simón! ¡Bebe el agua!
Simón: ¡No!
Teacher:(Slamming her fist on the table to emphasize each word) ¡Simón, TIENES QUE BEBER EL AGUA!
(Simón pretends to drink the water.)
Usually I repeat this little skit with that volunteer using the next slide as well to make sure everyone gets the pattern and then I call up a new student for each slide. They all think it’s hilarious and I usually have to repeat so all the kids who want to participate can. Sometimes I call up 2 or 3 kids at a time and just modify what I say and make a big deal out of pronouncing tienEN que so they hear the difference. Below are 3 of the twenty slides for the activity.
After we get our giggles out with this activity, I provide more comprehensible input with this spanish story. It provides 12 repetitions of tener que + infinitive and 3 practice exercises at the end. Depending on how long the slideshow activity lasts, we usually have time to read aloud the story once in class and then I assign the activities for homework.
