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 justย had toย share it! (I crack myself up!)
I go over the traditional notes and explain what it is, but this takes about 5 minutes. ย
Thenย I ask for a volunteer and whisper the plan to him/her.ย
“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. ย The first time you tell me ‘no.’ ย 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 thatย you have to do itย and I want you to act out what I say.”ย โ
Here’s an example:
Teacher: Simรณn, Bebe el agua.
Simรณn: ยกNo!
Teacher: (Thrusting her hands on her waist and wagging her finger at him angrily) ยกSimรณn! ยกBebe el agua!ย
Simรณn: ยกNo!
Teacher:(Slamming her fist on the table to emphasize each word) ยกSimรณn, TIENES QUE BEBER EL AGUA!
(Simรณn pretends to drink the water.) ย
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.ย 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.
