Teaching the body parts in Spanish

The students will be able to recognize and recall the body parts in Spanish.

A lesson plan for grades 3–5 Second Languages

By Ana Beltran

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Related topics

• Learn more about Spanish, body parts, second languages, and vocabulary.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• identify and name the parts of the body in Spanish
• describe a person physically by his hair and color of eyes
• graph in a chart their physical differences
• follow commands involving their body parts
• distinguish the singular and plural forms of nouns and articles in Spanish
• be introduced to the concordance between adjective and noun in Spanish
• write the body parts words in Spanish

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 hours

Materials/resources

• The following things made of cardboard and laminated:
  • three circles for the heads
  • three pairs of eyes (blue, green, brown), plus extras
  • three pairs of noses
  • three pairs of mouths
  • three pairs of ears
  • three shapes of hair (yellow for blonde, black, and orange for red hair), plus extras
• Photos from magazines featuring people with different colors of hair and eyes
• A poster with a human figure (it can be either purchased or drawn by the teacher)
• Cardboard to make labels naming the different parts in Spanish
• Cardboard for the students to make charts
• Crayons, markers, and Blutak

Pre-activities

• Students already know how to count to fifty in Spanish.
• Students understand basic commands and questions words such as cuantos hay, quien es, de que color es, que es (how many, who is, what color is, what is).
• Students know the colors in Spanish.
• Students have been exposed to the plural form of the noun and the article (-s/-es, el, la, los, las).

Activities

This lesson lasts two hours divided in periods of thirty minutes.

First day

1. The teacher will have the three circles stuck on the board and will ask the students, “Que son?” (What are these?) After a moment the teacher may point at his own head and say, “Es la cabeza.” (It is the head).
2. The teacher will go on saying “Pero esta cabeza no tiene…” (But this head does not have…) and will elicit from the students responses such as eyes, nose, hair, and mouth, then add those features to the first circle. Teacher checks to see if any of the students know this Spanish vocabulary from previous years.
3. The two other circles will be used to reinforce the newly learned vocabulary and to introduce the words for the different colors of hair such as rubio, moreno, pelirrojo (blonde, dark and red-hair) and the concordance between the noun and the adjective such as ojos azules, ojo azul (blue eyes, blue eye).
4. The students will be asked all the time during the lessons to give answers to questions like “what color is the hair or eyes?” using their previous knowledge of the color adjectives which the teacher will modify introducing to them the plural.
5. After this, the teacher will remove the noses, hair, etc. and work with only two heads. Two students at a time will be asked to add features to them using phrases such as “ponle la nariz, ponle el pelo rubio, etc.” This could be turned into a contest to see which student is the quickest to add a certain feature. Students will be asked to name the parts they add to the head.
6. To finish the lesson, the teacher may wander around the room pointing at some students and asking the rest “de que color tiene los ojos, el pelo..?” (what is the color of the eyes, the hair..?) Teacher will also solicit affirmative and negative answers by asking questions such as “Tiene los ojos azules? Si,no? No tiene los ojos azules, tiene los ojos verdes.” (Does he have blue eyes? Yes, no? He does not have blue eyes, he has green eyes.)

Second day

1. The teacher will refresh the students’ memory by showing them the magazine photographs and asking them questions that review the newly learned vocabulary.
2. The teacher will give the students charts to graph the class’ color of eyes and hair.
3. The students will work in groups of four or five and the results of the different groups will be compared and checked by the teacher. This will allow students to practice Spanish numbers and to practice mathematical operations. The best charts can be hung on the wall of the class.

Third day

1. The students will be introduced to more new vocabulary: shoulders, arms, hands, legs, feet, and knees.
2. Using the human figure poster, the teacher will introduce the rest of the body parts and label them, checking for previous knowledge.
3. The teacher will reinforce student knowledge of the plural form of both noun and article using the paired body parts (el brazo/los brazos, la mano/las manos).
4. The students will complete a worksheet of a given human figure, labeling each part with the words from a word bank.

Fourth day

1. Using the same figure, the teacher will label the body parts wrongly and will ask the students to correct them.
2. The teacher will divide the class in groups of four or five to play “Simon dice” (Simon says). Each person in the group will have a turn being Simon. Students will keep score.
3. The teacher may start by asking the students to touch one body part at a time and then complicate it by asking them to touch two at a time.
4. If there is time left, the teacher can pass out blank sheets, one per student, and have them draw a monster following his/her description.

Assessment

The teacher will assess the students:

• through the worksheet on which the students label the body parts
• through the game “Simon says”
• through the student responses to questions
• through the completion of the drawing of the monster following the teacher’s commands
• through the students’ charts