Foreign Language Activity: Brain Teasers

September 11, 2012

This activity from A Good Start: 147 Warm-Up Activities for Spanish Class by Rebekah Stathakis provides a fun brain teaser activity using questions and numbers that can be adapted to reinforce many skills in any language.

Although some students may enjoy the challenge of this type of brain teaser, others may become quickly frustrated. Consider providing hints for questions that students are struggling with. For example you could tell students that “88 t en un p” has to do with a musical instrument. You might also want to encourage students to work with partners to brainstorm different ideas.

Directions
In the following sentences, some words have been omitted, and only the first letter of the word remains. Try to find out what the correct words could be.

Examples	Solutions
50 e en los E.U. C llegó a las A en 1492 88 t en un p 13 r en la b americana 7 c en un a i 101 d en el cuento famoso	50 estados en los Estados Unidos Colón llegó a las Américas en 1492 88 teclas en un piano 13 rayas en la bandera americana 7 colores en un arco iris 101 dálmatas en el cuento famoso

Variations and Additional Activities
After students finish (or as a future activity) they could create their own sentences and challenge their classmates. At the end of each chapter or unit, you could encourage students to come up with a few of these problems utilizing the chapter vocabulary. Then, use the students’ work as fun, challenging exercises if you have an extra moment, as an enrichment activity after a test, or as the next warm up.

This activity can easily be modified to fit with the chapter vocabulary or other content you wish to review or reinforce with students. Create your own sentences to fit with your curriculum and instructional goals. Some other samples include:

Examples: El Cuerpo	Solutions
2 r en las p 206 h en el c 32 d en la b 1 c en el p 10 d d l p en los p	2 rodillas en las piernas 206 huesos en el cuerpo 32 dientes en la boca 1 corazón en el pecho 10 dedos de los pies en los pies

Examples: El Calendario	Solutions
52 s en un a 7 d en una s 12 m en un a 30 d en s, a, j y n 28 d en f, 29 en a b	52 semanas en un año 7 días en una semana 12 meses en un año 30 días en septiembre, abril, junio y noviembre 28 días en febrero, 29 en año bisiesto

Your Class
Create sentences based on your own classroom. Fill in the numbers in the following sentences based on your classroom. You can use this activity to reinforce classroom words and encourage students to become better acquainted with their classroom environment. Possible sentences might include: