Los Animales en Español

Here is a colorful Power Point I put together to practice the animals in Spanish 1.  It's editable, so you can easily add or subtract slide to customize this to your vocabulary list.  I put in a little section at the end that focuses on South American animals, so that there would be a little culture in the lesson.

I always struggle a little when it comes to teaching animals.  Today's textbooks rarely have an animal chapter - and for good reason - with the exception of pets, one doesn't have much need to talk about animals.  The times I've needed the words cebra or leopardo, for example, in actual conversation are almost nonexistent and, unless you're living on the African Savannah or working in a zoo, I imagine it is the same for you and your students. Still, animals seem to be considered basic need-to-know vocabulary by so many people.  But then which animals do we include and which ones do we exclude?  What about all the regional variations - puerco, chancho, cochino, etc.?  And when do we ever really need to talk about pigs in an authentic communicative situation after all?

Regardless of my reluctance, the students love it and they gobble up this vocabulary.  For that reason alone it has merit.  And there are a lot of fun activities you can do to practice, culturally-perceived animal onomatopoeia, pantomimes, vocabulary doodles, children's songs, etc.

I hope you find a use for the Power Point and don't forget to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK