La Navidad Lesson Plans and Holiday Activities in Spanish Class

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Yep, it’s the most wonderful time of the year – time to get a plan together for La Navidad lesson plans in Spanish class! I’ve got for you a Christmas English to Spanish vocabulary list, other holiday vocabulary terms, and some holiday activities in Spanish class to make the season bright!

Spanish Class Christmas Activities

My absolute favorite La Navidad lesson plans involve cultural elements from Latin America and writing letters to Santa y Los Reyes Magos. I also use holiday activities for Spanish class to get in high-interest reading comprehension.

If you need holiday activities for Spanish class, I suggest looking first for how different places celebrate winter and holiday traditions. Ask yourself and search online:

Holiday Activities for Spanish Class

What are different ways people celebrate Christmas in Spanish speaking countries?

What holiday songs do Spanish speakers sing and share during the holidays?

What holiday dishes are traditional in Spanish-speaking countries? What can I share with my students? Where can I find recipe videos or cool pictures?

What language skill am I working on that I can put a holiday spin on? For example, if you’re focusing on acquiring past tense, how can you talk about past holiday years?

Holiday Spanish Lesson Example

Here’s how I like best to use my holiday activities for Spanish class. Feel free to steal these lesson plans to go with the same reading and writing Navidad activity I like to use. You can also try this plan with an authentic text like a youtube video, reading, or ask students to write their own Cartas a Papa Noel y los Reyes Magos.

FIRST – show students some songs and holiday traditions and ask them to pick out the important vocabulary or cognates to focus their attention. There’s a vocabulary list below to get you started.

This one is in English, but it’s so bomb, I love to show it. You get a nice overview of lots of different dishes in a quick video.

NEXT, ask students what their own holiday traditions are and have them share, write, etc. This is also a great opportunity for students from all cultures and traditions to talk about theirs.

THEN, share a reading/article/video about writing letters to Santa traditions. In many parts of the Dominican, people write letters to Los Reyes Magos instead. Present the sample letter to students with the holiday vocabulary and have them work through reading and answering in pairs.

The middle page of this picture below is the sample letter. The students have to choose answers based on whether they understand the reading and what applies to them.

My favorite section is where they have to choose an answer based on how good they’ve been! LOLZ. Me he comportad@ perfectamente/muy bien/mejor que mi hermano is my favorite part!

spanish-class-christmas-activities — **Find out more about the features of La Navidad Lesson Plan and Spanish Writing Activity**

You can also create your own if you’d prefer your own spin – write a simple letter in Spanish. Have students choose a few answers based on what they want for the holidays and help with how to format a letter. This is essential! Having the sample letter helps students write their own later on.

LAST, have students use their vocabulary and sample letter (from the last activity) to try writing their own letter. They can use pieces from the sample and slowly craft their own message.

AS A WRAP UP, you can ask students to switch letters and figure out what each other asked for for extra comprehension.

Spanish Holiday Vocabulary List

You can see here how I use a Spanish holiday vocabulary list for a reading comprehension and then a writing activity on the top left where it says Frases Útiles:

la-navidad-activities-in-spanish-class — **Find out more about the features of La Navidad Lesson Plan and Spanish Writing Activity**

Christmas Words in Spanish

Here’s the list I use so you can copy & paste for your Spanish Christmas worksheets and la navidad lesson plans:

un juguete – toy
una galleta de navidad – christmas cookies
una media – stocking
un regalo – gift
un saco – sack
un reno – reindeer
un árbol de navidad – Christmas tree
una estrella – star
Santa – Papá Noel
3 Kings – los Reyes Magos

La Navidad Lesson Plans

In La Navidad lesson plans, I always like to include a a slice of the culture I experienced while studying abroad. I landed in the Dominican Republic 3 days before Dia de los Reyes Magos, and my first culture lesson was that Dominicanos write their letters to los Reyes Magos, not to Santa.

Dia de los Reyes Activities

For my first Spanish class, I made a letter template for my students to write una carta para celebrar el Dia de los Reyes Magos. You can grab the letter here.

Resources for Comprehensible Input Spanish Teachers

And that’s a rap! If you’d like more resources for Spanish teachers, here are some more lessons, PD, and ideas for your comprehensible input classroom:

Learn how to transition to proficiency

Last but not least, I have my favorite free resource for Spanish teachers. This lovingly crafted guide has everything the modern world language teacher needs, including steps on curriculum mapping and how to transition to proficiency.

distance-learning-tips-spanish-teachers — Grab your FREE teacher toolkit here

Have you ever wished the transition to proficiency were easier to do? Grab the FREE toolkit here to learn the framework for updating your practice to comprehensible input – without all the overwhelm – and prepare for the challenges ahead.