Sponge Activities for World Language Classes
No more wasted class time. Sponge Activities soak up those lost minutes of learning so every class is bell-to-bell instruction!
It was 2:49 PM and I was facing a dreaded classroom scenario. My 6th graders had finished an activity more quickly than I expected and there were 11 minutes left in the school day. It wasn’t enough time to start something new. The clock ticked. Fifty-two eyes bore into my soul as I struggled to think of a meaningful learning activity. My students shifted in their seats and some began packing their bookbags. They looked sweet, but I knew the truth: my classroom was about 15 seconds away from total chaos.
The solution? Sponge activities!
“Sponge Activities” are short, low-prep, and ready at a moment’s notice!
I first learned about sponge activities from Mara Cobe at the 2022 FLANC spring conference. (Thanks, Mara!) A sponge activity is designed to “soak up” lost minutes of class time with short, meaningful review. Sponge activities can be used as a brain break, a transition, or (my favorite) a no prep way to fill in those few minutes at the end of class.
The ideal sponge activity:
Takes between a few seconds and a few minutes
Engages the full class
Requires no or very little prep
Requires no or very few supplies
Is flexible to work for a variety of content
Reviews or practices already-mastered material
Since then I’ve been on a mission to collect sponge activities that work well for my students. Some of these are direct from Mara’s workshop (noted with an *), and others I’ve collected or developed on my own.
These are my favorite sponge activities for world language students:
Sponge activities related to numbers
Full class choral counting in the target language.
* skip count aloud by 2’s, 5’s or 10’s.
* Count forwards from one random number to another.
* Count backwards between numbers.
Elimination counting: Have the entire class stand up. One at a time, students will count from 1-10. Each student can say the next 1, 2, or 3 numbers; whoever says “10” has to sit. Repeat until only 1 person is standing
“ My kids quickly realize that we always learn up to the bell, and they’ve come to enjoy these quick, impactful bursts of learning.”
For example:
Kaylee says “1, 2”.
Brandon says “3.”
Marcus says “4, 5, 6”
Hailey says “7, 8.”
Joseph says, “9”
Maddie says “10” and has to sit down. The next student restarts with “1”.
Continue until only one student is left. This game can get a little cutthroat as students try to figure out how many numbers to say to get each other out.
Number listening practice: The teacher says a series of numbers in the target language and students must write down the numerals. Repeat two or three times, then write the correct answer on the board. Students check their own work. I love this activity because I find even my upper level students could use more number practice! It’s easy to vary this activity for students’ proficiency levels by changing the range of numbers, increasing the number of digits in the series, and adapting my rate of speech.
Sponge Activities Related to Vocabulary
List Writing: Have pairs or small groups work together to write lists:
* List words that start with a given letter
* List words that are (vocab topic) - school supplies, clothing, liquids, people…
* List (part of speech) - adverbs, irregular verbs, feminine nouns…
* Give students a place (like a lake, a train station, a hospital…); they must list all the activities they could do in that place or items they might find there.
* Reciting lists aloud as a class. This is great for reviewing anything that comes in a set:
the days of the week
the months of the year
the colors of the rainbow,
the alphabet…
Try reciting forwards and backwards.
Sponge Activities Related to Listening
Short dictations: Read a sentence aloud to the class in the target language, and kids must write down exactly what they hear. After two or three repetitions, put the sentence on the board for students to check their own answers. I make up these sentences on the spot and incorporate content from whatever we’re currently studying.
Delayed dictation: This works the same as a regular dictation, only students must just listen (not write) at first. The teacher reads the sentence several times and then kids must wait ten seconds before they can pick up their pencil. Delayed dictation is great for building working memory and helping kids really connect the sounds of the language to its orthography. (Thanks to Bethanie Drew for sharing this idea with me!)
Number practice is a quick, zero-prep, meaningful way to fill a few minutes with any level
Target Language Pop Music: Pull up a pop song in the target language on YouTube and listen. Ask kids to jot down:
What do they think the song is about?
Write down any words or phrases you can hear in the song.
Share opinions of the song in the target language
Play a short clip of the song at slow speed to allow students to better understand it.
I keep a list of links to pre-vetted pop songs for this purpose. Pop songs have a lot of other uses in world language class; visit my blog posts on finding and using pop music for song lists and more ideas!
Sponge Activities Related to Reading and Writing
Memes: Keep a folder of pre-vetted memes in the target language. Pop one up on the projector and have kids figure out what it means, useful vocabulary, and why it's funny. It’s pretty easy to find TL memes with a simple Google search. To get you started, here’s a link to my folder of French memes and a link to my friend Shelby’s Pinterest page of Spanish memes. (Just be sure to check ahead of time for school appropriateness!)
Click Here for My folder of French Memes:
Click Here for my colleague Shelby Cole’s Pinterest Page of Spanish Memes:
Caption me!
Photo Caption Writing: show students a funny or thought provoking photo and ask them to caption it in the target language. Have students share their captions with partners.
Photo Caption Matching: show students a pre-created slide with four photos and four target language captions. Kids must match the caption to the correct photo.
Photo Caption Guessing Game: As a twist on the above activity, put up a pre-created slide with four or more photos. Ask students to caption two of the photos. Then, read their captions to a partner who must guess which photo it matches.
Haiku: Have students work in pairs to write a target language haiku about an assigned topic. Haiku is a very simple form of Japanese poetry consisting of 3 lines with 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively per line. Composing a haiku in the target language is a great 10 minute challenge for students at almost any proficiency level; have kids turn in their Haikus and award a prize in the next class for your favorite! Or, save them and share aloud, illustrate, or guess the authors at the end of subsequent classes.
Sponge activities employing multiple language domains
Paired reading & speaking / listening & writing practice.
Pair students so one partner faces the front of the classroom and one faces the back.
Write a sentence (or a number sequence) on the board. The student facing the front must read the sentence aloud while their partner listens and writes down exactly what they hear in the target language. Check your work, then switch roles with a new sentence.
So there you have it! These days, I have a card deck of my favorite sponge activities in easy reach. No more wasted class time, no more adolescent eyes burning expectantly into my soul as I frantically wrack my brain for a time filler. My kids quickly realize that we always learn up to the bell, and they’ve come to enjoy these quick, impactful bursts of learning.
Do you have a great sponge activity? Share in the comments!
