Activators and Exit Tickets are useful activities within the scope of a lesson. Activators (bellringers or warm-ups) can be used to activate prior knowledge and initiate the start of a lesson in a way that guides the learner to the purpose of the day, consider it a “warm-up and stretch” for the brain. These can be drawn from the Essential Questions, Enduring Understandings, and/or can be designed to focus on a variety of topics in the language classroom (vocabulary, grammar, culture, etc.).
Exit Tickets focus similarly on the aforementioned topics but offer a formative assessment as well. By looking at what your students can produce in the Exit Ticket, you will gain understanding of gaps which can allow for modifications to the content of a lesson, show areas in need of scaffolding, and areas where reinforcement and reteach may be necessary.
The activities designed for Spanish 1 & 2 are primarily activating the use of the grammar and vocabulary focus of the lesson, reinforcing use of both, activating prior knowledge, and providing connections with the goal of retention and use of the target language. These activities are designed to be engaging and challenging to the learner at a novice level.
As the lessons transition into Spanish 3 there is an evident shift in the content of the Activators and Exit Tickets. The Activators and Exit Tickets become less grammar and vocabulary based and are focused on student output in the target language in line with a higher level of proficiency. These are focused on the use of vocabulary and grammar in context of a response.
For example, for our lesson Affirmative and Negative Commands TÚ, USTED, USTEDES: Nutrition the Activator-Exit Ticket questions look like this:
- Explica las diferencias entre mandatos formales e informales.
- Dibuja un plato con un almuerzo saludable y describe la comida.
- Imagina que eres un entrenador personal y un cliente tuyo está interesado en cocinar un menú saludable. Dile lo que hay que comprar y qué debe hacer usando los mandatos formales.
- Busca la dieta típica de un país hispanohablante. Compara y contrasta con la dieta estadounidense.
- Según lo que aprendiste, ¿cómo cambiarías el almuerzo escolar?
Using the Spanish 3 Exit Tickets in Our Lesson Plans
Our lesson plans are designed to give students an immersive experience in the Spanish language and help them develop a deeper understanding of the material. Each lesson includes a combination of activities, engaging reading material, and real-world application opportunities.
To ensure that students leave the lessons with a clear understanding of the topic, we have also included exit tickets at the end of each lesson. These tickets will serve as a tool for assessing student comprehension and can be used to gauge how effectively the lessons were taught.
The Activators and Exit Tickets that accompany our Spanish 3 lesson plans are designed as questions at various levels upon Bloom’s Taxonomy and ACTFL’s Proficiency Guidelines & World Readiness standards. All exit tickets have two options: printable and Google Forms.
Depending on the desired output these can be used as written or spoken activities, individual, paired, or whole group, and can be used in combination or independently, and the activities can be expanded upon easily to develop into presentational activities that can be worked on as extensions to the lessons.
Check out these other articles to Teach Spanish.
