Adapted from an article by Michelle Buehring
Learning Spanish at work doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, we have several Spanish training programs that can help you and your employees learn meaningful words and phrases to communicate more effectively with Spanish-speaking co-workers. The key is simplicity. You don’t have to memorize lists of vocabulary words and different verb conjugations in order get your point across.
Use fun games and exercises to reinforce the Work into Spanish program or any program focused on learning Spanish at work. Here’s one of our favorites based on the song “Berlín” by Coque Malla.
Step 1: Show the group the song on Youtube or play it aloud. Here’s a good video:
Step 2: Give each student one of the “voy a” sentences from the song. Example cards are voy a empezar, voy a recorrer, voy a llegar…. (Tip: prepare index cards ahead of time with the sentences. Click here for the lyrics.) Briefly discuss each sentence and its meaning.
Step 3: Have everyone in the group stand up, and play the song again. As students hear the “voy a” sentence on their card, they sit down. All students, if they hear their sentence correctly, should be seated by the time the song ends. (They’ll listen carefully because they won’t want to be the last one standing!)
Step 4: Hand out the complete lyrics to the song, and then listen to it a third time. This will help students understand all the “voy a” phrases in context. Plus, it’s just beautiful song!
Step 5: Further discuss. What was your favorite stanza? If you could ask the singer one question about this song, what would it be? (Have students also make up a possible answer to the question.)
