Spanish Lesson: Un Cuento de Peces
Lesson Plan
1 hour 30 minutesGrades9, 10, 11, 12Spanish
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Written by Liz Ransom
About this lesson
In this lesson, students play a game about fishing, write a story about what happened, and learn how climate change impacts fish populations.
Inquire: Students describe photos depicting different ways of fishing and discuss their knowledge and experience of fishing.
Investigate: Students play the fish game, a role-play about a fishing community.
Inspire: Students listen to and discuss a news report about the impact of climate change on ocean fish, then create and present a comic strip about the lessons they learned.
Preview the lesson plan
Better on a bigger screen? Open it in its own tab.View Lesson Plan
Everything you need to teach it
- Teacher SlideshowOpen
- Teacher NotesOpen
- El Juego de Peces Student PacketOpen
- Student DocumentOpen
- Grammar ReviewOpen
Teaching tips
Suggestions
- This lesson includes hands-on, student-led communicative tasks and an authentic Spanish language listening activity.
- The fish game allows students to practice their extemporaneous speaking skills while learning about the impact of decision-making on communities.
- The fish game was developed by The Cloud Institute for Sustainability. You can watch this short video of Jaime Cloud presenting and debriefing the game in English. In the video, she gives instructions for four versions of the game.
- By playing the fish game, students encounter the economic, ecological, and social challenges of sustainable fishing.
Prerequisites
- This is Lesson 1 of 3 in our Spanish Unit: El pescado sostenible.
- This lesson is meant for students with an intermediate-low Spanish language proficiency level.
- The majority of the lesson is in the present tense, however, there are also some prompts and reflection questions in the preterit, imperfect, and present perfect verb tenses.
- Novice-high level students can play the game by using the support materials in the Differentiation section below.
- Teacher should review the recommendations in the Teacher’s Notes document before playing the game. The game is most effective when students figure out the obstacles and solutions on their own.
Differentiation
- Students who need a review of basic grammatical concepts can complete the Grammar Review before playing the game.
- Students with novice-high proficiency levels can use the useful phrases included at the end of the El Juego de Peces Student Packet to help them interact in Spanish during the game.
- The tira cómica activity in the Inspire section can be modified to incorporate advanced grammar, such as the use of past tenses or the present tense subjunctive.
- If needed, game rules can be explained in English.
- The writing activity can be replaced by speaking activities. Students can create a skit about the fish game or imagine they are being interviewed by the local news about what happened.
From the scientist review
In this lesson, students play the Fish Game to investigate sustainable fishing practices. This lesson passes our scientific review process.
En esta lección, los estudiantes juegan El Juego de Peces para investigar prácticas de pesca sostenible. Esta lección pasa nuestro proceso de revisión científica.
Want this to fit your class?
Add your location for local examples, questions, and action ideas.
About the teacher writer
Liz Ransom
High School Teacher
As a High School Spanish teacher and student newspaper advisor, Liz has taught for over 20 years and has served as World Languages Department Chair and K-6 summer camp activities leader. She has worked in Ohio, Maine, New Jersey, Maryland, and Chile.
