Greetings and Small Talk
Lesson Plan
Video: 13 minutes
Lesson: 37 minutes
Pre-viewing
• :00 Warm up: Demonstrate a few common English greetings, pleasantries and topics of small talk. Have the students
brainstorm some of their own. Write them on the board.
2 minutes
• :02 Pre-test: Ask the students if they know how to express any greetings, pleasantries or common small talk phrases in
Spanish. Ask them in what situations they would use these words and phrases and with whom they would use them.
Ask students to pronounce them. Go over the learning objectives.
4 minutes
Viewing
• :06 Playing Video: Hand out in Viewing Guide and go over viewing questions and expectations. While the program is
playing, pay careful attention to students’ reactions. Difficult concepts include the familiar and formal forms of a
question, and the placement of Spanish question marks and exclamation points. Pause and check students’
comprehension periodically after key points.
13 minutes
Post-viewing
• :19 Question & Answer Session: Ask the class for the answers to the viewing questions. See if any parts of the program
were difficult or confusing for the students. Ask a few questions to check their understanding of the key topics.
5 minutes
Sample Questions
1. What are some different ways to greet someone in Spanish?
2. What does y tú mean? When would you use it?
3. How are questions and exclamations punctuated differently in Spanish?
Handouts
• :24 Practicing Material: Hand out the Worksheet and give the class 6-8 minutes to complete it. Students are allowed to
use their Viewing Guide. Monitor the students’ progress, helping where needed. Go over Worksheet as a class.
10 minutes
• :34 Applying Material: Hand out the Activity. Students are allowed to use dictionaries to come up with their own
answers to “Where are you going?” If time permits, allow students to perform their dialogue in front of the class.
13 minutes
• :47 Wrap-up: Briefly sum up what has been covered in class, using the students to do the summary. Assign any
homework.
3 minutes
Viewing Questions Answer Key (Note: there are several possible answers to these questions)
1. How would you respond (in Spanish) if your friend says, “Hola” to you at 9:30 a.m.? ¡Buenos días! ¡Hola!
2. If you see a friend walking down the hall, how would you say “How ya’ doing?” in Spanish? ¿Cómo estás? ¿Qué
tal? ¿Cómo te va?
3. ¿Cuántos años tiene usted? Yo tengo _______ años.
Greetings and Small Talk
Teacher’s Reference Guide
Video: 13 minutes
Lesson: 37 minutes
Learning Objectives
At the end of the module, students will be able to:
• define, pronounce and correctly spell vocabulary words and phrases
• use greetings and goodbyes
• use the following questions and their appropriate responses in a conversation:
How are you?
What is your name?
Where are you from?
How old are you?
• apply the rules of punctuation for the placement of question marks and exclamation points
Materials
• Video: vocabulary, greetings and pleasantries, getting to know people; 13 minutes long
• Viewing Guide: vocabulary, greetings, goodbyes, niceties, small talk, 3 Viewing Questions
• Worksheet: greetings, niceties, getting to know people
• Activity Sheet: dialogue reinforcing greetings, niceties, and getting to know people
• Check Your Knowledge: vocabulary, niceties, punctuation, small talk, getting to know people; 50 points
Background
There are many grammatical structures in the phrases that the students may not know, such as verb conjugation,
familiar vs. formal, and question words. Students should be prepared to learn many of the phrases without worrying
about how they’re constructed. Students should also be familiar with numbers in Spanish.
Preparation
None required.
Extension:
Supply the students with additional phrases and have them develop their own dialogues or skits.
Greetings and Small Talk
Viewing Guide
VOCABULARY
los años – years
bien – good; fine
la clase – class
hoy – today
la historia – history
muy – very
el perdedor – loser
también – also
tú – you
y – and
Greetings
Hola
Buenos días
Buenas tardes
Buenas noches
Niceties
Hello
Good morning
Good afternoon
Good night
How are you?
How are you?
How are you?
Bien
Bien, gracias
Está bien
Así, así
No muy bien
¿Y tú?
Fine
Fine, thank you
It’s okay
So, so
Not very well
And you?
Small Talk
Goodbyes
Adiós
Hasta luego
Ciao
Nos vemos
¿Cómo estás?
¿Qué tal?
¿Cómo te va?
Goodbye
Until later
Goodbye
See you later
¿A dónde vas?
Tengo prisa
¿Qué haces hoy?
¡Qué lástima!
How are you?
How are you?
How are you?
What a pity
Gracias
De nada
Thank you
You’re welcome
¿Cómo se llama usted?
Me llamo ___________
What is your name?
My name is ______
¿Cuántos años tiene usted?
Yo tengo ____ años
How old are you?
I am ____ years old
¿De dónde es usted?
Yo soy de _________
Where are you from?
I am from ________
¿Punctuation Malfunction? ¡No Way!
When writing Spanish questions, place an upside-down question mark at the beginning
of the question, and one right-side-up at the end. Exclamation points work the same way:
one upside-down at the beginning of the sentence, and one right-side-up at the end.
Viewing Questions (Note: there are several possible answers to these questions)
1. How would you respond (in Spanish) if your friend says, “Hola” to you at 9:30 am?
2. If you see a friend walking down the hall, how would you say, “How ya’ doing?” in Spanish?
3. ¿Cuántos años tiene usted?
Greetings and Small Talk
Worksheet
A. Greetings!
In the blanks provided, write a greeting that you could use for the following people.
1. your teacher
2. your friend’s parents at 9:30 pm
3. your best friend
4. your grandmother, first thing in the morning
5. the waitress at breakfast
6. your dentist at 1:00 pm
B. How YOU Doin’?
Answer the following questions according to the set of circumstances described in parentheses. Note: if you want to say you’re
doing “very well,” use muy bien.
Example: ¿Cómo estás? (Your pet goldfish ran away.)
No muy bien.
1. ¿Qué tal? (Life is good and you’ve got nothing to complain about.)
2. ¿Cómo estás? (You just found out you have to go to summer school.)
3. ¿Qué tal? (You’re good, but not great. You also want to know how your friend is doing.)
4. ¿Cómo te va? (Some things are good, other things aren’t so good.)
5. ¿Cómo estás? (Vacation just started, and you don’t have any homework.)
C. Who Are You?
Please translate the following dialogue. Be sure to use proper punctuation.
Hello. What’s your name?
My name is ________ (your name).
How old are you?
I am ____ (your age) years old.
Where are you from?
I am from _______ (your home town).
Thanks!
You’re welcome!
Greetings and Small Talk
Worksheet
Answer Key
A. Greetings!
In the blanks provided, write a greeting that you could use for the following people.
1. your teacher
Hola / Buenos días / Buenas tardes
2. your friend’s parents at 9:30 pm
Hola / Buenas noches
3. your best friend
Hola / ¿Qué tal? / ¿Cómo estás?
4. your grandmother, first thing in the morning
Hola / Buenos días
5. the waitress at breakfast
Hola / Buenos días
6. your dentist at 1:00 pm
Hola / Buenas tardes
B. How YOU Doin’?
Answer the following questions according to the set of circumstances described in parentheses. Note: if you want to say you’re
doing “very well,” use muy bien.
Example: ¿Cómo estás? (Your pet goldfish ran away.)
No muy bien.
1. ¿Qué tal? (Life is good and you’ve got nothing to complain about.)
Bien.
2. ¿Cómo estás? (You just found out you have to go to summer school.)
No muy bien.
3. ¿Qué tal? (You’re good, but not great. You also want to know how your friend is doing.)
Bien. ¿Y tú?
4. ¿Cómo te va? (Some things are good, other things aren’t so good.)
Así, así.
5. ¿Cómo estás? (Vacation just started, and you don’t have any homework.)
Muy bien.
C. Who Are You?
Please translate the following dialogue. Be sure to use proper punctuation.
Hello. What’s your name?
Hola. ¿Cómo se llama?
My name is ________ (your name).
Me llamo (student’s name).
How old are you?
¿Cuántos años tiene usted?
I am ____ (your age) years old.
Tengo (student’s age) años.
Where are you from?
¿De dónde es usted?
I am from _______ (your home town).
Soy de (home town).
Thanks!
¡Gracias!
You’re welcome!
¡De nada!
Greetings and Small Talk
Activity
May I Ask You a Few Questions?
Time for some role-playing! Split up into groups of two. The object is to correctly translate the following dialogue
into Spanish and act it out with your partner. One of you will be the INTERVIEWER, and the other will be the
INTERVIEWEE. To answer the question, “Where are you going?” the INTERVIEWEE should pick a response from
the box to the right. When done, switch roles and repeat the dialogue.
THE INTERVIEW
Answers to
“Where are you going?”
INTERVIEWER:
“Good morning.”
INTERVIEWEE:
“Hello.”
INTERVIEWER:
“How are you?”
INTERVIEWEE:
“Fine, thanks. And you?”
INTERVIEWER:
“Not very well.”
INTERVIEWEE:
“What a pity!”
INTERVIEWER:
“What’s your name?”
INTERVIEWEE:
“My name is (interviewee’s name).”
INTERVIEWER:
“How old are you, (interviewee’s age)?”
INTERVIEWEE:
“I am (interviewee’s age) years old.”
INTERVIEWER:
“Where are you from?”
INTERVIEWEE:
“I am from (interviewee’s home town).”
INTERVIEWER:
“Where are you going?”
INTERVIEWEE:
“(See list at right) and I’m in a hurry.”
INTERVIEWER:
“I’m sorry (lo siento). Thanks.”
INTERVIEWEE:
“You’re welcome. Goodbye.”
INTERVIEWER:
“Goodbye.”
Voy a clase.
(I’m going to class.)
Voy a la escuela.
(I’m going to school.)
Voy a la playa.
(I’m going to the beach.)
Voy a mi casa
(I’m going to my house.)
Voy al cine.
(I’m going to the movie theater.)
Voy a la panadería.
(I’m going to the bakery.)
Voy al zoológico.
(I’m going to the zoo.)
Voy al museo.
(I’m going to the museum.)
Voy al parque.
(I’m going to the park.)
Voy a un restaurante.
(I’m going to a restaurant.)
...or make up your own!
Greetings and Small Talk
Check Your Knowledge
Total Score
A. Vocabulary: How Do You Say...?
/ 50
Translate the following words into Spanish. (2 points each)
years
history
class
also
B. Mind the Gaps!
Using your knowledge of greetings and small talk, complete the following phrases. (1 point each)
Example: tengo
prisa . (I’m in a hurry.)
1.
días. (Good day.)
2.
3.
luego. (See you later.)
4. ¿A
vas? (Where are you going?)
6. ¿Qué haces
? (What are you doing today?)
5. Nos
7.
. (See you later.)
estás? (How are you?)
9. ¿Qué
? (How are you?)
8. ¡
, así. (So, so.)
lástima! (What a pity!)
10. De
. (You’re welcome.)
C. Punctuation Malfunctions
Punctuate the following English phrases according to the Spanish rules. If no change is needed, write “No change” next to the
phrase. (1/2 point each)
Get off of me!
Where’s my pudding?
Look out!
Are you my doctor?
I have a frog in my pocket.
Ouch!
D. Say What?
(1 point for each correct answer)
List four ways to greet someone:
List three ways to say goodbye:
List two ways to ask someone how they’re doing:
List two possible answers to one of the questions you wrote above:
E. Get to Know Me!
Translate the following dialogue. Be sure to use proper Spanish punctuation. (3 points each)
Alonso: Hello. What’s your name?
Pablo: My name is Pablo.
Alonso: How old are you?
Pablo: I am 17 years old.
Alonso: Where are you from?
Pablo: I am from Houston.
Greetings and Small Talk
Check Your Knowledge
Answer Key
Total Score
A. Vocabulary: How Do You Say...?
/ 50
Translate the following words into Spanish. (2 points each)
years
los años
history
la historia
class
la clase
also
también
B. Mind the Gaps!
Using your knowledge of greetings and small talk, complete the following phrases. (1 point each)
Example: tengo
prisa . (I’m in a hurry.)
1.
Buenos
días. (Good day.)
2.
3.
Hasta
luego. (See you later.)
4. ¿A
5. Nos
7. ¿
vemos
Cómo
9. ¿Qué
. (See you later.)
, así. (So, so.)
dónde
6. ¿Qué haces
estás? (How are you?)
tal
Así
8. ¡
? (How are you?)
10. De
vas? (Where are you going?)
hoy
Qué
? (What are you doing today?)
lástima! (What a pity!)
nada
. (You’re welcome.)
C. Punctuation Malfunctions
Punctuate the following English phrases according to the Spanish rules. If no change is needed, write “No change” next to the
phrase. (1/2 point each)
¡Get off of me!
¿Where’s my pudding?
¡Look out!
¿Are you my doctor?
I have a frog in my pocket. No change
¡Ouch!
D. Say What?
(1 point for each correct answer)
List four ways to greet someone:
List three ways to say goodbye:
Hola/ Buenos días / Buenas tardes / Buenas noches / ¿Cómo estás? / ¿Qué tal? / ¿Cómo te va?
Adiós / Hasta luego / Ciao / Nos vemos
List two ways to ask someone how they’re doing:
¿Cómo estás? / ¿Qué tal? / ¿Cómo te va?
List two possible answers to the one of the questions you wrote above:
No muy bien / Así, así / Bien, gracias / Bien
E. Get to Know Me!
Translate the following dialogue. Be sure to use proper Spanish punctuation. (3 points each)
Alonso: Hello. What’s your name?
Hola. ¿Cómo se llama?
Pablo: My name is Pablo.
Me llamo Pablo.
Alonso: How old are you?
¿Cuántos años tiene usted?
Pablo: I am 17 years old.
Yo tengo diecisiete años.
Alonso: Where are you from?
¿De dónde es usted?
Pablo: I am from Houston.
Yo soy de Houston.