Sometimes I really hate being inspired. It means that I have to work more and fit something else into an already packed week of lessons. On Friday night while watching the Olympics, I quickly realized that my Spanish 2 structures from last week could all apply to the Olympic Games (and I didn’t even do it on purpose). So of course now I will start talking about Olympic medal wins and losses as part of my daily calendar routine. But I was most inspired by this Starbucks commercial called the Coffee Run. 

Now less than 48 hours later, I have created a new resource and have tried to document my process for constructing a lesson based on using a short video clip or picture. So here is a quick 101 lesson on my process.  

My Process: 

To start, I think about the language needed to narrate any movie or picture that I could use to talk with students in a comprehensible way. I also think about communicative needs for my students and about language patterns that I can help students make. 

Because I am writing in real time, I’ll capture what goes through my head when planning a lesson. 

First of all, the video inspired me because I realized that the actions of the characters were all structures that we’ve been studying and (more importantly I have been using in class) for the past four weeks.  

So last week our class structures in my Spanish II class were these:

Arrived, went up the mountain, went down the mountain, when going up the mountain, when going down the mountain, one lost, said, gave, saw, arrived, then (in Spanish here)

These verbs were used a lot in first‑semester present‑tense work. Now we’re hearing and seeing them in past tenses, so I need to provide ample input in the preterite and imperfect through listening and reading. In addition to that structure set, here were my first 3 weeks of the second semester’s structures –click on the list option to see them all.   

To prepare for this lesson, on my phone I played the video and continuously made screenshots whenever I saw language that I knew that we’ve previously learned – especially each time he gave a coffee. I uploaded these pictures to my Google Drive and then inserted them into this Google Slideshow. In class, I will describe these images, ask questions, and then have students describe them to each other when they’re ready (or when I need to do one of the 100 other things I need to do during any class period).

Even as I’m writing this, I can’t stop thinking of other possibilities to add to this lesson. For example, I will add a map of Italy and talk a little bit about where the Olympics are taking place this year.

Here are two ways to simplify lesson planning: Once my slideshow is made I might not even write a story at that time (in truth I often do not have time to type a story). I may just do a Write and Discuss with students after talking about the pictures. Search my blog for Write and Discuss details which is a way that allows an opportunity to write with students and do it in real time instead of preparing it earlier. Another note, the same can be said for not having the time to make the slideshow, you can simply show a video to students and stop it at certain moments and talk about what you just saw on the screen. 

I digress, for more intentionality, after I insert screenshots into the slideshow, I identify language to highlight. I might add a word to a slide as a reminder to reference it or put the English so students can understand it. I do these kinds of tricks all the time, especially when I teach the same class four times a day. Also, I am able to update my slides each period and then it’s ready for the next class. 

In preparation for this week, I did write my story in Spanish at an Intermediate Low/Mid level in the past tenses for my Spanish II students. After writing my first draft, I then checked out my level 1 and 2 Novice/Intermediate level words and transitions and expressions for development and flow, and then I added more of these words to my working draft. You can see that list in Spanish here.  

How I’ll Use these Materials in Class:

This week I’ll show slideshow images, describe what I see, and ask students questions in the target language. Students will then read the written story in Spanish. If needed, I might turn the story into a Flippity or Blooket activity—but I probably won’t have time during this particular four‑day week. I only see students for three days and already have three anchor lessons (a song with readings, continued film viewing, and a Carnaval cultural activity from the Dominican Republic with a new craft (which was last week’s new inspiration).

That’s enough for this post. I suspect I’ll be inspired again tonight watching Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance—time will tell. What’s inspiring you these days? Let me know in the comments. Gary

Slideshow: Starbuck’s Olympic Commercial 2026 (the first part has some Spanish words in the slides but the second section has the pictures with blank textboxes) You can make a copy of mine. 
Gary’s Intermediate Low/Mid Written Story Starbuck’s Commercial in Spanish