Have you ever visited an Escape Room with a group of friends? It’s a form of entertainment for adults and for younger people! They are so much fun, and that’s why I highly recommend using Escape Rooms for Spanish class!! There is usually an overarching mystery or problem to solve, and you must work through the different clues or puzzles to solve it! In a physical space, you might need to unlock all the locks in a certain amount of time. In our classrooms, we can use technology to make it all digital!
What Are Escape Rooms For Spanish Class?
To adapt a fun escape room experience to a Spanish class, all you need is an idea for how to tie the activity to your curriculum!
Next, create a mystery or a problem to solve. This is what makes it fun! And you can decide whether or not to add a time limit, if this will be graded, if there will be prizes for the first group to finish, etc. All of these ideas add a sense of urgency that students really love!
What Do Students Actually Do With Escape Rooms For Spanish Class?
Your puzzles, or clues, can be pieces of curriculum you want students to learn or show show knowledge or skill in so that they can unlock access to the next clue! Each escape room activity should have several clues. Here are some examples of what you could use!
A. Students must conjugate X number of verbs correctly before they can get the next clue
B. Students must read and answer questions correctly before they can get the next clue
C. Students must unscramble X number of vocab words
D. Students must translate something correctly
E. Students must listen to something and answer questions correctly
As you can see, the choices are endless! You can make an escape room related to one grammatical topic, or you can use all of the above suggestions (and more!) Maybe one clue reviews grammar, another vocabulary, etc.
What My Students Say About Escape Rooms For Spanish Class
My students LOVE when we do Escape Rooms! I have created 2 different ones, and they are both lengthy. They each take about a block period (between 60-90 minutes) for most groups to complete. But they could be much simpler.
They love the change- it’s not business as usual when we do an escape room! Students can demonstrate their other skills, like problem solving, creative thinking and resilience! They love it when I hide the final clue somewhere in our school building and they get to leave to go find it! And the prizes…. boy do they love the prizes!
So How Do I Make An Escape Room?
The 3 ingredients are: 1) A mystery or problem to solve 2) puzzles or clues that lead up to the resolution 3) urgency (this is where you assign a time limit, a grade and/or a prize). Your Escape Room could be set up on paper or digitally.
Here is an idea borrowed from one of my clues in my Escape Room for How Christmas is Celebrated in the Spanish-Speaking World.
Watch THIS YouTube video. Answer THESE multiple choice questions. Enter the code into the “digital lock” (a google form) to unlock the next clue.
Since I teach high school students, that “code” they have to enter must be figured out. Maybe its the letters of the correct answer choices to the multiple choice questions. Or maybe each letter corresponds to a number (A=1, B=2, etc.) There are LOTS of ways to get creative like this!
Resources
Want to create your own Escape Rooms? I found this website super helpful!
Don’t have the time, but love the idea? Here are my 2 Escape Rooms!
Christmas in Spain Digital Escape Room!
Spanish Escape Room ~Catch Soccer Thieves as They Flee in Spain! Eng/Span
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