We all have them… fast finishers. Those students that work through a task or exam so quickly that they have to sit and twiddle their thumbs for 20 minutes. My fear was that during an observation, administration would see a few students who completed their work and were “bored.” So, to keep these fast finishers busy, but without busy work, I have come up with 11 activities! Keep a few of these activities readily available at all times for your fast finishers!
Most commonly we see fast finishers during tests. Most of my “tests” in my Spanish classroom are proficiency-based. I am a huge fan of Integrated Performance Assessments, where students demonstrate their proficiency in the three modes of communication. This means that the first section of their assessment is an interpretive task. It never failed that some students were done within 20 minutes, but others needed a full hour to complete a reading assignment. What should those fast finishers do?
All of these ideas can be used for fast finishers for ANY activity, not just a test. Some students just complete daily assignments quicker than others do. When students have down time, they tend to reach right for their phones, which drives me absolutely nuts! If you keep them busy, they won’t even want to reach for their phone, but will be excited to have a teacher that gives them fun options if they finish early!
Here are 11 ideas for students after they finish an assignment early:
Coloring Pages
There is nothing more mindless than coloring and just letting your mind get lost in the designs of a beautiful coloring page. After an exam, having some time to decompress is important. During my first few years of teaching, I did not assign anything for my students if they finished any of the 3-part IPA early. I wanted them to just relax. I let them work on other classwork or read a book. But I think giving them the option of coloring is even better because they don’t get to do it often! Keep a folder of random coloring pages in your classroom for fast-finishers! Here are some Spanish friendly coloring books!
- Llama Coloring Book
- Day of the Dead Coloring Book
- Frida Kahlo Coloring Book
- Sugar Skulls Coloring Book
- Positive Affirmations in Spanish Coloring Book
- South American Fashions Coloring Book
- Sloth Coloring Book
I have even seen pictures of classroom doors that teachers cover completely with coloring pages. They print out coloring pages and cover the entire door, allowing students to color the pages whenever they finish early or need a brain break. It is a fun, collaborative activity (and a beautiful decoration!)
Book or Article Review
To encourage a love of reading, all elementary classrooms have a classroom library. As world language teachers, we should have the same set-up. Whether you use Spanish readers, Scholastic magazines, children’s books, poems, or even travel brochures – your classroom should have a library!
Let students peruse the library and choose something of interest to them. After they read the text, they should complete a comment or review card about what they read. Grab a set of FREE reading review cards here! Print them on color-coded paper so students choose the card based on the genre of text they read. Learn how to build your classroom library on a budget here!
Answer a Question
After you pass out a test, write a random question on the board. When students finish their test or quiz, they will respond to the question in English on the back of their test. Allowing them to answer in English shows that you want to really get to know them, and they have the opportunity to easily express themselves.
Examples of questions:
- Tell me about an important day in your life.
- Tell me about someone you respect and why.
- What is your favorite activity outside of school? Why?
- If you could have dinner with someone from history, who would it be and why?
- I could never live without ______.
Next Unit’s Vocabulary
This fast finishers task is best for after a unit assessment or project. Prepare a list of vocabulary words for the upcoming unit. Have students create a vocabulary book with all of the new words they will need for the next unit. They can draw an image to represent the word, write a definition, determine part of speech, use the word in a sentence, etc. Grab a FREEBIE template here. This also makes a great no-prep sub plan!
Tell Tale Cards
Tell Tale cards are circular playing cards with random images that can be used to write a funny story or sentence. Keep the stack of cards handy for students who finish early. Let them randomly choose 3 cards and with those three cards, they should write a funny story or sentence on the back of their test, on a blank piece of paper, or even on a bulletin board!
Write a Thank You Note
Practicing gratitude is not just for the month of November. Instill the importance of gratitude into your students by having a pile of thank you cards. These are super cute “gracias” cards from Amazon, but you can also find some at Dollar Tree, usually a pack of 6 for $1.00. Next to the cards, keep a long list of people they could write a thank you note to: teachers, police officers, cafeteria workers, principals, parents, coaches, secretaries, counselors, siblings, doctors, bus drivers, club advisors, etc.
Duolingo
The beauty of Duolingo is that each student can work at their own pace. When they complete an assignment, let them continue on with their Duolingo progress and continue learning additional vocabulary!
Make a Spanish Meme
Laughter can really reduce stress and anxiety. Our students have more anxiety than we probably realize: grades, sports, prom, home life, etc. They are rarely given the opportunity to just laugh during class, so let them make a meme in Spanish! I did this with my Spanish 3 and 4 classes and they even had me laughing! Learn how I use memes in Spanish class here!
Board Games
You can find Spanish versions of board games for your classroom, such as Spanish Scrabble, Code Names, Head Bands, or Guess Who. Since board games require talking, you may want to send fast finishers into the hall to play.
Spanish Wordle
Wordle has become such a hit, but did you know that there is a Spanish version! For your upper level students, they will enjoy trying to figure out the 5-letter word. When Wordle first came out, I tried the English and Spanish version every day, because I love word games. The English version always came easy to me, but I didn’t realize how difficult the Spanish version would be despite loving word games. Playing word games in the L2 is a great way for students to develop a different critical thinking skill.
Fast Finishers Choice Board
Turn your bulletin board space into a “Fast Finishers” or “Terminé” Choice Board. Create a grid of 9 fast-finisher activities and create a big tic-tac-toe board for your students. Type out the instructions (one activity per page) in a big font. Print them out and display them. You can even staple manilla folders onto your board with worksheets or resources for your students. You can use any of the activities from this list to create your own Fast-Finishers Choice Board.
** This option is more labor intensive for the students, so you may need to make an incentive. Once they complete a row or column, they can submit the work and it could replace their lowest graded assignment, add 5 points to an assignment, or something similar. Or at the end of each week, pick a student that completed it and reward them with a prize!
As you can see, with these 11 activities, your fast finishers will stay busy, have fun, decompress, and even use the target language. Administration will love to see any of these fast finisher activities implemented in your classroom, which is an added bonus!
