salvador dali lesson ideas for spanish class

5 Salvador Dali Spanish Lessons

In honor of Salvador Dalí’s birthday on May 11, I wanted to share with you all of my favorite Salvador Dali Spanish lesson plans.  As you probably can tell by now, teaching about Hispanic artists is my passion. It is such a fun way to engage your students in the target language while letting them express themselves creatively. With these Salvador Dali Spanish lesson ideas, your students will learn about Dali’s life, surrealism, and even be able to describe his artworks in the target language!

1. Salvador Dali Biography in Spanish

Salvador Dali had a very unique childhood. Did you know that he had an older brother who passed away at a young age? His name was Salvador, as well.  Dalí’s parents believed that the second-born Dalí (the painter we know today), was the reincarnation of his older brother. His parents even took Dalí to the grave site of his brother and told him that he was the reincarnation. What kind of effect can that have on a person?! Now, his unique style and surrealist pieces might begin to make some sense to you!

It is important that your students know about Dalí’s childhood, school, and artistic inspiration. Begin teaching about Dalí with a biography in the target language. You can find 3 differentiated versions of a Salvador Dalí biography HERE. This is perfect for all levels of Spanish students.

salvador dali biography in spanish for kids

2. Flip Book for Kids

This is a great way to summarize Salvador Dalí’s life and artwork with one lesson. Students can work independently at their own pace as they complete each page. Sometimes students just need to doodle and color, and this combines that creative outlet while still learning about Dali in the target language.
Interactive notebook and flip book for salvador dali spanish lesson

3. Use Your 5 Senses

Every single one of Dalí’s paintings have so much going on. When you really stop to analyze them, there is so much to look at. Imagine placing yourself within the painting, what would you see, hear, smell, taste, touch? Ask your students these same questions. Take for example, The Persistence of Memory, Dali’s most famous artwork. As you introduce this to your students, have them simply look at it using their eyes. After they can list everything they “see,” then ask them to start thinking about what they would “hear” if they were within the painting.  Would they taste the sand in their mouths if it was a windy day? Would they feel ants crawling up their arm? Grab your5 senses graphic organizer with this link. That is what I use with my students as we look at The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali.
the persistence of memory by salvador dali graphic organizer to use your five senses when analyzing

4. Describe and Draw

So, I think we can all admit that surrealism can be a bit crazy. There are objects all over the place, where we may not expect them.  Tall elephants with super long, thin legs, floating plates and silverware, melting clocks, etc.  There is never a dull moment in a Dali painting. I enjoy using Info Gap activities to have students draw his paintings.  Assign each student a painting by Dali. As Student A familiarizes themselves with the painting, they can brainstorm all of the nouns/objects, actions, and descriptive words. Once they are well-versed in how to describe the painting, they will describe it to Student B, a classmate that has never seen it before.  Student B will listen to the oral description, and on a blank piece of paper, try to draw what they hear Student A describing.  At the end, have students compare what they drew to the original Dali artwork! Results may be a bit hilarious, but some may be strikingly similar! I have this lesson already made, in my Salvador Dali Activities download here – you can print and go with the paintings, vocab, and brainstorming sheets!
Info Gap activity to listen and draw what your classmates say to draw a dali painting

5. Act it Out!

This activity is especially great for novice students who don’t have as much target language ability. You can do this activity in small groups or individually (for virtual students). Showcase a few of Dali’s artworks, and then ask students to recreate them with objects in their house or at school. They can use real-life objects, craft things out of art supplies, or make sculptures out of playdough! You will want to choose a variety of paintings so that students have options – maybe some students want to use household objects and others want to use craft supplies to create animals.
If you are interested in teaching Salvador Dali lesson plans with no-prep, I have compiled all of my resources into a bundle! There are multiple days worth of lessons, and your students will have a better understanding of Dali’s life, artworks, and surrealism.
You may also want to teach about other Hispanic artists, such as Pablo Picasso or Frida Kahlo. Click each name for my other blog posts about activities to keep your Spanish students engaged with those artists!

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¡Hola, I'm Courtney!

I am a high school Spanish teacher from Pennsylvania. I create authentic and engaging resources for the Spanish classroom.  On my blog, I share practical tips and strategies for teaching world languages.

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