How to Create Engaging Webquests Your Students Will Love

I'm pretty sure when I was learning Spanish in high school, we learned about culture in Spanish-speaking countries by reading blurbs in the textbook.

Honestly, it's shocking we learned anything about how people live in Spanish-speaking countries.

The internet is an amazing tool for teaching culture and truly letting students learn how people live in other countries. I love to use webquests to teach culture.

Here's how I create them!

What is a webquest?

Quite simply, it's a worksheet with questions on it that students find the answers to on websites that you direct them to.

I like to include questions that are opinion-based to stir up discussion as much as possible. I also find questions where students have to compare/contrast something in the target culture to their home culture to be very engaging as well.

And if I can find a website with an interesting video - jackpot.

My absolute favorite webquest every year in Spanish 1 is during the housing unit.

Students watch a video walkthrough of a house in Barcelona and they see a bidet. And when they ask "why are there two toilets?" I tell them "the funny looking toilet... cleans you." And then they are mortified when they figure out what I mean by that. *insert hysterical laughter here* 🤣🤣🤣

And that is why I love a webquest.

Students are intrigued to learn about how people live in other countries.

Anything to get kids saying "oh my god - did you get to question 4 yet?! Whoaaaaa..."

IMO this is an ideal format to teach about foods, holidays, and other interesting aspects of culture in Spanish-speaking countries.

How to create an engaging webquest

1. Pick your topic you want students to learn about.

Let's say you want to teach students about La Semana Santa in Spain.

2. Find a (some) great website(s) to direct students to.

1. Google "la semana santa in Spain" (or whatever your topic is).

Look for websites with pictures, videos, and small blocks of text.

Students simply won't read large blocks of text. Those websites are not going to make this an engaging activity for your students.

You'll probably want several different websites, as it's unlikely you'll find everything you want students to learn about on one website.

Surprisingly, Wikipedia usually has great articles.

2. Copy and paste the websites you've chosen into a Word doc or Google doc.

Type the questions for each website under the link you direct students to.

Be specific about where they can find the answers. You want students to find the information without getting frustrated.

Think about what info will get students interested.

What will shock them or make them want to learn more? What will make them whisper to their neighbor? What will make them think critically about how they live and their culture?

Include enough questions to fill the class period.

I find the magic number to be (the number of minutes in the class period) minus (10 minutes for students to settle down, get their work, log in, open the right website, etc) minus (5 minutes to collect papers, log off the computer, get ready for dismissal, etc).

The magic number in a 50-minute period is about 35 questions.

I include fewer questions if I want them to write a paragraph comparing and contrasting La Semana Santa with their own holiday celebrations around the same time of the year. (Or a similar paragraph for whatever topic you've chosen.)

How to make it easy for students to complete the webquest

The last thing you want is to hand students a piece of paper and watch them struggle to type the websites in manually.

#nightmarescenario

I created a classroom website on weebly (it's free!). I have students log into the classroom website, where I have already uploaded the Word doc I created with all the websites and questions.

That way they go to the website they already know, open the Word doc, click the links on the webquest (no typing for them!) and type their answers directly onto the Word doc. They then just have to save it in the Shared Folder I created for their class.

If your school uses Google Classroom or a similar LMS, you can upload the webquest there and have students download it, answer the questions, and submit the assignment.

There are a lot of different ways you can make sure it's easy for students to get to the correct websites.