Best Game Ever in Spanish Class: Go Fish

If you're looking for a fun and engaging game to review just about any vocab - look no further than Go Fish!

Unless you want something low-prep.

This is not low-prep. 😂

But it can be the second time you use it if you laminate everything! 

What topics work well for Go Fish

Honestly just about any vocab topic as long as you have about 20 words (with clipart images). 

You don't want too many (like over 25 vocab words) because then the games will last foreverrrrrrr.

And too few (under 15 vocab words) means the games will end very quickly. 

Some vocab set ideas to get you started:

• adjectives
• activities with gustar
• school vocab
• clothing vocab
• food vocab
• places in town

You want to choose a vocab set where students will have 1 question starter to ask. Like "¿Te gusta cantar?" And then if the other student has cantar, they hand it over.

Or for clothing vocab "¿Llevas los pantalones?". 

Or for food vocab "¿Prefieres el pollo?"

Or for places in town "¿Fuiste al supermercado?"

You get the idea. You don't want to mix clothing and school vocab because then it would get confusing for students to remember which question to ask. 

How to make Go Fish

I strongly suggest you use Powerpoint because Microsoft Word doesn't play well with others or with images. And images are kind of the whole point of Go Fish.

1. Open a new Powerpoint presentation. 

2. Go to File > Page Setup > make the slide dimensions 8.5" x 11" > OK. 

It will ask you if you want to scale up or down. It doesn't matter which you click because the slide is blank anyway.

3. Delete the Title and Subtitle boxes.

4. Go to Insert > Table > make the dimensions 4 x 4 > Insert.

5. Go to Table Design and set the line thickness to 4.5 point. Format the table so it has all borders (they should be very thick) and shading is 'no fill'. 

6. Click on your table. Go to Layout. Make the height 10" and width 7.5". Drag the table so it's centered on your slide.

7. You'll insert each clipart 4 times. This means you can put 4 cliparts per page. Duplicate your slide so that you have enough pages for all clipart.

Example: If you have 20 cliparts, you will need 5 pages. 

8. Insert each clipart 4 times - one into each box across a row. Or down a column. Doesn't matter.

Pro tip: Insert a clipart item one time onto your powerpoint. Size it so it fits inside a box without touching the lines. Copy and paste it 3 times and center the other 3 images in their boxes. 

You do not want the clipart images to touch the lines because you're going to cut along those lines and wiggle room is your friend. 

The clipart shown here is from one of my favorite TpT stores Promoting Success.

9. Print the Go Fish set you just made onto card stock. Print enough so your biggest class can play in groups of 4 students. (If your biggest class is 30 students, print 8 sets.)

You want to use thick paper or students will be able to see through it and no one likes a game where cheating is easy.

Pro tip: Use colored card stock. Use at least 2 different colors, but really as many different colors as you have. Students will leave cards on the floor at the end of the period and this will help you figure out which set it belongs to.

10. If you will literally ever want to use this game ever ever ever again - laminate every page. If you have no regard for Future You Problems, then skip this step.

11. Cut out all the squares. Use a paper cutter, use a child old enough to be able to cut on the lines. Teach your dog to help you. 

This is the worst part IMO. But Future You will thank you if you didn't skip Step 10 and you never have to do this again.

12. Place each Go Fish set into a plastic bag. Sandwich size should be large enough. 

Pro tip: Number the baggies and pay attention to which group you hand out which bag to. This will help you figure out which set the random piece on the floor at the end of class belongs to.

How to play Go Fish in class

1. Divide students into groups of 3-5. 

2. Give each group a Go Fish set.

3. Teach students the question starter you want them to use. It should be something they already learned in class.

Question starter ideas:

• Adjectives -> ¿Eres ___?
• Activities with gustar -> ¿Te gusta ___?
• School vocab -> ¿Tienes ___?
• Clothing vocab -> ¿Llevas ___?
• Food vocab -> ¿Prefieres ___?
• Places in town -> ¿Fuiste al / a la ___?

4. Shuffle the deck and deal every student 5 cards. 

5. Just like regular Go Fish, Student A has to address Student B and ask their question with a particular vocab word they're looking for. They must already have that vocab clipart image in their hand.

If Student B has the vocab word, they say "Sí, me gusta ___" Or "Sí, tengo ___" or whatever the yo form response is for that question and they hand the card over. Student A gets to go again.

If Student B doesn't have the vocab card, they say "No, no me gusta ___. Pesca." or "No, no tengo ___. Pesca." or whatever the yo form response is. Student A then draws a card from the deck and the next student goes.

Is there a digital version?

I can't figure out how it would be possible to play digitally and not have all students see each other's cards. 

Comment below or email me at Jessica@MissSenoritaTpt.com if you're smarter than me and can figure it out. I'd love to make it!

Want it already done for you?

I have Go Fish sets already created in my TpT store. 

You'll find:

• Adjectives
• AR, ER, IR Verbs
• Clothing vocab
• Food vocab
• School Subjects vocab
• School Supplies vocab
• Things You Like vocab

Have you ever played Go Fish with vocab words in your class? Let me know in the comments how it went!