1 - Clock or Timetable? ~5 mins
What time is it right now? Say it in English first. Now imagine you are reading a Spanish train timetable. Would the number look the same?
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Answer the time in Spanish using today's phrases (half past, quarter past, quarter to, on the hour)
- Match a 24-hour timetable time to how you would say it face to face
- Write three times from your day with the model stems on the board
Take a few answers in English, then show a made-up timetable time on the board such as 14:30. Ask what that means in everyday speech (half past two in the afternoon). Do not teach the Spanish yet; the flashcards open that door. The point of the hook is that Spanish speakers switch between 24-hour clocks on transport and 12-hour talk face to face. Keep the tone curious, not test-like: "Spanish stations love big numbers — we're going to crack the code."
2 - Eight Time Phrases ~10 mins
These are phrases you would hear under the reloj in a big station like Atocha, or on a school corridor clock in Valencia.
For each card: listen to the audio, repeat twice with the class, then flip to check the English. Use the hour strip on the board with today's cards when you build a full time.
Whole class on the IWB. Start with a 2-minute choral recap of the hour bank (numbers 1–12) from the board strip: 1 una · 2 dos · 3 tres · 4 cuatro · 5 cinco · 6 seis · 7 siete · 8 ocho · 9 nueve · 10 diez · 11 once · 12 doce. Pupils met these earlier in the numbers work; keep it brisk and point at the strip as they say each one. Then run flashcards: play audio first, class repeats twice, then flip. Do not ask pupils to guess Spanish before they hear it.
Build full answers only from known hours + today's modifiers: Las dos en punto (lahs dohs en POON-toh), Las cinco y media (lahs SEEN-koh ee MEH-dyah), Las diez y cuarto (lahs dyehs ee KWAR-toh), Las cinco menos cuarto (lahs SEEN-koh MEH-nos KWAR-toh). You ask ¿Qué hora es? as the classroom question; they answer with the chunks.
For routines later, model a las meaning "at": Me levanto a las siete (meh leh-VAHN-toh ah lahs SYEH-teh). If anyone needs one o'clock: the same singular bite applies — a la una, not a las una.
Cheer the first clean full time — make a small fuss that half past and quarter to finally click together.
3 - Match the Times ~9 mins
Match as if you are helping a friend read a Cercanías board in Madrid. Flip two cards at a time and find each Spanish time phrase with its English meaning. Whisper the Spanish each time you turn a card.
Run this as a whole-class matching-pairs game on the board, with volunteers taking turns. If a pair is missed twice, stop and say both sides together before moving on. Listen for y media (ee MEH-dyah) and menos cuarto (MEH-nos KWAR-toh), which pupils often mix up.
In the last two minutes, do a quick oral build before you leave the board: you ask ¿Qué hora es?, class answers with three full times from the hour bank + modifiers. Keep the worked exchange in view if anyone freezes. Bingo comes next for more listening reps; save the routine-frame choral read for just before the copybook.
4 - Times in Your Day ~6 mins
Read the three model sentences aloud with the class first. Then open your copy and write your own times by swapping in your hour (and optional y media, y cuarto, menos cuarto or en punto).
Models (say them together):
Me levanto a las siete en punto. (I get up at seven o'clock exactly.)
El colegio empieza a las nueve. (School starts at nine.)
Me acuesto a las diez y media. (I go to bed at half past ten.)
Your turn — copy the frame, change the time:
Me levanto a las ______.
El colegio empieza a las ______.
Me acuesto a las ______.
Optional stretch: invent one Spanish day line from a timetable (e.g. a train at 16:45) and write the face-to-face form underneath using today's phrases: Las cinco menos cuarto.
Bingo has just reinforced the chunks. Leave the models on the IWB. Spend about two minutes on choral reading of the three full sentences and the empty stems before anyone writes. Useful pronunciation: Me levanto (meh leh-VAHN-toh), El colegio empieza (el ko-LEH-hyo em-PYEH-sah), Me acuesto (meh ah-KWES-toh), a las (ah lahs). Hours come from the number-bank recap; stick to times pupils can actually say.
Walk the room and check they are writing full sentences, not bare clock numbers. Celebrate any full sentence on the page: "That's real Spanish about your real day." Do not collect these.
If someone gets up at one: a la una, not a las una.
5 - Time Bingo ~9 mins
First your teacher gives everyone a bingo card (printed ticket-style cards). The cards show school-bell and station times. Listen carefully to each time phrase and mark it on your card. First full line wins — and the winner reads their line back like a station announcer!
How to Play Bingo:
Option 1: Students on Devices (Digital Version)
- Use the digital version where your teacher view of the lesson displays the cards that are being called out.
- Play the pronunciation sound of each word and the children mark it off their unique digital bingo card.
- Each student has a randomised bingo card so winners will vary!
Option 2: Print Out the Bingo Cards
- Print out the Bingo Cards from the attachment above, cut out the cards, and give one to each student.
- You call out the vocabulary words and students mark off their sheets.
- First student to complete a line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) calls "Bingo!" and wins.
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