Films and cinema: present continuous and modal verbs
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can use the present continuous to describe what we or they are doing now, and 'querer' + infinitive to say what we or they want to do, in the context of describing film scenes.
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- When a word has a stress on the antepenultimate syllable, it always has a written accent to show where the stress falls.
- To say what is happening right now, Spanish uses the present continuous which is a form of 'estar' + present participle.
- To form -er/-ir verb present participles, remove -er/-ir from the infinitive and add -iendo, e.g. 'están traduciendo'.
- The verb 'querer' is a modal verb and means 'to want' or 'to love'. To say 'they want', we use 'quieren'.
- 'Querer' is commonly used before an infinitive, to mean 'to want to', e.g. 'quieren conducir' ('they want to drive').
Keywords
Modal verbs - verb of necessity or possibility used with a 2nd verb in the infinitive, e.g. 'must', 'can', 'want'
Querer - Spanish modal verb meaning 'to want' or 'to love'
Present continuous - describes events happening right now, e.g. 'I am doing'
Estar - Spanish verb meaning 'to be', also the auxiliary verb for the present continuous
Common misconception
To form the present continuous I just use 'está' + present participle.
To form the present continuous you first conjugate 'estar'; e.g. for 'they are' use 'están'. Then add the present participle; which is the verb stem + -ando for -ar verbs and -iendo for -er/-ir verbs, e.g. 'están hablando' - 'they are talking'.
Teacher tip
Watching Spanish films can really bring the language to life for students, for example running a weekly Spanish film club to show some of the titles featured in this lesson. These Spanish films can all be found online.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which verb means 'she, he, it did; made'?
Q2.Order the numbers from smallest to largest.
Q3.Match the Spanish and English.
lawyer
scientist
damage, harm
fire
garden
film
Q4.Match the Spanish and English.
camera
class
scene
character
afternoon
window
Q5.Write in Spanish: 'I am twenty-three years old'. Write the number in full.
Q6.Write in Spanish: 'there are twenty-two cars'. Write the number in full.
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Which words need an accent?
Q2.Which phrase means 'I am arguing'?
Q3.Write in Spanish: 'they are driving'.
Q4.Write in Spanish: 'they want to translate'.
To help you plan your 8 Spanish lesson on: Films and cinema: present continuous and modal verbs, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 8 Spanish lesson on: Films and cinema: present continuous and modal verbs, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 Spanish lessons from the What is happening now: present continuous, 'este' and 'esta' unit, dive into the full secondary Spanish curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.