25 Free Printable Spanish Worksheets With Sayings
When you are teaching a language, it is always important to show your students how it naturally works. For this reason, apart from teaching vocabulary and grammatical structures, you should include phrases, sayings, idioms and slang used by native speakers on a regular basis.
Skipping them in your lessons would make your students miss a significant cultural element of the language they try to speak fluently. It could even lead to serious misunderstandings!
The Spanish language is amazingly rich in phraseology, and your students should be able to learn at least the most popular proverbs. But how should you teach them most effectively? We’ve got you covered - we have prepared 25 free printable Spanish worksheets you can use in your classes anytime!
Skipping them in your lessons would make your students miss a significant cultural element of the language they try to speak fluently. It could even lead to serious misunderstandings!
The Spanish language is amazingly rich in phraseology, and your students should be able to learn at least the most popular proverbs. But how should you teach them most effectively? We’ve got you covered - we have prepared 25 free printable Spanish worksheets you can use in your classes anytime!
What Are Sayings and Why Are They Important?
A saying (or a proverb) is a short, easy-to-remember and commonly used phrase that usually provides some kind of wisdom. They can be said in certain suitable situations to make your message clearer, more vivid, or even sometimes funnier. Sayings never get old, and they are passed from one generation to another, making the everyday language richer and more interesting.
Some of them are more international but others are associated specifically with a particular culture (even though the exact author is often not known today), and exploring their meanings and origins is truly fascinating! Therefore, we are sure your students will like discovering famous sayings from our learning Spanish worksheets.
Some of them are more international but others are associated specifically with a particular culture (even though the exact author is often not known today), and exploring their meanings and origins is truly fascinating! Therefore, we are sure your students will like discovering famous sayings from our learning Spanish worksheets.
25 Popular Sayings on Free Spanish Printable Worksheets, Complete with Illustrations, Their Meanings & Translations in English
Sayings are perfect for use in the classroom, as conversation starters, or to brighten up your classroom walls. We have put 25 of them on our English-Spanish worksheets that your students will certainly enjoy. The proverbs are accompanied by a cartoonish illustration, an English explanation (or equivalent, if there is one), and a Spanish explanation that can help them to acquire even more vocabulary.
Here are some of the sayings included in our Spanish sheets:
Here are some of the sayings included in our Spanish sheets:
Feliz como una lombriz
The phrase “Feliz como una lombriz” translates directly to “happy as an earthworm”, so we illustrated it with an earthworm in a reversed situation - standing on the shore and fishing! The English equivalent here is “happy as a clam” but the Spanish version is more catchy as it rhymes, and it can be easily memorized even by a beginner.
De tal padre, tal hijo
Another popular saying included in our Spanish worksheets for beginners is “De tal padre, tal hijo”. Your students will probably have no difficulties in acquiring this one as it has a direct English equivalent: “Like father, like son”, describing a person who has similar traits as their father.
En boca cerrada no entran moscas
This example from our beginner Spanish worksheets shouldn’t be difficult to identify either, as it also has a precise English equivalent: “A closed mouth catches no flies.” Nevertheless, it’s always a good idea to make sure every student understands the message, which here says it’s sometimes better to keep your mouth shut than risk saying something inappropriate.
Haber gato encerrado
This saying is a bit tricky! In modern Spanish, it directly translates as “to have a locked-up cat”. However, this proverb actually refers to a little sac, which was also called “gato”, used to carry coins in the 16th and 17th centuries. We combine both meanings of the word in our Spanish printable, and illustrate the proverb with a cat-shaped package! Clever, isn’t it?
A robber trying to find hidden money could say that there is a “gato encerrado” and that’s why we use this phrase to say that something’s not right and there is a hidden truth somewhere. The closest English equivalent included in our Spanish worksheet is “Something smells fishy”.
A robber trying to find hidden money could say that there is a “gato encerrado” and that’s why we use this phrase to say that something’s not right and there is a hidden truth somewhere. The closest English equivalent included in our Spanish worksheet is “Something smells fishy”.
Más rápido que volando
The direct meaning of this saying is “faster than flying”, and it refers to going or doing something very fast. Pretty straightforward!
Ponerse la pilas
“Ponerse las pilas” literally means “put the batteries in”. This proverb is used to express putting in a lot of effort, dedication and courage to do a task. You can explain to your students that it is often used to hurry someone up when it takes too long for them to complete the job.
Quedarse sin la soga y sin la cabra
The phrase “Quedarse sin la soga y sin la cabra” included in our Spanish learning worksheets literally translates to “to remain without the rope and without the goat”. It is mostly commonly used to criticize someone who wants to take or grab too much and ends up with nothing. The closest English equivalent you can give to your students is “Bite off more than you can chew”.
Ser buen diente
Literally meaning “To be a good tooth”, this saying is used to refer to a person who likes to eat everything and in large amounts. This sheet can be helpful in recalling or introducing beginner Spanish words associated with human anatomy.
En la punta de la lengua
This is one of the easiest sayings in our beginning Spanish worksheets as you can translate it word by word and it will result in a perfect English equivalent. It means “on the tip of the tongue”, and it is used when someone is close to recalling something but they can’t pull it together completely.
...and many more!
Why Is It a Good Idea to Use Our Free Spanish Printables (Worksheets)?
Here are some of the reasons why we recommend using our Spanish printable worksheets in your classes:
They Will Help Your Students to Learn
The Spanish worksheets we offer are prepared in such a way that they can support the learning process as effectively as possible. We provide both the English and Spanish explanations, and add an illustration so that your students can memorize the phrase also visually.
They Can Inspire You to Prepare More Spanish Exercises
You can use our printables as an inspiration to prepare even more Spanish assignments for your students. To help them memorize the new phrases better, you can prepare exercises with blank spaces to fill, or show them just the illustrations, encouraging them to match what they see with the most appropriate Spanish saying they know.
They Are Free
We offer 100% free Spanish worksheets in PDF, so you can get relevant teaching materials without spending any money. All you have to do is provide your first name and email address in the form at the top of the page and inform us in this way that you are interested in receiving our free printable Spanish worksheets. We will send you back all the materials quickly so that you can use them in your next class!
They Can Be Colored
The illustrations on our beginner Spanish to English worksheets (printables) are black and white not only for easier and cheaper printing but also because in this way, children can make even more interactions with them. You can ask them to color the drawings which will make them look at the visual representation of Spanish sayings for a longer time, improving the memorizing process.
They Include Spanish Words for Beginners
Our printables with sayings can be used as beginner Spanish to English worksheets because they include pretty simple vocabulary. If your students are already familiar with various words for animals, family members, body parts, etc., they should be able to understand most of the proverbs quite well.
The Bottom Line
All in all, we strongly recommend downloading our free Spanish worksheets in PDF and using them in your classes dedicated to popular sayings. We have prepared 25 different proverbs, each explained as clearly as possible - in Spanish, in English, and with a funny picture. They will certainly enrich your Spanish classes, provoke discussions and help your students to acquire popular proverbs that improve their language skills.
Sayings will make it possible for them to speak Spanish more fluently and take a step closer to using it like a native speaker. What’s more, it will allow them to avoid many misunderstandings as proverbs tend to have meanings far from literal translations.
When you already get our Spanish printables with sayings, check out what other teaching aids we have prepared. You can find Spanish tests for beginners and higher levels, cultural calendars, song lists, slang dictionaries, and more. Start improving your classes and making your teaching work easier now!
Sayings will make it possible for them to speak Spanish more fluently and take a step closer to using it like a native speaker. What’s more, it will allow them to avoid many misunderstandings as proverbs tend to have meanings far from literal translations.
When you already get our Spanish printables with sayings, check out what other teaching aids we have prepared. You can find Spanish tests for beginners and higher levels, cultural calendars, song lists, slang dictionaries, and more. Start improving your classes and making your teaching work easier now!
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