World LanguageModern foreign languagesElementaryPrimary
How to teach numbers in Spanish
Spanish numbers 0 to 15 each have their own name, 16 to 29 are single words, and from 31 on a tens word and a ones word are joined with y. This page explains the pattern, with a free activity where students read price tags at a market stand Sparky builds and say each price in Spanish.
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To a new learner, quince (15) and cincuenta (50) sound alike, and sesenta (60) starts like seis (6). A young student who can count from uno to veinte out loud still reads a $15 price tag as cincuenta, or says sesenta when she means six. On a counting worksheet the mix-up looks like one wrong blank, and the teacher has to wait until grading to find out who still confuses the teens with the tens.
How numbers in Spanish are built
The Real Academia Española's Diccionario panhispánico de dudas sets out the pattern students need for numbers in Spanish 1-100 (RAE, DPD: cardinales):
- 0 to 15 each have their own name, from cero to quince: once, doce, trece, catorce, quince.
- The tens have their own names too: diez, veinte, treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa, and cien for 100.
- 16 to 19 and 21 to 29 are written as one word: dieciséis, dieciocho, veintiuno, veintidós.
- From 31 on, the tens word and the ones word are separate, joined by y: treinta y uno, cuarenta y cinco, noventa y ocho.
From 31 to 99, every number that isn't a tens word is built the same way: a tens word, y, and a ones word from uno to nueve. A student who knows quince is 15 and cincuenta is 50 can read any price up to 99.
In the Flint activity, Sparky builds each student a market stand with a price tag on every item, and the student says or types each price in Spanish. A worksheet marks a wrong blank, while Sparky reads the student's own answer and sends her back to the tag she misread.
Sparky gets Zoe to fix her own teens and tens
Zoe ends up reading $15 and $46 in Spanish after catching both of her own mix-ups. Every student gets the same activity, and Sparky builds each stand and writes each reply from what that student says.
Zoe
Zoe
hi im zoe! a fruit stand! i help at my familys table at the farmers market on saturdays
Sparky
Zoe
the strawberrys! cincuenta dolaresSparky
Zoe
oh its in the teens. quince dolaresSparky
Zoe
cuarenta y sesenta dolaresSparky
Zoe
ohh wait sesenta is 60. 6 is seis. cuarenta y seis dolaresSparky
Fixed quince and cincuenta, then read cuarenta y seis
Zoe is an example student, and Sparky's replies are shortened.
What Flint did for Zoe
- Sparky built a fruit stand with price tags when Zoe said she helps at her family's market table.
- When Zoe read $15 as cincuenta, Sparky sent her back to the tag to decide between the teens and the tens.
- After Zoe said quince dólares, Sparky changed the strawberry tag to $46, a price that needs a tens word, y and a ones word.
A teacher can't do this by hand for 30 students, and Sparky does it in every student's chat.
The activity page shows who still mixes up the teens and the tens
While the class works, Needs attention shows the teacher which student is stuck and on which message. After three or more students submit, activity analytics lists what the class did well, where students went wrong, and a follow-up to practice next.
Example activity page
After an elementary Spanish class runs its market stands
The school and students are made up for this page.
Set up the activity for free
The market stand activity is in Flint's public library, with Sparky's role, guidelines and greeting already written. The guidelines tell Sparky to build each student's stand, hint at a misread price without giving the answer, and raise the price after a right answer. Students can type each price or say it out loud, and each of Sparky's replies has a Listen button. Open the activity, select Use activity to copy it into a free Flint account, and assign it to a class.
For more world language activities, see Flint for world language.
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