The Three Modes of Communication in Elementary Spanish: What They Look Like Through Stories

Have you ever looked at your lesson plan and wondered, What do I really want my students to be able to do with the Spanish they’re learning?

Maybe you have a story, a set of flashcards, and a few activities ready to go. Your students are engaged, they recognize the words, and they’re having fun. But how do all those pieces connect to a larger communication goal?

This is a question I’ve thought about a lot as an elementary Spanish teacher.

When I plan a unit, I want my students to hear and understand Spanish. I also want to give them opportunities to connect with the language, share their ideas, and communicate with others in ways that make sense for their age and proficiency level.

That’s where the three modes of communication come in.

ACTFL’s World-Readiness Standards describe three modes: interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational. Thinking about these modes helps me look beyond the words I’m teaching and focus on what my students can do with the language. www.actfl.org

Let me show you what this can look like using one story from Aventuras in Learning: La vida de Frida Kahlo.

Start with the goal, not just the activity

When I first started thinking more intentionally about communication goals, I realized that an activity can be fun and still leave me wondering what my students are working toward.

For example, if students are reading a story about Frida Kahlo, am I hoping they will recognize a list of words? Understand important details about her life? Ask a classmate a question? Share something about themselves?

Each of those possibilities can help shape the activities I choose and what I look for as students participate.

A goal doesn’t have to make your lesson complicated. It can be as simple as:

Students will understand key details in a story about Frida Kahlo.

From there, you can choose the visuals, questions, reading supports, and activities that help students work toward that goal.

1. Interpretive communication: Making meaning from the story

In the interpretive mode, students understand and make meaning from something they hear, read, or view. They may not know every word, but they use what they do recognize, along with visuals, context, and other supports, to understand the message.

With La vida de Frida Kahlo, students listen to or read a story about Frida’s life. Pictures, gestures, and familiar language help make the story comprehensible.

After reading, students might sequence events from the story. As they decide what happened, they show their understanding of the message they heard or read.

You might notice a student pointing to the image of Frida painting, choosing the picture of La Casa Azul, or using the illustrations to help them put events in order.

Those moments give you information about what students understand, even if they aren’t ready to explain everything in Spanish.

A goal to guide your planning:

Students will understand the main idea and key details of a biographical story about Frida Kahlo with support from visuals and gestures.

A question to ask yourself: What can my students understand, and what support will help them access the story?

2. Interpersonal communication: Connecting with someone else

Interpersonal communication happens when students exchange ideas with another person. They listen, respond, and have opportunities to clarify or adjust what they say.

For novice learners, that exchange doesn’t need to be a long conversation. A short interaction with visual support and familiar language can give students a meaningful reason to listen and respond.

In the Frida Kahlo unit, students can use the Frida y yo chat mat with a partner. The mat gives them questions and language supports to talk about Frida and make connections to their own lives.

For example, one student might ask:

¿Qué animales tiene Frida?
¿Tienes animales?

Their partner responds using the support on the mat, and then they change roles.

I love chat mats because they make a conversation feel more accessible. Students have something to look at and point to while they focus on listening to their partner and sharing a response.

Before students begin, I recommend modeling the exchange with the class. You can demonstrate how to use the mat, listen to an answer, and switch roles. Some students may need more time and support; others may be ready to say more.

A goal to guide your planning:

Students will ask and answer simple questions related to Frida and their own lives using familiar language and supports.

A question to ask yourself: Are students exchanging meaning with someone, or are they only repeating an answer?

3. Presentational communication: Sharing a message

In the presentational mode, students create a message for an audience. That message might be spoken, written, or supported by visuals.

In an elementary classroom, a presentational task can be simple and creative. Students don’t need to give a long presentation to share an idea in Spanish.

For La vida de Frida Kahlo, students can create a postcard from La Casa Azul. They imagine visiting Frida’s home, draw something that stands out to them, and write simple sentences about what they see or like.

The Connections activity provides sentence frames such as:

Estoy en la Casa Azul.
Veo muchas flores en el jardín.
Me gusta la casa porque es azul.

The drawing gives students a way to support their message, while the sentence frames help them organize what they want to say. The activity also offers an option to record or share the sentences orally.

A goal to guide your planning:

Students will describe aspects of La Casa Azul and share a personal reaction using visuals and simple Spanish.

A question to ask yourself: What message are students creating, and who is their audience?

One story, different opportunities to communicate

Here’s what I want teachers to see: you don’t need three separate topics to make space for the three modes.

One story can give students a shared context that carries into different activities:

Mode	What students do	Frida Kahlo example
Interpretive	Understand a message	Read or listen to the story and sequence events.
Interpersonal	Exchange ideas with another person	Use the Frida y yo chat mat to ask and answer questions.
Presentational	Create a message for an audience	Create a postcard describing a visit to La Casa Azul.

This doesn’t mean every lesson needs to include all three modes or that every student will respond in the same way. Choose the experiences that support your goals and make sense for your students.

Some classes may spend more time listening, looking, and building understanding before they’re ready for an exchange. Others may be ready to use a chat mat with a partner or create a message with sentence frames. Your students’ needs should guide your decisions.

Making communication goals easier to use in Aventuras

When I created Aventuras in Learning, I wanted teachers to have more than a story to share. I wanted them to have resources that help them think about where students are going and how the activities can support that learning.

Each story includes goals and resources that help teachers plan for meaningful communication. Right now, those goals are available in a PDF.

And I’m excited to share that an upcoming Aventuras update will make them even easier to use: the communication goals will be right there in each story’s lesson plan.

My hope is that when you open a story, you’ll be able to see the goals and use them to guide the activities you choose for your students, without having to search through another document while you plan.

Try it with your students

If you’d like to explore this example for yourself, La vida de Frida Kahlo is included in the Aventuras in Learning free trial.

You can explore the story and see how its resources support students as they understand, interact, and share ideas in Spanish.

Explore the Aventuras free trial

And as you plan your next story, try starting with one question:

What do I want my students to be able to understand or communicate by the end of this experience?

That answer can help you choose the story supports, questions, and activities that matter most for your learners. 💛