Online Quiz

Google sites can be used to create online quizzes like the one below. These can be used as comprehension activities in class (if you have sufficient access to technology). The responses collect in a spreadsheet that you can evaluate later. There are lots of response options. You can do true/false sentence, choosing an option (like the example below), or even open text boxes.
This activity could be as flexible as your imagination. The example below is based on a communication gap activity.

¡Carnaval 2012! -a communication gap activity

This is one example of a communication gap activity that could be adapted to any theme or language. The point is that one student gets part of the information and the partner gets a different set of information. They must talk to each other to fill in the missing pieces. This example is based on 2012's Carnaval in Rio.

Communication Gap

Popplet

Popplet is a web 2.0 mind mapping tool. It can be used to have students explore their ideas about a topic. Students can work together or on their own to map out ideas and add some images, links, or information. This is a great tool to get them to see the big picture of how somethings are related to others. It's really great for politics and cultural aspects that are difficult to see without first putting them into a context.

At a simpler level, this could be use to help beginners sort new vocabulary. Students can achieve deeper encoding of new knowledge when they process words and make new connections. (Brandl 2007, p. 83).

Tutorial on using Popplet in Spanish

Speed Dating

Line up desk or tables so that students can sit across from each other in a long line. Have one student select a card with a topic for discussion on it. Each student-pair has 5 mins to discuss the topic. Then a bell rings and one side of the line shifts one spot down so that every student has a new partner. As a group, ask students to share some of the things that came up in their pair. Next let another student choose a second topic card and start the process over again. There is a lot of flexibility in the type of topics that could be chosen and a lot of potential for language learning to take place. To make it more fun, try having students make a note about which brain they'd most likely take out on a second "discussion date." :)