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How to Play the “Never Have I Ever” Game in Spanish Class- Present Perfect Tense Practice

Sneak peek: “Yo nunca” is a really fun game to play in heritage Spanish class or Spanish 3 to practice the present perfect tense.

Have you ever played the game “Never Have I Ever” in Spanish class or “Yo nunca”? This game is SO much fun because it gets students moving around and learning about one another. It can also get pretty intense because students get so into it- but I love looking around the room and seeing everyone so engaged.


I play this game with both my heritage Spanish classes and Spanish 3. This is great for Spanish 3 class when students are learning the present perfect. This game can be played any time in heritage Spanish class and I love the spelling repetition they get on the present perfect tense. I have seen that my heritage students often write “ha + past participle” instead of “he + past participle” when talking about themselves so this is a wonderful exercise for them, that is tons of fun! I also love how low prep this lesson is. All students need is a pencil and a blank sheet of paper- no printing required!

Before you play

Pass out a blank sheet of paper to each student or have them get one out. They should number their paper numbers from 1-15. Instruct students to write 15 sentences in Spanish about things they have never done. Write a few sentence examples on the board- especially common irregular past participles like “he ido” and “he hecho”. Make sure they understand that every sentence they will write will start with “Nunca he ____________.” It’s okay to repeat verbs!

Advise them that the more unique the items the better. For example, if they write “Nunca he ido a McDonald’s” that would be a great one because many students have done that (which will force them to ove chairs). The sentence has to be true for their life though, so they could only write “Nunca he ido a McDonald’s” if they actually have never gone there. If they write something that no one else has done either, it won’t force anyone to move in the game. For example, “Nunca he ido a Alaska.” Most students have not gone to Alaska either, so it won’t get anyone to move. If they know details about friends in class they can force their friend to move. For example, if they know their friend has broken their leg before, they could say “Nunca he roto la pierna.” which would force their friend to move.

Gameplay

One student stands in front of the class while the rest of the students are seated in their desks. Just like musical chairs, you need to have one less desk than the amount of students in the room. See if you can get a student volunteer to be the first one to go up to the front to begin the game.

The student at the front of the room, will choose one sentence from their paper and say aloud in Spanish something they have never done before. Anyone in the room that HAS done that in their life, has to move to another desk. The student at the front also needs to find an empty desk to sit in. After all the movement, the student left standing with no desk to sit in needs to go to the front to say a sentence from their paper. 

How to win

There isn’t exactly anyone who wins the entire game, it’s more so that you win the round by not having to go to the front to say a sentence from your paper. Students have never been concerned about who wins the entire game because we spend the first half of class preparing our worksheet of sentences and then they are so caught up in the game until the bell rings. The game usually ends simply because we ran out of time. If you want more gameplay, you could spend the day prior preparing their sentences and then you would have an entire class period to play until they tire of it or run out of sentences. 

I really enjoy playing this game with my students as a participant. Don’t be afraid to make your own list of things you have never done and join in! This game is a lot of fun and brings everyone together! I hope you and your students have fun with it!

Need another game idea? Have you ever played “Trashketball?”

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