Strategy #1 Acronyms

http://www.carla.umn.edu/strategies/sp_grammar/strategies/repertoire/acronyms.html

Acronyms are helpful because they can help jog a student's memory. They are helpful tools to give students clues to remembering when and where to use a certain verb tense or appropriate words. Some of the acronyms include:

PRINT (physical description, religion, identify something, nationality, time and date)

Print is used to help students remember the uses of the verb ser, to be.

LITE (location, illness and wellness, temporary condition, emotion)

Lite is used to help students remember the uses of the verb estar, to be.

DUWIT (describing in the past, saying one used to do something repeatedly, was-were-and "ing", inside feelings in the past, time in the past)

Duwit is used to remember when the imperfect tense should be used.

WEIRDO (wishes and will, emotions, impersonal expressions, recommendations, doubt-desire and denial, Ojala (god willing) an expression used in subjunctive)

The subjunctive can be hard to understand. WEIRDO is a good acronym for the subjunctive because it is a "weird"tense to use and form.

WEDDING (wish and will, emotion, doubt, desire, impersonal, negation, general (maybe))

Wedding is another way for students to remember the subjunctive case.

MATCHED (mientras, aunque, tan pronto como, con tal de que, hasta que, en cuanto, despues de que)

Matched is a way to remember the uses of the subjunctive in the target language. These are soem expressions in Spanish that will always use the subjunctive.

DEDO (duda or doubt, emocion or emotion, deseo or desire, opinion or opinion (negative))

Dedo is another way to remember the subjunctive. This acronym is cool and different because the letters are the same in both English and Spanish. They mean the same thing.

LONERS (l,o,n,e,r,s)

This acronym is used to help remember the gender of nouns (masculine or feminine).
If a words ends in one of these letters, it is almost, but not always going to be masculine, there beginning with el. For example el papel, el chico, el comedor. As always, there is an exception to the rules. Words that end in ion, for example cancion, are feminine and therefore it would be la cancion. Then there are those words for the masculine side that are an exception as well. These words can be categorized as the -ma, -pa, -ta words. Words that have these as endings re going to be masculine, even though traditionally words that end in -a are feminine. For example, el mapa or el problema.

RED TouchDown PGC (recipient, employer, destination, travel, duration of time, purpose, goal, comparison)

This acronym shows the eight ways in which para (for) are to be used. this is important because there is also another word, por that means for in Spanish as well.

PUDFIN (passive constructions, undetermined or general time, duration of time or during, frequency or proportion, in exchange for, negotiation)

This is an acronym I learned in high school to help remember the uses of the word por.

New Acronyms for Preterit and Imperfect
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=5&nav=messages&webtag=ab-spanish&tid=12858

Habitual actions (used to + verb)
Incomplete actions (was/were + ing form)
Descriptions in the past
Emotions/feelings/mental states

Sudden occurrences
Complete actions
Action disrupts action of imperfect verb
Never happened at all
Series of distinct or same events

Acronym for Ser and Estar
(taken from http://languagelinks2006.wikispaces.com/Ser+Vs+Estar)
SER
Descriptions
Occupation
Charecteristics
Time
Origen
Relationship
ESTAR:
Condition
Location
ING
Feeling