Mnemonic for Irregular Tú Commands

Students love a good mnemonic. I feel accomplished when a I see a student writing down the mnemonic that I taught her in the margin of her test or quiz. I love it even more when a student either teaches me a new way to help students memorize grammar concepts.
This mnemonic came from a student to help our Spanish 2 class memorize the informal tú
command forms (she learned it from her junior high Spanish teacher). Remember that the majority of the informal positive command forms come from go-go verbs (verbs whose yo forms have a "go" ending in the present tense)--for most of them just drop the -go from the yo form present tense to get to the command form.

Infinitive            Yo form                Tú command           
Venir                    vengo                          ven
Decir                    digo                             di
Salir                      salgo                           sal
Hacer                    hago                            haz
Tener                    tengo                           ten
Ir                          voy                               ve
Poner                    pongo                           pon
Ser                        soy                                 sé

Now for the mnemonic. Say this sentence: Vin Diesel has 10 weapons. I'll break it down for you:
Vin=ven
Die=di
Sel=sal
Has=haz
Ten=ten
Wea=ve (if you say it with a German accents it helps)
Pon= pon
S=sé

(Btw--This is lovely "video" is a little something that I created on Blabberize. Read my post about Blabberize here.)

Mnemonic for Ser and Estar

Ser and estar are two verbs that introduce students to the more difficult nuances of the Spanish language. It is one of the grammar points that makes Spanish more difficult than French or Italian. I have two mnemonics that help students remember the differences.

Ser- DRPOOPE
D-date (Es el veinte de agosto.)
R-relationships (Ella es mi amiga. / Yo soy tu hermana.)
P-physical description (Mi padre es alto y gordo.)
O-origin (Ellos son de Guatemala.)
O-occupation (Soy profesora.)
P-personality description (Eres inteligente y amable.)
E-events (El concierto es a la una.)
T- time (Son las dos de la tarde.)

Estar- CLIF
C-condition ( Está nevando. / Estoy enferma.)
L-location (Estamos en clase.)
I-ing (Estoy tomando la leche.)
F-feelings (Estamos tristes.)

Mnemonic for por and para

I taught por and para for the first time this year to my Honors Spanish 2 class. I was worried because sometimes I struggle with when to use por and para, so I researched well before I was supposed to teach it so I could prepared. What I found was helpful, and my students learned it almost effortlessly (although, it did take a good day to get to the point where they felt confident with the concept).

Mnemonic acronym for para (from “Successful Mnemonics for por / para and Affirmative Commands with Pronouns” by Keith Mason, Hispania, March 1992)
Purpose (El vaso es para agua.)
Effect (Estudio para ser maestra.)
Recipient (Las flores son para mi mamá.)
Future deadlines (La tarea es para el martes.)
Employment (Yo trabajo para la escuela.)
Comparisons (Para un gato es muy inteligente.)
Toward (Yo camino para la escuela)

Por is a little bit more complicated than para, so I simplified the rules a little. I gave them examples of 4 basic rules for por, and they had to figure out the rule. Then I gave them some commonly used expressions that use por.

4 Rules for por:
1. means of communication (Yo hablo por teléfono.)
2. length of time (Ellos estudiaron por una semana.)
3. to go through something (Yo paseo por el parque.)
4. cause or reason (Gracias por la ayuda.)

Expressions with por:
por ejemplo
por eso
por lo general
por favor
por fin
por ciento
por aquí
por ahora
palabra por palabra

Preterite v. Imperfect Mnemonics

Preterite-- Students can use and look for these words to help them use the preterite tense.

Palabras claves:Cuando
De repente
Ayer
Anteyer
Anoche
En ese momento
El mes pasado
El año pasado
En seguida
Fue cuando
Entonces
Por eso
Al final
Así que
En fin
Un día

Imperfect: Students can use and look for these key words to use the imperfect.

Palabras claves:siempre
mientras
a veces
con frequencia
generalmente
muchas veces
mucho
nunca
todos los días

Acronym:
Weather
Emotions

Habitual
Ongoing
Time

Setting
Physical / Personality characteristics
Age
Mientras