A recent web search of mine resulted in a great Bell Work activity that I can use in a variety of my Spanish classes:  https://docs.google.com/a/nyu.edu/file/d/0BwpTsZx0NUnlYzA0YTcwYzItM2U3Mi00MmFiLWJjMmYtYzdjZGIzNzI4ZjE4/edit?hl=es&pli=1

Known as FICHAS in Spanish, these are essentially flash cards that can be printed out, which depict real information in the form of a nutrition label, a cover of a DVD, an advertisement in a store, etc.  A series of questions referring to the picture asks students information that they extract from the image.  It requires no background information but solely on looking at the picture to answer the questions.  I have used my SMARTboard to project the Ficha, or flash card and give my students a time frame of about 5 minutes to answer the questions.  The visuals are a great way of getting the students' attention, and because the Fichas have a variety of topics, the students are often curious and interested in this exercise.  It's a neat way to start class, allows for the use of different vocabulary from that of the text book, and because all of the answers can be found on this one card, it shows students how to pinpoint answers from text.   Try the link to show your students Fichas that have already been created, and maybe have students make their own!