They originally wanted to make their skit for the upcoming language festival a talk show, full of celebrities and gossip. So we looked up some celebrities on People en Español (and on MSNLatino because of People’s lack of diversity–but that’s another post) and narrowed down countries we’d like to focus on. We Read more…
Once basic project-specific vocabulary is established, students can dig into the research, into some authentic resources about their passion. Now remember, our job is to modify the task, not the text, so if we start students off with some low-intensity texts like Pinterest pins and tweets to ease them into productive Read more…
You arranged for your class to Skype with a native speaker–maybe a whole class of native speakers–and to carry on a real live conversation in the target language. Your kids introduced themselves, nodded and said “gracias” like they should when their compañeros across the internet answered their questions. But you Read more…
I discovered the secret to finding videos in the target language without YouTube, but not to figuring out what on Earth that Brazilian lady is saying. To find the videos, a simple Google search set to just videos can be refined by choosing “Search tools” then clicking “Any source” and Read more…
Literacy expert Tim Rasinski gave me an idea for a bellringer that I think will improve students’ vocabulary, fluency, listening, reading, and speaking skills and get them hooked. Rasinski proposes an acronym for those wishing to improve students’ literacy skills, and although Rasinski’s research and strategies revolve around L1 literacy, I Read more…
My students had two requests for the weekly “opciones” assignment for next year: more music and more food. We’ll get to the food later, but I have a few ideas for how we can work some more Spanish music into students lives outside Spanish class. Since I stole Sra. Cottrell’s Read more…
Maybe they won’t ever go to a four-year college in another country, but they’re going to know exactly how they could if they ever decide to! Driving Question: Can I convince my friends to study abroad with me? Entry Event: Fill out an application to Universidad Anáhuac (yay for fulfilling Novice Linguafolio Read more…