The North Carolina “Measures of Student Learning” for world languages have not come down the pike yet (in fact, I’m in on the project that is assiduously gallumphing toward their development). However, in the spirit of egalitarianism or something, we still must give “pencil-paper tests” like everyone else. Mind you, Read more…
Driving Question: Is the person who other people see the person who you really are? The goal of the driving question is, in fact, to drive students, to impel students to desire to know MORE. I’ve finally gotten past the idea of organizing essential questions for the language classroom around vocabulary or Read more…
Real world application: Spanish I coming in handy for my son’s 5thbirthday party I have become the Spanish teacher that lets her class make piñatas. We spend a total of nearly two weeks on them. I should be ashamed, shouldn’t I? But what if I told you that this mini-project Read more…
The assignment for my Advanced Expression class (2nd to last before my Master’s is done!) is to plan a lesson in which your students learn or practice/develop their ability to write a description or narrate a story. We’re to tie it to a couple of the new Common Core Essential Read more…
The first day, I’ll give students a survey to let them rate the which Driving Questions capture their interest the most on a scale of “Now that I know this is an option, I cannot enjoy class without exploring this” to “I could get into this” to “Please, I think Read more…
I can’t help it: I love controversy. What’s more, I think it’s essential to have a safe forum to discuss important social issues with young people. The trick is to be open-minded, but not so open-minded your brain falls out* OR so open-minded that you allow one group of students to Read more…
El tradicional teatro de papel japonés es narrado en Perú al estilo andino Fusion is the name of the game. Peruvian artist José Cabana combines the puppet theatre of Japan known as Kamishibai with the imagery of artisan arts of northern Peru. But why stop there? Students in an advanced Read more…
My unit on the Afrolatino Experience has evolved since last year. I have 4 distinct countries whose experiences we survey, a few key texts–of truly varied forms–for each, and essential questions that facilitate reflection, comparison, and contrast among the four countries. Essential questions: ¿Cómo se expresa la herencia africana en Read more…
Step 1: Scrap what you were going to do for the next month. Step 2: Sit down with your Spanish 3 class for a discussion (in the target language, of course) about what would make an interesting skit. Challenge them to show off what they know about the target culture, Read more…
I would not do the project with 9th graders, much less a class of 25 9th graders (well, 2 juniors and a sophomore are among them). They need a stronger foundation in the language and more maturity. Perhaps Spanish I could assist a more advanced class. I would spring for fewer Read more…