After an awkward class Skype session or five, I’ve resorted to having students prepare a sort of script for what to do when. Setting the schema of the conversation beforehand is essential., but since the conversation is spontaneous, it’s not a you-read-this-I-read-that script, but sort of a playbook for what Read more…
Your district has a list of vocabulary students have to know to pass your class. You are required to cover ser vs. estar and stem-changing verbs. Also, your department says you have to get through Chapter 6 by midterm. These will all be on the state/district/school exam. Exactly where is Read more…
Google has what you need to connect your students to classes across the country and across the world. With e-mail addresses and adequate access, you can set your students up to carry on both synchronous and asynchronous conversations any time, and you can even record them for free! I’m in Read more…
How can I build a unit around a real-world problem with a real-world audience and maintain maximal target language usage? So much of Project-Based Learning revolves around developing so-called 21st century skills like research, critical thinking, and collaboration, yet we in world languages are tasked with conducting 90% of our class Read more…
Spanish 2 chose the topics they wanted to research for their final projects. I’ve got Mexican cults and Uruguayan drug laws, but, hey, they’re hooked. With subjects all over the proverbial–and the literal–map, it can be hard to come up with an excuse to get them talking to each other Read more…
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…
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…
A la panaderia I have heard it called “the elusive 5th C.” When I started teaching Spanish, I was more than a little put off that I was expected to do something so unheard of in any other discipline. As Skype got fancier, however, and Twitter opened up connections and Read more…
Two things were missing: interpersonal interaction and sufficient authentic input. Also, engagement had been stretched a little thin, either by note-taking (although in a form not quite as dry as other methods) or a pretty solid week of writing and revising. My Spanish 3 pack needed to be exposed to more Read more…
We’ve skyped with 2nd graders in Arizona and are preparing to skype with high schoolers in South Dakota. Spanish II has skyped my ex-mother-in-law in Mexico, and years ago we brought all the Spanish classes together to skype a high school buddy on Fulbright in Argentina. Oh yeah, and Read more…