ACTFL Can-Do Statements are holding my students back. I’ve been using them to evaluate porfolio submissions and award badges, and the badges just aren’t matching students’ abilities this way. I need a system that connects what we know about proficiency with what students can and want to do with the target language. Read more…
When I was in college, interpreting Spanish was like looking through a window. A very thick, very small, very dirty window. I could perceive what I was looking at, but just barely, and with great effort. You know how people used oiled skins to cover windows in medieval times? They Read more…
I am going to be SUPER busy this summer. Mexico, conferences, eight-year-old’s Shakespeare Camp. I don’t think I can pull off another Google Hangout series like I did last year for #LangCamp Online. Here’s what I can offer, though: an online book study and a FACE-TO-FACE PLANNING! Book Study The LangCamp Read more…
I’m thrilled to announce our first topic for 2015 LangCamp online! That’s right, folks! On July 1st, at 8:00 PM Eastern Time, we’re talking Authentic Resources! How do you find good resources? How do you know what a good resource is? And what do you do once you’ve got a Read more…
We have yet to pull off a face-to-face LangCamp to get our LangChat compañeros together to plot and plan over the summer. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have our own LangCamp parties close to home! I think North Carolina’s Analysis of Student Work portfolios for teacher evaluation are pushing Read more…
I think I may be doing something right! The TCI/TPRS storyasking approach seems to be complementing my Project-Based Learning approach nicely, as students become more familiar with the vocabulary and structures we’re working with, and they are engaging more easily in interpersonal discussion as a class. Here’s how it’s gone Read more…
I want to combine the principles of PBL and TPRS, so I have written a story about trash in preparation for a unit on saving the Earth. Students will be working in groups to make a plan to reduce the impact of one material that negatively affects the environment (you Read more…
UNFORTUNATELY WE HAVE HAD TO CANCEL THIS YEAR’S #LANGCAMP LIVE. WE HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US ONLINE FOR VIRTUAL COLLABORATION AND HELP US START PLANNING FOR NEXT YEAR! If you want to know where LangCamp came from, Bethanie (@lovemysummer) has your answers! If you want to know what it’s going to be Read more…