I needed a question that tied to something more personal and yet more universal for my teenage audience. And quite frankly, my class is both exceptionally small this semester and entirely white. Nevertheless, they are not unsympathetic sorts, and they are actually very reflective and open-minded individuals. This does not, 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…
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…
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…
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…
OK, they’re all still pretty shaky on conjugation, but the kids that unabashedly belted out Mexican jokes in Spanish class a month ago now identified the line between jokes and racism, citing an interview by an Afromexican pop star, saying that pointing out race does nothing, but connecting race to Read more…
Spanish I: Clothing Notes on clipart of different outfits Magazine collage of at least 20 words from list Voicethread commenting on famous músicos latinos’ outfits Random outfit interviews with flip cameras Scavenger hunt on Zara’s website Journal on outfits by weather Event invitations with clothing suggestions Interview/voicethread reflection Quiz (left) Read more…
Chocolate increases target language usage. As do edgy topics and plenty of preparation beforehand. Before the debate, students completed a survey, ranking different situations that could be considered racist either “aceptable,” “cuestionable,” “maleducado,” “cruel,” or “peligroso.” Then they created their own definitions of racism, and shared them (in one class Read more…
1. Increase target language interaction during Spanish 2 discussionsI need this to happen, in part because National Board certification demands it. According to my new National Board bible: A wisely-selected video segment will show your interaction with the students in the target language. It should not focus entirely on you but should Read more…