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Simple, slow, fun
My mantra for Spanish 2 is all about simple, slow, and fun. And the underlying foundation of everything I do is showing them that I adore them, and that they are special, and that they CAN DO THIS. Last year was really, really hard in Spanish 2. We lost a 9th grade student to suicide…
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Cashnip Kitty
I got a tip from a follower on my facebook page about this story. Sir Whines a Lot, aka the CASHnip Kitty is collecting money for the homeless! I took the news story and made a powerpoint with the photos in under 5 minutes. I then just showed my classes the photos one by one…
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Planning my “El Salvador Civil War” Unit for Spanish 4
One of my favorite units to teach is my unit on the Civil War in El Salvador leading up to my MS-13 unit. I teach this in Spanish 4 and it is generally really well-received by my students. I think it is important, prior to reading Vida y muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha, that students…
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Would you rather…?
My Spanish 4 classes have been acquiring Spanish with comprehensible input methods all along, and they are GOOD. They are PROFICIENT. And guess what? We are not done. Just as I myself continue flooding my own free time with target language to increase/maintain my proficiency, they need a constant push to acquire more. However,…
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Reading non-fiction text in Spanish 4
I have been really looking for ways to increase my Spanish 4 students’ ability to comprehend more types of text and gradually up their “authenticity levels” in their reading. They are awesome kids to work with, and I am looking at most likely having a Spanish 5 class next year for the first time! I…
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Differentiation and choice in my language classroom
Today on #langchat, I mentioned that I like to offer options to students as a way of differentiating. I needed a little more space than twitter affords to explain! 1.Options, options, and options within the options. Teenagers LOVE to feel in control and have choices. We do a LOT of reading of novels in class. I…
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Kinesthetic activities for reading
I am preparing my students to test over the novel “Robo en la noche” this week. We have read it in the past tense in my level 2 classes and they will take a test that involves listening to passages of the audio book and reading passages and answering questions about them. I have many…
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Beating the Pre-Spring Break Blahs
I have NINE school days left before Spring Break, and I know many of you have 15 days left to go! These are trying times in the life of a teacher! We can do this! I am giving a test in Spanish 2 this Thursday, and then I have 5 school days to inspire those…
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Círculos de la literatura
Literature circles have been a staple in elementary classrooms forever, and they are a great way to introduce your world language students to a more independent way of reading novels in class. You can do literature circles at any level, but personally I find they work best in level 3 or 4, or in level…
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