Hey there profe! I always have the intention of making my blog posts shorter because though I don’t blog as often as I would like, thought I really enjoy it, I know it would help if my blogs were a bit more brief, so here goes an attempt! After a great time in ACTFL23 in Chicago, I arrived home on Sunday around 11 PM with the intention of only taking Monday off to truly rest and recover, but guess what? I decided to make rest and my family a priority, and though I did not do what I had intended to do, I did what needed to be done, and have absolutely zero regrets.  I went out on dates w ..read more

I wanted to share these two ideas, plus a few resources to guide our learners toward meaningful gratitude in our classes. This time, I come ready to share my resources! I have had a joyous week with my learners integrating the song “Gracias” by the mexican band, Los Polinesios. I mainly use this song with my Fall semester Spanish 2 during the week before Día de Acción de Gracias to focus solely on gratitude and with Spring semester Spanish 2 during Día de San Valentín. I have used it with much success for over two years, and I have a sequence of activities ready to use when I teach with ..read more

Hexagonal thinking is a thinking strategy inspired by the business world, but it is now used by many classrooms. Hexagonal thinking involves students recording ideas, questions or facts on hexagonal tiles and arranging them so that related tiles are next to each other, essentially building a web of connections. Benefits of Hexagonal Thinking in the World Language Classroom There are so many benefits to bringing hexagonal thinking to your Spanish class (or any language class): Concept Visualization: It helps students visualize and organize concepts. Interconnected Ideas: Encourages student ..read more

Whether we like it or not, AI technology in language teaching is here to stay. That is a fact. It is better to get ahead of the game and become familiar with it now rather than later. Educators can find many benefits in using artificial intelligence. Think of AI as the teacher assistant you always wanted. Now, let’s talk about how it can help you. The following are a couple of the Best AI tools for Spanish teachers (or any other world language, really) that have been saving me a ton of time! Transcribe videos and create a variety of questions with Twee.com How many times do we find amazing ..read more

Today, I want to share a wonderful hexagonal thinking idea to build connections with your language learners starting on Day 1, regardless of the levels you teach.  I had shared about this idea last year, but I did so through a video in my YouTube channel. However, the video is in Spanish because in my channel I create videos in whatever language I feel like speaking on a given day. For that reason and because I have received many questions about it, I am making a blog post on using hexagonal thinking to build connections starting the first day of school. I always like to give credit wh ..read more

We are normally so focused on the plans and challenges we have ahead of us as teachers that we forget that LITTLE things & TINY actions can have a great impact in our lives. Growing up as an undocumented teen, I was conditioned to become a workaholic because if I wanted to achieve my dream of going to college, in my teenage head, I needed to prove so many things to so many people. Don’t get me wrong, the extra hard work has paid off. Yet, this excessive need to work also transferred to my professional life as an adult.  I won’t go into the details because I could write a book about ..read more

National Poetry Month is here! Let’s talk about some ideas of how you can integrate poetry in all levels of your Spanish classes. This last year, I have learned so much about doing just that from Diego Ojeda, and I am so grateful for everything he has been sharing with world language teachers about poetry in the classroom.  In fact, most of the ideas I am about to share with you are a compilation of takeaways I have learned from him and ELA teachers. First, why should we use poetry in our Spanish classes? Diego beautifully explains the importance of bringing poetry to our classes, not ..read more

The many opportunities to grow for world language educators, free and paid, just keep expanding! Something that helps me keep up with what is being offered is to have a clear idea of how I want to grow, in what areas I want to grow and to be very aware of what is available out there. Through this blog post, I am sharing about several language education conferences available this Spring & Summer 2023. Though, this is not meant to be a comprehensive list. Also, this list is presented in no particular order.    Ready, here we go!! CI Reboot! Look at that lineup!!! Who is it fo ..read more

The truth is that you should not have to do anything during your winter break unless it truly makes you happy.  I remember the days where I used to not spend any time with my family because I was all in planning during half of the break or when I used to feel guilty for actually taking the time to enjoy being on my break. A crisis with anxiety for almost two years taught me how to finally enjoy my breaks unapologetically because at the end of the day, all lessons and everything will come together.  So, regardless of whether you did plan for your Spanish class during winter break o ..read more

There are tons of ways to introduce vocabulary to our learners and this blog post is not an all-inclusive list.  We already know that learners memorizing a vocabulary list doesn’t equal to learners actually being able to use this vocabulary in conversation or writing.  Now, I am not saying “don’t provide a Quizlet stack or vocab list” if that makes you and your learners happy.  Instead, what I AM saying is that we must create different opportunities for learners to process vocabulary and target structures. Such opportunities can be created in a variety of ways such as: Guid ..read more