Whenever possible, I pack as much reading into my daily lessons as possible. This requires me to find different ways to present the readings, ways that entice the students to read a text and to understand what they are reading and not simply seeing the words on a document without attaching meaning. Would you believe that students actually LIKE reading, in a second language, when you offer them different ways to read or different tasks that can only be completed successfully if they read the text? It's true, although you may drain your brain thinking of authentic, varied ways of doing thi ..read more

May seemed like the perfect month to create an activity for my students that would require them to get up and moving in order to read and answer questions. I wrote a basic story, Marcos se quejó mucho and then created the scavenger hunt based on the story.  The overarching purpose was to familiarize the students with the verb QUEJARSE before watching the Sr. Wooly video, La Dentista. The previous day I had used PQA (personalized questions and answers) based  on what students, teachers, and others complain about and then asked students if they complained about various things th ..read more

  Over the years I have found that most of my Spanish students, in all levels, benefit from class activities that involve numbers. Usually what works best, is when they are focused on something other than the numbers! How ironic, right? In Spanish 4 (students that have had a total of 300 hours in Spanish levels 1-3), I start the semester with a unit called Reconnecting to Spanish. Then the second unit is based on the novel Esperanza, by Fluency Matters, published in 2011. There are many excellent new novels that have been published since then, but the story of Esperanza is very engaging ..read more

Here is an end of the school year, yes we made it through the crazy pandemic hybrid schedules game for you. It is a great way to review any type of text - a short story, legend, several chapters in a novel, news articles, - anything with enough text to be able to write 14 comprehension questions. I test drove this new game with three classes and made changes after the first two classes to improve the game and rules. Now, it is ready for you.   Students will like the game because they decide what they will do with the points they earn, but it is mixed with an element of uncerta ..read more

  I was late to the Jamboard party but thanks to my colleague, Krista K., for talking about how she uses Jamboard with her French students and for giving me a brief overview of how to use Jamboard. Fast forward a few short months, and now I am working on a grad class project related to using Jamboard in the WL classroom. After spending a lot of time creating Jams to share for the training that I'm creating, the thought occurred to me to share the Jams on this blog for others to use and/or edit for their own classrooms. The examples may give you inspiration to join the Jamboard ban ..read more

 Ordering events is a good way to have students REREAD a text. Before the pandemic, I used to print copies of text and my students ordered the events using the paper copies. For teaching during the pandemic, I digitized the activity on a Google Presentation and assigned it through Schoology. The first ordering activity I made this fall on Google Slides was for Mira Canion's El escape Cubano. I learned a few ways to improve upon it which are reflected on the ordering activity for Mira Canion's Tumba novel. 1. Limit each slide to 4 events. More than increases the chances of studen ..read more

Here is a simple strategy that online teachers can employ to help students that are learning synchronously from home to stay engaged.  At my school, we are teaching to students physically in the classroom and at the same time we are teaching to students synchronously joining the class from their homes. I tried this technique last week and it definitely made a difference in how quickly students at home unmuted their mics and responded. I share my computer screen with students in class and at home, and when I use a document camera, I share that screen with b ..read more

  I'm a few days away from starting the novel "El escape cubano" written by Mira Canion. In my classroom, it's all about front loading the vocabulary before opening the pages of a novel so students sail through the reading with ease, making the reading more enjoyable. For several years I've been using the story "La novia se queda en el ascensor". This year, with the need to revamp the formats of my story scripts in order to make the material available to those four different groups that meet at the SAME TIME each day: (1) those that are in my class on A/B days, (2) those learning at hom ..read more

  It's a good day when you create a new game and it goes over well with each class that you play it. I created and played FLIP THE SCRIPT with three of my Spanish 2 classes today and since it worked so well I wanted to share it with others. I'm preparing my students to read "El escape cubano" by Mira Canion, which will be their first novel that they read this year. Before we read this novel, I usually tell a story that I wrote about a bride and groom that encounter a problem when they go to their wedding reception. The goal is to provide a "boatload" of comprehensible input for the ..read more

Today I'm sharing a lesson that will engage students and provide you, the teacher, with a load of possibilities to comprehensible input related to the students' responses. My example is today's lesson with repetitions of the verb GUSTAR, but you can switch out the vocabulary and keep the same type of format for any structures.  As background, at my school students with last names beginning with A-K on come to school on "A" days and the rest of the students login from home and watch/participate in the lesson synchronously.  The next day students L-Z are at school while the A-K studen ..read more