Inspiring Latinas

Posted on November 4, 2019 by

Something we teased on twitter a while back, we finally finished. We’ve added more famous latinas to our inspiring women bulletin board that we have labeled as “Las Poderosas”. This joins our bulletin board of female presidents from Latin American, titled “Las Presidentas”.
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A 3 day lesson with storytelling

Posted on November 3, 2019 by

If you haven’t seen our latest video on YouTube, we walk you through a 3-day lesson on using a story. You can watch it below and follow our YouTube channel. If you find any videos helpful, please click on the like button and share them on your social media:

Here’s what you’ll learn:
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Me llamo Victor Graphic Novel

Posted on October 21, 2019 by

Me Llamo Victor Graphic Novel As you may know, the latest graphic novel from Señor Wooly is titled “Me llamo Víctor Parte 1” and is almost available. Hopefully you have pre-ordered it, as it is expected to ship in the coming weeks.

When I found out that Wooly had an advanced copy of this book, I took a page out of Federico’s playbook and decided to do something drastic…. Robé la oficina de Señor Wooly.

Robé la oficina porque TENÍA que leer esta historia.  I have been patiently waiting for this book since I appeared in the final installment of the Victor trilogy, FEO. Pero nunca me rindí.

Let me tell you, the wait was worth it! Here’s what I thought of the book:  Continue reading →

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What students say about acquiring vocab through reading

Posted on September 21, 2019 by

I love asking for student feedback. So after our classes read El Escape Cubano or El Capibara Con Botas I asked for student feedback using google forms. Both of these books include many cognates, but I also wanted students to hear the correct pronunciation of the words, so we listened to the audiobooks. The main comment was that students could hear the proper pronunciation but also the tone of the reader also helped their comprehension. I’ll be interested in seeing how this affects if more students will use the audiobooks during our FVR time this year. See full student responses here.

Then I asked students  to respond to a Krashen quote with their experience. The prompt was: “Stephen Krashen says that “Picking up word meaning by reading is 10 times faster than intensive vocabulary instruction”. Respond to your experience so far in picking up words through reading.” The students responses are rather enlightening…. Continue reading →

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The words we use: Instead of this, try saying that

Posted on September 18, 2019 by

As language teachers, we know the impact words have. So I appreciated a recent thread in a facebook group that Bill Langley (@welangley) posted for how teachers can use better language to provide a more welcoming environment in their classroom. There were some great responses and these were my favorites: Continue reading →

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Time to talk about the elephant in the classroom

Posted on September 7, 2019 by

With the recent discussion about names, this message popped up:
What are your thoughts about this? Does this seem right? Would this spark controversary? Take a minute to gather your thoughts before reading ahead….

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Why giving “Spanish Names” in Spanish class has unintended consequences

Posted on September 1, 2019 by

What was once a very common practice in Spanish classrooms has now become a bit Why giving your students controversial. While many teachers are choosing to no longer give students random “Spanish names”, the practice still continues. But those that continue to give names may not realize the unintended and harmful consequences.

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First Days All in TL

Posted on August 22, 2019 by

We just finished up our first week of school and I wanted to get this blog post posted while I still have the energy to type. For those of you who haven’t started school yet (or those who will read this blog in future summers) I wanted to share how I used the target language during 90%+ during the first week of school.

First, let me say that on the first day, I’m not looking to bore the students by going over the rules or the syllabus. I’m sure they get bored of that in every class. Instead, I look to get off to a running start and let them experience how my class works by doing a lesson right away.

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Special Person Interviews

Posted on August 16, 2019 by

This is a guest post from Christy of Christy’s Classroom who tells how she incorporates the Special Person Interviews in her Spanish class.

This quarter in my middle school classes I have been incorporating special person interviews. This is a great way to get to know your students, build relationships and establish a positive class culture.

I am using the interviews and information from the interviews in a variety of ways to maximize input. Some ways I’m maximizing input beyond the interview are:

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Back to School 2019

Posted on August 7, 2019 by

Summer is coming to an end. A summer that we’ve been busy: planning a wedding, taking online courses, creating new lessons, working on our website, going on vacation, watching the Women’s World Cup ,and more all while being abroad in the beautiful country of  Colombia.

So here’s an update on what we’ve been working on in case you missed it:
1. CI Teacher’s Guide: We’ve put together a book for world language teachers that is perfect for new teachers or just teachers who are learning more about comprehensible input strategies. This includes strategies that we’ve successfully implemented in our own class and have kept us in the target language. This 48 page document details specific CI strategies to use as a lesson as well as specific reading strategies that will help you get the most out of any text.

 

2. Dolores Huerta Unit: This past school year we introduced our class to this important historical figure with a lesson starting about farm workers. After working refining the lesson for months, we finally published it. This lesson plan includes a set of storyboards about farm workers, various texts (including an editable version), prompts to go along with the documentary, Dolores, and a FVR Booklet that you can print and make available in your classroom library.

 

3. Everything CI Bundle: We’ve combined ALL of our CI materials into one mega download. This combines our MovieTalk Bundle, our TPRS Stories Bundle, and our FVR booklets and stories.

4. New Stamp Designs: We’ve already been working a lot on our Stamps available from SpanishTeacherShop.com
New Country Stamps: We’ve updated the designs for several countries: Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, Paraguay, Estadios Unidos, y Guinea Ecuatorial. See the designs of all 22  country stamps:


We’ve also have been expanding our selection of proficiency and feedback stamps to other languages.

We also updated our “My Favorite Part Stamps” and have them available in multiple languages including Spanish, French, Latin,  and Chinese. Note: we can customize any stamp, so if you need a different language or are interested in something different, just let us know.

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