For upper level kids as a fun break. Not intended for input gains, just some fun for kids who have a couple of years of language and who want a change in activities: 1. One student starts with Il y a 2. Next student adds a word. 3. They build a story that way. Teacher […]
We are collecting semester exam samples if anybody wants to send theirs in. Here is Greg’s: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11mSxjaeU94M5Qb4k3suft-WELd6lE0Y0PMwQRxg14rg/edit?usp=sharing Another one from Greg: Here is my actual multiple choice final for Spanish 1 UCP this semester. https://docs.google.com/document/d/12G_fPWfdSBUMJLRYBO0LL1cxCZJ6IrJesz6f6M969gw/edit?usp=sharing It contains: Persona Especial, Listening comprehension based on an Invisibles story, a OWI story for Reading Comprehension (from another teacher’s
A note on gender: In some school populations, the character’s name is enough to assume the person’s gender. If it is named Bill, it is a boy, and if it is named Sally, it is a girl. However, the national culture is changing rapidly in regards to gender identity and expression. Therefore, in many school
I was admiring the crisp New England weather last month when visiting Connecticut and Keri Biron told me that the winters could be pretty bone-chilling. So I do appreciate the nice 60 degrees with sun here in Denver today. While I was watering my perennials, staring at the ground, my mind does what it inevitably
To do a Movie Talk, you do not have to do much planning. Simply find an engaging movie clip. Engagement drives the bus, so you can use any clip that you think your students will enjoy watching. If you have never done a Movie Talk, Erik Olsen of San Francisco, at a presentation at COFLT
To keep your kids honest, always have your quiz writer write up a short (usually five point) quiz of the Movie Talk while it is happening. This keeps the students accountable. Double the five point score they make, and pop it in the grade book. Formative assessment drives the bus in CI instruction. It’s amazing
Tina and I have noticed that many CI teachers use Movie Talk a lot. We have five reasons why we don’t use it too much: Technology already plays such a huge role in students’ lives today. We like the hand-built aspect of working with the student artwork. Students today need community and acceptance more than
There is only one way to teach greetings that I have seen that works: We make their answer visible – on a chart in front of the room which they can look at when you ask them the question. Then it works. So just write out a list of possible responses to the “How are
If you are smart, you have not spent too much time so far this year laboriously teaching greetings each day, which gives new meaning to the term “boring”, but rather have sprinkled in the greetings into your stories, or as the kids come in at the start of class, etc. But they probably don’t know
Anne Matava sent this question in, with my answer below it, in about the spring of 2016. I am publishing it here for Jennifer: One of my classes has gone completely NT. About 2 months ago they created a character and the whole thing has exploded into this long, drawn-out epic story in installments. We
Sometimes I get really lazy. Or perhaps it’s just a normal response to a world where people work themselves like mules and then wonder why they collapse. Whatever, below is my so-called “Fast Fourward” activity (because sometimes I want to fast forward my class and have it end when it feels like it’s just supposed
The video retell gives you a chance to review the entirety of the story without interruption. The actors re-create the action on camera while you simply narrate the story from off-camera. You can add in props, other actors, sound effects (students provide them), perhaps adding in a bit more dialogue, whatever strikes you in the
