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19 thoughts on “Online Lessons”

  1. One thing you can do is go to the teacher who will have them next year and ask them what they want from the students you are teaching with CI right now. Other more creative options exist, but I wouldn’t plan on the kids doing them, so why go to the trouble of planning all that?

    Grammar/worksheets is the answer. If you give them a textbook from the closet and make a syllabus for the rest of the year, along with some simple plan for assessment and grades, those who are supervising you will be happy. That’s all that counts at this point.

    Again, teachers who go crazy coming up with fancy ideas for the kids to do at home are not in touch with reality. The kids won’t do them.

  2. This has been my thought process. We recently had some days canceled because of a sewer line rupture at our school, so we had to send out a couple of assignments. I just took stories from other classes and sent them to other classes and told them to translate them. Out of 76 students, I’ve received less than 15 translations back. I’m looking to make this as easy as possible. Grammar/ worksheets sound good to me.

  3. Have you thought about Sr. Wooly? He’s currently offering a free, completely no strings attached two week subscription for any and all Spanish teachers, plus two weeks of lesson plans that include not only on-line activities, but pdf downloadable worksheets to at least keep kids exposed to & interacting with interesting, understandable Spanish. Just a thought before we completely write off our students.

  4. I was unaware of that. I’ll check that out. Just trying to make it as easy as possible for myself because I know student motivation will be 0 to none if we close for several weeks.

  5. Also from my FB page, this is from Ryann Campbell, who provides this report:

    “I have been home with pneumonia in the hot zone for a week. Our Washington schools finally closed yesterday and will be closed for at least 6 weeks. . We are not supposed to assign any mandatory work at this point in the name of equal access for all. My students are actually asking for work. I have been all over various teacher groups getting ideas. If you teach Spanish, feel free to use any of it. The stuff towards the top is the best CI-Friendly and IMO the best use of their time that won’t require extra work on my part. Feel free to make a copy and modify for your needs. Some of the links may be locked, I will work on modifying sharing settings in the next little bit.”

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DW-Lz_zq_mtS9NxRp2xUA0O1A-22AO5WOgYVuyAjXQw/edit?fbclid=IwAR12qZ4Y67ij5zDc-mQc_RN1YvLZ3Yn9lm74FLShF3hW_eKCXCKu91OP3t4

  6. Hi everyone,

    I hope you are staying safe and staying inside during this COVID pandemic. Many schools are requiring E-Learning during the school shutdowns.

    I offer you some free resources that you can use for your students here. These are Invisibles Stories with Native Speaker Audio. You can post these on your Google Classroom Pages and assign them as readings to students.

    http://tinyurl.com/COVIDSpanishPlansInvisibles

    Best way to to download them and reupload them to your Google Folder. Feel free to pass this
    e-mail on to others.

    Thanks,

    Greg

  7. Received the following from Bryce Hedstrom today who is offering a free language learning platform

    Log in instructions:
    1) Go to: https://storylabs.app/SignUp
    2) Once you are logged in, click on “Enter a Book Code” at the top
    3) Type in “hedstrom” and click submit
    Online Freebies for Language Teachers!

    Facebook Live Event Today!

    Join us at a Facebook Live Event at 1pm PST on Tuesday, March 17 to learn how to set up your classroom and how to use it.
    Ask us all of your questions!

  8. My wife, a k-2 SPED teacher, thinks I complain too much when it comes to all this online work teachers are doing. She says she sees wonderful examples of teachers using Zoom to gather their students and teach lessons. I’m skeptical. It might be novel the first or second time. I just worry that teachers are spending lots of time creating material when they might be doing something more important for themselves, their families, or their communities.

    Our mayor of Chicago, Ms. Lightfoot, recently beckoned a call to all teachers and other like professionals with free time to consider volunteering child-sitting services to doctors, nurses, and other health professionals on the front lines and without child care for their own children. Just maybe if you have such time to create elaborate online lessons, you should consider doing such volunteer work instead. (Trying not to sound heavy-handed here.)

    Me, I’m going to try to help my students lined up to take the AP test in May get access to the free practice material the College Board is now offering. AND, I’m hoping to engage in conversations with my students about books that they are reading, or could read, if and when they have the free time to sit and read. It don’t matter if they’re Spanish or English. I’m thinking, within the next couple of days I’ll have my family quarantine routine established well enough to make 30 minutes of time to email students about books they might be reading.

  9. Sean I share your skepticism and am writing an article on the actual value of trying to use CI online in our schools at this time. I see it working long term but – bc this is all being thrust on us right now – it’s just to clumsy. One day online language learning will be the norm, but we can’t just jump to it. The system has to rot out from the inside a bit more for the buildings to come down, literally in fact so that kids don’t even always go to brick and mortar buildings. Greg told me that Krashen is writing about “blended” learning. Can’t wait to study what he means….

    I am writing an article for Teacher’s Discovery right now about what the Covid 19 crisis will mean for the future of our profession.

  10. Alisa Shapiro-Rosenberg

    Yes there are I’m sure wonderful examples of content-based instruction on Zoom or other platforms…but how about negotiating meaning with students below Intermediate-mid, who require a ‘Language Parent?’ Or who don’t yet have solid independent reading skills in the TL?

    Hopefully this prolonged absence will cause /remind? parents and Ss to yearn for live human communication in a designated setting, with physical proximity, (dare I say, ‘touch?’) & community, improvisation, and the laughter and pleasant shared experience that ensues…. I know that while I’m grateful to have my health, home, family and employment, I miss my workplace, colleagues & students.

  11. For almost forty years, on some weird level, I reveled in hating my job. Looking back, I realize that being with my students (few colleagues) carried my through many tough days – I just didn’t know it – such was the nature of the stress involved in teaching.

  12. I was invited to partake in a webinar today for online resources for language teachers. A colleague invited me and I did it mainly for her. It was all about what you all are talking about. I’m trying to make this as easy on myself as possible and spending more time with my family, doing some volunteering with my church, reading more, etc. etc. We use Google Classroom, and, out of 70 some students, I have less than 15 who have added themselves. I may be teaching to less than 5 kids. Not going to sweat that. I’m going to use what Ben shared from Ryann and what Greg shared. My hope is the same as Alisa’s re: parents and students.

  13. I wonder what it is in our society when the world is sending a clear message that it is time for the people who live on it to take a break, that we continue to work hard, trying to make something that “ain’t going to work” work. God bless us and our tortured work ethic.

    I finally figured out that the reason I worked so hard was that I was seeking approval.

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