Picture this: your most energetic class is quiet, engaged, and acquiring language at a level you didn’t think was possible. And with a little front end set up, you have zero prep for it the rest of the year. Yeah right, you think. Not MY freshmen. And how much work and planning does this takeContinue reading “Unlock Peace and Joy with Reading”
Category Archives: Teaching ideas
Pitufar: an upper level low/no prep game
This is a huge flashback for me. I remember smurfs (los pitufos en español) were all the rage when in was in 3rd grade. I used to draw them all the time for my friends and even made a poster that won 1st place at the prestigious Smurf Pancake Feed 😂. Well 40+ years laterContinue reading “Pitufar: an upper level low/no prep game”
Tea for 2s
In case you missed my previous post on tea parties, I suggest you check that out first. I had only done a tea party with my upper level students before. I wondered, “How does a tea party go with novice learners?” Well today I found out first hand! And as you can tell by theContinue reading “Tea for 2s”
Let’s have a tea party!
A tea party is an interactive experience and the perfect way to hook your students on any novel, show or story that has several characters before beginning to read (or watch) it. I first learned about doing a tea party from Rita Barrett at AATSP and was charmed off the bat, as I’m sure youContinue reading “Let’s have a tea party!”
¡AI-yúdame! Snorkl – (for feedback on speaking and thinking)
If you’re like me, you do informal assessing all the time, but the formal not so much. Students respond chorally in Spanish, interact in pairs and small groups, but seldom get that one on one attention and feedback in a large class setting. My Spanish 2 classes are usually 30 kids, and even one ofContinue reading “¡AI-yúdame! Snorkl – (for feedback on speaking and thinking)”
¡AI-yúdame! Brisk – (for feedback on writing)
This is the second post I’m making about an AI tool for writing proficiency feedback. If you didn’t get a chance to read my post on Class Companion yet, you can read it here. Brisk teaching is a Google Chrome extension that requires that you give it permission to access your Google Drive. Once youContinue reading “¡AI-yúdame! Brisk – (for feedback on writing)”
Day one: success!
I feel like I had a very successful first day of school today and would like to give you a glimpse of my Spanish 2 and IB classes on day 1. Spanish 2 IB Spanish I’m not going to go into as much detail, but I had a very successful day in IB Spanish asContinue reading “Day one: success!”
¿Cómo te llamas?
I hate/love this time of year – the dwindling summer days that fly so quickly by, but it’s always exciting getting ready to meet a new group of students! Gearing up for introductions, I decided to find a song to reinforce the expressions “cómo te llamas,” and “mucho gusto”. I was bummed trying to findContinue reading “¿Cómo te llamas?”
¡AI-yúdame! Class Companion – (for feedback on writing)
Ok… if you have gotten this far, perhaps you forgive me for the cheesy pun of a title. If not, read on because I think you’ll really thank me for helping you give your students the feedback they need without spending all your nights and weekends! I teach in a large suburban high school ofContinue reading “¡AI-yúdame! Class Companion – (for feedback on writing)”
Speed dating “libro-style”
(This blog was originally posted in 2019. The best practices never go out of style!) As a way to mix it up and let kids review more books in a short period of time, today we did “speed dating” of books for FVR (free voluntary reading) in the future. I adjusted it a bit fromContinue reading “Speed dating “libro-style””
Storytime con Sra. Jensen 