Energy levels are low and attention spans are short. Kids are getting antsy and you are likely on your last legs! While May may be pure torture: there is one brief moment of reprieve: TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK!
Whether or not your school PTA is treating you with a breakfast buffet this week, The Comprehensible Classroom is treating you with up to 25% off EVERYTHING in our store on May 7-8.
SAVE UP TO 25% WITH COUPON CODE 'GIFT4YOU'
Spring is a GREAT time to evaluate, re-stock, take advantage of district funds for the coming school year, and give yourself the little extra support you need to finish the year with confidence...or, well, to finish.
The Comprehensible Classroom is the #1 store for world language teacher resources on Teachers Pay Teachers. Over the last 7 years, we have earned the trust of thousands of language teachers with high quality, high value resources that support teachers that are teaching for proficiency with an emphasis on comprehension based methods.
With over 500 products, it can be overwhelming to sort through everything that we have to offer to find the materials that will be the best fit for your classes this year. I have scanned my store, followed the conversations in the SOMOS Curriculum Collaboration Facebook Group and quizzed my colleagues to pull together a handful of resources that are a great starting point for your your lesson plan shopping.
CURRICULUM
The SOMOS Curriculum (available for Level 1 or Level 2 Spanish or Level 1 French) is a comprehension-based, proficiency-oriented curriculum for beginning language classes. If you are new to CI, SOMOS will give you daily, step-by-step instructions on what to do so that you can focus on getting comfortable with the skills in this new way of teaching. If you have been at it for awhile, SOMOS will give you culture-rich materials that you can incorporate into your instruction, adding in your own unique flair.
Be sure to join the SOMOS Curriculum Collaboration group on Facebook for additional support from other teachers using the curriculum and from SOMOS mentors like Elicia Cárdenas and Bill Langley!
If you are looking for resources for upper level classes, shop these stores during the sale:
CURRENT EVENTS
Sharing current events from around the Spanish speaking world is an easy way to incorporate culture into your curriculum. EL MUNDO EN TUS MANOS is a bi-weekly publication that gives you five summaries of recent news stories in easy-to-understand Spanish. Maris Hawkins and I work together to find stories of significance and of interest to the range of students that you have in your classes.
Join the EMETM Facebook Collaboration group to suggest stories and share ideas for using them!
Need a sample? Download the FREE preview for the 2019-2020 edition here!
CELEBRATIONS
Spanish teachers LOVE teaching about holidays and seasonal traditions! Lessons like these are high interest and rich in opportunities for cultural comparison and insight.
Grab the Semana Santa, Cinco de mayo, Winter traditions, and Hispanic Heritage Month bundles while they're on sale!
METHODS
Have you recently decided to give comprehension based teaching a try, or are you trying but don't feel like you have any tools to support the transition? I put together this Comprehension based teaching starter pack to set you up for success with a range of resource types that will give you the confidence you need to succeed.
The most popular single resource from this pack is the Special Person interview question slides, also available in French thanks to Blair Richards!
MUSIC
Music has been critical to my own language learning journey, both en español and en français. Music moves us. It gives us an emotional connection to the language and it allows us to hear the words that we read in a whole new way. If you are looking for input-rich materials to share popular songs with your students, the Canciones contagiosas 1 or Canciones contagiosas 2 song packs are the best starting place. Preview many of them in this post about my favorite songs for Spanish 1!
Already have the song packs? Be sure to snag the materials for Un poquito!
FILLERS
You don't have to attach a task to every text that you use in class--in fact, research shows that doing so can be detrimental to student motivation and is not the most efficient use of time in a language class. There are many times, however, that a well-designed task will boost student learning, help you to meet your instructional goals, and save your sanity!
The Textivities pack (also available in English) includes 36 reproducible worksheets that can be used with any text!
GRAMMAR
Grammar is the curse word of the comprehension based teaching world– but by choice or by force, many teachers find themselves looking for practical ways to address grammar explicitly even in input-rich courses. My Grammar in context bundle offers ready-to-go lessons that keep input at the forefront. (This is an expanded version of the Grammar in Context book available from Teacher's Discovery.)
Class library
Our brains are wired for stories. Mastering the art of sharing stories with your students such that they understand is the single best thing you can do for your language students. Finding great stories that they want to hear is the second best thing!
LOOK at this amazing NEW storybook illustrated by Spanish teacher María Hinestroza!
I have zillions of resources for your class library, and my favorite is this pack of Printable storybooks! Filling your library with all kinds of different, understandable reading materials and helping your students learn how to select texts well will be invaluable in their language journey.
“There is massive evidence that self-selected reading, or reading what you want to read, is responsible for most of our literacy development. Readers have better reading ability, know more vocabulary, write better, spell better, and have better control of complex grammatical constructions. In fact, it is impossible to develop high levels of literacy without being a dedicated reader, and dedicated readers rarely have serious problems in reading and writing.” --Stephen Krashen
Looking for more resources for your library? Check out Lecturas diarias or Criaturas peligrosas!
Comprehension based games
I love games because my students love games. Whether you are looking for an input-friendly way to play BINGO (school supplies, comparisons, or estar + location) or want to give your students an experience that they will love to hate with Grudgeball or the Unfair Game, I've got games galore!
Got questions?
Please email [email protected]. You can also take a look back at this recent FB Live Q&A we recorded. You will see in the video captions timestamps with the questions asked. If you have a question, it is likely someone else has wondered the same thing!
WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED?
With all the funds your department will save by ordering materials during the sale, it should be easy to tack on a Garbanzo subscription for the coming school year. Garbanzo is an interactive library of readings that includes EVERYTHING (everything!) that The Comprehensible Classroom has ever published, plus Garbanzo original content! We developed Garbanzo to solve the longstanding problems that language teachers experience as they transition to comprehension based teaching: what can my students do if they miss class? How can I support students that join my class late? What can I assign for homework if I must assign homework? What can I do to keep the input flowing when I.just.can't? Garbanzo is here for you and ready for the 2019-2020 school year!
Garbanzo is the new platform for language learning, the first story-based app for Spanish learners!
SHOP TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY
Fill your cart now and check out with code 'GIFT4YOU' this Tuesday and Wednesday, May 7-8 at The Comprehensible Classroom on Teachers Pay Teachers!