Become a more confident language teacher.
Mention Cinco de Mayo around a group of Spanish teachers and you’ll probably get a few nasty glares. But why? There is much confusion about this popular celebration–beginning with the fact that it is really only popular in the United States–NOT in Mexico. Most US citizens (including your students) think that it is Mexican Independence…
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Did you know that children in Bolivia can live in jail with their imprisoned parents? How’s THAT for a hook?? I am slowly but surely working on filling in the blank places on my Spanish 1 curriculum map. To create my Spanish 1 curriculum, I pulled vocabulary from the novels I wanted to read at…
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I think that authentic resources are overrated. This is coming from the lady that just presented at ACTFL on the importance of authentic resources, or ‘ #authres ‘, and how to use them in novice language classes… kind of a contradiction? How important are authentic resources in a language curriculum? #authres are important, but they…
Read MoreI have just stumbled upon the most wonderful way to get your students writing without having to produce any output at all! They can write with INPUT! Crazy, right? How to do it? BLACKOUT POEMS! They are great! Simply take a text in the target language (a newspaper article, a story…anything) and hand it to…
Read MoreHere are a few resources that I have created and used in the past to teach my students about Christmas celebrations in Spanish-speaking countries: My favorite Christmas songs FREE Mexican Christmas traditions reading Readings and activities for typical Christmas traditions…currently, just La Pastorela, El Día de los Inocentes and El Día de los Reyes Magos.…
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A reader recently wrote and requested that I add -ER and -IR present indicative verb notes to my TpT page, and I am very excited about the facelift that I gave the notes that I used to use! Since I am always trying to work cultural into the content that I teach, I figured that…
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A teacher requested a how-to after using the Twitter-based reading assessment from my Las novias de mi hermano unit. For another example, see #Lomejordeméxicoes. Here you go! Step One: Go to http://www.twitter.com Step Two: If you don’t already have an account, create one by choosing a handle (username) and password. Otherwise, just sign in! Step Three:…
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Download all handouts from my 2013 session here. It’s 8:30pm on Saturday night, the boys are asleep (for now, anyway), and I am on the computer putting finishing touches on my presentation for ACTFL. That’s right…I am actually going to a conference, and I am hoping that I will be able to meet many of you…
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El Día de los Muertos is Saturday, so that means that you have a whole week to teach it to your students!! I just put the finishing touches on lesson plans for novice/intermediate Spanish students that will give you 3-4 days of instruction about the holiday. You can download the plans here! They include a three-level…
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Finally! After referencing my Amigo simpático script and plans for two years now on my curriculum map, I am finally posting them! Click here to download lesson plans for a six-day unit for Spanish 1 that will introduce your students to the structures tienes que, no puede, simpático, and le ayuda with several discussion-based activities and a story. It includes follow-up activities…
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