For the last three years, Spanish students have been able to follow the top stories from the Spanish-speaking world in El mundo en tus manos. Each week, Maris Hawkins and I identify important and interesting current events and write up comprehensible summaries so that beginning language learners can understand. As we prepare for the 2019-2020 … Continue reading Get news articles for Spanish learners in 2019-2020 school year!
This post is for all the Spanish teachers. No matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter what or how you teach, this post is about your curriculum. It is about how you--how we--include afrolatinidad in our courses. It is about how you--how we--share with our students the many different colors of latino. Wait, what's … Continue reading Celebrate Afro-Latinos in Spanish class
Head's up, USA: "Gas Shortage in Mexico could mess up your Super Bowl party by causing a guacamole crisis". You've GOT to be kidding me. Language teachers share authentic perspectives Perhaps you have heard mention of the gas shortage in Mexico. In an effort to crack down on the costly huachicol (petroleum theft), Mexico's newly inaugurated president Andrés Manuel … Continue reading Gasolinazo: What’s happening in Mexico?
Whether you call them Stations or Centers, you probably love them—and so do your students. Stations give you a laissez-faire teaching day and provide lots of movement and small group interaction for students. Stations do not, however, come without challenges. Stations often take quite a bit of prep work. For the proficiency oriented, comprehension based … Continue reading 20+ stations for proficiency oriented language classes
Once I decided to teach for proficiency, I become hungry for stories--real stories, invented stories, silly stories, sad stories, unbelievable stories, scary stories...anything. Language is best taught when it is being used to transmit messages, not when it is explicitly taught for conscious learning. ― Stephen D. Krashen, The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom If you … Continue reading Current events & free fiction magazine in Spanish
What are you most excited about using in class this coming year?? What is your plan for helping your students to better communicate in the target language? What resources, ideas, and strategies have you learned about this summer and are dying to implement? Guess what? I’ve got a recommendation— News you can use Maris Hawkins … Continue reading News articles in Spanish from Summer 2018
This spring, we celebrated the two year anniversary of El Mundo en tus manos, the news publication that brings you simplified news stories from the Spanish speaking world! It has been a fantastic two years, and I have enjoyed curating current events from around the globe to bring you interesting and important stories that will … Continue reading News you can use in Spanish classes: new subscriptions!
Many of us pursued a career as a Spanish teacher because at some point we became connected to a Spanish speaking culture. Maybe we were born into one, maybe we traveled, maybe we studied abroad, maybe we met a cute guy at a salsa lesson and now we're married and have a pile of salsa-dancing … Continue reading #UnidosPorPuertoRico Materials for Spanish teachers
An 8.2 earthquake shook southern Mexico on September 7, leaving Oaxaca completely devastated. It was the strongest earthquake that Mexico had felt in 100 years. Just 12 days later--when relief efforts were still in their infancy and aftershocks continued to rock the area--a second earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck central Mexico. The 7.1 quake occurred … Continue reading Los héroes del terremoto – Materials for Spanish teachers
La paz empieza conmigo. Say it! This article about today's terrorist attack in Barcelona is written in super simple Spanish--almost entirely cognates--so that you can use it with students that just began their Spanish study. Even still, it will not be 'highly comprehensible' to fresh Spanish students because it is lengthy. It is up to you … Continue reading Free article: El ataque en Las Ramblas, 8/17/17
