Become a more confident language teacher.
Inspired by Maris Hawkins and feedback from all of you, I am now finding and summarizing news stories from the Spanish speaking world and publishing them every week in El mundo en tus manos. As it turns out, this project is a bit overwhelming! Good and valuable…but overwhelming– and not just because of the amount…
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Teaching culture to our students is not easy. Culture is complex. It is messy. But it is beautiful, and it is important. We cannot hope that our students will be able to successfully communicate with speakers of the target language without awareness of the target culture. We can’t teach them every subtlety that they will…
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Whether or not your students are reading Brandon Brown versus Yucatán, I’m sure that you can find a use for this current event! Last week, Justin Bieber visited the ruins in Tulum with his entourage, and they climbed some monuments that are off-limits to tourists. Sound familiar? Brandon Brown, under the influence of his mischievous friend Justin, did…
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I just couldn’t wait. I love the 2015 commercial so much! I have spent the whole afternoon crying in front of my computer as I watch and re-watch it (probably in part due to pregnancy; but who could say for certain). I put together a resource pack with readings and some extension activities that you can…
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This year’s official commercial for the Spanish Christmas Lottery was released early this morning. Kent House shared it on the iFLT/NTPRS/CI Teaching group on Facebook and oh, I am so glad that he did! These commercials make me cry every year. Instead of luck and fortune and indulgence, each year they uphold the values of generosity…
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So you want to use authentic resources in your language class. Where do you start? CHOOSE A RESOURCE THAT YOU CAN HELP STUDENTS UNDERSTAND. This interview is incomprehensible for a Novice. There is just way too much language! The time and frustration that it would take them to sort through it all to find answers…
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Yippee Yay! Dana Wilson emailed me most of the French translations of my Spanish question word posters earlier this week, and Catherine Ousselin (@CatherineKU72) helped me out with a few more! Mercy beau coup! Click on the image to download the file. What else is new for the 2015 school year? Check out these recently…
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Here are five great Cinco de Mayo resources that I’ve found around the Web. Coming off of a lively #authres conversation during #langchat (that I read post-facto), I want to clarify what makes a ‘great resource’ in my mind: A great resource is interesting [or it can be made interesting] That’s it. If it’s interesting, I’ll find a way to…
Read MoreHappy 2015, friends! We celebrated in the car on the way home from a New Year’s party, since the kids made it to 11:30 but would not last one minute longer. Maybe next year! For now, my New Year’s resolution is to sit down with my husband and make family resolutions for the year. I’m hoping that life will continue…
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