Become a more confident language teacher.
In the Northern Hemisphere, it is SPRING! And with spring comes celebrations. Many of you reading this blog teach languages that are spoken in countries with deep religious roots, and those roots are super visible in March and April! Easter, Passover, Equinox, and Ramadan are all holidays and celebrations that occur in the Spring. It…
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If you love using short films as a tool for storytelling in your language classes, I have something you are going to LOVE! In this post, I’ll share with you an amazing video and a full set of ClipChat* resources that are ready-to-go in Spanish. Massive thanks to Nelly Hughes for writing out a ClipChat…
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Tuesday and Wednesday, many schools will be closed to support students in observing Rosh Hashanah, which begins Monday evening. If your school is not closed, your Jewish colleagues and students will likely be out of class. As you work toward your goal of creating CONNECTIONS between your students and between them and the world, take…
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Most of our readers are now on summer vacation, and we hope that you are taking your vacation seriously– whatever that looks like to you. Splash in rivers, get your hands dirty in your garden, sip icy cold beverages, play with your pets and your kids, veg out on the couch, clean out your closets……
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Each year, I wait with great anticipation to see what story the National Lottery Commission will share through their annual anuncio for the National Spanish Christmas Lottery. These stories, told in short films, are a great teaching tool to use in class to promote a spirit of generosity and community among our students. Over the…
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If you’re anything like me, you love a good manipulative activity. Here are some common manipulative activities used by language teachers: sequencing events from a story that are printed on strips of paper matching chunks of authentic texts to paraphrased summaries sorting quotes into groups based on who said or would have said each one…
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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…
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I have a friend that teaches Spanish in Colorado Springs. I won’t name her because I can’t be certain that she is not the subject of the criminal investigation that is ongoing in her town. But you know who you are, Julie. Anyway, I read about this story when a friend of that friend that…
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“Oh no you didn’t!” “Oh yes I did!” Since I know how much all of my dear teacher friends LOVE the fidget spinner trend, I figured I would help all of y’all out and create some resources in Spanish so that you can spend even MORE class time talking about them! You’re welcome, you’re welcome.…
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Isn’t it fun when a great video pops into your newsfeed? I remember seeing The Janitor Story before, but I had forgotten the ending when one of my mom friends shared it over the weekend! Without my ‘real’ computer (my 5yo killed it with a kombucha spill) and unable to work on any ongoing projects,…
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