Once you have determined that a novel is within reach for a student in a Level 1 class, you must determine whether it is readable for your students, now. Mira Canion and I welcome you to Post #2 in our series to help you confidently choose novels to read with your students in the coming … Continue reading Are my students ready to read this book?
Ah, requisition season. Thousands of teachers around the country are making plans for next year and laying claim to coveted budget dollars to get the resources that they need for next year’s students. Perhaps you find yourself writing a budget proposal for the coming school year. Perhaps your deadline to submit the budget is...FRIDAY! Perhaps … Continue reading “Is this novel REALLY Level 1?” – Which factors contribute to text complexity?
If you haven’t heard by now, Wooly’s new graphic novel has made its way into the hands of a few teacher-bloggers scattered around the country. (Thinking about starting a blog? You should do it before Wooly decides to write a third graphic novel so you can get a sneak peek too ;-)). He sent them … Continue reading REVIEW: La Casa de la Dentista Graphic Novel
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, … Continue reading The Janitor Story — MovieTalk and more!
On a bit of a whim, Alina Filipescu and her family decided to come see Alaska and stay with me! It has been more fun than I can possibly describe to spend time with her and her husband and watch her girls play with our kids and our neighbors. If a house on our street … Continue reading El Popocalipsis
When I first started teaching, the materials that I inherited from the previous Spanish teachers...decades of previous Spanish teachers...were garbage. I mean, total junk. VHS tapes from the 80s. Random Lotería cards (not enough to play a game). Flashcards. Junk. Junk...and a set of 40 bright yellow novels. Pobre Ana was the one ounce of hope that I … Continue reading Pobre Ana is not so pobre anymore!
Whether you couldn't get funding for #iFLT16, couldn't fit it in your schedule, or couldn't register before the conference filled up, you will be SO glad to read this news! The #iFLT16 Tuesday morning Keynote with Bill VanPatten and the Tuesday afternoon Roundtable with Stephen Krashen will be LIVE STREAMED! Join us Tues., July 19 at 8:50a.m. … Continue reading Attend #iFLT16 online!
As a teacher that has committed to teaching with comprehensible input based strategies like TPRS®, PQA, MovieTalk and Embedded Reading (to name just a few), you are probably aware of the incredible impact that reading has on language acquisition. For this reason, you have likely also determined that you would like to use novels in your courses...but … Continue reading How should I use novels in class?
I enjoy coming up with (or discovering) different kinds of questions to ask my students. It must be some sort of a sick teacher thing, because I can’t think of any reason that my students would be excited that a new question type popped up on their most recent assessment. I guess I like finding … Continue reading Assess proficiency with word-level analysis questions
Elizabeth Hoving, a Spanish teacher, sent me these smash doodle pages quite a few months ago that her students created while reading Vida y muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha. Her students were required to create an entry for each chapter, and each entry had to include words, sentences and images. Each entry also had to clearly represent the … Continue reading Smash Doodle – Examples from Vida y Muerte
