Today in history: engage students with a simple critical thinking activity in the target language

I first heard the idea for “Today in History”; or rather, “NOT Today in History” by reading a blog post from Justin Slocum Bailey on the Indwelling Language blog back in 2014. Click here to read the first post: and here to read the second. Recently, I have been looking for new kinds of ‘puzzles’ that…

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NOTICIAS FALSAS: BitCoin Scandal article in Spanish!

Aside from undermining truth in journalism, destroying credibility of major news outlets, empowering the general public with dangerous misinformation, and casting a long shadow of doubt over everything that we hear or read in the news, fake news stories are pretty fantastic! This week, I read a news story about a man who was arrested…

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How to skip Christmas in Spanish and not be a Grinch

The time between Thanksgiving Break and Winter Break was always one of my favorite times of the year in class–it’s also one of the hardest because no one has their head in the game! I LOVED teaching about Christmas traditions from Spanish speaking countries. I LOVED using the commercials for the Spanish Christmas lottery (general…

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LITERAL: December 2017 issue is available for download!

I just published the second issue of LITERAL, a free e-zine for Spanish students! Encouraging your students to subscribe to LITERAL is a great opportunity to get them excited about reading outside of class. All stories are written by students (individuals or classes) and edited to maximize comprehensibility. Click on this image to access the…

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Revista LITERAL is ready!

The first issue of Revista LITERAL is now ready for download! More than 50 students submitted stories, and I selected the most comprehensible ones to work with in the magazine. Please click on this image to access the November 2017 issue. Share the link with your students and encourage them to subscribe–remember, the vision is…

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Fan N Pick: The possibilities are endless!

Something that I lovetty love love about the ability to connect with other teachers via Ye Grande Ole Internet is the way that ideas expand exponentially as they are kicked back and forth among us. Fan N Pick has long been one of my favorite Kagan Cooperative Learning structures, and I used it quite often…

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