Become a more confident language teacher.
“Odd one out” is a fun game commonly played by language teachers, whether first or second+. You may have played it under a different name, or without naming it at all! The basic concept is that students are given a list of three to four items, and they must identify the “odd one out”–the item that…
Read More
The goal of every language teacher is for their students to speak the language. We want our students to be able to talk about all kinds of topics and accomplish all kinds of purposes, talking to all kinds of people. But HOW??? We don’t actually learn language by speaking; nor do we learn language by……
Read More
I love this simple activity that I found on Pinterest because it is just so adaptable and takes zero preparation! As Comprehensible Input teachers, we are always looking for new ways to revisit stories, readings, and discussions so as to provide students with additional repetitions of target structures. Jeopardy Q&A is backward questioning–providing students with…
Read MoreWell I have been a pretty lame blogger lately, but I have a good excuse–I’m pregnant! With my 2yo and my 9mo, I’ve been spending nap time actually napping instead of blogging…but can you blame me?? I’m out of my first trimester, now, though, so I’m going to try to put my newly restored energy…
Read More
I used this activity for the first time as an icebreaker at our MOPS group, and it was so fun! I love using it in class, because it is a great way to give everyone an opportunity to speak without eliminating teacher-guided discussion. So here’s what you do: Decide how many groups you want to…
Read More
We all have those classes that just won’t stop talking…and we all have those classes that just won’t start talking! Such is the case with one of my second-year classes (level 1B). It’s a great group of kids, and they are very good students, but getting them to participate in discussions or speak up in general is worse than…
Read More
I needed to spend today prepping vocabulary for Chapter 2 of El Nuevo Houdini with my Spanish 2 students. There are a few words in the chapter that are important to the understanding of the chapter with which my students are not yet familiar, or might have trouble recognizing. For example, most of them have…
Read More
I’ve received several emails lately from teachers that long to use TPRS, but feel trapped because their department requires them to teach textbook units and give textbook assessments. Most of these teachers have heard that thematic units go against everything that CI stands for, and that the two are diametrically opposed. While it is true…
Read MoreI made 18 reusable sets of letters that can be used to practice the alphabet, spelling, and vocabulary year-round. 18 sets is enough for even my biggest classes to have one set per set of partners. Print out this document (kinesthetic letters ), then use the two sheets that printed to create a front-to-back copy…
Read More
Last year, I printed dictionary pages for my students’ binders so that they had an organized way to keep track of the target structures that we learn. These were really simple– a column for Spanish words and a column for the English meaning, nothing more. Students took notes on the pages at the start of…
Read More
