Become a more confident language teacher.
One’s gotta go is a popular discussion prompt that is perfect for communicative language classes. The basic premise is that students are looking at 3-4 images of different things and picking the one that they would eliminate from existence if one had to go away forever. How to play One’s gotta go This discussion activity…
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Coming back from break can be the worst. Whether you’ve had a super restful or a super chaotic and stressful time, picking up your school responsibilities and getting back on your school schedule is work. As I’m planning my own back-from-break lesson plans for our homeschool group, I want to share with you three back-from-break…
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If you are a content-based language teacher, Shared Reading is likely a big part of your classes. Whether you are reading a story you have co-created with your students, an article, or a descriptive slideshow that came with your curriculum, it is important to use strategies that keep your students engaged with and attending to…
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Learning a language is as natural as learning to walk. If you have ever tried to learn a language and failed, chances are good that you were going about it the wrong way. Language is not stored in our heads in lists or categorized by rules, and so trying to make it stick in our…
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Get trained in Teaching for Acquisition this coming February! Join The Comprehensible Classroom for online professional development on Teaching and Assessing for Acquisition! If you are seeking to learn the WHY, WHAT, and HOW of Teaching for Acquisition, The Comprehensible Classroom is the best place for you to get started. Working with individuals and districts around the country, we have…
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Note to the reader: This was originally published as a guest post on the CI Peek blog, which has been archived. Some links and references have been updated for this new publication. Of all the different kinds of things that you do with your students—games, conversation, grammar or vocabulary drills, cultural exploration, etc.—what do you…
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The 2022 FIFA World Cup® begins on November 20, and for the first time ever it is hosted by an Arab nation. Since this year’s tournament happening during the school year, Qatar 2022® is the PERFECT content for Spanish class lessons this fall. Check out our World Cup and World Cup-related resources for language classes:…
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Once upon a time, there was a teacher named Paulino. Paulino had a big problem. He knew that he needed to provide his students with independent reading and listening material in Spanish that they could understand, but it was hard to find. One day, he had an idea: he decided to… OPTION 1: Find a…
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One of my favorite ways to introduce very high frequency vocabulary for novice learners is to use pictures. Describing an image to students in the target language while they listen and look while I point to various elements of the picture is an excellent way to provide my students with input that is comprehensible. One…
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Many Spanish teachers will soon begin learning about Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) and its related celebrations throughout América Latina. One hard part about this time of year is navigating conversations with caretakers who aren’t sure that they want their children to participate in lessons about Día de Muertos or any other celebration,…
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