Become a more confident language teacher.
Many teachers long to make instructional changes in their classes, but longing only sometimes leads to action. Even after identifying the change they want to make, determining that it will be best for them and for their students, and learning how to implement it, many teachers still remain paralyzed; trapped in their old, no longer…
Read MoreAh, 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…
Read MoreWhether you are planning to use the SOMOS 1 or 2 Spanish curriculum for the first time this fall or have been working with it for several years already, I hope that this post will answer most of the ‘big’ questions that you have as you are planning for the upcoming school year. For everything…
Read MoreCan you believe that it is already time to think about going back to school this fall? Part of the back to school stress is due to having SO. MUCH. TO. THINK. ABOUT. Whether you spent your summer at conferences or took the entire summer off to just rest and enjoy your family, reality is…
Read MoreHave you ever gone to a session at a conference and been SO EXCITED about whatever you learned that you don’t eat, don’t sleep, don’t shower, and ignore everyone that you care about until you finally get the chance to try it out? No? That’s just a Martina thing? Shoot. Language teachers love BreakoutEDU Well…
Read MoreIf you’ve seen some of the amazing novels written for language learners that are available but have yet to purchase any, you may be wondering: how do I use these novels in class? When teachers begin to study language acquisition and learn more about Comprehension-based teaching, it quickly becomes apparent that reading has a profound…
Read MoreI taught Spanish 1 and 2 for 3 years after switching to TCI, and here is what I ended up creating–keep in mind that this is just what I did, and even if you are using my curriculum, you are free to do it differently than I did! Use the curriculum maps provided below to determine what…
Read MoreWhen I wrote the Teacher’s Guide for Brandon Brown versus Yucatán, I included a unique during-reading activity for each chapter. I did this because when you are reading a book in one fell swoop and using it as the basis for your class activities for a chunk of several weeks (or longer), you have to…
Read MoreKatie Sevilla just sent me an email describing an awesome twist that she made to the Sound Effects Read-Aloud activity that I described in this post. Before beginning Chapter 1 of Esperanza, she had her students audition to be the student that provided each of the sound effects during the reading! I love this idea so much! She…
Read MoreMy favorite session from iFLT 2014 (of the ones that I taught, anyway) was my session about planning units that introduce a set of target structures and then use them to teach a cultural topic to students. This was my favorite session because the creation of vocabulary-driven cultural units have had a greater impact on my…
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