Tonight, I am sad for my country. The events that transpired this past weekend in Charlottesville are not unique. As language teachers, we are about communication. We are about comprehension. We are about connection. We are about community. Let’s also be about change. I’ve been reading a lot of posts about what teachers are doing…
Read MoreY’all are going back to school, and I’m having a baby. The end result is the same, though, right? Less sleep, more stress, and a house that’s never clean? The difference is in the preparation. I’ve got my hospital bag packed (wishful thinking since I still have a month to go…), but how is your back-to-school checklist looking?…
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Have you ever made a time capsule? I never made one intentionally, but there was this small space between my classroom cabinets and the wall that I was not aware of until student projects started disappearing from on top of the cabinets…I tried everything to pull them back out of that 8′ deep hole, but…
Read MorePull out laminated character cards to assign seats at the door. (Currently in French and Spanish–send me translations for other languages and I will add them into the file!) Photocopy name card template onto cardstock; enough for each student to have one. Have markers available for name card writing–only dark colors that can be easily…
Read MoreI’m thinking that this would make a great first or second day of school activity for a second year language classroom. I can’t say for sure because I’ve not used it yet, but if the structures fit, use it, right?! Begin the lesson by introducing the structure me hace pensar en – it makes me think…
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I’ve finally done it!! Thanks to @srtabarragan and @tmsaue1, I have finally set Performance targets for each of my courses, and I have a rubric to accompany them! Performance targets for each year of language MY CONTEXT Students at my middle school are able to take 2 or 3 years of Spanish, depending on whether they…
Read MoreGreat activity for the first week of school!! Thanks @srtabarragan for sharing @musicuentos ‘ blog! So, about informing our students on proficiency. One of the great ideas that came from that PD I went to was this ‘taco’ activity. It’s designed to be done in… Continue Reading → via Proficiency & tacos.
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That’s right…we went back to school yesterday! It feels like I never left, but we’ve been gone since the end of May. My goal for the first day is to leave students feeling smart and successful and with a fun, unique experience! We have 50 minute periods at my middle school. Preparation and entering the…
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