Here is a handy tool to create clock faces to use when teaching how to tell time.
(Blog post prepared in part for TESOL 6510, Second Language Acquisition at the University of Northern Iowa) First graders can show you and their friends and families that they can speak same Spanish. Record them and post the video where they, their friends and families can see it.
I use the Capture app on my iPhone and embed the Youtube video into a website I create using Tackk. Here is the website. (Blog post prepared in part for TESOL 6510, Second Language Acquisition at the University of Northern Iowa) During the first weeks of school or when new routines start, we teachers know that we may not be as patient as we would like. I tried something new this year when modelling and teaching and re-teaching the tech routines in Spanish class. Rather than focus so much on using oral Spanish, I offered students an opportunity to do something really fun if they could learn and practice the tech routine.
And I was able to connect it to Spanish. They used virtual Lego blocks to build flags of the Spanish-speaking world. They absolutely loved it. They worked really diligently to get the correct device and log on correctly. It was a dream. Students were teaching other students little hacks, or short cuts to build this or that. And they were creative. Try it. Here is the website we used (Blog post prepared in part for TESOL 6510, Second Language Acquisition at the University of Northern Iowa) "I don't have a Twitter account". You don't need one.
"I don't want to read about people posting about when they eat or what the drink or when they use the restroom." You don't have to. There is an enormous community of teachers of Spanish as a foreign language and world language teachers sharing what works and what doesn't work in their classrooms. If you haven't looked at what Spanish-teaching resources are written about on Twitter, you're missing a treasure trove. Links to videos, visuals, authors, stories, news, Here's a website I created to help you find resources on Twitter. Enjoy. And please send questions/comments/suggestions. (Blog post prepared in part for TESOL 6510, Second Language Acquisition at the University of Northern Iowa) If you feel adventuresome, you can smash together more that one tech tool. That's called AppSmashing.
I combined Art and Geography of the Spanish-speaking world and jigsaw puzzles with two apps: Thinglink and Jigsaw planet to create a website where students can find art from a country of their choosing, then assemble a jigsaw puzzle to see the artist's work. Younger students can take turns at a Smart Board assembling a puzzle wile their classmates count to 10 or 15 in Spanish. Every time the assembling students connects two pieces, the counters start over. Here is the website. We all have students who say something like, "why should I care about learning ..." In the foreign language classroom, I suspect we hear it more often than in most other elementary classrooms. What I have done to hook those students is to find what interest them. I want to know what are they passionate about. Soccer? Celebrity on Instagram. History. Art. Youtubers. Music. Dance.
In Spanish class when I find out what a student is interested in and I try to find some authentic digital resources about their "thing". And after they finish their Spanish lesson, or after school, or on the weekend, I have them access something from the Spanish-speaking world connected to their interests. Authentic Resources for Spanish Class is a website I created to collect and/or curate those things that might interest students. Among the links are websites with:
(Blog post prepared in part for TESOL 6510, Second Language Acquisition at the University of Northern Iowa) One way to motivate students to to allow them to choose ... something. Anything. Give them a choice between singing song A or song B. All those who want to sing A move to that side of the room and those who want to sing B move to this side of the room. And those who talk cannot vote.
Another choice: what vocabulary words do they want to learn. I ask that question after young students take a field trip to the zoo or a farm. They practice asking the question, "¿Cómo se dice ...?. I teach the word, then allow the student to choose the image we use in an online slide show they can use to show their families, or to review. I have used Haiku Deck and Sway. Both offer good images and their learning curve is not too complex. Here is an example of a first grade class's choices for animal vocabulary. |
Señor McCrightSeñor McCright has taught at Stowe Elementary School in Des Moines, Iowa since 2011. Prior to teaching in Des Moines, he taught at Alexandria Country Day School in Alexandria, Louisiana. Señor McCright also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer EFL teacher in the Central African Republic. ArchivesCategories |