As is my habit, as I finished books in 2019 I reflected on them in a post for my blog as my primary platform for public reflection. Perhaps now I’ll just reflect by posting in my Goodreads account? In any case, here, one last time on Musicuentos, is a collection of reflections on what I […]
In the spirit of letting go, I want to share with you something I can’t let go of. Almost three years ago, I sort of fell into directing an all-volunteer ESL program for newcomers. A man I’d never met connected with some people in my church and told them he’d been helping refugees for some […]
Exactly eleven years and three months ago, I wrote this: Welcome to my acquisition-based language teaching journey. Let’s call it Musicuentos. And let’s get started. Nearly seven hundred posts later, my Musicuentos journey is coming to an end. I made the decision to end my Musicuentos run last January, a month after I was diagnosed […]
If you’ve ever seen a demonstration of modified MovieTalk and fallen head over heels for it, tried it, and then wondered what to do next, this post is for you. But first, in case you’re new to the idea… What is a MovieTalk? Technically, as Elisabeth at SpanishMama writes in her excellent beginner’s guide to […]
Drum roll… IT’S ACTFL WEEK! I skipped ACTFL last year because let’s face it, it is not cheap to try to pull that trip off when you don’t have institutional or corporate support, and I gladly admit I had zero FOMO – and you shouldn’t have it either. ACTFL is a great experience, and I’m […]
Who would have thought Sra. Musicuentos would have taken a hiatus from music? I blame it on early novice teenagers. A few years ago, I transitioned from teaching intermediate learners into teaching total beginners who were mostly in the tween/teen years. In my experience, that’s not the best environment for using music to really teach (for […]
Someone, somewhere, is going to comment, I can’t believe she put this one last. It’s ok. Everyone has their cross to bear, and I’m that person’s. You see, I think that before you make big changes, you need to know sound research principles involving how people acquire and learn languages (that was step one). I want you […]
So you want to become a better language teacher, and that’s awesome! You’ve laid a good foundation in getting to know some sound research principles involving how people acquire and learn languages thanks to Steve Smith. You’ve figured out what to expect kids to build as they continue on their journey to being proficient in another language. You […]
So you want to become a better language teacher, and that’s awesome! You’ve laid a good foundation in getting to know some sound research principles involving how people acquire and learn languages thanks to Steve Smith. You’ve figured out what to expect kids to build as they continue on their journey to being proficient in […]
So you want to become a better language teacher, and that’s awesome! You’ve laid a good foundation in getting to know some sound research principles involving how people acquire and learn languages thanks to Steve Smith. Now, it’s time for Step 2. Is the foundation important? Absolutely, it’s critical. But to build on that foundation […]
It’s happened at my Camp Musicuentos workshops. It’s happened in inservice sessions. It’s happened in conference presentations and workshops and on Twitter and in blog comments. It’s the big question that many preservice, new, and second-profession teachers ask: I want to be a great language teacher and do all this curriculum stuff and teach all […]
What’s the most powerful use of your voice in the classroom? That’s a question that Justin Slocum Bailey (BlackBox videocast creator extraordinaire!) asked and answered on the most recent episode of WeTeachLang, an excellent podcast for hearing diverse perspectives of language teachers. I highly recommend you listen to it, but I was inspired to blog […]