2014 resolutions #5: Use more authentic sources.

What an important resolution to make!  If you’re only going to make one resolution this year, there are so many options to choose from – more comprehensible input would probably be the top one I’d pick.  But this one is so close.  My last suggestion for a resolution for 2014 is to

5. Use more authentic sources.

One of the great myths that plagues the world language classroom is that novices can’t understand authentic resources.  The truth is, our level 2 and 3 and 4 students can’t understand authentic sources because we don’t use them, because we don’t believe they can understand them.  See the cycle?  So modify the task instead of the text (or audio, or whatever).  Ask for recent vocabulary.  Ask global-idea questions like: What’s the purpose? Who’s the audience? What’s a main idea?  But please, please, use authentic sources.  Here are some places to start:

1. My authentic tag on Delicious (musicuentos)
2. My other authentic tag on Delicious (wandermami)
3. The single best place to find authentic resources with scaffolding activities for Spanish learners: Zachary Jones’s Zambombazo
4. My collection of corporate Spanish sites

If you have some good resources for other languages, please share them in the comment section.