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Best of 2014 #9: Genius hour isn’t a great idea for novice classes

Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell December 5, 2014 No Comments
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Before you read the ninth most popular Musicuentos post of 2014, in which I argue that Genius Hour (also known as 20 Time or 20% Time) is philosophically incompatible with teaching novice language learners, you have to promise me that you’ll click the links at the bottom to Laura Sexton’s blog, because if anyone could pull off Genius Hour in the language classroom, she can. However, if you’re not willing to put in the time she does to figure out how to make it comprehensible for them, this fad idea is not for you.

Why Genius Hour Can’t Work in a Novice Classroom

Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

Sometimes, the business world comes up with a really great idea that works well in education.  Sometimes, that idea catches on like wildfire and makes a big difference for student learning.

Sometimes, it doesn’t.  At least, not for everyone.

Particularly those of us who might be considered “early adopters” have a bad habit of hearing about an innovative, intriguing idea and assume that it has to be great for every classroom.  We forget to evaluate the idea against the principles we know to be true about language learning.  I’m afraid that’s what’s happening with this curriculum scheduling approach called Genius Hour, or 20% Time.

You can get a good in-depth introduction to the concept of 20-Time from 20 Time in Education, but briefly, ostensibly the most famous perk of working for Google is the opportunity to spend one day a week, or 20% of work time, working on independent projects of the employee’s own choice.  The idea was considered so motivating and inspiring (it brought us, for example, Gmail and Adsense) that many other companies copied it, and then it spread to education.  Won’t students be so inspired and motivated if we let them work on whatever they want to for 20% of the time we see them?

I’m guessing you see where I’m going with this.  But I’m going to keep going anyway.

The power of choice

Fast forward to this summer, when my cyberfriend and colleague Bethanie had the great idea to have a virtual “edcamp” for language teachers to collaborate and brainstorm on creating and planning curriculum for the new school year.   It was called #langcamp and it’s open for anyone to check out resources and ideas (Google Drive folder, wiki set up by Laura).  Soon a subfolder was created by a teacher (Jennifer Geroux) who was particularly interested in using it in Spanish 3.   Several more teachers interested in the concept joined in the conversation and they discussed how to implement Genius Hour (another term commonly used to refer to 20% Time) in the world language classroom.  The reasons were obvious.  I’ve blogged extensively about how powerful and motivating it is to incorporate choice in the classroom, and these teachers knew it too:

I want to offer my students more freedom in choice.

I really would like to give them some freedom.

I’m interested in this passion-driven concept.

I really like the idea of something more student-driven.

So, the concept begins with a good idea, but the potential problems are also fairly obvious.

Lacking the most important tool

The teachers brainstorming Genius Hour realized that this could be really powerful for intermediate students, and also immediately had doubts about how to do something so creative with students who can’t actually create with language (the definition of novices):

I don’t want to take away from TL time.

I would like to discuss best practices of its implementation in WL classes without sacrificing TL time.

I do have my doubts about fitting it into the WL classroom without conflicting with TL use. I admit, I need a bit of convincing in that area.

I want to implement this but not at the cost of TL time.

I’d very much like to harness the power of genius hour in the target language.

The fact is that Genius Hour can’t work with novices in the target language.  Genius Hour assumes people will use skills and tools they’re good at to produce something new, innovative, interesting.  Novices, by definition, do not have these skills or tools.  These teachers were realizing it too:

Novice learners will need some general direction/guidance…otherwise I feel that the project is too open-ended and they will just be lost.

I think the topics have to be limited, especially at the novice-level.

I’m not sure how to scaffold it for novices.

We need to find balance between passion projects and TL acquisition.

Once you realize that novices can’t do Genius Hour and target language together, you have to do one of two things: give up on a lot of TL, or give up on some of the concepts of Genius Hour.

Giving up on target language

If you’re a teacher of novices, let me ask you a question.  Imagine that you use one day a week of your class time and tell students that they can work on anything they want, as long as the product has some kind of target language in it (wait – that’s a caveat – more on that below).  What will your students do?  What will they learn?  I can tell you what I think they’d do.  For the ones who are really on top of things and motivated to research and produce in the target language, they’ll get incredibly frustrated.   For the ones who are in your class just to fulfill a requirement or because their girlfriend is there, they’ll do as much as they can get away with in English.  This entered the #langcamp discussion too:

If we’re not streamlining the process for them in a way that promotes some type of fluency or knowledge of culture, I feel 20 time would be a better fit outside of our language classrooms (as as a requirement to an English course, for example).

At Level 1 I probably would not require a lot of TL as they are just starting the class.

I wouldn’t require a ton of TL because the students are at least within the subject matter.

I understand the TL concerns especially with lower level students… The usage of the TL would vary depending on the project they choose.

I personally wouldn’t require TL if the students aren’t yet ready to produce the language.

Giving up on Genius Hour

Strictly speaking, 20-Time wasn’t complete freedom even for Google.  I mean, Google didn’t intend for their engineers to spend 1/5 of their time watching videos on how to bake a great loaf of bread.  They expected that projects would be related to computer programming at the very least.  With GH in the world language classroom, at least you’d have to make some stipulations: does the research have to be in TL? The product in TL? Does the topic have to relate to the cultures of Spanish-speaking peoples?  Here’s what came up in the discussion: Teachers thought that the concept meant that “whatever their passions are we can somehow put it in the WL classroom” but,

Something else to consider is that limiting the topics may take away from it being a truly passion-driven model.

In limiting topics the students can choose from (must be about culture, must be TL-related, etc) in order to accommodate Genius Hour within our classes, it kind of morphs the passion-model into a traditional “let’s research culture” project.

I do not want to limit my student’s choices for genius hour.

If it is a project that you want them to work on, the students might feel limited in their “genius” inspiration.

Mandating culture

If you’re letting students do whatever they want, there seems to be a dilemma of how to bring in the cultural element.  The idea was presented to filter the student’s passion through the lens of a Spanish-speaking country and that went over well (but is still giving students guidelines).  When it comes to “teaching” culture, though, the bottom line is that teachers who are wondering how to do it are almost always making one very glaring mistake: they’re not using authentic sources.  If they were, culture would just be there.

Guidelines plus choice

So, what’s the answer here?  As for the #langcamp teachers, at least one decided that Genius Hour did not fit with the format and goals of a world language class.  Two, that I know of, successfully tweaked the concept of Genius Hour and implemented it in their classrooms this past semester (see the Connect section below).

As for me, I’ve seen the power of letting students incorporate their own passions into class, but I’m still not sure I like the idea of a pure Genius Hour even with intermediate students -I have such little time with them, and I know more about how language acquisition works than they do.  But for sure, with novices it simply cannot work.  You can’t tell kids who can’t create with language to go create whatever they want, without sacrificing a great deal of your objectives for your class.  There’s a reason you’re the teacher, and guidelines are not students’ enemy – they’re helpful.  When I give students their options for their Aventura fluency homework or their final exam, if I hear, “Boy, I wish I could do X instead,” it doesn’t stifle them.  It opens up a great discussion of either “This is why that doesn’t work with our class,” or “You know, that’s an awesome idea and it didn’t occur to me.  Pencil it in.”

But don’t take it from me.  Take it from the people who thought it up – Google.  Not long after the #langcamp discussion, some pretty substantial rumors started flying around about how Google was implementing guidelines for 20% Time.  The press hailed it the “death of 20 Time” and so forth.  But Forbes’s Kathy Gersch called the guidelines Google’s “best new innovation” and had some great insight on the  matter (emphasis mine):

Now that Google has put some rules  around “20% time,” the one day a week an employee spends on side projects, people are having a field day forecasting the end of innovation at the company that claims to “use their powers for good, not evil.” To those people, I ask one question: Can a company in today’s highly competitive environment survive if they allow 1/5th of their employees’ time to be devoted to work that has no clear alignment with the company’s strategy?

The answer is … of course not.

If Google has indeed placed guidelines around their employees’ use of their “20% time” it’s probably a very smart move. Here’s why:

1. Urgency without alignment is wasted energy…

2. There’s room to explore and power to be generated from those “intrinsically interested.” [backstory there: rumor was that Google wanted managers to approve individual engineers’ 20-Time projects]…

3. Focused free-thinking builds a “change engine” into the culture.

Probably my favorite quote was in the introduction to the piece, because it’s such a great principle to remember across educational paradigms:

Structure nurtures – rather than hinders – innovation.

 Amen.

Connect

If you’d like to connect with teachers interested in implementing Genius Hour or 20% Time in the world language classroom, here are some of them on Twitter and around the web.  I’m sure any of them would love to discuss the possibilities with you.

  • Catherine Ousselin @catherineku1972
  • Jenna Hacker @jennahacker
  • Jillane Baros @profabaros
    Catch her reflections blogged here.
  • Jennifer Geroux @senorageroux
  • Garnet Hillman @garnet_hillman
    Explore her GH journey here.
  • Valerie Hays @val_hays
  • Natalia DeLaat @natadel76
  • Jordan Yeager @yeager85
  • Laura Sexton @SraSpanglish
    She’s blogged extensively about her Genius Hour adventures here.

 More resources

  • http://www.20timeineducation.com/
  • geniushour.blogspot.com – Joy Kirr (@joykirr) is well-known on Twitter for implementing Genius Hour in her LA classes.
  • http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=829279
  • http://ditchthattextbook.com/2013/03/25/20-percent-projects-7-ideas-to-think-about/
  • http://www.flipped-history.com/2013/06/gauging-20-times-effectiveness.html?spref=tw – blog post about effectiveness of 20% time
  • https://www.dropbox.com/s/skd6qmeu7a12lwi/Genius%20Hour.docx via Cristina Zimmerman (@cristinazimmer4)
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Previous Book Club ’14: The Painted Veil & Life After Life
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Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell
Related Posts
One thing at a time: Step Four October 10, 2019
One thing at a time: Step Three September 23, 2019
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10 real-world project examples for PBLL August 6, 2019

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      • Linguacafé: The idea that rocked my interpersonal world
      • What we learned at IFLTA '14: Everyone struggles, Culture leads
    •  October (5)
      • Communicative teaching in the shadow of [grammar-focused] common assessment
      • More multi-tasking children's lit
      • Next on my PD list: New proficiency videos
      • What we learned at KWLA: share, think, respect
      • The game-changing authentic resource guide for Spanish 3+: it's here!
    •  September (4)
      • Three days and then...
      • The technology that's making us irrelevant...and more relevant
      • Thank you, reflective teachers
      • See you this year? Conferences & Camp Musicuentos
    •  August (6)
      • How I teach La ciudad de las bestias
      • Putting homework in their hands: Sample systems
      • The First Day Story: Empowering with CI
      • Keeping games communicative
      • Let's talk tacos: Informing parents & students on proficiency
      • Regreso a clases! Ciudad on sale
    •  July (2)
      • Oso de Mantequilla: A tribute
      • It's coming!
    •  June (7)
      • What we learned at Camp Musicuentos
      • Lesson plan: Indirect objects and celebrations (template too)
      • New Podcast: What kind of corrective feedback works?
      • New resource: Educating parents and students on proficiency
      • Another resource: JCPS new curriculum documents (K-12)
      • Introducing the past tenses together
      • Time for you to get feedback?
    •  May (9)
      • Upcoming workshop (IN): Proficiency-based lesson planning
      • Stop calling this easy & fast
      • Revisiting Photopeach for the AP Final
      • Stop stressing: It's wrong to do the best you can
      • Three tasks for crafting an effective message: Black Box Podcast episode 4
      • A Year in a Day: Camp Musicuentos 2014
      • Taking care of business: Summer collaboration for a successful year
      • 4 ways to tweak the exit ticket
      • Black Box Podcast episode 3: To Sell Is Human, part 1
    •  April (9)
      • Top 25 Spanish novels
      • Let's play
      • New activity resource: Tweetfest!
      • Black Box Podcast episode 2: Circumlocution
      • An impromptu "langcamp"
      • See you at ACTFL '14
      • 4 ways to keep curriculum relevant
      • Tutorial on the best free PD you'll find in your own home
      • The Musicuentos Black Box Podcast: IT'S HERE!
    •  March (11)
      • Authentic visual illustrations of proficiency (Spanish)
      • Curriculum planning outside the textbook, Part 2
      • A week or more of working with Vivir mi vida
      • Resource release: Complete verb pack
      • Curriculum planning outside the textbook: Part 1
      • Corrections to simple verb pack
      • Musicuentos is on Pinterest!
      • Is this the best we can do?
      • Writing a restaurant review: Activity from Bethanie Drew
      • Putting a number grade on proficiency-based assessment
      • Resource release: Simple verb pack
    •  February (7)
      • My favorite source for restaurant (and other) reviews
      • Guest post: A TPRS rebuttal by Carol Gaab
      • TPRS strategies I don't put in my toolbox
      • What I love about TPRS
      • Repost: Valentine's #authres from Twitter
      • How I use verb charts
      • Guest post: What students need- A leader (David Seibel)
    •  January (10)
      • Every language teacher's biggest mistake
      • My new favorite digital storytelling app
      • Why Genius Hour can't work in a novice classroom
      • Website review: Geoguessr
      • 2014 resolutions #5: Use more authentic sources.
      • 2014 Resolutions #4: Take a step outside the textbook
      • Reviewing 2013: Five blogs to watch
      • 2014 Resolutions #3: Survey your students.
      • 2014 Resolutions #2: Collaborate with someone
      • 2014 Resolutions #1: Read a book
  •  2013 (110)
    •  December (13)
      • The #1 Musicuentos post of 2013 (and the six years before that)
      • Best of 2013: #2 - Tips for the new AP
      • Best of 2013: #3 - Choice in homework, updated
      • Best of 2013: #4 - Novice song for Spanish Class Idol
      • Best of 2013: #5 - Can you control vocabulary?
      • Best of 2013: #6 - Is your lesson plan out of whack?
      • Best of 2013: #7 - Four habits that enrich vocabulary
      • AP Spanish final exam: Controversia navideña y Vacunas para niños
      • Best of 2013: #8 - Novice high vs. Intermediate low
      • Best of 2013: #9 - Using assessment to inform your teaching
      • Best of 2013: #10 - Spot-checking conversations
      • First-ever Musicuentos ebook: Reader's Guide to Ciudad de las bestias
      • Happy December!
    •  November (8)
      • AP Spanish essay - Obamacare
      • Vote: Musicuentos proposal for ACTFL '14
      • Setting goals
      • Don't go to ACTFL '13 without TELLing
      • Repost: A story for demonstratives
      • Listen to some Grammy music
      • Caring about the Really Big Deal
      • Calm before the excitement!
    •  October (4)
      • Using assessment to inform your teaching
      • Just some fluff: Makeup for busy mom teachers
      • Top 3 mistakes teachers of novices make
      • Book review: Teach Like A Pirate
    •  September (7)
      • Interacting with authentic materials: a guide
      • Using audio-lingua
      • Seven keys to a great story
      • Stations: Exploring music
      • It's a myth: Equipping students to communicate with... themselves
      • Turn a Novice Song into "Spanish Class Idol"
      • Is your lesson plan out of whack?
    •  August (12)
      • Children's literature for the world language class (Helena Curtain)
      • App review & Giveaway! High School Spanish
      • Choice in homework, updated
      • Back to school: Proficiency posts
      • App Review: Storykit (bonus - meet my family!)
      • Back to school: Evaluate traditions
      • Back to school: Blogs with great ideas
      • App review & giveaway: Word Magic dictionary and thesaurus
      • My authorized AP syllabus
      • Back to school: Musicuentos "first days" posts
      • Back to school: Give them signals
      • Going back to school with Musicuentos
    •  July (6)
      • Tips for the New AP
      • Don't be fooled! What the AP does and doesn't measure
      • Illustrating proficiency with a laugh
      • Snag some free apps while you can!
      • Stop asking for unnatural language
      • Fun video: Animals, present, feelings
    •  June (9)
      • Targeting problems with a pop quiz
      • Song, irregular present, part 4: Tengo tu love
      • It's my birthday - check out our presents!
      • A meaningful approach to grammar
      • Websites for creating online magazines
      • A world with no magazines
      • Guest post: Coaching with choice
      • Screencast: Photopeach
      • Communicative grading made easier
    •  May (10)
      • Health infographic: Novice - Intermediate Activity
      • A lesson in finding authentic sources easily
      • Tips and songs for past participles
      • Foster higher-level thinking from the beginning
      • Summer: Language for the fun of it
      • Novice high vs. intermediate low
      • E-magazines with learner appeal
      • Step outside the textbook: Tell a story
      • Repost: Novice description with Jengibre and Pin Pon
      • Interpersonal communication by choice
    •  April (11)
      • Novice speaking: Describing self with Sie7e
      • Can you control vocabulary?
      • Activities from authentic resources: Future tense
      • Why I love mistakes
      • Maternity leave!
      • Lots of your class gone? Pick up a book.
      • Abandon the multiple-choice question
      • Songs for future tense
      • I choose béisbol: sample "homework" report
      • 300 times thank you
      • Reporting like kindergarten
    •  March (11)
      • Training in circumlocution: Ban the dictionary
      • Fun activity #9: A leer
      • Last tips on avoiding burnout
      • Cortometraje for narration
      • Make developing curriculum even easier
      • Even more tips on avoiding burnout
      • Authentic resource: trivia games
      • Still more tips on avoiding burnout
      • Two more ways to ease into developing curriculum
      • Song, irregular present, part 3: Carmelina
      • More tips on avoiding burnout
    •  February (10)
      • Intermediate news activity for all three modes
      • Easing into developing curriculum
      • If you don't pay attention to comprehensibility...
      • Burning out or burning bright?
      • Keeping the class engaged: Change activities
      • Fun activity #8: A cantar
      • Twitter/relationships activity, just in time for Valentine's
      • Tech tools gone wrong
      • Grading regular free-topic writing
      • Add more music to homework choices
    •  January (9)
      • Spot-checking conversations
      • Song, irregular present, part 2: Hace tiempo
      • Four habits that enrich vocabulary
      • Paragraph form
      • Myths 8 & 9: I don't do it because they can't handle it.
      • Assigning homework
      • Song, irregular present, part 1: Sigo con ella
      • More choice every day
      • A novice cross-curricular activity from authentic materials
  •  2012 (38)
    •  December (2)
      • 5 New Year's resolutions for every WL teacher
      • It pays to have a focus
    •  October (2)
      • Best and worst games I've seen
      • Example: authentic text for novices
    •  September (7)
      • Success with Stations
      • More student choice in homework
      • Prezi: The Choice is Theirs (KWLA 2012)
      • Prezi: Kick the Vocab Quiz (KWLA 2012)
      • Take the leap to standards-based assessment
      • Fun activity #7: Conecta cuatro
      • A song for feelings
    •  August (10)
      • Screencast: Edmodo
      • Myth #7: Spanish Mike is a taco.
      • A study in motivation, part 2: Self-assessing abilities
      • It's my blogiversary - but you get the gift
      • Menus
      • Reading guides: Cajas de cartón & Esperanza renace
      • A re-post for your first days back: Abecedario
      • Screencast: Finding authentic sources for prompts
      • Maintaining personal proficiency
      • AP redesign: Units & EQ's
    •  July (9)
      • A study in motivation
      • Advice for teachers in training
      • More uses for Amor de mi tierra
      • Book review: The Talent Code
      • Songs for 'duele'
      • The Case for Commands
      • Got idioms?
      • Like Musicuentos? Like it on Facebook.
      • Very short times with very young kids
    •  June (1)
      • 5...4...3...2...1... LAUNCH!
    •  March (4)
      • Another change: Survey says...
      • Design your own final exam
      • What I'm changing this week
      • Repost for CSC12: Increasing target language
    •  February (1)
      • A storytelling success story
    •  January (2)
      • Not going to ACTFL again, but for the best reason ever
      • Free Ebook for WL educators
  •  2011 (57)
    •  November (1)
      • Dear novice-learner teacher - love, an AP teacher
    •  October (3)
      • Learning from #langchat
      • Not your average health unit
      • Presentation: Target Language: Expect More, Say Less
    •  September (6)
      • Spanish 3 assessment documents
      • For KWLA 2011: Media from Reel to Real
      • Accuracy vs. proficiency: an illustration
      • Fun activity #6: A escribir
      • App review: Tour Wrist
      • Myth #6: Memorizing vocabulary
    •  August (5)
      • Trending topic = authentic comprehensible input
      • Got the rubric!
      • New year, new units, new assessments
      • Jumping on the Animoto bandwagon
      • Rethinking "late" work
    •  July (1)
      • A song made for early Spanish 1
    •  June (9)
      • Proficiency & tacos
      • Proficiency levels shouldn't be a secret
      • Flipbook illustration
      • Ethics in the language class - we aren't their parents
      • Activity #5: Gira la botella
      • Symbol Illustration
      • Connecting your classroom
      • Myth #5: The textbook is all I need
      • Taking paperless to the blog
    •  May (2)
      • Combat the 'este tiempo' monster
      • Children's DVD giveaway!
    •  April (6)
      • Activity #4: Drama Inmóvil
      • Myth #4: The Time Whine
      • Have you used PhotoPeach?
      • The myths aren't going to ACTFL
      • Fun activity #3: ¡Arriésgate!
      • Fun activity #2: A conversar
    •  March (3)
      • Dismantling Myths 2 and 3: Learning about language and its cousin, Grammatical Terms
      • Activity 1: Cuento poco a poco
      • (Trying to) Make learning fun
    •  February (10)
      • Two new options for out-of-class fluency
      • Great resource from la Sra. Birch
      • Dismantling Myth #1: What's a qualified teacher?
      • Keep singing: 189 pages of Spanish lyrics
      • #Charlando para aprender
      • Vote for this week's #langchat topic
      • It's time for them to use their time
      • For tonight's #langchat: A game for description
      • Short listening activity tailor-made for beginners
      • Ciudad de las bestias: Guides public & streamlined
    •  January (11)
      • Instead of the vocab quiz
      • Best songs for stem changing irreg. present
      • Do something drastic - kick the vocab quiz
      • Topic for #LangChat 1/27
      • Topic for the first #LangChat 1/20
      • Low-level learners can't understand authentic media, what?
      • They can't speak, and it's our fault: Dismantling the myths
      • Don't teach a health unit without this song
      • New: A language teachers' weekly chat on Twitter - choose our first topic!
      • Since I stopped teaching to the [AP] test
      • Faith and Culture: help me decide our AP topic
  •  2010 (38)
    •  December (4)
      • 9 ways to increase students' TL use
      • I love collaboration
      • The problem with translation (from a student)
      • Why music is more powerful than anything (& how to use it)
    •  November (2)
      • iPad giveaway!
      • A collaborative project for our Spanish-teacher PLN
    •  October (2)
      • And the winner is...
      • In the spirit of open source: Ciudad de las bestias
    •  September (10)
      • Books recommended as 'easy'
      • Pure present tense & at least 22 repetitions of 'ya no'
      • For a conference attendee: resources in math
      • Searching BBC Mundo
      • Prompts with Power: writing/speaking prompts
      • Prompts with Power: Prezi
      • Prompts with Power: German & French resources
      • Prompts with Power: Dating in high school
      • KWLA Presentation: PLN-ology
      • Tweet with double objects
    •  August (6)
      • Interactive comic creator using Maya & Miguel
      • Ads of the World | Creative Advertising Archive & Community
      • Added some great new links
      • First 12 days of Spanish 1
      • My supply list
      • Scope & sequence, word list for Spanish 1
    •  July (4)
      • 5 tips for increasing (your own) target language use
      • A warm-up from @samocamila: por vs. para
      • Camila's all on board! (well, on Twitter)
      • Getting vocabulary from a tweet
    •  April (3)
      • Huge toy giveaway from SpanglishBaby
      • A case for avoiding "pet" grammar
      • Authentic audio with future tense
    •  March (2)
      • Interesting blog post about iPod as language lab
      • News article: appeal + subjunctive for influence
    •  January (5)
      • A high-interest exercise for imperfect/pasado continuo
      • A song with 17 verbs in past subjunctive
      • My corporate Spanish links, all in one place
      • "Adora la Exploradora"-the week we didn't feel like a boring past-tense review
      • My level 1 and 2 stories (for Bethanie, and whomever else)
  •  2009 (80)
    •  December (2)
      • A song with 37 repetitions of "más que"
      • Switch to a communicative set-up
    •  November (10)
      • Print & audio sources for AP synthesis essay re: efficient energy
      • Two songs for voy + a + infinitive
      • A case for free-topic blogging
      • It's 19 de noviembre!
      • Camila's new single: "Mientes" (release date 11/24!)
      • A case for pleasure reading
      • Noviembre - a popular month for songs
      • Zachary Jones's "Clozeline"
      • Two songs + resources for Ojalá + subjunctive
      • A song just for @mamitati
    •  October (13)
      • You can't buy this in a textbook
      • Cultural connections: Four songs to explore using Google Earth
      • David Bisbal's YouTube channel
      • Correction on Pin Pon in Shrek
      • Four songs for contrasting que & lo que
      • Nominados en la 10a entrega de los Latin Grammy
      • Story and songs for subjunctive: indefinite/negative antecedent
      • AP sythesis essay sources: Los indocumentados y el sistema de salud
      • Blog that does what I do, only better
      • My October playlist
      • We must not ignore the Paz Sin Fronteras (video)
      • Build your perfect tenis (en español)
      • Video with por, haber, past participles, commands, from Coca Cola
    •  September (10)
      • Latin Grammy website gets a cool makeover... and nominations!
      • Songs for the elusive 3rd pers. sing. preterite
      • I just made my first Yodio
      • KWLA Fall 09 Conference presentation
      • Found Juanes on Twitter
      • For you French teachers
      • Bilingual toy giveaway, gracias a @mamitati
      • Keeping your eyes open for gold nuggets
      • CNN launches Latino in America
      • Bob Esponja on Mundonick
    •  August (4)
      • A correction on the correction of La Frase Tonta
      • I am in technology heaven
      • An AP oral presentation, with past tense: "Consecuencias"
      • I love crossover songs
    •  July (2)
      • Raimundo, the bilingual Latin American snail
      • A song for object/refl pronoun 'te'
    •  June (6)
      • A song for your hip-hop fans
      • Developing world citizens
      • Follow me on Twitter
      • Aquí Estoy Yo: video oficial
      • A new group on my radar
      • Two months later, back to the blogosphere (with a companion)
    •  April (5)
      • A most fantastic performance at Premio Lo Nuestro
      • The heroes speak Español
      • A brilliant pair of songs contrasting por/para
      • Useless grammar I used to teach
      • Adding some links--check 'em out
    •  March (7)
      • Negative commands + culture
      • Winds of change
      • Our students aren't the only ones who have speaking problems!
      • Activity: News interaction (present perfect)
      • A new smash hit with a subjunctive benefit
      • A shout out for Jacob & Joshua
      • El campesino y la princesa (a Spanish 3 story test, with a bit of subjunctive)
    •  February (15)
      • More interactive websites, courtesy of my students
      • A product I love
      • Good stories for commands
      • a story for imperf. vs. pret. and subjunctive influence
      • Interactive websites: practicing house/location/color vocab
      • Subjunctive for doubt: Story, song, activity
      • A good story for 'tiene'
      • A song for subjunctive/nosotros commands
      • A story for demonstratives
      • Rules in a communicative class
      • Cause and effect
      • Relating everything to English
      • A correction on La Frase Tonta
      • Equipping and informing, for free
      • A project based on motivation
    •  January (6)
      • "How much is estuvo de pie?"
      • One more song for subjunctive
      • A couple more subjunctive songs
      • An example of vocab
      • Internet scavenger hunts
      • A Spanish 2 story test
  •  2008 (51)
    •  December (7)
      • Videos from Jesús Adrian Romero
      • Alex Campos's YouTube channel
      • A story test
      • A video for Navidad
      • Great new song for subjunctive
      • ¡Nueva música!
      • A fantastic blog post
    •  November (14)
      • Ever heard of Patito feo?
      • Two groups you just can't go wrong with
      • Things to be thankful for
      • Grammar learning vs. acquisition
      • Forced to give grammar tests?
      • High aptitude is a beautiful thing
      • Another Spanish 1 reading
      • New media list!
      • At the ACSI conference in Dayton
      • Story success: Huevos verdes con jamón
      • Another story source!
      • Words we don't use
      • Song success: Hace tiempo
      • El carro de sus sueños
    •  October (12)
      • Overgeneralizing, again
      • Spanish 2 Story: La llama se llama...
      • Song success: Me voy
      • Not posting lately
      • overgeneralizing
      • The outcome of Pin Pon
      • Pin Pon in Shrek?
      • Best practices
      • Reading in Spanish 3
      • SCORE!
      • My media list
      • Awesome YouTube video
    •  September (18)
      • KWLA '08: Assessing comprehension without English
      • Song success: La llave de mi corazón
      • Spanish 1 Story: Insectos grises para el almuerzo
      • Finding stories
      • How do I find the music?
      • Modeling the billingual lexicon
      • Summaries of some classroom SLA articles
      • Love/Hate Krashen
      • Another article that rocked my world
      • More sunshine
      • When it's not all coming up roses
      • What on earth is going on here?
      • So, what are the cuentos?
      • The verdict on pop test 1
      • People I love
      • A pop test
      • Some assumptions
      • Starting to share my journey

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