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Where are the points of agreement in language teaching?

Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell July 20, 2016 15 Comments

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Seeking the future of world language learning at the intersection of comprehensible input, project-based learning, global education, and love.
Where are the points of agreement in language teaching?
Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell July 20, 2016
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When I graduated from my master’s program in Linguistics with an emphasis on Second Language Acquisition, I suffered from a fundamental misunderstanding.  I thought that there was a consensus on the general principles guiding how language acquisition works, what that means the second time around, and what that understanding ought to mean for the classroom teacher.

I was wrong.  I have since come to understand that differences exist on everything from why and how to implement ACTFL Can Do statements to how and why to assess students in their skills.

If you were under the same impression, I hope that this post helps you understand and find your place on the points of agreement and disagreement among some very smart people I know, because that is its purpose.  It’s not to paint a war.  It’s not to elicit any particular reaction from conferences and workshops currently running, such as IFLT ’16, and I give you my word that the timing is purely coincidental, as this post has been in draft mode since at least April.

This post is also not intended to “call out” any teachers.  Offering constructive commentary with plenty of opportunity for open dialogue is one thing, but publicly dressing down teachers on the internet is a despicable practice that only harms our profession and is one that I do not want to fall into.  I have come pretty close to it before and I’m thankful for the friends who call me on it.  No, I want you to know up front that from one end of the spectrum to the other, from Carol Gaab and Kristy Placido, to Grant Boulanger and Martina Bex, to Carrie Toth and Justin Slocum Bailey, to Lisa Shepard and Helena Curtain, to Thomas Sauer and Stayc Dubravac and Colleen Lee-Hayes, all the way across both ponds to Steve Smith and Gianfranco Conti, all these people I am privileged to learn from and beside, I count them as professionals and friends in my highest esteem.  Ten years ago I could not have named another language teacher anywhere, and now look at the people I get to learn with!  I am grateful for how they’ve informed my positions in these areas, and this is not a war.  We don’t agree everywhere and that’s increasingly obvious to me, but the disagreement is okay; we’re all different, we serve different student populations, we have different personalities, and we even read different research in different ways (so I have little patience for X study says M, N, L, and Z and so YOU ARE WRONG).

But let’s start by talking general points of agreement, right?  Here are a couple that I think we all rest pretty firmly on without teasing aside too many specifics.

Methodologies do not look the same across proficiency levels.  But principles do.

-Kristy Placido

That’s true for me, too.  My level one stories does not look like my level four input, but you will see the principles I lay out below play out in varying degrees at any level.

How about this one?

Students are expected to interact and demonstrate comprehension.

-Grant Boulanger

Yes! Don’t get the impression that teachers who shy away from “forced output” expect their students to sit passively.  Perhaps it’s a distinction between forced output and expected output.  As I tell my students:

If you don’t understand, one of two things is happening: I don’t have your eyes and ears, or I’m not doing my job.  But I’m not a mind reader.  You have to let me know that you don’t understand, as soon as you don’t understand.

Many times, the output I’m expecting (demanding, even) tells me if we have a breakdown in this process.

Okay, but there are points of departure and we can’t pretend there aren’t.  Where are they?  I’ll present six of them here in fairly quick succession.  I’ve worded these based on extensive conversations with many, many teachers, and I hope I’m faithfully representing the perspectives.  I welcome any comments that help clarify the issues.  On each image, you’ll see where I identify the agreement across the top, and then two differing perspectives on that larger concept below.  The Musicuentos M shows you where I stand on the issue.

1. Agreed: The purpose of language is communication.

Slide1

If you want to know more about the distinction between learning and acquisition in a hurry check out these three resources:

  • The Black Box videocast on re-engaging the Interface Debate
  • My post on acquisition in the language classroom
  • Justin’s response post on acquisition in the language classroom

2. Agreed: We want students to stay on the journey.

Slide2

I believe an underlying goal of most strategies is for students to be motivated to continue in their personal language journey past our classes.  But sometimes an assumption is made that success in acquisition alone will motivate students to continue in their language journey, so a teacher-centered classroom that creates acquisition-rich environment is the most important thing. Martina tells us that comprehensible input is the one thing, so important that in a 45-minute class period, 45 minutes should be spent on comprehensible input.  On the other hand, general education research tells us that the 21st century will be full of unknown demands on our students and their learning and skills, so a student-centered classroom that creates innovators is vital to our future.  Where do you fall here?  I am a comprehensible input teacher (and I don’t much care if others who have never seen me teach a whole lesson believe this or not), but I have swung a great deal in to the PBL camp in the last couple of years, and now I fall about 2/3 into the creating innovators realm.  (My stand here has also been affected by how I foresee the imminent invention of the Babel fish decimating the need for learning language for most communicative purposes.)

3. Agreed: Every student needs comprehensible input.

Slide3

 

I just blogged about my personal position statement on TL use in the classroom.  I recommend you figure out where you stand on this one.  This is one of the strongest points of disagreement, and many other differences in perspective on everything from translation to authentic resource use stem from it.

4. Agreed: Establish meaning.

Slide4

 

You can see I am pretty far into Position 2 on this issue.  Even though I have always been on a mission to combat the time issue, English translation is not the first way I will choose to do it.  Feel free to browse my no translation tag.

5. Agreed: Practice makes proficient.

Slide5

(On the agreement point, props to Natalia DeLaat for sharing the wording.)

(That left side is almost a direct quote from Carol Gaab.)

You can probably see how a disagreement on the definition and usefulness of practice has created one of the sharpest divisions in the communicative language teaching field.  In my view, repeated exposure doesn’t mean students are passive; they may respond, and I may expect (yes, force) them to respond, and that can be meaningfully interactive.  That interaction means that practice can be output, which leads me to…

6. Agreed: Spontaneous output is a vital part of a language class.

Like Grant said, students are expected to interact. But…

Slide6

There is a robust and established (but not proven) position that output does not help in language proficiency gains (that’s why it’s called the input hypothesis), so requests for output should be kept to a minimum.  Check out how Justin takes an extensive online discussion on Can Do statements down a road of not practicing interactions because that’s not acquisition-fostering input.

There is another robust and established (but not proven) position that interaction does improve language proficiency, not because comprehensible input doesn’t work, but because the interactions help the speaker identify and internalize more comprehensible input (that’s why it’s called the interaction hypothesis).  Check out what Ohio TOY Lisa says, based on her years of teaching experience and interaction with ACTFL guidelines: “I have come to believe that well-designed tasks can lead to increased proficiency.”  Sometimes even in interpersonal assessment, teachers like Colleen Lee-Hayes are so committed to see what students can do to interact without them, they decide to take themselves out of the equation and simply listen.

Some conclusions: No panacea

On the one hand, here’s an oft-quoted TPRS maxim from Blaine Ray:

The worst day of CI is still better than the best day of a textbook.

On the other hand, Steve, as he points out how we really have more common ground than we think, says,

An inspiring teacher using an audio-lingual or “drill and kill” will achieve more than a poor teacher using a communicative or comprehension approach.

Who’s right?  I wonder if the answer lies in a couple of other quotes.  The first is from that same blog post by Steve:

There are no panacea approaches, there are just good and bad teachers.

The other quote is from Stacy, the one teacher referenced here I have not had personal communication with, to my knowledge.  She proudly wears the badge of “legacy teacher,” which is often, she argues, falsely confused with the label “bad teacher.”  She declares,

It all comes down to this: we are teaching students not content. Ten years from now they will remember how they felt coming to our classes and the grace and humanity we showed them on a daily basis more than they will remember whether we taught grammar, used TPRS, gave IPAs, used PBL and/or spent 90% of our time in the TL.

This all begs a question: If the common ground is so surrounded by disagreement, why did I come out of grad school with the impression of a consensus?  I think it’s because I believed and still believe that in each of these areas, nuggets of truth and application are to be mined and used in my program and in yours.  What gold are you finding these days, either on the common ground or on the sidelines?

assessment best practices no translation SLA tci TPRS
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Previous My own position statement: the why & how of TL use
Next World language teaching after the Babel fish
Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell
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15 Comments

  1. Where are the points of agreement in language teaching? | Musicuentos – Cymraeg Cyfrwng Saesneg says:
    July 20, 2016 at 9:50 am

    […] via Where are the points of agreement in language teaching? | Musicuentos […]

    Reply
  2. Greg Sánchez says:
    July 20, 2016 at 8:24 pm

    Thanks for this. Reading the many links you have provided will give me some focus as I gear up to return, help me to make/choose better materials, and guide how I broach these subjects inside a department.

    Reply
    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      July 21, 2016 at 9:54 am

      I hope you and your department find it very helpful and unifying, Greg!

      Reply
  3. Position Statement: The Why & How of L1 Use - Indwelling Language says:
    July 21, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    […] time spent in the TL. Go read it! Also, Sara-Elizabeth enriched the profession with yet another dynamite post with relevance to L1 use and other hot topics in language […]

    Reply
  4. Josiah says:
    July 24, 2016 at 11:28 am

    Great post! Definitely important to recognize that we have a lot more in common than we may, at times, believe. I’m curious if you’ve found a way to provide CI to students during the process of PBL (you mentioned you’ve been doing a lot of PBL). Have you felt that PBL has led to acquisition for your students? I’m mostly a strictly CI guy, but I definitely hear the call for 21st Century, student-centered learning, but I just haven’t felt like I’ve seen a way to blend the two. Thoughts?

    Reply
    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      July 26, 2016 at 7:42 pm

      Great question, and look this week for my post on what happens to language teaching when it’s not necessary for communication anymore- that’s a related issue to me. I haven’t been doing a lot of PBL in my class – I only see my students once a week and with kids who started at no measurable proficiency, it was hard for me to figure out how to do it with such early novices, especially since I’m no PBL expert like Don Doehla and Laura Sexton. But I do plan to do more of it this year. I did write some PBL-like curriculum for VIF International in the past two years, though. We did it on a deep cultural inquiry model with VIF’s global education themes. One of the keys for us was to use the flipped model to get stuff we couldn’t do in the TL out of class time, so we could spend more class time on the continuum from CI to product. So students did some previewing and cultural investigation in English outside of class. Then, in class we started with varying degrees and methods of CI, heavily scaffolded authentic resources in the investigation piece in class to be that bridge to CI, and then moved into the creation of a product, which is of course not CI at all – it’s the give part of the give-and-take between CI/acquisition focus and the student-centered, problem-solving classroom. As an example, in the economics theme there’s a lesson on the coffee belt (each lesson takes about 4-6 class days). Students start by interacting with the true story of a company owner who goes to Guatemala to purchase and support fair trade coffee. The target is explaining a process. Students end by creating a poster describing the process of fair trade coffee from grower to café to post in their local coffee shop to encourage Spanish-speakers from those areas to funnel funds back to their homelands by purchasing fair trade coffee.
      Hope this helps and makes sense. Thanks for the comment/question, Josiah.

      Reply
  5. Josiah says:
    July 27, 2016 at 8:23 pm

    Great response! I can definitely see how there is a “give” involved, but it’s great to see how there is a context of CI going into the process! Thanks for the thorough response and I’ll look for that post!

    Reply
  6. Don Doehla says:
    July 28, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    Hello Sara Elizabeth, and all others reading this great post!

    As one who does a lot of PBLL (project-based language-learning), I think I can speak to the issue of CI and the PBLL-aligned unit!

    I still do a lot of CI. I start my units with setting the stage and CI story telling, as well as guided practice opportunities involving paired practice with communication-based prompts. I use a lot of authentic resources to provide opportunities for deeper input and investigation of the them we are about to investigate further. THEN I launch the project with an entry event or document, inviting students to do the inquiry and create a product that will document what they have learned about language and culture, while making something that can serve a real-world purpose. For example, last school year, my level three French students worked together with students in Haiti to create storybooks for the Haitian students’ school library, which had been destroyed by the earthquake in 2010. Real-world stories, real-world product, which we actually printed and sent to Haiti to be placed in their library.

    We had a lot of steps to take before launching this product. We read some Haitian short stories, we did research, and we communicated back and forth with our friends in Haiti… But before all that, I did a lot of CI on Haiti to help students acquire language and to learn about culture. CI and PBLL go hand in hand. It is a matter of planning the steps in a way that makes sense for the unit we are undertaking, and most of all, that makes sense for meeting the needs of all students.

    As for methodologies, personally, though I do a lot of PBLL, I do not only do PBLL. Realistically, in a level 3 class, I can do 6-8 units a school year in the PBLL mode, which means that I am also dedicating some time during the year to other things as well. In a level 1 or 2 class, I typically do 4 to 5 PBLL units, and the rest of the year is devoted to building other skills and knowledge.

    A word on level 1… PBLL is a big shift for novice low to mid students and a hard load with that amount of language. I don’t launch a fully PBLL-aligned unit with level 1 students unit late in the first semester. Preceding that time, I build capacity and understanding of how to do the elements of PBLL in a world language class a step at a time, as they acquire the language they need to be able to work collaboratively, to create products based on inquiry and in connection with the world. This approach has worked very well for my students, and makes sense to me.

    Hope this helps! Thanks again to Sara Elizabeth for this post. Let’s respond to her call by working together, respecting each others’ approaches, and by celebrating our commonalities, since we all have much more in common than we have in difference. We all want our students to succeed in acquiring a second language, while also developing intercultural skills and global competency. We have a lot of work to do! I would encourage us all to focus on the good work we have to do and not spend time arguing for or against the methods we use. Let’s remain open to learn from one another’s experiences, and how we can grow to better meet the needs of our kids. For my part, though PBLL is “my thing” and my kids’ “thing” it is not for everyone, and far be it from me to impose it on anyone either! I am always happy to talk with others about PBLL, but again, I will never impose it on anyone. I hope these many words will be of help.

    Peace be with us all!

    Don

    Reply
    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      July 28, 2016 at 3:19 pm

      Thank you SO much for your always wise and welcome experience and advice, Don!

      Reply
  7. Kelly Ochoa says:
    August 2, 2016 at 10:47 am

    So I took the month of July off from education and am just now catching up on all the blog posts. Thanks for this post. It really gets me thinking about where I want to go this year. I am sorry that I missed you when you were here in Rhode Island. I hope to be able to join you next summer.

    Reply
    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      August 2, 2016 at 2:45 pm

      I hope so too – thanks for the comment, Kelly!

      Reply
  8. The largest Spanish class PBLL collaboration ever? | Musicuentos says:
    September 16, 2016 at 6:24 am

    […] the units I would teach in my own class this year.  And, in the spirit of my new questions about what constitutes a lasting impact on my students, I decided to finally try to implement an actual PBL […]

    Reply
  9. EDU Websites - florenciagascon | Pearltrees says:
    October 12, 2016 at 1:18 pm

    […] Where are the points of agreement in language teaching? | Musicuentos. […]

    Reply
  10. Best of 2016, #4: Where’s the agreement? | Musicuentos says:
    December 13, 2016 at 8:50 am

    […] Where are the points of agreement in language teaching? […]

    Reply
  11. The fundamental perspective that drives your approach to TCI | Musicuentos says:
    February 21, 2019 at 10:02 am

    […] classic TPRS, including modifying translation as a way to establish meaning, where I land on the points of agreement/distinction in world language teaching, and how we need a couple of cures for our obsession with high-frequency […]

    Reply

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    •  October (7)
      • 7 Brain Breaks for World Language Teachers
      • Give & take #authres activities: Let's collaborate!
      • Collaborating via Google Drive step-by-step
      • Correcting all those errors? Step away from the red pen. (BlackBox)
      • Twitter Lingo for World Language Teachers
      • More resources for very early circumlocution
      • More TL in class is tough. Let's do it anyway. (BlackBox)
    •  September (6)
      • A conference in sound bytes: 6 quotes from KWLA '15
      • The Best Laid Plans (KWLA '15)
      • Cultura y Comunicación con Comerciales (KWLA '15)
      • Novice description with a deep cultural AP twist
      • See you this year? Conferences & Camp Musicuentos 2016
      • The taco/sushi talk - visualized!
    •  August (9)
      • These are a few of my favorite things
      • ANNOUNCING: The 2015 updated performance assessment rubric
      • Let me tell you about tacos... I mean crêpes!
      • You can't possibly teach it. But you can do this. (Black Box)
      • Homework choice for elementary students (and my syllabus)
      • BTS: The Taco Talk for Intermediates
      • Finally: My homework choices for very early novices
      • The five things I must have in my syllabus
      • If I learn it, can I use it? The interface debate (Black Box)
    •  July (6)
      • Back-to-school time! Upcoming posts, resources on sale
      • Starting my interactive notebook
      • I can do more with you than I can alone (Black Box)
      • This is design-based learning: A disaster relief team
      • No dog with my iced tea, please
      • All they need is accurate input... right? Wrong. (Black Box)
    •  June (4)
      • The new required school supply: Find your own audience
      • Grammar drills aren't all in your head... or in your head at all (BlackBox)
      • The one-word key to teaching culture
      • Why your method doesn't matter: Black Box videocast
    •  May (4)
      • Embedded listening
      • Rubrics: How important is task completion?
      • Add this to your Novice AND Intermediate HW choice options NOW
      • What a design-based WL program looks like
    •  April (6)
      • "Three Before Me" poster in German and French
      • Three before me
      • Why interpersonal isn't interpretive
      • How can a transition empower your class?
      • How can I help you put research to practice?
      • Forced to adopt a textbook: Now what?
    •  March (7)
      • New song: El perdón for two levels
      • En español, por favor: Fostering bilingualism in children
      • It's not about the I in IPA, or the vocab list
      • Armed for a world of incomprehensible input: Circumlocution training
      • Timely repost: the "I don't understand!" signal
      • Poll: what conference proposals?
      • Anatomy of a novice question
    •  February (7)
      • I see a... great chance to practice prepositions
      • Speaking of motivation: Guest interview on Paulino Brener's EPC Show
      • It's TIME! Open registration for Camp Musicuentos '15
      • The M that trumps your method, materials, & madness
      • Shake things up: Vary your seating - every day
      • #Teach2Teach 3: A coach who failed me, and a coach who didn't
      • Pronunciation gold: Forvo.com
    •  January (7)
      • It's a myth, #11: Assessing communication without communication
      • My favorite authentic resource combining culture & calendar
      • #Teach2Teach Question 1: The Great Balancing Act
      • All new resource: Battleship for es / está
      • 2015 Resolution #3, Expand your learning network: New blogs to watch
      • 2015 Resolutions #2: Act like we're on the same team
      • 2015 resolution #1: Stop being so hard on yourself
  •  2014 (96)
    •  December (22)
      • Book Club '14: George Müller & Bruchko
      • Best of 2014 #1: Every language teacher's biggest mistake
      • Best of 2014 #6: Carol Gaab's rebuttal to my TPRS critique
      • Book Club '14: Creating Innovators
      • Best of 2014 #2: Where I depart from classic TPRS
      • Book Club '14: Stella Bain, Gemma Hardy, & a bittersweet hotel
      • Best of 2014 #7: What I love about TPRS
      • Book Club '14: Monuments Men, With the Old Breed, In Pharaoh's Army
      • Book Club '14: The Kite Runner
      • Best of 2014 #3: Sample homework choice systems
      • Book Club '14: Crazy Busy
      • Book Club '14: The Hobbit & The Scarlet Pimpernel
      • Best of 2014 #5: How I use verb charts
      • Book Club 2014: Amazing Grace (Kozol)
      • Book Club '14: A Step of Faith & Walking on Water (The Walk series)
      • Best of 2014 #4 & #8: Curriculum planning outside the textbook
      • Book Club '14: Five Days at Memorial & Men We Reaped
      • Best of 2014 #9: Genius hour isn't a great idea for novice classes
      • Book Club '14: The Painted Veil & Life After Life
      • Best of 2014 #10: The new JCPS curriculum documents
      • Happy Cyber Week! Resource sale Dec. 1-3
      • Musicuentos Book Club 2014
    •  November (4)
      • Lessons from ACTFL '14: if they have all the answers, they're trying to sell you something
      • What's ahead: ACTFL, best of '14, and the book club
      • 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 (39)
    •  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 (11)
      • 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
      • Ideas for the first days of school
      • 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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