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Resolutions 2017: Do something empathetic

Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell January 24, 2017 11 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.
Resolutions 2017: Do something empathetic
Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell January 24, 2017
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Shall we talk politics?  Everyone else is, so, why not.  But wait a minute.

There’s quite a bit of politics in this post that’s not about politics.  So, I should start here: what is it about?

A call to meatloaf – I mean, empathy

As 2016 turned into 2017 and the most divisive spirit most of us have ever felt in our country continues unabated, I resolve this year to implement systems that help me build up my empathy muscle, and I invite you to do the same.  I resolve to do it in many ways, simple to difficult.

Ugh. No, thank you.
Ugh. No, thank you.

To start with, I made meatloaf last week for the first time in my life.  I despise meatloaf and I don’t make my family food that I hate.  So my children have never had a tuna fish sandwich.  We never have olives in the fridge.  And my kids were introduced to meatloaf at their grandfather’s hands last fall and they loved it.  I realized I wasn’t being empathetic to march onward only serving my kids foods I like.  So I made meatloaf.  (They liked Granpap’s better.)

What about language teaching?  Have we shown a marked lack of empathy here, too?  There is division splashed across Facebook groups, Twitter hashtags, radio chat feeds, and even my email every day.  It’s ugly.  The positive path is one filled with empathy, I feel sure.  But how?  Here are some ways I want to be empathetic this year.

I will talk to the person, not the pedagogy.

I heard this fantastic quote last week from a brilliant guy who has dedicated most of his life to respectfully arguing with people who disagree with him:

You aren’t answering a question, you’re answering a questioner.

– Ravi Zacharias

I’ve found myself too many times caught up in the content of the conversation instead of the people in it.  Real people with real questions and real problems.  And yeah, maybe real “mistakes,” like the ones I make or maybe different, but I’m not talking to mistakes.  I’m talking to people.  And talking to people ought to involve a lot more “I’m pulling for you” and a lot less “I need to be right on this.”

I will take the other for lunch, not a lecture.

When’s the last time you went out for lunch with someone on the opposite side of any issue that was really important to you?MAKES (1)

Many of us regularly interact, by choice or by employment situation, with teachers who follow practices we maybe don’t agree with.  Maybe they PQA in total randomness every class period.  Maybe they drill verb conjugations from week 1 of French 1.  Maybe they use/don’t use a vocab list or a seating chart.  Maybe they speak English 79% of every class period.  Maybe though I secretly want to sign them up for the next TellCollab and drag them along, I should invite them for a coffee, and just listen.

I will leave a positive, not pointed, comment.

Here’s an interesting challenge for us:  what if we looked on TeachersPayTeachers or Twitter or the blogosphere for a post or product or practice that we mostly really disagreed with, found something positive to say about it, or about the person who shared it, and then encouraged them?  Just because I’m not going to encourage what I think is bad pedagogy doesn’t mean I can’t find and encourage signs of growth and generosity to the teaching community.

I will browse the other chat/website/Facebook group.

Let’s be honest- we do tend to feed our opinions with others mostly siding with us.  I don’t want to keep myself in a bubble of people who think like me, though. It makes me blind.  It makes me mean.  I want to know what other, real, precious people are saying and thinking and why.  I regularly listen to the TED Radio Hour even though last week was the first time in a year and a half that I heard a single speaker say anything about God (or much of philosophy, really) that I agree with, but I think it’s made me a better member of society to listen to all the fascinating things people I disagree with are doing and saying.

So how do we do this in language teaching?  Join a chat on Twitter for a night.  Engage someone in a pleasant conversation when you knew from the start they were on a different “proficiency path” than you.  Sign up for their blog posts- and then read them.  Regularly.  Join the Facebook group (if it’s not a whole lot of conflict, that is – I don’t have a lot of stamina for that).

In the last couple of weeks I had someone ask me via Twitter to take a look at something, and I discovered he’d been snubbed from the conversation, shut out by the Proficiency Preachers because, I don’t know, his tweets or profile or something smelled of something less than the Proficiency Party Line.  What a shame.  I want to remember that even people I disagree with have something to teach me, and I’ll come out a better teacher for it.

I will ask how I can help.

Let’s say I’m a teacher who doesn’t do verb conjugations or vocabulary lists but I work with one who is, and my students often leave my class and enter his.  What if I went and asked him how I can help him succeed?  What if I asked him,

What’s one thing you wish my students coming up into your class knew before they got there?  What’s one thing you would change about how I prepare them for you?

Would it change your relationship?  Your department?

Would it lead to him asking you the same thing in return?

And now, backing off of language teaching for a moment, what would happen in our country if we tried a little more empathy with people who really tax our sense of who’s worthy of it?

Do I tax your empathy?

At the Central States conference last year, I was in a room with five other female teachers when the conversation turned to the election and why I would not support either Clinton or Trump.  And so, the conversation turned into an hours-long, emotional marathon on the subject, mostly, of abortion.  You can probably guess how that turned out.  We all separated, barely speaking to each other, and have determined we’ll never associate with each other again.

No, we didn’t.  We said good night and went to bed and still communicate regularly.  I have most of those women on a perpetual group text message, in fact.

At ACTFL ’16 I ended up at lunch with four old and new friends – each one of them leaning left and from that hotbed of recent conflict known as North Carolina.  The conversation turned to politics, and in pretty short order I felt the need to announce, “I should probably tell you that I’m a Republican.  An unhappy Republican (I proudly voted for Evan McMullan) but a Republican nonetheless.”

You can guess how that turned out.  They gasped and whipped out their “Love Trumps Hate” signs and told me I was never welcome to lunch with them again.

No, they didn’t.  The conversation turned markedly less dogmatic and markedly more “Hmm. The people on the ‘other’ side of the aisle don’t fit in the mold MSNBC/Fox News paints for me.”

If you’re on the left and you’re not sure where to find the “other” to have a dialogue with, you’ve come to the right place. It’s no secret that I’m an evangelical Christian.  And you may have already guessed or known that I am pro-life.

But wait… how pro-life?

I’m not shy about it: I am what some would call rabidly pro-life.  I’m not picketing or yelling outside a clinic, but really, I mean, almost.

The pregnancy test that made me want to DIE. But I couldn't choose for him.
The pregnancy test that made me want to DIE. But I couldn’t choose for him.

I don’t believe science can determine when life begins and I cannot say that any one life is more important than another (though I do believe some people forfeit their right to life by taking another).  Result: I don’t support abortion in cases of rape or incest.  I don’t support abortion to save the mother’s life.   I didn’t support abortion when I found out I was pregnant with my third when my second was 9 weeks old.  My friend and I didn’t support abortion when her boyfriend threw her down the stairs for refusing to have one (David is 18 now!).  My other friend and I didn’t support abortion in her third unplanned, extramarital pregnancy (three brothers adopted by the same infertile couple!).  We’re pretty rabid- so much so that this Abort73 t-shirt design here is actually on my Amazon wish list.

But you know what?  My husband won’t get it for me and doesn’t want me to get it either.  He says it’s too angry.  It’s not empathetic.  (I’m a strong woman made stronger by an insanely strong marriage.) I think he’s probably right.

Can you find empathy for a woman who would wear a t-shirt with this design?

My husband says no, not empathetic.

What if I bared my beliefs even more?

What if I willingly exposed my associations, because guilt by association is all it takes for people to devalue your public voice on anything from language teaching to remodeling houses these days?

What if I told you that when Al Mohler has a tech glitch and can’t get his Daily Briefing podcast to upload, my husband is the one who gets the phone call to fix it and make sure the world continues to hear Dr. Mohler’s voice?

Can you find empathy for me?

Am I still welcome at your conference even though I’m officially unwelcome at your march?

Ok, so what?  Is this a really a cleverly disguised politics post on Musicuentos?!  No, not really.  Chances are I won’t comment on many talking points at the intersection of religion and politics (except I mean, I just did on abortion…), and certainly not here, unless we agree on what is known as the Gospel, because otherwise the discussion is pointless.  Whatever it is, it’s a corollary to the foundation of what I believe.  As the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said in an OpEd in The Washington Post,

We believe stranger things than that. We believe a previously dead man is alive, and will show up in the Eastern skies on a horse. We believe that the gospel can forgive sinners like us and make us sons and daughters.

– Russell Moore

I believe in loving and respecting all people and asking them to do the same for me.  I do believe that means I am not allowed to hate you, exclude you, speak condescendingly to you, say nasty things about you, or teach my children you’re anything less than they are.  I don’t believe that means, above all, that either one of us has to believe the other person’s definition of the path to eternal peace is valid.

I don’t know what you and I agree on, but I think we can all agree that our country and our profession could use some more empathy.  Would you try these systems with me to implement that goal this year?

If you’ve stuck with this post for this long, thanks for taking the time to listen.  I feel your empathy.  (If you’re invested enough to listen more, you could explore 10 things [we] wish everyone knew about Southern Baptists.)

Meanwhile, might you also have a good tuna fish sandwich recipe you could share?

 

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Previous Resolutions (Systems!) 2017: Become Officer Hopps
Next Resolutions 2017: Support the community
Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell
Related Posts
The Miss Musicuentos of 2003: 5 things right, 5 things wrong August 1, 2019
Resolved with a Plan 2019: Stuck rabbits, changing puzzles, picking up a paintbrush January 4, 2019
Resolved 2018: Intention vs. plan January 11, 2018
Resolutions (Systems!) 2017: Become Officer Hopps January 11, 2017

11 Comments

  1. Karen says:
    January 24, 2017 at 7:30 pm

    I wish we were all taught how to work with those with whom we disagree. Our beliefs define us more deeply then we realize, often due to personal experiences, but we have brains for a reason. We can fathom logic for a reason. I will always defend your right to believe, even though some of them are different than mine. You helped me with my healing more than you probably know. Even if we disagree politically, we have other things in common, like supporting teachers in their quest to reflect and learn ?

    Reply
    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      January 24, 2017 at 9:44 pm

      Thanks, Karen! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Kelly says:
    January 25, 2017 at 6:10 am

    Sara-Elizabeth-
    Thank you for this post. It is exactly what so many of us need right now in this country. I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in the rally in DC this weekend with my daughter and that is exactly what I saw there. A HUGE group of women who came together about a wide variety of issues but who all wanted to give our leader a message. The one thing that stuck me the most about the whole experience was how kind and peaceful it was (amongst the chaos of so many people). There was no one fighting with each other- no pushing or screaming. We had been cautioned about rioting and protesters but there was none of it. I can only hope that maybe enough people will get frustrated by the diverse tone of things that empathy and kindness will rule out. I can honestly say that I have always had an idea that you and I were on opposite ends of the religious/political spectrum but it has never made me feel any less respect for you and the work that you do on behalf of our profession. Thank you for this post.

    Reply
    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      January 25, 2017 at 9:51 am

      Thanks so much for your helpful part in the conversation, Kelly! The Twitter PLN helped me out with some safe-for-kids photos from the march last weekend and my daughter and I had a really interesting talk through the photos. Here’s to strong women who can fight for what they believe and need and the rights of all people without violence! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Brillante Viernes: January 27, 2017 | Maris Hawkins says:
    January 27, 2017 at 9:54 am

    […] hits the nail on the head about how to get along with others especially in the foreign language […]

    Reply
  4. On their own path (01/28/2017) | Path 2 Proficiency says:
    January 28, 2017 at 9:53 am

    […] Resolutions 2017: Do Something Empathetic […]

    Reply
  5. Martina says:
    February 13, 2017 at 2:23 am

    Hey friend! I keep meaning to comment on this post but only remembering when I am on my phone, and who wants to deal with a captcha code on a phone, amiright?

    I think that you have such wonderful resolutions re:empathy and teaching in the first part of this post, and I am going to write them down and challenge myself to engage positively for positivity’s sake with folks that I perhaps do not agree with. I’m so sick of the bickering and the snubbing and lack of love amongst our language teacher selves and, as you noted, in our society as well. I’m sick of getting mean comments about sound ideas that I have shared. I’m sick of entering every language teacher conversation outside my closest circle of teacher friends ready to defend instead of connect. Trying to understand and appreciate the ‘other’ without ulterior motives…that’s a worthy challenge. Also, no tuna fish sandwich recipe is complete without some pimentos mixed in with the tuna 😉

    Reply
    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      February 13, 2017 at 9:36 am

      OH NO, you’re really testing me! I hate pimentos almost as much as tuna!! Love your comments and I *empathize* – I’m grateful for your voice in the mix, mi amiga!

      Reply
  6. Resolved 2018: Intention vs. plan | Musicuentos says:
    January 11, 2018 at 7:15 am

    […] myself some slack on all those new mistakes I made.  I wanted to be so empathetic I’d make meatloaf, and you know, I didn’t have a single argument about anything on social media (that I can […]

    Reply
  7. Blogs to watch 2018: You tell me! | Musicuentos says:
    January 19, 2018 at 7:54 am

    […] reason prevails and I realize how much my interconnectedness has made me a better teacher, mom, neighbor, […]

    Reply
  8. #Langchat history and more: Stories and perspectives for your listening pleasure | Musicuentos says:
    May 29, 2018 at 8:44 am

    […] In addition to language teacher podcasts, you can also consider adding some general education podcasts.  I like the 10-minute Teacher from Vicki Davis, the “Cool Cat Teacher,” and my kids and I love to listen to NPR’s Wow in the World.  Queue up some podcasts that are authentic in your target language (I LOVE RADIO AMBULANTE) and some that help you explore the world (hello TED Radio Hour).  And finally, add some that feed your soul.  I rarely miss an episode of The Briefing or The Busy Mom (if you’re just meeting me, hi, I’m Sara-Elizabeth, and I’m #offthebench and not secretive about being a speak-the-truth-in-love Jesus-following evangelical and conservative). […]

    Reply

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      • 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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