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Authentic or learner material? Wrong question.

Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell August 5, 2017 6 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.
Authentic or learner material? Wrong question.
Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell August 5, 2017
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Sound off: authentic resources or learner materials?

Uau, that’s a can of worms.

Most teachers I know would say that the answer is a resounding yes.  That is, we use both, and we talk about it, a lot.  In fact, in the same week (long ago) that I started drafting this post, Carrie Toth blogged a reminder that we should try both.

It could be tempting for us to say,

Of course she said use both– she’s talking about levels 3 and 4.  Shouldn’t we keep it all comprehensible in Level 1 and leave the “hard stuff” for the later levels?

In that question, we get to the out-loud, in-our-faces heart of the matter.  I suggest we’ve been phrasing this question the wrong way.  Again.  And again.  And again.

During the summer, Laura told us how she got it too: you can pry the infographics from her “cold dead hands” but when she tried to be so “authentic” she had students dragging themselves through resources that “were not appropriate for their level,” you can guess what happened:

Frustration and… no learning, or at least very minimal learning.

Rewind: let’s define some things here.

learner or authenticWhen I say “authentic,” I still hold to the traditional meaning of material created by native speakers for native speakers.  I understand the viewpoint that perhaps that definition makes our students feel bad that they can’t produce “authentic” language, but that’s not true.  It just means they can’t produce an authentic resource for a language teacher’s class.

Naturally, learner materials are the other thing: resources produced to help people who are learning the language.

I’m frankly surprised we’re still focused on whether one or the other is inherently better (and that we’re still arguing about whether learner novels are “authentic,” as if they can’t be good unless you can put that label on them).  I think the division really comes down to two assumptions, one probably right, and the other probably wrong.  And, of course, asking the wrong question.

Acquisition is what it is.

First assumption that presents a bit of a problem: acquisition is what it is.  Obviously, that’s true.  But when we say that, are we really saying, “We understand now that acquisition is only about comprehensible input, and so the only thing that matters is that it’s comprehensible, in every level.”  You might throw the word “engaging” in there or change “comprehensible” to “comprehended” but it’s all essentially the same omniscient declaration.

There are some problems with this.  When we’re talking about second language acquisition, researchers are continually talking about how young the field is, how much research hasn’t been done, how much we don’t know about what happens in the learner’s brain.  So many questions still exist, such as:

  • How can we know if the learning is implicit (unconscious)?
  • What can help us with problem of time (there’s not enough of it in a language course)?  Can patterning, themes, tasks, feedback make a difference?
  • What role does the age of the student play?
  • What role does aptitude (some collection of traits that seem to be a natural “gift” for language learning) play?
  • Whose definition of comprehensible are we using?
  • Does translation matter?
  • How can we tell if it was comprehended?
  • How much of the input has to be comprehended for meaning to be clear?

If we answer these questions without using words like “generally” and “maybe,” we’re overstating things.

Summary: Acquisition is what it is, but we still don’t quite know what it is, but generally, we know that learners have to assign meaning to input.

Authentic = “hard stuff”

Here’s the second assumption that poses a problem.  Often, behind the discussion of whether or not to use authentic resources is the underlying assumption that they are the “hard stuff,” and learner resources are the “easy stuff.”  Whatever argument stems from that can go both ways: students need to be challenged by what they’re going to face in the real world, so go for authentic.  Or, students will only be engaged by what they can understand, so go for learner resources.

Two things I dislike about this:

1) Often, it disregards proficiency level.  There’s no “one is hard/incomprehensible, one is easy/comprehensible.”  There’s only “novice learners can comprehend this authentic/learner resource” or “intermediate learners can comprehend this one,” and so on.

2) It means we assume we know how much of a resource a learner needs to comprehend.  That’s very much a question that does matter.

Implications: 2 -no, 3- camps

Now, we’ve ended up with basically two three camps arising from this discussion.

Only use learner resources,because they're comprehensible,and that's the key to acquisition.

  1. “Only use learner resources because they’re what’s comprehensible, which is the key to acquisition.”
    (The second part is probably true.  The first part is based on a false assumption: that learner resources are comprehensible and authentic ones are not.)
  2. “Only use authentic resources because that’s what’s in the real world.”
    (The second part is mostly true, except a learner is bound to encounter sympathetic speakers who will alter their input, even in the “real world.”  The first part disregards any other consideration of the acquisition process, such as that by creating or altering a resource to be more comprehensible to learners, they will improve faster.)

(For more perspectives on this discussion, see Tammy’s discussion on how “the point of using authentic resources is not for learners to be able to understand every word of that resource” and how Chris “learned to avoid #authres.”)

The ubiquitous call for a balanced view

(Here’s the third camp, in case you were wondering.)

At the end of the majority of scholarly research articles, the author will usually call for a “balanced view,” one that lands somewhere in the middle of two previously argued extremes.  I’m not doing anything new here by doing the same for authentic resources.  Most of the teachers I know land in this camp, the one where if it’s working for us and our students, we use it, and we especially love it when the “it” is authentic because it empowers our students to seize the “I CAN” on something that was intended for native speakers.

Tangentially related, I think this is what’s powerful about PBL, and thus PBLL (see: why reading and writing needs to be authentic): authenticity adds something that inauthentic just doesn’t.  In my Russian learning journey, I use authentic resources twice as much as learner resources.  When I understand a learner resource, I’m excited, but I shrug my shoulders a bit, because that was the point.  When I understand an authentic resource, I feel I could fly to the moon, because this is something I never thought I’d be able to do.

And there’s my balanced view in a nutshell.

Copy of Only use learner resources,because they're comprehensible,and that's the key to acquisition.

So instead of asking,

Authentic material or learner material?

Let’s ask,

Do my learners understand in a way that helps them improve their skills?

In someone else’s better words, authentic or not, it’s all about the Goldilocks corollary.

In my classes this year, we’ll probably end up doing four Fluency Matters novels – certainly materials created for language learners.  At the same time, I’ll consistently expose my students to authentic videos, maps, infographics, and texts about the topics, and if I have to, I’ll modify them.  Why?  Because I tried feeding my learners a steady diet of learner language until they were in an upper-level class, and what I got was a small upper-level class populated by students who had to fight to understand anything that wasn’t in learner speak.

And now that I’ve gone on and on, I’m asking you to do two things.

  1. If you’re going to be at ACTFL ’17 in Nashville in November, come help me hash this question out in my session “Go ahead, adapt the text!”
  2. If you’re blogging, Facebooking, commenting, Twittering, Insta-ing or otherwise sharing content online, would you take some time to join #authres August?  Share your favorites using the hashtag #AuthresAugust.  Authentic resources are very valuable if we’re asking the right questions about them, and I want to see what you’ve found that fit.

What have you found that’s just-right comprehensible?

authres SLA tci TPRS
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Previous New resources: How frequent is that high-frequency word?
Next #AuthresAugust: Blogging street signs in Madrid
Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell
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6 Comments

  1. #AuthRes August – Maris Hawkins says:
    August 6, 2017 at 3:46 pm

    […] about how I find authentic resources.  If you have an authentic resource to share, hop on over to Musicuentos to share yours!  Also, if one of my links is incorrect or broken, please let me know, so I can […]

    Reply
  2. Cristina Zimmerman says:
    August 6, 2017 at 5:05 pm

    So glad you’re back from your summer hiatus! It has always been about balance for me and you have expressed this well in this post. I will be in your sessions in Nashville. Can’t wait!

    Reply
  3. The Power of Thank You (and what you read most) | Musicuentos says:
    December 27, 2017 at 5:48 pm

    […] Have you taken a side in the longstanding debate on whether to use authentic materials or learner materials in the classroom?  See where I stand on the issue in my fifth-most popular post of 2017, “Authentic or Learner Material? Wrong Question.” […]

    Reply
  4. #AuthresAugust: Turning TripAdvisor reviews into a trip itinerary | Musicuentos says:
    August 7, 2018 at 10:50 am

    […] picks, check out my authres tag.  Definitely take a look at my post from last August called “Authentic or learner material? Wrong question.”  It’s all about creating an input-rich, communication-rich classroom with a balance […]

    Reply
  5. #AuthresAugust: Tips for teaching an authentic novel | Musicuentos says:
    August 15, 2018 at 10:46 am

    […] I’ll beat the drum of a balanced approach.  I blogged it last year: the question is not authentic or learner material, it’s when and why to use one or the other. (You’ll catch my definition of […]

    Reply
  6. If the resource fits, use it! (But what fits?) | Musicuentos says:
    November 3, 2018 at 9:32 am

    […] that asking “Authentic or learner material?” as a guide for choosing resources is the wrong question.  The real question is […]

    Reply

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      • 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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