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NCSSFL & ACTFL gave us new Can Dos: Your 15-minute(ish) guide

Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell February 15, 2018 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.
NCSSFL & ACTFL gave us new Can Dos: Your 15-minute(ish) guide
Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell February 15, 2018
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Last fall, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, together with the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages, released a newly designed, re-imagined set of Can-Do statements.  Have you taken a look yet?

Maybe not, it’s okay.  You’re already trying to use all the good pedagogy tips everyone’s been telling you about to plan the most communicative, effective lessons.  You’re trying to incorporate the latest technology and boost 21st-century skills.  With all this (not to mention a family and a personal life) on your plate, it’s easy to say, “That’s great!” and then never actually get around to taking a look until someone gets you to a PD and sits you down in front of them.  I know.  So I wanted to write a blog post that would help us at least understand some key differences in the new document, even if you don’t get a chance to really comb through it until summer.  (And wanting to write such a blog post inspires me to take that time myself!)

So ACTFL gave us new Can-Dos (2)

2 minutes: The press release

First, go read the press release.  Just up to the “About ACTFL” piece (you know that). It’ll take you about 2 minutes.

Now let’s recap.  What’s not new:

The Can-Do Statements are organized according to the Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication.

What is new:

revisions of the previous Can-Do Statements

and

new Intercultural Statements, which provide a set of examples and scenarios that show how learners use the target language and knowledge of culture.

90 seconds: What they are / are not

Now, go to the main entry page and look at “How to use the statements” and “How not to use the statements.”  Read at least the bold headings.  It will take you about 90 seconds.

To recap:

  • Students CAN do X consistently over time? Yes.
    Students check off a box and move on? No.
  • Learners set goals? Yes.
    The statements limit what to learn or teach? No.
  • Adapt the statements to your curriculum? Yes.
    The statements are your curriculum? No.
  • The statements guide self- and teacher assessment? Yes. 
    The statements will give you a number/letter grade for your learners? No.

3 minutes: The bombshell changes

Let’s get into the heart of the new documents, starting with a couple of overall changes you must see.

  • The check boxes are gone.  After the 2015 statements and their predecessor documents, I was intrigued by the idea of stamp sheets with Can Do statements students could check off.  I tried jumping on that bandwagon.  Good to know I was never supposed to.  It completely failed.  My students didn’t care, and it never meant they could do it over a sustained period of time and in multiple contexts.
    Now, I officially do not recommend using stamp sheets or checklists of Can Do statements.  If the students “can,” they’ll show it.  And keep showing it.  And know it.  For longer than it will take to throw that stamp sheet away.

Screen Shot 2018-01-30 at 7.25.41 AM

  • The blank lines are gone.
    In addition to being so far removed from the benchmarks and performance indicators you might miss them altogether, the lists of examples not only don’t include check boxes, they also don’t have any blank lines.  In case you’re like me, and you thought that presenting students with the list of examples and letting them fill in the blank line and being “done” with that Can-Do was the thing to do, NCSSFL & ACTFL are done with that.  Now it says right at the top, customize with specific content.  If you want some examples of specific content, they’ve done that for you too.
  • There are super-helpful, super friendly guiding questions above the performance indicators.  Some examples:

Screen Shot 2018-02-01 at 7.26.50 AM

Screen Shot 2018-02-01 at 7.25.07 AM

Screen Shot 2018-02-01 at 7.25.24 AMBut wait: These aren’t simply guiding questions.  Watch carefully: These are language functions that finally form a bridge for us between the proficiency guidelines and what we can expect in a performance.

What does that mean?  Take a look at the progression of verbs in the interpretive example above (the last one): understand, interpret or analyze.  That question is the same across proficiency levels.  Now take a look at the indicators from various levels, paying attention to the verbs.

Screen Shot 2018-02-14 at 4.35.05 PM

In case you can’t see my attempt at markup, that progression is identify -> understand -> understand -> interpret and infer -> interpret and infer.

Now take a look at the Communication Standard for interpretive mode:

Screen Shot 2018-02-15 at 7.06.57 AM

Do you see that?  The verbs in the questions and then in the benchmarks help us see the progression of where students are headed, tied directly to the Communication Standard! (More on this in the interpretive section immediately below, but this is true across modes.) I will say, though, that this isn’t true throughout, and this interpretive statement in Advanced Low threw me off at first:

Screen Shot 2018-02-14 at 4.26.02 PM

I got distracted by the classically novice verb “I can identify,” and I got distracted thinking that the key was “across major time frames,” but don’t make that mistake with me: the key here is actually that the Advanced Low interpretive skill involves inferring the underlying message on one’s own.

But the clarity, guys.  There’s one (ONE) (ONE!!!) proficiency benchmark per level.  Let me just remind you of the 2015 document.

Screen Shot 2018-02-14 at 4.45.43 PM

Wait for it…

Screen Shot 2018-02-14 at 4.46.17 PM

Yes. Well.

3 minutes: The interpretive highlights

Regarding the interpretive Can Do statements, here is what stood out to me the most.

The one important word

Do not miss this.  The word authentic was in the old document exactly 4 times.  All 4 times, the word was in the phrase “culturally authentic.”  All 4 referred to language production.  One was in an Advanced High statement, and the rest were in Distinguished.  DISTINGUISHED.

In the new document, it’s used 9 times.  All of them are in basically the same question.  All of them are in the interpretive Can Dos.  And they all reveal one thing: ACTFL doesn’t intend their standards to be used to measure performance or proficiency by a student using a learner text.  Interpretive Can Dos are only about what learners can do with an authentic text.

Don’t take that as a soft (or hard) jab at learner materials.  They’re not suggesting you skip your novels or Señor Wooly.

Learner materials can be excellent for building proficiency.  They just cannot be used to measure it.

But one thing that did not seem necessary to me: informational and fictional texts are separate.  The standards are nearly identical.  In many, the only change is the word informational to fictional, until you open the samples, which of course tease out the two a bit.  The feedback I got on this point from those who worked on the statements is that language arts standards across disciplines delineate a difference among text types: informational, fictional, and conversation/discussion.  So…

I knew it! Conversation IS interpretive!

Sigh, no, it’s not.

Every so often, during a #langchat about interpretive skills, someone would bring up understanding what the other person was saying in a conversation.  Our general consensus was that the interpretive part of conversation was relegated to the interpersonal standards in ACTFL’s documents.  But in the new statements, a question is included as a separate item in the interpretive standards:

What can I understand, interpret or analyze in conversations and discussions?

Before you echo my thought (We knew it!  And perhaps someone was listening in #langchat…?), this does not refer to conversations you can take part in.  Think: two people are talking to each other in a movie, and you’re not part of it.  You can’t negotiate meaning, so it’s not interpersonal.  But, you approach comprehending and analyzing this conversation differently from the other interpretive sources, fictional and informational texts.

NM vs. NH: What difference?

In my opinion, the new documents more clearly show the key difference between Novice Mid and Novice High interpretive skills.  It’s easy to think that Novice High can understand “more” than Novice Mid, but the real difference is in the size of the picture they understand.  It’s a question of isolated, basic facts vs. big picture.  Novice Mid can list basic facts from a text/conversation all day.  The time.  The location.  A random book title.  But they can’t tell you what the text/conversation was actually about.  And don’t fall into feeding even Novice Mids nothing but infographics and lists.  They can get something out of just about any text (using for assessment, remember, not input toward acquisition- the key there would, of course, be that it be comprehensible).

90 seconds: The interpersonal highlights

I’ve got one thing to highlight here and that’s the clarification of what a Novice Mid speaker can do.  I cannot tell you how many times in #langchat or a workshop I’ve been involved in a conversation about Novice interpersonal and the comment has been tossed around that “Novice High can ask questions.”  Another common one is “Novice Mid is phrases, Novice High is sentences.”  So I would take a sample and call it Novice High, and someone with more training than I would say no, it’s Novice Mid.

But the sentences!

I protested.

According to the new Can Do statements, in the interpersonal mode a Novice Mid speaker can accomplish

a few simple questions on very familiar and everyday topics, using a mixture of practiced or memorized words, phrases, and simple sentences.

Sentences can appear in Novice Mid.  So can questions.  The key words in the Novice Mid vs. Novice High decision? Very familiar, practiced, memorized, simple.  That’s in contrast with the original ones a High can come up with as (s)he reaches into Intermediate Low’s consistency in that skill.

90 seconds: The presentational highlights

I’ve focused on one particular change here as well.

Watch what happened and don’t miss it: in the new documents, there’s no difference noted between speaking and writing until you find the samples.

Screen Shot 2018-02-01 at 7.44.40 AM

In all our discussions, we knew there wasn’t much difference between speaking and writing in presentational language, beyond pronunciation vs. orthography.  The new statements show that.

I do wish there were some language to further delineate the difference between interpersonal and presentational modes, since that topic comes up so much in #langchat.  The statements contrast conversation with present information, and if we think hard about it we can understand that means differences in whether you expect a response, or whether you can negotiate meaning.  But teachers usually also have questions about how much preparation time divides interpersonal from presentational.  Is one always spontaneous?  Is the other always (mostly) prepared?  Or is that irrelevant?  We still can’t tell.

2 minutes: The ICC (intercultural communication) highlights

Of course, this is a major change that was greatly needed, a huge increase in the amount of real estate intercultural competencies got in the document.  Here are some keys to note.

First, it’s intercultural communicative competence.  ACTFL is a language organization. This section is about how learners can show intercultural competence in their language, not in what time they show up or what clothes they’re wearing.  They can be really competent on the cultural side, or really competent on the language side, but either way, this set of standards is about where the two intersect:

Source: ACTFL (Click image.)
Source: ACTFL (Click image.)

Second, the three Ps.  These statements focus on how a student can interact with

products and practices to help me understand perspectives

Now, what can a novice do in investigating these? Identify them.  An intermediate learner? Compare them.

What about when trying to interact and show intercultural competence? The novice learner functions with rehearsed behaviors on a survival level.  The intermediate learner shows learned behaviors on a functional level and can avoid “major social blunders.”

In some of these benchmarks it’s unclear how this isn’t simply another language standard, until you get to the indicators.  Then, you can see they’re referring to showing basic cultural awareness and some interest in cultural issues.  And it’s so helpful to have the examples.  Many of them you could drop right into your exising units (though remember, they’re not a checklist!). Here are a couple:

  • Investigate: In my own and other cultures (this starts all statements in the investigate section) I can interpret simple schedules and consider how people think about time.
  • Interact: I can schedule a call or video conference with a peer in the target culture with awareness of time differences and the other’s schedules.

TLDR?

Just kidding: This whole post is a TLDR for the statements. If you skimmed it, work on your attention span and go back and try again (wink emoji here).

Many thanks to Thomas Sauer, Dori Perugini, and Paul Sandrock, who all helped work on the new statements and gave me a lot of insight on this blog post.

 

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Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell
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11 Comments

  1. Martina says:
    February 15, 2018 at 8:47 am

    I love you.

    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      February 15, 2018 at 1:51 pm

      Ha, thanks, and the feeling is mutual. 🙂

  2. Brillante Viernes: February 16, 2018 – Maris Hawkins says:
    February 16, 2018 at 7:02 am

    […] you do one thing, make sure you read Sara-Elizabeth’s guide to the new Can Do […]

  3. Diala Kamal says:
    February 19, 2018 at 3:49 am

    Hello, I love the way you explained it..Many take-aways!

    Thank you!

  4. Tina Hargaden says:
    February 19, 2018 at 12:07 pm

    OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! This is BEAUTIFUL! Thank you! **SHARING EVERYWHERE**

    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      February 19, 2018 at 8:09 pm

      Great – thanks!

  5. Back to work: #AuthresAugust and This year consider… | Musicuentos says:
    August 1, 2018 at 7:02 am

    […] published just 12 blog posts, though I do believe it was to say some very important things, like applying the new NCSSFL-ACTFL Can Do Statements.  Now, after tackling writing for about 15 minutes most weekdays this summer, I have six posts […]

  6. If the resource fits, use it! (But what fits?) | Musicuentos says:
    November 19, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    […] In determining whether a resource will support your activity or task, we need to be all about the Can Do statements.  I’m in the middle of another mind shift on the Can Do statements in which we start with intercultural Can Do statements for a unit and then the language communication Can Do statements, interpretive and so on, are written to support those.  To remind yourself of the power of the new NCSSFL-ACTFL Can Do statements, go spend 15 minutes with this post. […]

  7. And then PBLL says to TCI… #ACTFL19 | Musicuentos says:
    November 18, 2019 at 8:23 am

    […] For the first time, I’m giving a full-day workshop on Thursday (let’s talk those Can Do statements).  For the first time, I’m staying at a hotel right next to the Convention – […]

  8. Every story comes to an end. | Musicuentos says:
    December 1, 2019 at 6:10 am

    […] of an expert!)  I’m honored to be writing the front matter for the print version of the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can Do Statements and wow, what an amazing “capstone” project for me as my last contract […]

  9. In the end, these are my favorite posts. | Musicuentos says:
    December 23, 2019 at 11:08 am

    […] always feel like my post on the new NCSSFL-ACTFL statements was one of my greatest contributions from this […]

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      • 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 (97)
    •  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 (8)
      • 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?
      • Product launch: Calico Spanish homeschool learning series
    •  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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