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10 real-world project examples for PBLL

Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell August 6, 2019 3 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.
10 real-world project examples for PBLL
Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell August 6, 2019
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If you asked me about the most frequent dilemma questions I get/see in professional interactions, including teacher development communities, workshops, social media, and email, this would have to be way up there:

What am I supposed to do about this PBL thing?

Rewind please…

You probably know this, but for clarity’s sake, let’s do a bit of history.

I’m not sure where Project-Based Learning (PBL) came from, but the “Gold Standard” for the concept is defined by PBLWorks, which used to be known as the Buck Institute for Education.  Here’s their definition:

Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.

PBL has been part of an overall revolution in education, one that has been pushing educators to abandon the Industrial Age model of education where students in rows memorize things we pour into their heads.  It asks for teachers and students to take the point of view that young people are preparing for a world that is changing so fast they can’t even imagine what their grown-up lives will look like – or maybe even what planet they will be on.  That everyone is walking around with access to more stored knowledge than can even be measured, and rote memorization of lists and facts is of little value in general education now.  That the future belongs to those who can identify and solve problems. (I wish this had been the perspective of the college history professor who made me memorize the kings and queens of England, in order, by family. Which “knowledge” I no longer have in my head, but can access anytime I want. But I don’t.)

You can see why administrators are head-over-heels in love with this concept.  Of course they want to develop the future’s problem-solvers!  And in their eagerness, they’ve passed along PBL initiatives and requirements across grade levels and subjects – including world language.

But there’s a huge problem with asking world language educators to implement PBL in the same way other subjects do, and to me, that’s in a couple of words in PBLWorks’s definition: “respond” and “complex.”  We simply cannot expect our learners to respond as fast or in the same way as those in the history class down the hall, and adding complexity is no one’s success formula for the first years of language learning.

Enter PBLL

Project-Based Learning can’t look the same in French class as it does in Physics class. For reasons similar to those I wrote about in my analysis of the Genius Hour movement, for a long time I scoffed at the idea of implementing PBL in the first few years of world language class- which represent the years the vast majority of us are teaching.  However, as time went by, as often happens with me, I understood that I was accepting an all-or-nothing approach, and I know better!  There are ways to successfully incorporate project-based learning at all levels of language class, and that approach is known as PBLL: Project-Based Language Learning.

I really must direct you a few places to explore this concept more, starting with, of course, Laura Sexton at PBLintheTL; explore her “projects” tag here.  For helping me figure out how to adapt PBL for the early days of language learning, I credit Meriwynn Mansori and VIF (now Participate).  Then, I credit the National Foreign Language Research Center (NFLRC) at the University of Hawai’i for helping me really understand what quality PBLL should look like.  If you really want to dig in deep in what gold-standard PBLL looks like, I highly recommend their online institute in February.  I would have loved to follow up with their on-site (Hawai’i, people!) intensive in the summer, but the project I’d planned to fund it fell through so I couldn’t afford to get there.  They don’t stop there – this summer, they did an institute in Minnesota, so check their events page to see what’s coming next.

Ingredients & tips

Before we get to the project ideas, let’s run through some ingredients and tips I’ve learned are keys in quality PBLL.

  • Authenticity: For it to be true PBLL, there must be a product that reaches an authentic audience.
  • A problem: If your learners are making a product that goes to an authentic audience but doesn’t actually meet any need or solve any problem, it isn’t meeting the standard for PBLL.  Could be a good project, just not technically PBLL.
  • A longer unit length: In the PBL world it’s common to see projects that take 2 weeks or less, especially since one of the keys in gold-standard PBL is to hold student interest.  I believe with language learners, especially in the novice and intermediate low realms, it’s going to take longer to develop the needed language and produce a project.  This means…
  • A longer “investigative” period: Geometry students can investigate the facts and issues surrounding a problem in a matter of a few hours, even minutes sometimes.  Language learners have to develop the language they need for a project while investigating it, so this investigative period turns into the input.  As we know, developing long-term language skill requires a lot of input, which means it’s perfectly okay to have a long period of exploring the topic with all kinds of input before you enter the problem-solving phase.
  • A much simpler project: A team at a school I worked at developed a product they sent to the city traffic planning commission proposing and supporting a suggestion to put a right-turn lane on a street near our school.  Needless to say, this isn’t going to happen in Spanish class.  You’ll note that some of the projects below consist of very little actual language.  That’s fine.  The point is that we experienced a whole lot of comprehensible input and often cultural inquiry as we explored the topic, and they developed language they’ll be able to use across different contexts, even if that didn’t show up on the project itself.
  • A sporadic PBLL approach: In order to implement PBLL, you don’t have to launch full on into an “I am a PBLL teacher.” You’re not “failing” here if you don’t have a quality project at the end of every unit you do.  In fact, if you just do one or two projects like the ones listed below per year, I think you can pretty safely say you’re a teacher who implements PBLL. I don’t think I have the creativity or stamina to come up with a gold-standard project for every unit, much less implement it!

And you said projects?

This is why you clicked the post, right?  Even in the NFLRC’s online institute, what you’ll generally encounter with people in PBLL is one of a few scenarios:

  1. College professors who can push their students farther, faster
  2. Upper-level teachers
  3. People who trade a whole lot of TL time for complexity in English while calling it PBLL

In this post, I wanted to provide ten examples of projects that you could really develop to meet the gold standard but could be implemented at the earlier levels of language.  Some of these ideas I’ve implemented, some I’ve seen implemented, and some are just ideas.  Without further ado, let’s go, by my suggested proficiency level.

Novice Mid

1. School lunch menu

  • Problem: Newcomers who speak the TL don’t understand the lunch menu.
  • Driving question: What can we create to help the school / district communicate lunch options in the TL?
  • Best for: Schools or districts with large TL-speaking communities, like the one I live in. We have a lot of Spanish speakers but also a lot of French thanks to francophone African refugee resettlement in our area. So, also a lot of Arabic, Swahili, Nepali, and more, though not so much German, Chinese, Japanese, or other languages not represented much in refugee communities.

2. Welcome to our school

  • Problem: TL speakers need to know more about the school and the people in it.
  • Driving question: What can we create to help TL-speaking families, visitors, and new students know more about our school? (A video introducing people and area? “This is the library. This is Ms. Wilson. She is the librarian.”)
  • Best for: Schools hosting an exchange group or in an area where TL-speaking students/families frequently enter the school system.

3. Social media campaign

  • Problem: TL speakers need to be more aware of (insert issue of interest here) – the benefits of learning language? The rules for safety at a beach? The effects of trash in the waterways?
  • Driving question: What can we create to help TL speakers in (place) be more aware of (issue of interest)? Simplify the issue without eliminating the actual need, and you’ll be surprised what learners can do.  Investigate what hashtags will get the most coverage on social media; Twitter posts can be particularly comprehensible at low levels because of the limited language.
  • Best for: Learners interested in connecting common themes – clothes, activities, food, family, etc. – with activism for social and environmental issues.

Novice High

4. Travel reviews

  • Problem: TL-speaking visitors to your area don’t have real (non-translated) reviews in their language.
  • Driving question: How can we help visitors to our area know about our favorite (restaurants, parks, etc.)?
  • Best for: Schools in areas that receive a lot of tourism.

5. Advocating for fair trade

  • Problem: People (many who come from areas where growers are exploited in the chocolate and coffee industries in particular) aren’t aware of how their purchases can affect those growers’ quality of life.
  • Driving question: What can we create to advocate for fair trade buying habits among the TL-speaking community?
  • Best for: Spanish classes. (Mine created a poster for local coffee shops as well as a social media image – see it below!)

6. 48 hours in…

  • Problem: TL-speaking visitors who don’t have a lot of time in our city may not find the best places to visit.
  • Driving question: What can we create to showcase the best places in our city for TL-speaking people who only have a little time to spend here?
  • Best for: Anywhere, but especially areas that receive a lot of visitors, for whatever reason – our city draws a lot of tourism for horses, bourbon, and baseball, but also a lot of corporate visitors who want to see the area, thanks to the likes of Toyota and UPS. If your Spanish class wants to see what other classes have done and join our project, check out 48horasen.com.

Intermediate

7. Red Cross skills

  • Problem: When disaster strikes, many people on aid teams don’t speak the languages represented in affected communities.
  • Driving question: How can we help the Red Cross serve our TL-speaking community in a disaster?
  • Best for: Areas susceptible to natural disasters that also have TL-speaking communities. Fill your investigative period with exploring what natural disasters hit your TL-speaking cultures and how they respond – Facebook and other social media pages / groups are really helpful here. Then, put learners in groups as they investigate how to develop the skills needed to be on a Red Cross Disaster Action Team.

8. Medical care information

  • Problem: The American healthcare system is complex and difficult to navigate for newcomers and people who don’t speak English well. Many places offer translation services for a broad range of languages thanks to phone services, but how do you know where to go? What can you expect as far as wait times, care, and cost?
  • Driving question: What can we create to help the local TL-speaking community understand local healthcare options and know what to expect from a medical visit?
  • Best for: Communities with TL-speaking populations who could benefit from better understanding the healthcare system. I’ve done this twice and found that my mostly middle-class and upper-middle-class learners often didn’t know what a sliding scale was, didn’t know what services were offered at the health department, didn’t know how to find a low-cost clinic, didn’t know the difference in price between an insured patient and a walk-in, didn’t know the difference in price and services between an urgent care center and an emergency room. This makes a hugely practical unit and adapts well- future classes can add to what’s already been done, or can create (e.g. a pamphlet) specific to dental or vision or pharmacies. Whatever the product is, consider sharing it with local agencies who have contact with the TL community. For us, the local Catholic archdiocese is a great outlet for dispersing helpful information to the Spanish-speaking community.

9. TL Storytime

  • Problem: Storytime is fun for all – as long as you speak English. What about children from immigrant families who speak other languages?
  • Driving question: How can we provide a storytime in the target language at the local library?
  • Best for: Areas with a library that knows TL-speaking children will come. In our library system, one library in particular serves an area with many Spanish-speaking children and actually offers a Spanish-language storytime once a month. Call and ask if your learners can take over one! Learners can come up with an original story or develop a classic. They should brainstorm what language they might hear in the children’s responses, and consider leaving some details open-ended for children to respond and provide to make the event more interactive. Consider recording the story and pairing the recording with a soft blanket and/or stuffed animal for a local crisis response center. Your learners’ story could help a child calm down in a difficult situation!

10. Zoo / museum tour

  • Problem: TL speakers (resident and visiting) don’t benefit from the English-language signs and audio at the zoo, museum, or other local attraction.
  • Driving question: How can we help TL-speaking visitors to (local attraction we love) get the most out of their visit?
  • Best for: Areas with an attraction that draws a lot of visitors. Your learners could record MP3s to offer to the organization. They could plan where the organization could put numbers specific to a track in order for the listener to hear something in their language about what they’re seeing in that moment!

This list is by no means exhaustive and it’s by no means fail-proof.  But I hope that in reading through my thoughts in putting together the preliminary ideas for a PBLL unit you can see that kids who are in their first years of learning a language can solve a real-world problem with real-world language.

What projects have you done successfully? What would you recommend to someone contemplating their first PBLL unit?

curriculum PBLL projects
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Previous Brain Break: Play 5 Second Rule!
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Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell
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3 Comments

  1. Laura says:
    August 7, 2019 at 9:53 am

    I’d recommend checking out some projects I’ve tried! http://www.pblinthetl.com/projects

    Also, the design cycle is a good place to start developing a unit, I think.

    Reply
    1. Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell says:
      August 7, 2019 at 9:56 am

      Thanks for posting your link – SUPER useful!

      Reply
  2. Brillante Viernes: August 9, 2019 – Maris Hawkins says:
    August 9, 2019 at 6:24 am

    […] have already saved Sara-Elizabeth’s post on how to make some PBL projects and my head is spinning on which one to try […]

    Reply

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      • 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 (38)
    •  December (2)
      • 5 New Year's resolutions for every WL teacher
      • It pays to have a focus
    •  October (2)
      • Best and worst games I've seen
      • Example: authentic text for novices
    •  September (7)
      • Success with Stations
      • More student choice in homework
      • Prezi: The Choice is Theirs (KWLA 2012)
      • Prezi: Kick the Vocab Quiz (KWLA 2012)
      • Take the leap to standards-based assessment
      • Fun activity #7: Conecta cuatro
      • A song for feelings
    •  August (10)
      • Screencast: Edmodo
      • Myth #7: Spanish Mike is a taco.
      • A study in motivation, part 2: Self-assessing abilities
      • It's my blogiversary - but you get the gift
      • Menus
      • Reading guides: Cajas de cartón & Esperanza renace
      • A re-post for your first days back: Abecedario
      • Screencast: Finding authentic sources for prompts
      • Maintaining personal proficiency
      • AP redesign: Units & EQ's
    •  July (9)
      • A study in motivation
      • Advice for teachers in training
      • More uses for Amor de mi tierra
      • Book review: The Talent Code
      • Songs for 'duele'
      • The Case for Commands
      • Got idioms?
      • Like Musicuentos? Like it on Facebook.
      • Very short times with very young kids
    •  June (1)
      • 5...4...3...2...1... LAUNCH!
    •  March (4)
      • Another change: Survey says...
      • Design your own final exam
      • What I'm changing this week
      • Repost for CSC12: Increasing target language
    •  February (1)
      • A storytelling success story
    •  January (2)
      • Not going to ACTFL again, but for the best reason ever
      • Free Ebook for WL educators
  •  2011 (57)
    •  November (1)
      • Dear novice-learner teacher - love, an AP teacher
    •  October (3)
      • Learning from #langchat
      • Not your average health unit
      • Presentation: Target Language: Expect More, Say Less
    •  September (6)
      • Spanish 3 assessment documents
      • For KWLA 2011: Media from Reel to Real
      • Accuracy vs. proficiency: an illustration
      • Fun activity #6: A escribir
      • App review: Tour Wrist
      • Myth #6: Memorizing vocabulary
    •  August (5)
      • Trending topic = authentic comprehensible input
      • Got the rubric!
      • New year, new units, new assessments
      • Jumping on the Animoto bandwagon
      • Rethinking "late" work
    •  July (1)
      • A song made for early Spanish 1
    •  June (9)
      • Proficiency & tacos
      • Proficiency levels shouldn't be a secret
      • Flipbook illustration
      • Ethics in the language class - we aren't their parents
      • Activity #5: Gira la botella
      • Symbol Illustration
      • Connecting your classroom
      • Myth #5: The textbook is all I need
      • Taking paperless to the blog
    •  May (2)
      • Combat the 'este tiempo' monster
      • Children's DVD giveaway!
    •  April (6)
      • Activity #4: Drama Inmóvil
      • Myth #4: The Time Whine
      • Have you used PhotoPeach?
      • The myths aren't going to ACTFL
      • Fun activity #3: ¡Arriésgate!
      • Fun activity #2: A conversar
    •  March (3)
      • Dismantling Myths 2 and 3: Learning about language and its cousin, Grammatical Terms
      • Activity 1: Cuento poco a poco
      • (Trying to) Make learning fun
    •  February (10)
      • Two new options for out-of-class fluency
      • Great resource from la Sra. Birch
      • Dismantling Myth #1: What's a qualified teacher?
      • Keep singing: 189 pages of Spanish lyrics
      • #Charlando para aprender
      • Vote for this week's #langchat topic
      • It's time for them to use their time
      • For tonight's #langchat: A game for description
      • Short listening activity tailor-made for beginners
      • Ciudad de las bestias: Guides public & streamlined
    •  January (11)
      • Instead of the vocab quiz
      • Best songs for stem changing irreg. present
      • Do something drastic - kick the vocab quiz
      • Topic for #LangChat 1/27
      • Topic for the first #LangChat 1/20
      • Low-level learners can't understand authentic media, what?
      • They can't speak, and it's our fault: Dismantling the myths
      • Don't teach a health unit without this song
      • New: A language teachers' weekly chat on Twitter - choose our first topic!
      • Since I stopped teaching to the [AP] test
      • Faith and Culture: help me decide our AP topic
  •  2010 (38)
    •  December (4)
      • 9 ways to increase students' TL use
      • I love collaboration
      • The problem with translation (from a student)
      • Why music is more powerful than anything (& how to use it)
    •  November (2)
      • iPad giveaway!
      • A collaborative project for our Spanish-teacher PLN
    •  October (2)
      • And the winner is...
      • In the spirit of open source: Ciudad de las bestias
    •  September (10)
      • Books recommended as 'easy'
      • Pure present tense & at least 22 repetitions of 'ya no'
      • For a conference attendee: resources in math
      • Searching BBC Mundo
      • Prompts with Power: writing/speaking prompts
      • Prompts with Power: Prezi
      • Prompts with Power: German & French resources
      • Prompts with Power: Dating in high school
      • KWLA Presentation: PLN-ology
      • Tweet with double objects
    •  August (6)
      • Interactive comic creator using Maya & Miguel
      • Ads of the World | Creative Advertising Archive & Community
      • Added some great new links
      • First 12 days of Spanish 1
      • My supply list
      • Scope & sequence, word list for Spanish 1
    •  July (4)
      • 5 tips for increasing (your own) target language use
      • A warm-up from @samocamila: por vs. para
      • Camila's all on board! (well, on Twitter)
      • Getting vocabulary from a tweet
    •  April (3)
      • Huge toy giveaway from SpanglishBaby
      • A case for avoiding "pet" grammar
      • Authentic audio with future tense
    •  March (2)
      • Interesting blog post about iPod as language lab
      • News article: appeal + subjunctive for influence
    •  January (5)
      • A high-interest exercise for imperfect/pasado continuo
      • A song with 17 verbs in past subjunctive
      • My corporate Spanish links, all in one place
      • "Adora la Exploradora"-the week we didn't feel like a boring past-tense review
      • My level 1 and 2 stories (for Bethanie, and whomever else)
  •  2009 (80)
    •  December (2)
      • A song with 37 repetitions of "más que"
      • Switch to a communicative set-up
    •  November (10)
      • Print & audio sources for AP synthesis essay re: efficient energy
      • Two songs for voy + a + infinitive
      • A case for free-topic blogging
      • It's 19 de noviembre!
      • Camila's new single: "Mientes" (release date 11/24!)
      • A case for pleasure reading
      • Noviembre - a popular month for songs
      • Zachary Jones's "Clozeline"
      • Two songs + resources for Ojalá + subjunctive
      • A song just for @mamitati
    •  October (13)
      • You can't buy this in a textbook
      • Cultural connections: Four songs to explore using Google Earth
      • David Bisbal's YouTube channel
      • Correction on Pin Pon in Shrek
      • Four songs for contrasting que & lo que
      • Nominados en la 10a entrega de los Latin Grammy
      • Story and songs for subjunctive: indefinite/negative antecedent
      • AP sythesis essay sources: Los indocumentados y el sistema de salud
      • Blog that does what I do, only better
      • My October playlist
      • We must not ignore the Paz Sin Fronteras (video)
      • Build your perfect tenis (en español)
      • Video with por, haber, past participles, commands, from Coca Cola
    •  September (10)
      • Latin Grammy website gets a cool makeover... and nominations!
      • Songs for the elusive 3rd pers. sing. preterite
      • I just made my first Yodio
      • KWLA Fall 09 Conference presentation
      • Found Juanes on Twitter
      • For you French teachers
      • Bilingual toy giveaway, gracias a @mamitati
      • Keeping your eyes open for gold nuggets
      • CNN launches Latino in America
      • Bob Esponja on Mundonick
    •  August (4)
      • A correction on the correction of La Frase Tonta
      • I am in technology heaven
      • An AP oral presentation, with past tense: "Consecuencias"
      • I love crossover songs
    •  July (2)
      • Raimundo, the bilingual Latin American snail
      • A song for object/refl pronoun 'te'
    •  June (6)
      • A song for your hip-hop fans
      • Developing world citizens
      • Follow me on Twitter
      • Aquí Estoy Yo: video oficial
      • A new group on my radar
      • Two months later, back to the blogosphere (with a companion)
    •  April (5)
      • A most fantastic performance at Premio Lo Nuestro
      • The heroes speak Español
      • A brilliant pair of songs contrasting por/para
      • Useless grammar I used to teach
      • Adding some links--check 'em out
    •  March (7)
      • Negative commands + culture
      • Winds of change
      • Our students aren't the only ones who have speaking problems!
      • Activity: News interaction (present perfect)
      • A new smash hit with a subjunctive benefit
      • A shout out for Jacob & Joshua
      • El campesino y la princesa (a Spanish 3 story test, with a bit of subjunctive)
    •  February (15)
      • More interactive websites, courtesy of my students
      • A product I love
      • Good stories for commands
      • a story for imperf. vs. pret. and subjunctive influence
      • Interactive websites: practicing house/location/color vocab
      • Subjunctive for doubt: Story, song, activity
      • A good story for 'tiene'
      • A song for subjunctive/nosotros commands
      • A story for demonstratives
      • Rules in a communicative class
      • Cause and effect
      • Relating everything to English
      • A correction on La Frase Tonta
      • Equipping and informing, for free
      • A project based on motivation
    •  January (6)
      • "How much is estuvo de pie?"
      • One more song for subjunctive
      • A couple more subjunctive songs
      • An example of vocab
      • Internet scavenger hunts
      • A Spanish 2 story test
  •  2008 (51)
    •  December (7)
      • Videos from Jesús Adrian Romero
      • Alex Campos's YouTube channel
      • A story test
      • A video for Navidad
      • Great new song for subjunctive
      • ¡Nueva música!
      • A fantastic blog post
    •  November (14)
      • Ever heard of Patito feo?
      • Two groups you just can't go wrong with
      • Things to be thankful for
      • Grammar learning vs. acquisition
      • Forced to give grammar tests?
      • High aptitude is a beautiful thing
      • Another Spanish 1 reading
      • New media list!
      • At the ACSI conference in Dayton
      • Story success: Huevos verdes con jamón
      • Another story source!
      • Words we don't use
      • Song success: Hace tiempo
      • El carro de sus sueños
    •  October (12)
      • Overgeneralizing, again
      • Spanish 2 Story: La llama se llama...
      • Song success: Me voy
      • Not posting lately
      • overgeneralizing
      • The outcome of Pin Pon
      • Pin Pon in Shrek?
      • Best practices
      • Reading in Spanish 3
      • SCORE!
      • My media list
      • Awesome YouTube video
    •  September (18)
      • KWLA '08: Assessing comprehension without English
      • Song success: La llave de mi corazón
      • Spanish 1 Story: Insectos grises para el almuerzo
      • Finding stories
      • How do I find the music?
      • Modeling the billingual lexicon
      • Summaries of some classroom SLA articles
      • Love/Hate Krashen
      • Another article that rocked my world
      • More sunshine
      • When it's not all coming up roses
      • What on earth is going on here?
      • So, what are the cuentos?
      • The verdict on pop test 1
      • People I love
      • A pop test
      • Some assumptions
      • Starting to share my journey

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