Activities
May 2, 2024
It’s May, and you’ve got extra time on your hands. Perhaps the proficiency assessment is over, or the last unit went faster than expected. Maybe signing ceremonies or ring ceremonies or a horse race (yeah, I live in Louisville) is messing with the schedule and making it so one period of Level 2 has an […]
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March 3, 2023
Do your learners know each other’s names? Bear with a bit of a long introduction, and keep reading to perhaps discover a new idea for fostering community + target language in the classroom. After twenty years of teaching, when I go to a conference, I often choose presentations based on the presenter – something I […]
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August 27, 2019
Can novice Spanish learners understand authentic poems? That was the question asked, quite appropriately, through the Ñandutí listserv, an email list from the Center for Applied Linguistics that serves primarily educators working with elementary learners. The answers were so helpful that I wanted to share them here. First, check out the very rich list of poems […]
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August 22, 2019
Sometimes, our brains don’t just need a break, we need physical movement to wake us up and get us thinking. Says who? Well, John Medina says it’s Rule #1. So let’s get moving. Dance to “In the Jungle” It turns out the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” really does have its roots in Africa, and […]
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August 3, 2019
Brain Break: Play 5 Second Rule!
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Given the wall of text that was my reflections on myself as beginning teacher, I thought I’d follow up with a quick idea you can take and use right away. I love the ideas flying around everywhere for brain breaks over the last couple of years. I even attended part of a conference session last year […]
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January 29, 2019
By now we’re all back into the language class swing, right? I love my breaks and I love teaching and I confess I have a love-hate relationship with that first day back after a break. I almost always have at least one dream sometime in the few days beforehand with one of the following scenarios: I can’t […]
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May 8, 2018
My class has an infection right now, and it’s called translation. It’s no secret I am not a huge fan of translation as the go-to method of checking comprehension, though I’ve moderated my stance on this over the years (especially for interpretive assessments), and lately I’m remembering why. I’ve based four out of the last […]
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January 24, 2018
Mind Mapping Vocabulary
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When it comes to memory, vision trumps all other senses. Did you catch that? If you associate an item with a picture, memory success jumps from 10% to 65%. It’s why I don’t tell stories and I don’t ask stories, I draw stories. And in my class we have approximately 3 key school supplies: something to draw with, something […]
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March 14, 2017
You want to include more authentic videos in your class. The question becomes, what do you do with a TL video? Now, there have been several great posts offering options of activities to use with authentic video, like this one from Spanish Playground or this one from Bryan Kandel. My post, in particular, along with my […]
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December 21, 2016
We’re up to the third most popular post on Musicuentos for 2016. It’s a post on Five ways to use infographics in language class I’ve often said that infographics are a go-to authentic resource, particularly in novice classes. They are ready-made materials that help you provide input in the visual ways students are increasingly becoming […]
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October 28, 2016
What is your all-time favorite, most-used school supply? Your computer? Projector? YouTube? White-board markers? Mine is quite low-tech: sticky notes. I love sticky notes because they come in a ton of colors. Because they come in a ton of sizes. Because they can have lines or no lines, shapes, full sticky back or not. I love sticky notes […]
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April 8, 2016
In our journey to stay in target language and start to use more phrases, my students and I have stumbled onto a target-language activity we use to transition from one activity to the next. I share it with you here, and as I knew I couldn’t just put it into words, my kids graciously demonstrated […]
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