Best practices
October 9, 2013
Oh, how I miss teaching novices! I teach next door to the Spanish 1, 2, and 3 teacher, with a divider separating our basement rooms, and every time I hear her with her Spanish 1 students I long to be in there – not because she’s really doing anything wrong, but because I love teaching […]
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September 17, 2013
Seven keys to a great story
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It’s no secret – I believe the single best way to keep students’ attention, deliver comprehensible input, frame new content, and interact with vocabulary is storytelling. You may not think you are a natural storyteller, but you are. Everyone is. Telling stories is a part of life. You tell your spouse the crazy things your child […]
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September 8, 2013
For the original myths post, click here. You can also view all of the myths posts. In world language teaching, somehow we’ve come to believe that communication among learners is really going to equip them to communicate with native speakers. For sure, it’s a start. It’s a necessary, good start. But it’s a myth. Now, I’m […]
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September 2, 2013
What if the way we’ve been doing lesson plans for years and years makes no sense at all, given the research on memory and brain function? For the way I currently approach lesson planning I have to give a lot of credit to two very smart guys, Greg Duncan and John Medina. Greg Duncan is […]
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August 13, 2013
I love traditions. I love Christmas traditions and cultural traditions and all sorts of traditions. But let’s not be fooled that just because we like to do something over and over, that means it’s working, eh? What traditions are you kicking out this year? What beloved traditions are really working for you and will be […]
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August 11, 2013
I certainly am not the only teacher blogging about going back to school! Check out these great posts from innovative colleagues: Browse Maris Hawkins’ category “beginning of the year” as she goes back with her middle school Spanish students. Meg Villanueva offers great advice on how to break the ice in a TPRS classroom. Garnet […]
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August 6, 2013
As you go back to school, it may help you to check out the posts under my label “first days.” These posts include: A fun spoof off “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” that makes fun of homonyms in the Spanish alphabet. Advice from last year’s #langchat about the first days of school, including ideas […]
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August 3, 2013
As we all go back to school and meet new students and try to push them to try something really new and maintain target language in the classroom, as you maintain it, commit to make your target language input comprehensible and make sure students know you’re committed to it. Show them this video: This baby […]
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July 10, 2013
Back when I used to ask for translation at the end of every test, I’d comb through that chapter’s vocabulary list to come up with sentences that would test the maximum number of words and target features. Like this gem: I saw a turtle with two heads in the park with my tall friend and […]
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June 20, 2013
A meaningful approach to grammar
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Let’s just get it right out there that we’re grammar nerds. That’s why we majored in language and teach language, because we love language. We love how it fits together and changes and how systematic and yet unpredictable it is. And we love the little labels. Words like pluscuamperfecto send little shivers up our spines. Do […]
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June 12, 2013
Guest post: Coaching with choice
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This semester I was blessed and honored to teach an amazing group of kids who were coachable. Coming from an athletic background, this concept of being “coachable” is one of the most valuable traits that a coach can have in a player. The coachable player is one who may not have the best skills or natural […]
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May 19, 2013
By the time students get to advanced classes such as those intended to prepare them for national standardized exams, almost nothing should include only simple recall. We ask questions like why and how, ask for debates and opinions, ask for synthesis of authentic sources and troubleshooting common problems. How can we prepare students for this from novice levels? There’s one […]
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