Resources
August 1, 2017
Why care about frequency? If you want to remember why you care about high-frequency words, try learning a new language again. You’ll remember pretty quickly. In my recent journey to acquire some basic skills in Russian, I have more or less accidentally acquired three types of words: the ones I needed to say what I needed to […]
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May 29, 2017
Who still thinks that taking two to three months’ break from education is a good idea? Well, that’s a debated topic I don’t intend to get into here, but this I do know: more consistent contact with the target language can only help proficiency gains. What is it? In my case, my students have no […]
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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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February 25, 2017
It’s almost March and Mania musical de marzo is in full swing. And have I got a find for you. Refresh my music memory. It’s hard to tell who started it or if three people had the same idea over a period of a few years – maybe Jeff Klampka on Ben Slavic’s blog, then Spanish […]
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February 10, 2017
Blogs to Watch 2017
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It’s a great time to be building a professional learning network if you’re a world language teacher. The past few years, I’ve greatly enjoyed sharing recommendations for blogs that have come on my radar and helped me in my journey to improve this craft of ours. I started in 2014 by asking you to take […]
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December 28, 2016
Merry day-after-Christmas! We’re almost to the end! The second most popular post of 2016 was also about music – this time, the top 20 songs that have stood the test of time in my class (some more time than others). My students love them! Will yours? Top 20 Songs for Spanish Class I just posted […]
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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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December 8, 2016
It’s December and time to look back at the best of 2016 on the Musicuentos blog! If you missed some posts, never fear – here we begin the top five of what posts people found worthy to read this year. The fifth most popular post of 2016 was published as part of #Authres August and […]
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August 30, 2016
Let’s do one final round of #AuthResAugust on Musicuentos and talk interactive websites! We well know how much the internet has revolutionized language teaching, making authentic language and culture accessible at the touch of a few buttons. One of the best opportunities the internet has presented us with is, in my opinion, websites that don’t […]
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August 15, 2016
#AuthResAugust: New(ish) Music!
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My first summer out of grad school, I went to an AP Spanish Language workshop that was generally uninspiring except in one respect: the leader was the first person who connected pop music and pedagogy for me. Now, I wouldn’t be Musicuentos without the música, so let’s go with a music version of #AuthResAugust! Las recientes que […]
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August 3, 2016
For those of you who are still avoiding Twitter to streamline your social media life or for whatever reason (I know you’re out there!) I have good news – you don’t have to join Twitter to leverage it as a resource for your teaching, and WOW what a resource it is. Twitter is tailor-made for comprehensible authentic […]
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August 1, 2016
Have you thought about helping your Intermediate Mid+ students navigate an authentic novel? Spanish-learner novels definitely have their valuable place in the classroom, but in my experience authentic novels can’t be beat for exploring in-depth culture and rich language. At the same time, that rich language can be so rich that it becomes incomprehensible at worst or […]
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