resources
August 19, 2015
Many teachers have enjoyed using the taco talk to help beginning students and their parents (and administrators!) understand what a novice-level, proficiency-based class is all about. This year I finally tweaked the document to be helpful to teachers of intermediate students. And then a French teacher contacted me for permission to change the “taco” portion […]
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August 11, 2015
As part of last year’s back-to-school posts I posted a document to get kids (and their parents) talking about tacos to explore what proficiency is and what a focus on proficiency will look like in your classroom. Since then I’ve gotten several requests to adapt that document for intermediate students. Ask and you shall receive (sometimes, […]
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August 7, 2015
Easily one of the top five topics if you look at my most popular blog posts: Choice in homework. I won’t go to deeply into what I mean by homework choice because you can see a pretty good summary here in one of the most popular posts of 2014. After you look at that, you […]
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August 3, 2015
Stressed about creating your class syllabi this year? There are a lot of really great syllabi flying around the internet. There are even competitions to see who can do the (best? most creative?) one. I have to tell you, it’s stressful. I don’t at all think it’s intended this way, but I think it feels […]
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July 31, 2015
I hope you had a restful summer! I love back-to-school time because we’re all excited, mostly rested up, maybe feeling a little unprepared but ready to tackle what this school year has to offer. Watch what August has to offer Throughout August I’ll be posting resources and information I hope will help you get a […]
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June 15, 2015
Did you know grammar is not a skill you can practice? Read on. And watch this. It’s already time for the second videocast of the Musicuentos Black Box. Here’s the info. Ready to watch? This eight minutes (+) will help you understand what it really means to know a language and remind you in […]
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April 23, 2015
As promised, here are the “Three Before Me” posters for German and French. Big props to some good friends who helped me out with these translations, Wendy Farabaugh, Don Doehla, and Thomas Sauer. Download the free posters via Teachers Pay Teachers: German Bevor du anfängst mit der Fragerei, probier doch erstmal diese drei: 1) dich […]
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April 21, 2015
Three before me
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What could you get out of #langchat? You never know! No matter how many years you’ve been teaching, everyone’s bound to come away with some treasurable, profitable nuggets from #langchat. I’m not even sure which recent #langchat this came from. It could have been when we were discussing grit, how we could help learners persevere […]
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January 14, 2015
My first two suggestions for resolutions for 2015 were intended to push for a more positive note in world language teaching in 2015: for us to stop beating ourselves up when things don’t go exactly according to plan, and for us to act like we’re on the same team with the same goals, instead of […]
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December 2, 2014
Welcome to the 2014 “Best of Musicuentos” series. In the month of December I do not post much new material as I enjoy the season with my family, but rather I re-post the top ten posts of the year, in case you want to re-read, or in case you’ve joined us this year and didn’t […]
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December 1, 2014
Happy Cyber Monday! One of my digital resource missions is to inspire teachers of intermediate, advanced, and heritage students to start using more engaging authentic materials in the classroom, and that starts with more engaging help in navigating those authentic resources. From today through Wednesday, enjoy a total of 20% off my digital resources on TeachersPayTeachers […]
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November 25, 2014
My first trip to the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages was amazing. Well, there was the thing where I didn’t have any kids with me for a few days. I adore my children, but a few days off was much needed! Honestly, I didn’t get to attend many […]
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