speaking
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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November 30, 2018
Are you wrapping up a particular reading in your language class? My middle-grades class has just finished El Ekeko by Katie Baker. This book is perhaps my favorite Fluency Matters reader yet! This week, as we look to end our semester, I’ll be going back to something I tried last year. It was a great segue from […]
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November 17, 2014
What would you do if you had taught high school Spanish for years and then suddenly you were given new responsibilities involving… KINDERGARTEN?! If you’re like me, your first day you’d come away thinking What are they thinking? What was I thinking? WHAT DO I DO?! Learning from the best In high school we can […]
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April 17, 2014
In a recent focus on social media and political upheaval, I needed an interpersonal communication activity that related to the issues. I needed to present students with relevant authentic material to spur conversation. I needed a way to monitor what they were doing. I wanted it all to apply to the focus. And so, TweetFest […]
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April 15, 2014
What is circumlocution? Can it be taught? Should you teach it? When? If novices shouldn’t be required to produce language, should we teach them circumlocution as a tool to solve communication problems? All of these questions are addressed in this second episode of the Musicuentos Black Box Podcast. I had a real light-bulb moment working […]
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January 14, 2014
Website review: Geoguessr
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Since my fourth suggestion for a 2014 resolution was to take a step outside the textbook, here’s an easy idea that gives you a way to do that. I recently heard about the web app Geoguessr and I’ll warn you, it’s addictive. Basically, the app gives you Google Earth photos of seemingly random places in […]
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December 11, 2013
If you’re interested, here’s my final exam for AP Spanish, addressing two themes we have incorporated this semester: religious celebrations, and healthcare challenges. The exam includes a persuasive essay and an audio prompt for a speaking response. In the persuasive essay, students are asked to discuss whether we should try to change other people’s opinions […]
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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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June 26, 2013
This is the last post in a short series on songs that help students develop accuracy and proficiency in talking about the present tense. For the other songs, see: Sigo con ella Hace tiempo Carmelina (and also, a post on songs for stem-changing present verbs) Tengo tu love – Sie7e This song is another one […]
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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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February 27, 2013
In Spanish 3 we just wrapped up a unit I reworked to continue working on students’ narration in the past, framed within understanding and talking about the news. This activity we did combines culture, interest, interpretive (reading) skills, presentational (writing), and interpersonal (speaking) skills. First, using a newspaper website or a regional/international version of […]
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January 30, 2013
Spot-checking conversations
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In order to learn how to converse with someone, students need to hear conversations, plan conversations, and participate in conversations. So, if we’re giving students a lot of opportunities for interpersonal communication in class, which we should, how do we grade these conversations? Don’t grade. My first bit of advice is to resist the temptation […]
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