French the Natural Way

As far as homework is concerned, I have been trying something new which has been successful so far. Basically I let my students do what they want as long as it is in Spanish!

At the start of the year I told them that they will acquire the Spanish language, the same as they learned how to speak their mother tongue. They acquired it naturally by listening to other people speak it around them and by reviewing it on a regular basis. Since they don’t spend enough time during the week doing Spanish, it is crucial that they spend time everyday (at least 15 minutes) listening, reading and being in contact with Spanish. It does not have to be related to the topics done in class, it could relate to any hobbies or activities they enjoy doing, like for example watching a football match in Spanish, listening to a song in
Spanish, or reading an article in a Spanish magazine. It should be enjoyable so that this process leads them to acquire Spanish naturally. I then give them a grid for the week with four types of activities: watching, reading, listening and memorizing. They have to fill in a box for each day explaining what they have done. At the start of every lesson, I go around the class and check what they have done. So far all of my students have filled in the grid with interesting activities such as watching Nemo or Harry Potter in Spanish or listening to a Spanish song on Youtube. Some of them have created their own vocabulary cards to memorize new words. Others have borrowed Spanish magazines and books…

I am very pleased with the outcome because homework does not seem like a chore. It also shows to my students that Spanish is “alive”. It is not a school subject as such but a language that real people use!

You can download my homework sheet for 6 weeks here: homework.sheet

This school year I started to tell more stories TPRS style. I got no training at all so I do my own thing which seems to work well. I invent stories which are fun to listen to and easy to understand even for Spanish beginners. I already wrote some of the stories when I was on maternity leave and I used them with grade 6 and 7. The first one I told was “Todo es posibe” which I simplifed a bit. At the end of the story, my students could use “es posible” and they could also understand “dice” and “pregunta“.

I am very proud of my grade 6 who are absolute beginners because thanks to this new method, they can already listen and understand a full story in Spanish. Not only can they do that, they can also write their own story. After hearing me telling the story, I gave them the transcript and they had to draw what was happening in each sequence of the story. I then gave them a grid with four boxes and they had to write their own version of the story. Some of them only changed the names of the characters but most of them changed the actions too and I was astounded by the quality and creativity of the work some of them produced. Here are some snaps of their work:

Here is the worksheet with story and grid to download: todoesposible

I am officially back to work after a wonderful holiday with my family in France and in Spain. It has actually been more than a week that I am back to school but it has been a shock to the system (getting back to the routine after more than a year of maternity leave!). That is mainly why I have not blogged for a while and also because I was on holidays touring Europe.

The main big thing for me this school year is that I have my own classroom (yeah!) which means that I can decorate it the way I want:

I decided to put classroom instructions and school objects for the start of the school year. I also went for a U-shape or square shape. That way, I can move around freely to check students’ work and I can also stand in the center of the classroom to tell stories or to do choral repetitions of key words and structures. At first I was not use to it, so I tended to stand near to my desk but I try to remind myself to move and stand in the middle!

I also tried to display objects which remind of Spain or the Hispanic culture:

My dear man printed the bull with his 3d-printer as well a the cup to hold my pens!
I hope to post a lot of resources and ideas I use in my Spanish lessons. Watch this space!

What about you? How does your classroom look like?

 

One thing that I did achieve during my maternity leave is to get back into shape. In fact, I have never felt so good and so fit in years! First I started to do yoga on a regular basis but I noticed I needed more cardio workout so I decided I would have a go at running. I had tried to run before but I had never managed to keep up to it. This time, mainly due to the fact that I was not busy with teaching, I managed to stick to it and to run 2 to 3 times weekly. A colleague of mine who happens to be one of the sports teacher at our school asked me if I could join a women’s relay because they were missing one lady. I accepted since I had be running for months now. Therefore this Saturday I will be running my first official race which is 14.7 kilometers! We usually train on Wednesdays late in the evening at about 7 p.m. and when I come back it’s already 9 o’clock and I am all excited because I have been exercising! To calm down and get ready to bedtime, I have tried these restorative yoga poses which prioritize stillness, relaxation, and a calmer state of mind:

Get health and fitness tips at Greatist.com

Last night, after doing these six postures, I was ready to go to bed. I fell asleep quickly and I slept like a lamb!

And you? What do you do before bedtime?

If you want to know more about restorative yoga, here is a comprehensive article from SoMuchYoga.com with some valuable information and a 40 minutes free class video to try out.

Lately I have become a big fan of Stonesoup by Jules Clancy. Her way of cooking is dead simple and requires few ingredients. In fact her recipes are done in minutes and are still tasty and very healthy. Therefore, inspired by her blog and recipes I have made a huge change in the way I cook now. Instead of planning ahead and spending a lot of time in the kitchen, I now scan for what fresh food I have left in my fridge and for cans in my cupboard. I also go the market around the corner of where I live and buy some seasonal fruit and vegetables and then cook up a meal in minutes. I cook the vegetables for a short period of time so that they keep their vitamins and goodness and I use a lot of lentils, chickpeas and beans. Not only does this new way of cooking gives me more quality time with my children, it also makes me and my family feel better!
For example the other day, I had Italian beans that I bought on my yoga retreat. I cooked them with spinach, spring onions , flat parsley (all from the market), Bulgarian feta type cheese and paprika. It was yummy and healthy!

I also recommend the tuna pesto pasta and rice and greens from Jules Clancy!

What about you? How do you cook?