Civilization project to use the past tense in Spanish

I have covered the past tense in Spanish with my grade 8 students (13-14 years old) this term and I want them to be able to describe past events confidently and accurately. Over my teaching experience I have found out that doing the traditional grammar exercises such as filling in the gaps with the correct verb forms does not really work with students.

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Reviewing holidays with IGCSE students

We are now reviewing for the IGCSE speaking examination in less than two weeks time! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I created different boards on Audioboo related to the different topics my students will be asked about. I posted samples of questions and answers which my students recorded in groups so that they can review at home or in the bus or wherever and whenever they want!

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What do the other students do when some are recording a podcast?

When some students are recording their IGCSE questions and answers to practice for the oral examination, I like to have the other students work in different stations so that nobody misses out during the lesson. The recording process is one station and I am lucky enough to have a spare room next to my classroom which is rarely used so that my students can record themselves in a quiet space.

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Describing your home town and local area in Spanish

Another IGCSE topic is about describing where you live. First I had my grade 9 students watch this excellent video about a girl describing where she lives near Madrid (you can watch it with or without subtitles):

I then asked my students to produce a short movie like the one above about their local area.

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How to practice and review the general conversation for the IGCSE oral exam?

My students in grade 10 have a speaking examination in 5 weeks time and I believe this is the most stressful part of their IGCSEs. In order to prepare them well for the general conversation (which consists of asking a series of linked questions on two or three topics which students have covered in grade 9 and 10) I asked my students to get in pairs,

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How web 2.0 tools can improve students’ language skills?

This weekend I am going to present at the Association of German International Schools (AGIS) in Hannover about web 2.0 tools and how I use them to help my students develop their language skills. A lot of my presentation is inspired by the wonderful Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano who emphasizes in her blog that it’s not about the tools,

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Students blogging in Spanish and learning many skills.

I created another blog for my Spanish students where I want to share resources and students’ work. As a matter of fact I already had another blog on Posterous but it closed down and therefore I had to look for another free platform. I found Kidblog which is free for up to 50 students and does not require students to sign in with an email address.

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