Cultural input: the prisons in Bolivia (or how to engage Spanish learners)

How to get students engaged and producing a lot of language???? Well…. I recommend purchasing Martina Bex 7-day lesson plans about Los niños prisioneros de Bolivia as it is truly worth the investment! Not only did it save me a lot of prep-time, it also made my students had a meaningful discussion in the target language!

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a favor1 Bolivia1 comprehend52 comprehension250 conversation311 culture246 debate11 debe2 discuss30 discussion39 Education20 effort1 en contra1 engage150 family164 high interest7 input47 interest10 interesting23 issues1 key structures8 listen283 listening52 lo que hace1 Martina Bex11 meaningful15 output44 performance2 prison2 read40 reading252 reflect17 reflection20 skills26 social relationships7 South American3 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 structures7 target9 target language12 TPRS71

Speaking activity: giving opinions about TV programs and films.

This is a fantastic idea from one of my emails from the mflresources@yahoogroups.com: “I show the students some clips (2-3 mins each) from YouTube and they play the role of critic – after each clip they get 30 seconds to write their opinion of each clip and then a further 30 seconds to share their opinion with their neighbor.

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channel2 clip1 communication10 communicative7 comprehension250 debating3 films2 flashcards8 fluency107 fluent57 forum1 group4 group work5 ideas7 input47 listening52 mfl1 movies2 opinions27 playlist4 programs1 quizlet9 series71 sharing6 skills26 Spanish33 speak85 speaking73 television5 trailer2 vocabulary256 youtube67

Reading activity: una televisión para los perros

I believe reading in the target language is crucial because it promotes fluent reading skills which then leads to fluency in the other language skills such as speaking and writing. Fluent reading means reading without a dictionary, which can be challenging if students read an authentic text or a book.

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acquire50 acquisition65 article46 ci145 collaborative3 communicate9 communication10 comprehension250 connection105 dictionary3 discussion39 Education20 group work5 input47 interest10 listening52 magazine3 Mary Glasgow6 media2 reading252 ressources40 skill4 skills26 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 television5 text4 TPRS71 understand67 understanding22

Back to school with a song: mi persona favorita

I am back to school after a wonderful summer vacation and in order to get back into the swing of things, I found this catchy song which I played to my grade 8 and 10 classes:

As I mentioned in an earlier post,

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acquire50 acquisition65 answers24 communication10 future32 input47 listening52 lyrics2 past316 personalized16 PQA8 present565 questions74 Rio Roma1 skills26 song29 Spanish33 speaking73 structures7 TPRS71 vocabulary256 youtube67

Spanish story script: se vende

This story comes from the wonderful Martina Bex who posts so many brilliant ideas and resources on her blog. I started a new unit with my grade 6 class which is about going shopping and this story fitted perfectly!

Speaking/vocabulary: I first started by introducing the different shops to my students using this slideshow: SHOPS.

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acquire50 acquisition65 comprehension250 creative13 expression21 flashcards8 key structure10 language45 Martina Bex11 pattern1 quizlet9 repetition42 se vende1 sell6 selling1 shop9 shopping13 skills26 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 target9 TPRS71 writing55

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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acquire50 acquired4 acquisition65 civilization1 collaboration work2 collaborative3 communication10 communicative7 comprehend52 culture246 Education20 fluency107 grade 85 group work5 history92 imperfect187 incas2 independent4 information7 informative1 innate1 input47 internalize1 invented1 language45 language skills1 listening52 mayas1 oral12 output44 pair work2 past316 poster2 presentation140 proficiency12 project11 simple past24 skills26 Spanish33 speaking73 storylistening142 video350

How to use stories written by students?

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am a big fan of The Comprehensible Classroom because there are so many fun story scripts to be used and Martina Bex (the author) shares so many fabulous ideas and lesson plans! One story script I have used with my middle school students (grade 6 to 8) is Buscando Gafas.

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book95 comprehension250 creative13 Education20 engage150 grade 68 grade 74 grade 85 input47 key structure10 middle school3 mini-book2 output44 productive9 proud1 querer1 reading252 retelling4 reusing1 script201 skills26 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 telling3 tener1 writing55