Reading activity for French learners (beginner level).

Yeah!!! I am back to blogging! I had a very good excuse though for not posting for such a while: I had my fourth boy on the 24th of September. His name is Antoine and he is a lovely baby boy doing well 🙂

Whilst recovering from the birth and taking care of my precious little boy,

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Resources for English learners: shopping and the issue of being a shopaholic.

Last week, I was writing about my new “job” which is to teach online private lessons to Spanish students who want to improve their English. (via Google hangout or Skype). For now, it is going very well and I am receiving positive feedback from my students which is always good!

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acquire50 acquisition65 activity13 answers24 article46 communicate9 communication10 communicative7 compelling39 comprehend52 comprehensible100 conversation311 culture246 debate11 edmodo3 Education20 esl2 fluency107 input47 interesting23 language45 learner240 learning15 meaning17 meaningful15 personal13 personalized16 practise2 questions74 reading275 teacherspayteachers11 theme3 topic24

Resources for English learners: superstitions.

Although I am taking a break from my school and “formal” teaching, I have not really quit and I have now started to teach online (via Google hangout or Skype) private lessons to Spanish students who want to improve their English. It is actually very different from teaching a whole class and my students have a good level of English but they are not confident enough.

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activity13 comprehensible100 conversation311 culture246 Education20 engage173 fluency107 fluent57 language45 learning15 personal13 practice33 questions74 reading275 teacherspayteachers11

How to use a mini story in a Spanish beginner class

I have become a fan of TPRS because I do believe it is the most efficient way so far to help students develop both fluency and accuracy in Spanish. However, I am new to the techniques and although I read the Big Green Book: Fluency through TPR Storytelling,

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6th graders2 accuracy4 activity13 beginner318 circle3 circling5 comprehensible100 Education20 fluency107 grade 68 input47 key structures8 language45 leaning1 mastery1 method20 noresource1 output44 proficiency12 reading275 repeat78 repeating70 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 structures7 TPRS71

Spanish story: El chico cansado

This story comes from a French story on The Task Magic blog: Bob est fatigué. I wanted to recycle the structures “debe”, “tengo que” which my students already learned with Los niños prisioneros de Bolivia and I also wanted to use “está cansado”.

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cansado1 comprehensible100 debe2 debes1 Education20 input47 key structures8 obediente1 personalized16 practice33 questions74 reading275 script201 Spanish33 story46 storytelling39 teacherspayteachers11 tengo que1 text4 TPRS71

IB Spanish Students: el Flamenco

As you might already know, I have been reading La casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca with my small group of Spanish language B IB higher level students. They are only girls in this group so I think they have enjoyed reading this tragedy about passionate love and freedom!

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art41 book95 critical thinking3 cultural10 culture246 dance4 define1 Education20 higher1 IB9 input47 intermediate730 La Casa de Bernarda Alba1 language B4 level3 Lorca2 music27 play27 reading275 Spain6 Spanish33 speaking73 teacherspayteachers11 UNESCO1 video351 worksheet2

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 comprehensible100 conversation311 culture246 debate11 debe2 discuss30 discussion39 Education20 effort1 en contra1 engage173 family164 high interest7 input47 interest10 interesting23 issues1 key structures8 listen306 listening52 lo que hace1 Martina Bex11 meaningful15 output44 performance2 prison2 read40 reading275 reflect29 reflection32 skills26 social relationships7 South American3 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 structures7 target9 target language12 TPRS71