Language game to provide more comprehensible input: Guess Who?

https://goo.gl/photos/JPio26rjA9UosKXR7

As I mentioned in my previous post about story listening, I am part of an amazing group on Facebook called “CI Liftoff” where educators around the world are discussing about how to use pure comprehensible input in the language acquisition process.

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Story listening is powerful!

To me, developing listening skills are vital in life, yet not practiced enough. As teachers, we are told to let students learn by doing (which is valuable too in some cases) and that classrooms should be students led. As a consequence the skill of listening is being put aside,

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acquire50 acquisition65 brain61 Canada24 ci145 comprehend52 comprehensible100 comprehension250 content6 demo5 Education20 engage150 Facebook4 film41 focus36 free13 French41 ghost12 group4 intent3 language45 learn10 learner217 legend78 liberate1 liberating1 listen283 listening52 message4 mind3 powerful6 practice33 skill4 skills26 story46 story listening19 technique3 tool8 TPRS71 unconscious3 unconsciously3 understand67 understanding22 useful7 valuable1 video350 vocabulary256

French story and poem: un amour qui finit mal !

My French students are now learning the passé composé in class and I am looking for ways to help them acquire this new tense without doing the traditional grammar approach.

The first text which came to my mind was Le déjeuner du matin which is actually a poem widely taught in French classes because the language is quite simple and repetitive.

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acquire50 acquisition65 breakfast13 comprehensible100 comprehension250 cultural10 déjeuner du matin1 Education20 food154 French41 guidelines2 literature92 love81 Martina Bex11 meal10 miming1 MovieTalk14 passé-composé227 perfect tense4 poem71 poet16 Prévert4 questions74 reading252 repetition42 script201 story46 storytelling39 target language12 target structure20 teacherspayteachers11 TPRS71 youtube67

French culture: celebrating la Chandeleur !

Candlemas is around the corner and I have prepared some fun activities to do in the French class to celebrate this special event. In fact as the activities are mainly centered around crepes and how to make them, you could also use them to celebrate Mardi Gras (which is on the 9th of February this year) or if you are teaching a topic on food.

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acquisition65 activities5 bundle1 celebrate26 celebration20 communicative7 comprehensible100 Cooking41 cultural10 Education20 food154 French41 grammar66 infinitive1 input47 logic1 logical2 numeracy1 passé-composé227 past316 perfect tense4 recipe36 song29 story46 storytelling39 teacherspayteachers11 TPRS71 tradition57

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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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 comprehension250 conversation311 Education20 engage150 fluency107 fluent57 language45 learning15 personal13 practice33 questions74 reading252 teacherspayteachers11

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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