French the natural way: Listen!

Coucou les French learners,

Feel energized!

this week I got one of the best compliments from one of my online beginner learner. We had a productive one hour session. It was fun because we created a whole story together from scratch with many details.

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acquirefrench76 acquiring18 acquisition65 acquisition process41 active listener94 beginner french28 boost195 ci145 compelling39 compelling input31 comprehend52 comprehensible input36 empower3 energy2 free time7 french activities1 french hobbies1 french input13 french online15 french video2 home practice3 intermediate718 keep motivated23 language acquisition240 listen294 listening52 listeningfirst20 love81 love story28 motivation212 natural approach59 practice33 story asking15 story building8 storylistening153 support4 TPRS71 transcript5 upper intermediate414 visual5

How to build up to a story in French?

My online learners are acquiring French at a fast and steady pace and it is amazing to watch them progress naturally. Unlike last school year when I was trying to use TPRS along with my other resources, I have decided to give it a full go following each of the three steps…

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acquire50 acquiring18 acquisition65 brain61 build up1 building4 ci145 comprehensible100 comprehension261 Education20 French41 frequent38 high frequency217 high interest7 improve19 input47 language45 logical2 meaningful15 mother4 motivation212 natural176 naturally5 parent1 personal13 personalized16 progress112 putting it together1 script201 second language44 story46 story asking15 story script6 storytelling39 tpr19 TPRS71 unconscious3 unconsciously3

Reflection on Comprehensible Input

I haven’t updated my blog for a while now, and as I am taking a break due to my fourth baby coming at the end of September, I wanted to reflect on my last school year. I was teaching Spanish from grade 6 to 12 and I decided to turn to comprehensible input and TPRS since I was never fully satisfied with the traditional way to teach languages.

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6th graders2 acquisition65 comments3 comprehensible100 Education20 encourage2 feedback47 fluency107 fluent57 grade 108 grade 74 grade 85 grade 98 IGCSE12 input47 inspire13 languages13 listening52 Martina Bex11 middle school3 motivation212 personalized16 reading263 review26 song29 Spanish33 story46 story asking15 storytelling39 TPRS71

How to encourage students to produce comprehensible output on sports

 

 

 

 

 

 

My grade 7 students (12-13 years old) did comprehensible presentations about some popular sports in Hispanic countries. First, I wanted to model a presentation because whenever my students produce Spanish output,

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baseball1 comprehensible100 countries6 Dominican Republic1 Education20 encourage2 example1 group work5 hispanic4 hobbies8 information7 input47 language45 look for2 model2 oral12 output44 pair1 popular10 presentation140 project11 quiz18 sample1 search4 Spanish33 speaking73 sports7 teacherspayteachers11

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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AGIS1 conference5 Education20 inspire13 language45 listening52 literacy5 participant1 presentation140 reading263 skills26 speaking73 try3 web5 web 2.08 web literate1 writing55

Spanish story script number 4: Lo siento.

Here is another story script which follows the last story about little Pedro losing his notebook. This story has lots of repetitions to focus on “lo siento” and “no sé qué hacer“. I am telling those stories using wooden ice cream sticks which the students love.

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acquire50 acquisition65 acting1 ci145 comprehend52 comprehension261 comprenhensible1 drama28 engage161 engaging10 fluency107 fluent57 fun424 funny256 high frequency217 high interest7 input47 interest10 interesting23 intonation2 key2 listening52 motivated154 motivating1 motivation212 practice33 proficiency12 proficient9 pronunciation11 reading263 repetition42 repetitive22 retell3 retelling4 script201 second language44 skills26 Spanish33 story46 storytelling39 structure10 target9 target language12 target structure20 TPRS71 vocabulary256 words18

Another version of the story: ¿Dónde está mi cuaderno pequeño?

I simplified the story script I wrote about little Pedro losing his notebook to focus on “¿Dónde está?”, “No lo sé” and “es importante para…“. I also changed the ending to make it more surprising and funnier to my students.

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creative13 engaged149 fun424 key structure10 listening52 reading263 script201 skills26 Spanish33 story46 structure10 target structure20 writing55