The many benefits of online teaching

I must confess that since teaching students via Skype or Google hangout, I am having a lot of fun! I have also noticed the many benefits of online instruction.

First of all, the learner is in the comfort of his home which helps lowering the affective filter.

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Different language projects around the topic of school

The topic of school in grade 6 (11-12 years old) gives the opportunity to learn about the facilities at a school, the different subjects and the time (here is the curriculum I planned for this topic). At the end of the topic I like to have a my students work on a project to recap all the new vocabulary and structures they have learned.

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Spanish story script number 5: ¿Por qué?

Here is another story script which follows the last story about Elena trying to apologize to Pedro. This time Elena offers a present to Pedro and he has to open different packages. The focus is on the difference between “¿Por qué?

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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 comprehension250 comprenhensible1 drama28 engage150 engaging10 fluency107 fluent57 fun413 funny256 high frequency217 high interest7 input47 interest10 interesting23 intonation2 key2 listening52 motivate151 motivated143 motivating1 motivation201 practice33 proficiency12 proficient9 pronunciation11 reading252 repetition42 repetitive22 retell3 retelling4 script201 second language44 skills26 Spanish33 story46 storytelling39 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 engaged138 fun413 key structure10 listening52 motivate151 reading252 script201 skills26 Spanish33 story46 target structure20 writing55

Spanish beginners can write a story!

This school year I started to tell more stories TPRS style. I got no training at all so I do my own thing which seems to work well. I invent stories which are fun to listen to and easy to understand even for Spanish beginners. I already wrote some of the stories when I was on maternity leave and I used them with grade 6 and 7.

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Story script in Spanish

I am huge fan of the Michel Thomas method. The only thing that is bothering me is that it hugely relies on translation. I was trained to use the target language as much as possible in the classroom and my mentor taught me a few tricks to get the students to understand me in the target language like using lots of cognates.

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