French the natural way: listen to stories!

Coucou les French learners,

Last week, I mentioned a story I co-created with a learner to help her remember a list of words she had to memorize. I strongly believe in the power of stories because when your mind listens to a story, it generates multiple connections.

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accuracy4 acquire50 acquirefrench76 active listener94 ci145 compelling39 complexstructures1 comprehend52 comprehensible100 comprehension250 confidence92 enjoyable39 fable59 fables21 fle269 fluency107 free voluntary reading32 french for free4 french input13 french stories5 frenchvocabulaire113 Great Story Reading Project11 IB9 language acquisition229 learnfrench20 lefrançaisnaturellement92 listeningfirst20 listentofrench6 listentostories41 online french22 online french tutor4 power15 powerful6 pureci43 rangeofvocabulary3 reading252 reading skills1 retell3 retelling4 self confidence54 self french205 sla123 Spanish33 spanish input3 spanish story3 stories40 story script6 storylistening142 TCI74 teachfrench12 understanding22 untargeted structures1 vocabulary256 weekly french33 weekly input15 writing skills1 youtube channel52

French game to recycle and repeat: Jean-Jacques Julier

I am back home after a big road trip which took my whole family all the way down to Portugal, then Spain and finally to La Bretagne in France. We got to discover beautiful places and meet amazing people and we also had the chance to reunite with family and old friends.

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acquiring18 acquisition65 activity13 brain break6 center3 challenge22 ci145 comprehensible100 curricula2 curriculum5 family164 focus36 French41 fun413 game21 ideas7 input47 learner217 learning15 lessons36 mantra2 Martina Bex11 memorize11 multitasking3 online38 personal13 power15 quick3 recycle2 recycling1 repeating70 repetition42 repetitive22 ressources40 retain1 retaining1 retention1 session2 share17 sharing6 simple15 starter11 story asking15 story building8 storytelling39 tenses2 TPRS71 vocabulary256 warm up36 yoga12

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 comprehension250 Education20 fluency107 grade 68 input47 key structures8 language45 leaning1 mastery1 method20 noresource1 output44 proficiency12 reading252 repeat78 repeating70 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 TPRS71

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 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 target9 target language12 TPRS71

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 comprehensible100 future32 input47 listening52 lyrics2 past316 personalized16 PQA8 present565 questions74 Rio Roma1 skills26 song29 Spanish33 speaking73 TPRS71 vocabulary256 youtube67

The perfect song to use the past tenses in Spanish!

I love using songs in my lessons and I found out that my students enjoy it too! Apparently some of them even buy some of the songs! When we listen to a song in class, we listen to it several times in the week at the start of each Spanish lesson.

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acquire50 canción2 Education20 expressions5 imperfect187 imperfecto1 listen283 listening52 pasado1 past316 preterite1 preterito1 questions74 quiz18 Sheila1 Sheila Blanco1 Sheila Down1 skills26 song29 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 vocabulary256

How to use poems with first year Spanish learners?

I found this lovely poem on Pinterest and I used it with my grade 6 students (11-12 years old) as it was the prefect review for physical description and family.

Listening/comprehension: I told the poem “TPRS style” by drawing the “abuela”

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beginner318 description96 family164 grade 68 physical10 poem71 pronunciation11 re-telling1 re-write2 read40 reading252 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 TPRS71 vocabulary256 write59 writing55