Category Archives: Spanish

Learning Happens Everywhere!

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I wanted to reflect on my classes that I had this past week and the awe and amazement that I experienced after thinking about my classes. Learning truly can happen anywhere. 

These have been some insane months lately: pandemics, protests, elections, illness, online learning, hybrid learning, fires, remember murder hornets??? I admit, when we made the move to online learning, I was stressed, reluctant, and longed for the times when I was in a classroom, with my students, in person and I was teaching and they were learning. I feared that with the online move, my students’ learning and progress would suffer. I feared that my students would not bother to log in the Zoom, and we would all be completely disconnected. Maybe this is the case for some, but as I’ve recently discovered, I am having quite a different experience…

This is a video of one of my Zoom classes where we were practicing prepositions and location with stuffed animals (and a Buddha) 

Last Thursday, I conducted my Zoom class as I normally do, only to see that one of my students was participating in the Zoom from her car, and another student was participating while she was in Tahoe with her family. The week before, another student was in my “class” while she was in the passenger seat of her car en route to who knows where…I have had many students engage in my class from areas that I would not deem a traditional classroom or even from the rooms or a desk. At first, I was a little bit annoyed that these students were not participating from home or at a desk, and I worried that they would be distracted, or not really be involved in the lesson of the day. These students not only participated for the entire duration of the class, but they were active, and engaged, and volunteered answers to questions, more than they had in a traditional setting. Recently, I also had another student email me and say that she was not feeling well, but I encouraged her to at least have the Zoom open so that she could listen to the lesson and get the instruction, even if she didn’t feel well enough to participate. She attended the class and thanked me later for still being able to participate in the lesson even though she wasn’t feeling well. Instead of focusing on the negative that they were not following “protocols” I decided to take this as a positive, and here are some of my takeaways:

  • Students can attend class from any place. They don’t have to be limited by vacations, or sports tournaments that are far away. 
  • Students can still attend class even if they don’t feel well enough to participate. In an in person setting, students would typically miss school, and have to make up all of the lectures and assignments and come to office hours to catch up. With online learning, students don’t have to miss the entire lesson, and still remain in the comfort of their homes. 
  • Parents who are near their children (in this case, my student’s mom was driving the car) can witness all of the magic and dynamic lessons that are happening in their child’s classes. I don’t mind parents seeing what cool things we’re doing in class so that there is some transparency. This might be intimidating for some, and I agree, but I think that having a glimpse into what is happening in their child’s class is beneficial. So often parents ask their child: “what did you learn in school today?” and the kid typically responds with: “nothing.” This opportunity gives parents a window into what is happening in their child’s school day. 
  • Teachers can collaborate and observe classes a lot easier, and less intrusively. I have had the opportunity to observe some colleagues on Zoom, and I find that it’s efficient, beneficial, quick, and perhaps not as intimidating as having a person sitting in a chair in the back of the room. I can unobtrusively observe a colleague and cause little disruption.
I was truly amazed to see how engaged my students are in my Zoom classes from literally EVERYWHERE. Learning is not confined to the classroom, nor the traditional environments from long ago; good education can happen in Tahoe, in the car, a dining room, classroom, Innovation Center, you name it. Some may disagree, and I still prefer to teach in a classroom and in person, however I think that online education opens the doors for so many students and families and teachers that a new way of learning is continuing to expand. 
I will add this caveat: not all students have the same access to reliable internet and the online tools that other students have, however perhaps the roads will be paved so that more students have more access to quality education from anywhere.
You know what they say about lemons and lemonade…

Pandemics, Emotional Roller Coasters, and Edwige Simon

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Way back in March when this pandemic became a significant part of our reality, I innocently thought that it would last one to two months, maximum. I thought to myself “okay, it’s no big deal (it was a big deal) don’t panic (I panicked), we’ll stay in our houses and after shelter in place, everything will be fine” (it wasn’t fine.)
And now, here we are, nearly five months later and not much has changed…back in March I truly didn’t fathom that we would continue to plan for having online classes, and hybrid classes in the better case scenario. When the months passed, and I came to the harsh reality that I wasn’t going to be able to teach how I naturally teach and how I’ve always thrived and was comfortable and I was going to return to the chaotic dumpster fire that was remote distance learning (I’m being dramatic), I was definitely in denial and disbelief…

I wallowed, and had a minor pity party and after I collected my thoughts, I did what any normal person would do in a time of emotional crisis: I went to ALLUDO! And I saw how many tasks there were to do, and I closed my computer immediately and watched Netflix instead.  🙂

But when I finally decided to be productive, I chose to take some online courses that were offered through Coursera. (And I became overwhelmed again…this was really an emotional roller coaster for me). I chose to take the Blended Language Learning through University of Boulder Colorado. Let me tell you: THIS COURSE WAS FANTASTIC (in my opinion). The course was taught by Edwige Simon, and I’m assuming she designed the course, and I’ve got to say, her teaching online style really appealed to me:

Edwige Simon
My takeaways from this course that I have and will continue to apply to my online classes are:
  • Divide the class into 3 parts: teacher presence, social presence (where students interact with each other) and cognitive presence (where students interact with the material and their own thinking). I took this another step and decided I’m going to organize my classes in that order and students will have the last bit of class be autonomous where they have the freedom to work on the assignment individually right in that moment, or take a break and continue to it that night or in a few days. Breaks from the screen and brain breaks are so essential (as I’ve come to find out after Zoom after Zoom on PD days)
  • Backwards planning is important for online courses. What do you want the student to eventually know at the end of the lesson? What is the culminating (summative) idea and lessons you want the students to learn? Then you start planning what activities and assignments will help achieve that objective.
  • The way the class itself was structured gave me a phenomenal example of how organized, clear and structured the class was: It was composed of a short video, followed by a short powerpoint, a small formative quiz (which gave feedback and multiple tries), a discussion board, a reading assignment, a written assignment, a few more videos and quizzes, followed by a summative test at the end. There was immediate feedback, and the structure was routine, clear, and consistent. I loved the seamless transitions and routine that I knew what to expect for every assignment and there were no surprises and no pressure. 
  • There was an “integrity” portion where students had to click a box agreeing to academic integrity and sign their name that they would use their own words and no outside resources otherwise there would be consequences. I’m not sure how I would’ve gotten caught, however just that reminder definitely was on my conscience and I didn’t use outside resources, even though I was tempted. I liked this feature a lot.
  • There was an approximate time slot for how long assignments should take. I found these time approximations to be overestimated, and assignments that took me 2 minutes were estimated to take up to 20 minutes. I liked this feature, however because it allowed me to budget my time and prioritize assignments. In my classes, I will give a more general time frame like “short, medium, and long” so that students are able to budget their time. 
I will try to emulate this structure as much as I can, because I really enjoyed how the class was structured and delivered. I felt no pressure to perform, and it was a relaxed learning atmosphere. I was eager to write this blog post despite not having put the strategies to practice, because I was afraid I’d forget, however I think it’s important in building my course right now. I may update this post to see how it all goes with students, but I’m optimistic. 

“Ditch That Homework”

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Homework
Ditch That Homework. 

 How do we define “homework”? Is it worksheets, and “busy work” that keeps students chained to the material even while they’re trying to watch The Bachelor at home? Is it a masterfully designed project that will stimulate students to delve into their passions, and exploit their creativity to potentially change the future of the world? Is it something in between? Is it necessary, unnecessary? Are we doing a disservice to our students if we assign homework? How about if we don’t?










There are a few questions that I have learned to ask myself before I assign homework for a lesson:
  • “Does it increase a student’s love of learning?
  • Does it significantly increase learning?
  • Does it stimulate students’ interest in the subject and make them want to delve deeper?
  • Are students able to complete the assignment without help?
  • Is it differentiated for ability or interest?
  • If the students didn’t have to do it, would they want to do it anyway?
  • Is it fair to all students, especially those from poorer families and less-educated households?
  • Does it avoid causing fights, parent/child division, and a lack of harmony in the home?

If you answer ‘no’ to these questions, maybe it’s time to ditch that homework and try something else instead” (Miller xvii).
I recommend the book Ditch That Homework by Matt Miller and Alice Keeler. They’ve also written Ditch That Textbook, which is also a thought-provoking read.
After reading this book (a few times, it’s a quick read), I have definitely come to the conclusion that worksheets and “busy” work are not effective for my class. With worksheets, many students either forget to do the assignment, they didn’t understand it, or simply weren’t motivated to do it (how can they be, The Bachelor???) so they copy their peer’s worksheet to get credit. Unless there is a ridiculously “off” answer, I don’t really have much of a way of knowing whether the student understood the material, or if the assignment is plagiarized. This assignment serves no purpose for me. I’ll admit, I assigned worksheets in the past. I KNOW, I KNOW, MEA CULPA.

I’m not judging anybody who assigns worksheets, they just don’t work for me anymore. I have switched to assigning other types of homework. Sometimes, I assign students to write sentences using the structure that we learned in class. This is not an extremely challenging assignment and most students can get it done in under 10 minutes. It reinforces the material so they at least had a chance to practice it the night before so we can work on it in class again. It’s a memory refresher and it’s a gauge to see if students can fly solo on the material that was taught in class. They can also get creative with sentences, and they can be funny too.

Other nights, I assign weekly video diaries where students are given a prompt and they have to spontaneously respond in spoken Spanish in a 1-5 minute video. Initially, students dread this assignment however, as time goes by, students become more comfortable with speaking and I get a glimpse into their thoughts, their life, sometimes their families, and it’s a different way to interact with students that isn’t just the classroom. The quiet students in class have a way to express themselves and practice their Spanish in a more comfortable environment.
I also assign video tutorials on Schoology, where students watch a video explaining a grammar or cultural lesson, and they take notes or write down any questions they have so that we can review it the next day in class. Students don’t mind watching the videos, they are usually pretty short and palatable. They also have the option to not watch the video if they feel they understand the material, or if they don’t have access to the internet (lol, yeah right).
I’ve also decided that if the students can show mastery in the classroom, then the homework isn’t as necessary. I implemented a “negotiation” that I made with my students in class. I have a cylinder full of 100 colored rocks per class. Each class has a different set of rocks. Historically, I have struggled with students being willing to actually speak in SPANISH in class. I ask a question and students ask “en inglĂ©s?” and I say “no, en español” and they become indignant and say “ugh. Nevermind”. Then students would proceed to speak in English, with no consequence. This is tragic. And so began the PIEDRAS (rocks). 
SOOOOO I cut them a deal. Every time I heard English spoken in class, students would lose 10 rocks out of the 100. If they were left with 30 rocks by the end of the week, (which means as a class they spoke 7 times in English) they wouldn’t receive homework over the weekend. Students were very eager, and I have to say, I haven’t assigned homework over the weekend in over 2 months. I haven’t even come close. Students are holding one another accountable and demanding that they speak in Spanish. One student asked “en inglĂ©s?” and I said “tienes que sacrificar 10 piedras” (you have to sacrifice 10 rocks) and sometimes they take the sacrifice, but most of the time, they struggle through the Spanish because they don’t want to lose rocks. These students are practicing the language so much in class, that I don’t find the need to assign practice assignments for homework. It’s become ingrained in their brains because they are using the language, which is significantly more effective than simply writing it.
These are just some things that I have taken away from reading this book. It’s a great read, and I recommend it to anyone who has struggled with homework. I have a copy of both books if you would like to borrow.

My Generation of Polyglots Seminar

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“I Took 9 Years of Spanish, and All I Know Are The Colors and Taco”

What was your experience with learning language in high school? Was it fun? A lot of “fiestas”? Brutal grammar and conjugation drills? or my favorite: memorizing dialogues: “Me llamo Juan. ÂżDĂłnde estĂĄ el baño por favor? ÂżDĂłnde estĂĄ la biblioteca, Maria?

When asked, many people may say that they remember the random dialogues that they were forced to memorize, maybe a conjugation or two, the colors, and not much else…

(You know it’s true)
The way modern language is being taught is ever evolving. In high school, I had one of the toughest teachers around. She drilled all of the conjugations in 24 tenses for the most random verbs and we painstakingly memorized these verbs, and I LOVED IT! (I am not most people). 
Last week, I had the tremendous opportunity to see a different way to approach language instruction with my department at a seminar in Gilroy, California (yas garlic!). It was a one day event with A LOT of information jam packed into a very engaging, informative and USEFUL seminar. I have so many things to say about this seminar, that I will probably blog about more takeaways at a later time. This seminar was taught by Mike Peto, language instructor extraordinaire. He demonstrated his lessons in Portuguese because most people don’t understand Portuguese, and he was making a point that his lessons were going to teach us another language. 
Mike Peto’s lessons focus primarily on Comprehensible Input and the lessons that go with CI. A few takeaways for me were the OWI (One Word Image) stories, Movie Talk, and Student Interviews. These are practical ways to get students engaged with the language, to help them build confidence in their language skills and to speak and write the language with increasing fluency. We practiced some of the lessons in the seminar, and after the day was done, I was excited to immediately try some of these lessons with my students the very next day. (Fortunately, these lessons don’t require too much planning because they are extremely student centered). They seem quirky and random at first, and I was a little skeptical, but I decided to try these lessons out…
One Word Images goes like this: the instructor has several criteria written on the board or the projector: What is the object, the size, color, emotion, likes and dislikes, job, rich/poor, kind/mean, and what is a superpower. Students are tasked with taking an inanimate object, like a pineapple, or broccoli, or a seashell and giving it life. (This is a period 2 drawing)

Students create a story around this object. They provide adjectives, and superpowers, and likes and dislikes and a job for this inanimate object. They create a story around this one image, and they end up creating dilemmas around this new living image. While students describe, there is a designated artist, who is drawing an illustration based on what is being described by the class. The teacher facilitates the story, and by the end, there is a final product: a story and an illustration that accompanies the text. 

I had my doubts that this wouldn’t be “academic” enough to prepare students for the AP Exam, however students are providing profound connections, without even realizing it…In my 5th period class, my students picked a broccoli who was very sensitive and depressed because he was white and yellow and not green like his friends. He was a professional ballet dancer, and he didn’t fit in with his friends because they all played sports. 

After the story, we talked about identity and the roles that we all play in society, and interpersonal relationships and what is ideal in society. These are in the AP themes, and we discussed all of these bigger themes entirely in Spanish, and even the students who don’t participate much in class were compelled to speak up, and that was a truly empowering feeling. I have decided to create digital story books that are written by and illustrated by the students, per class so that each class builds their story every week.  
Students were able to retain a large amount of information without studying the vocabulary or the structures. They were able to recall the information orally and they were able to write the information presented on paper when they were finished with the lesson. Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive and students felt accomplished and engaged in the language. This sure beats memorizing dialogues or a shopping list of conjugations like we did when we learned a foreign language.

EmpatĂ­a

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After watching the Brené Brown video on empathy on the first retreat day, I thought about how I could incorporate SEL in my classes and adapt it to my Spanish curriculum. I found that it would be a nice fit for the beginning of the year because the first chapter in the curriculum relates to vocabulary pertaining to one of the AP themes of interpersonal relationships and how we connect with people.

I scoured YouTube and I found the Brené Brown video on empathy dubbed in Spanish. I found it with Spanish subtitles and I decided to do a mini lesson on empathy with my students and embed it into the chapter vocabulary. We had a discussion in class in Spanish about what students thought empathy was and if we as a society are very empathetic or not. Students emphatically claimed that we are not a very empathetic society, however they could not articulate what we could do to practice more empathy in our relationships.

I proceeded to show the video and afterward, many students said that they did not understand the video because it was too fast. I showed the video again, and paused it every 20-30 seconds and we had discussions of the meanings in chunks. Students were able to understand the video more. I showed the video a third time, in English, so that students could compare what they understood in Spanish to what was actually being said. They said that they got the general gist of the topic. 

I assigned a video diary (a video blog that students are assigned weekly) to articulate their thoughts in Spanish about what they thought were the obstacles for empathy.

We wrapped up by doing a comprehension worksheet as an exit ticket and a check for listening and comprehension.

At the end, I had every intention to do a unit evaluation for this activity, however I personally felt that it went horribly. Students did not seem to engage with the material and they seemed confused, bored, and not connected and I felt that maybe the subject was a little over their heads. I abandoned the lesson and moved on.

A month later, I realized that I had written this activity down as one of my year goals, and that I was going to do a unit evaluation on the lesson, and feeling dejected, I didn’t do my goal. I decided that I would show the video again to my students to see how much they remembered and if anything about empathy had sunk in and if anything we had discussed in class resonated and stuck with students a month later. I was completely shocked to see that students were able to recall the lessons and vocabulary that we had talked about a month later, without even reviewing the vocabulary. I showed the video one more time, and students were shocked to see that they were able to understand the video and pick up on more vocabulary that they recognized from the previous chapter. Not only that, but they were able to identify and practice how to be empathetic in their daily relationships.

I conducted a unit evaluation and the results were pretty positive. I’m happy I did this lesson (twice) and that I was able to incorporate SEL as an overarching theme in my classes. Here are some examples from the unit evaluation:

ÂżCĂłmo Se Dice, “Maths” en Español?: A Collaborative Vlog

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WATCH THIS VIDEO, YOUR WORLD WILL CHANGE….(probably not, but just watch because I put work into it) 🙂


So I don’t like math. 
I never have. I like being competitive and getting points on Alludo though,
which is why I ended up signing myself up for an online maths course for math
teachers. (Yes, I said “maths”). I really didn’t have any intention of getting anything out of this
course and I really did just take it to get more Alludo points, because who
needs sleep? I also wanted to know what my students go through on a regular
basis to see if I can adjust my curriculum according to their needs and how
they learn, so I gave maths a whirl.


 Much to my surprise, it wasn’t really a course about math,
(maths) in the videos that I watched (on double speed to save time), but rather
a philosophy on teaching and learning that can be applied to various realms and
curricula. While I watched the videos I noticed language pertaining to “fixed
mindset” and “growth mindset”, and the concept of “yet.”
 Students in these
videos stated “I’m not good at math” “I’m just not a math person” “This isn’t
how my brain works”, and I began to make some connections: I noticed many of my
own students in Spanish saying similar things “I’m just no good at languages” “My
parents weren’t good at language, so neither am I” “I had bad teachers in middle
school, so I’m not very good”. I started to create a correlation between
Spanish teaching and learning and math, and when I approached Lesley Schooler
about this connection, she agreed that there might be some similarities. Like
math, students in Spanish are afraid to make mistakes, they put an obtrusive
filter on producing and speaking the language because they’re afraid they will
make mistakes and not be precise, so they just don’t speak. I found the
neurological studies in the math online course through Stanford to be
fascinating with the connections that I could make with my students in Spanish
class. I realized that the material needs to be slower and more attainable for
students, and not penalize mistakes, but point out mistakes, and allow students
to correct them (this is where the brain grows) and they shouldn’t be marked
down for making mistakes, but they should fix them so that they enjoy the process
of learning. The videos present the idea of the journey and process in learning. Students try and think aloud and defend and explain their findings rather than simply right and wrong and they move on. I am inspired to incorporate more of this style into my classes. The conundrum that I’m having is, while this is a great way to encourage learning and brain growth, I want to know that I am preparing students for college, and upper level learning where there might still be an institutionalized, systematic fixed mindset that they also need to be able to navigate. Would I be doing my students a disservice if I don’t require precision as well? I’m not sure. 
I shared these thoughts with Lesley and we made other
insights and connections as well. I think this is a good course to take, even
if you don’t teach math because a lot of the principles can be applied in many
fields of study. Also I actually learned some math, and I don’t hate it as much
as before. Yay!

That One Time I Had An Idea…

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I have so many ideas that I don’t even know what to do with them. Finding the time and energy for all of the things swirling through my head is a daunting task. Once I have an idea, and I think it’s great, I automatically think about how I can make it better…and then I get overwhelmed and it becomes a vicious cycle. 
I actually had so many ideas for blog posts, and they all live in my head and I haven’t found the time until now (because I have to) to actually compose my ideas in this blog…woops?
Anyway. My most recent idea came from Lacy Matthews: 
She’s the best! 🙂

who made an announcement about immigration over the loud speaker one morning during prayer in first period. I got inspired in that instant to assign my Spanish 3 Honors students the task of writing a personal narrative of an immigrant coming from a Spanish speaking country during this time. Students were to write their story in the first person from the perspective of an immigrant (obviously in Spanish).  First they were required to pick a scenario: which country? What is this person like? What is their family like? What challenges or successes arose from the immigration process?

Students researched social media posts, news articles, blogs, vlogs, pretty much anything available to them to get the most accurate, authentic perspective they could find. And they really enjoyed it. They were tasked to work in groups, and produce a dramatic, first person perspective narrative of what an immigrant might go through in various scenarios.
My students found themselves learning about government policies regarding immigration, polarizing perspectives, the daily struggles of someone living in a war-torn country or a country with limited economic opportunities. They found themselves feeling compassionate toward individuals that they had never encountered before. They learned things that weren’t readily available in a textbook or a lecture, and that’s awesome.  Oh, and I guess they learned some Spanish along the way too 😉
I found that my students were really into this project. They took pride in what they were doing,  and they wanted to do it well. They were meticulous with the grammar, conjugations, subject verb agreement, adjectives, and the best word choice, because as one student put it: “I want to do these people justice. Their story is important, and I owe it to them to do a good job.” 
(And then my teacher heart exploded into a million happy pieces!) 
I later found out from one of my students who has Lacy for religion class that she was simultaneously teaching about immigration and was showing a film titled: “Which Way Home?’ (I think that’s what the movie was called, my brain turned to mush during Christmas break, correct me if I’m wrong, Lacy). Students in her class were also privileged to see a guest speaker who discussed immigration policy and bills regarding the issue. I was delighted to know that several of my students in my Spanish class also share Lacy’s class and we were discussing the same themes.
This unintentional collaboration happens more often than not with my classes. Somehow whatever I happen to be teaching completely coincides with another discipline, and then BAM! Interdisciplinary teaching. The only problem is, I don’t want to have to find out from my students what’s happening in other classes, but it’s a welcome blessing anyway. I love to see that my students are making the connections on their own without it being forced. I like when learning is organic, and when students can come to their own conclusions on their own. 
Back to what I was saying about so many ideas…I like this project…It has been great so far, but I want to do MORE with it. I’m open to more ideas and suggestions because I want to expand on this topic. I don’t want to just leave it as an essay. Let me know your thoughts! 

Sometimes Things Go Better Than I Had Planned…

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My Spanish 3 Honors students can conjugate 21 tenses in any given form on command. They can analyze and discuss the similarities and differences between Jorge Luis Borges’ short story and Salvador Dali’s surrealist paintings through the theme of duality of being and metafiction. My Spanish 3 Honors students can discuss the benefits and moral disadvantages of stem-cell research and technology in the medical field. They can recite the Beatitudes, discuss genocide in Guatemala, all in Spanish…HOWEVER: 
Many of them do it in an inauthentic accent that makes me weep bitterly at night…(okay that’s not true, but the accents definitely need some work…)
I have struggled for YEARS to find techniques to keep my brilliant students accountable for having an authentic accent. Their accent must match their genius minds. When I correct them in class, and they repeat after me, they are able to sound authentic and within a few minutes, they revert back to overcompensating with an “Americanized” accent (Imagine Dr. Phil speaking Spanish…)
You’re welcome.
While I understand that speaking Spanish with an authentic accent isn’t imperative to understanding the general gist of what a person is saying, and I also recognize and appreciate the fact that not everyone is capable of sounding like they jumped out of a Spanish telenovela, I do find it to be important to at least make an attempt to the best of one’s ability to produce a sound that is as similar as possible to the target language (in this case, Spanish). To make this blog not such a long read, I’ll get to the point…

I wanted to find a fun, out of the box tool that would help my Honors students become cognizant of their accents and to hold them accountable for trying to sound as authentic as possible. I wanted to provide them with a tool that they could use to practice at home. I introduce you to:
It’s a game where people try to pronounce certain words with a plastic barrier in their mouths. (Apparently it’s hilarious, I’ve never played…) Anyway, I came up with this idea because many English vowels require the speaker to close their mouths to pronounce. For example: “oh” or “u” (you). If you just tried saying these vowels, you find that your lips close together. My students are saying words like “dos” and “ocho” like “dose” and “ohchoh”. In Spanish, the mouth stays open. It’s hard to explain in writing, but the plastic tool prevents students from closing their mouths, thus forcing them to pronounce the vowels in a more authentic way. Here are some videos, first in English, then Spanish:

I asked my students what they thought about this new technique to help them with their accents, some said that they liked it and they could feel that the plastic piece was helping them be aware of the positioning of their lips when they spoke. Others said that it didn’t really help. Perhaps they won’t go home and practice with their own tools that I provided to them, but there was an even more valuable lesson that came up with using this ridiculous piece of plastic. It was ridiculous. I have found over the years that in order to be successful at speaking a language, one must take risks. The mental filter that tells you that you sound dumb, or are going to sound ridiculous impedes many language learners from actually attempting to speak. The biggest lesson for my students was to eliminate the filter, to both look and feel ridiculous, and attempt to speak anyway. Did this piece of plastic help them improve their accents dramatically? Perhaps not, but it certainly made them more cognizant of their accent, and it was a physical reminder to let go of the filter and just try to sound the best that they can. This is not what I had planned to happen with this activity. I was more focused on getting my students to sound more authentic, but an even better result came from the class: My students were having fun, they lost their obtrusive filters, and began to let go of the fear of speaking (and singing). 

I’d say that’s a win!

ÂĄConduzcamos por la Ciudad!

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I have been taking a course at UC Berkeley for six Saturdays since September, and I finally finished my last course this past Saturday. During these courses, I have begun to move even more away from simply memorizing vocabulary and grammar and truly incorporating the material into real-world applications. 

In Spanish 2, which is a combined Sophomore and Freshman class, students are learning about city vocabulary: streets, signs, turn, go straight, keep going, and also store names: fish market, fruit stand, park, supermarket, bakery, bank etc. I have also heard several of my students chatting about getting their licenses, or taking their permit tests…or failing their license tests.. 🙁 
AND THEN I HAD AN EPIPHANY:
I wanted to make city vocabulary as real as possible for my students.
 In groups of 3-5, I had my students open Google Earth and investigate a city in Latin America that they had heard of, or that they were interested in. They basically virtually traveled through all of Latin America, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Spain and were able to see street names and people’s houses, and a lot of trees. They also got side tracked and searched for their own houses and Carondelet as well…but back to the assignment. 

Once students became excited about looking at cities through Google Earth, I had them pick a city and try to replicate it in the most basic from onto butcher paper. Some students drew Cartagena in Colombia, others drew cities in Mexico and Puerto Rico. 
They drew streets, and labeled the street names and round abouts etc.
Next, they researched common shops based on the vocabulary that they could find in or around the city. They were able to make cultural comparisons and realize that there is a CROCS store here in the US, but also in Colombia,  and the students were surprised to see this. They labeled their stores with the Spanish word, for example: pescaderĂ­a for fish market, and they labeled the name of the market. 
Next students, learned the “nosotros” commands “Let’s drive” “Let’s go” and they also practiced their informal commands as well. Once they were relatively comfortable with their commands, students finished coloring their maps.
When the maps were complete, each group received a “Hot Wheels” car that I had gone out and purchased. They got to pick their cars: the truck, the garbage truck, the race car, and they were excited to drive their cars.
Students took turns filming each other giving one another directions using commands and listening and “driving” their cars according to the directions their peer was giving them to get from one place to another. Students had a blast doing this activity and they were able to integrate culture, grammar, and vocabulary into a fun, innovative, creative project in a group.
What surprised me the most, is that students went completely off script and started to spontaneously incorporate vocabulary from earlier chapters. They decided to make their cars have accidents and they needed to go to the hospital because the driver had an injury. Hospital and injury vocabulary happened way back in chapter 1, however students were still able to recollect the information and use it in an unrehearsed in a spontaneous way to make a story with their maps. This is what pleased me the most. As a language teacher, my goal is to have my students produce the language as spontaneously and unscripted as possible, and they became excited to create their own individual scenarios spontaneously.
Overall, I enjoyed this assignment, and so did my students. I got a lot of great feedback that they were able to use real-world applications in class. 1 week later, I quickly quizzed students on the vocabulary and the commands, and they were all able to produce accurate answers without having studied before.
Here is a sample video:

Surgeries in Spanish

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In Spanish 2 one of the chapters focuses on health and hospital and body part vocabulary. We had practiced a lot of the vocabulary and my students became quite familiar with the material. I played clips from Grey’s Anatomy (everybody’s favorite show) and muted the dialog, and students were to narrate in Spanish what was happening using their own vocabulary. The students seemed to enjoy this activity (did I mention that they love Grey’s Anatomy?) I decided I wanted to make the vocabulary even more useful and interesting and perhaps appealing to students who were interested in STEM…

I investigated “surgery games in Spanish” and I was so excited with what I discovered!

Students read about a case in Spanish, whether it pertains to epilepsy, cataracts, brain surgery, or rhinoplasty (there are more scenarios). They they follow instructions in Spanish to complete a surgery. Not only did they recognize a lot of the vocabulary from the chapter, but they also were being exposed to commands and new vocabulary pertaining to surgical tools.

My students ask me every day if we can do “cirugĂ­as” in class. We’re not even on the medical chapter anymore…we’re focusing on technology vocabulary, so now I have to research more fun activities pertaining to BLOG vocabulary 😉

Here’s a link, if anyone wants to try out their Spanish knowledge and surgery skills (the site could be better, sometimes it doesn’t work and can be glitchy, so patience is required):

http://www.juegos.com/juego/operate-now-eye-surgery