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Mix it up! Reading TPRS Novels in Class

January 8, 2016, 8:16 am
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Teaching with TPRS novels was the most common request I received on what you want to hear more about on the blog. Here are all of the posts I have so far using novels. These are the novels that I have class sets of (so far!), have taught in class, and have posts on. After each novel are the levels I have taught them in. Please remember that I am by no means an expert, I have now taught novels for two years, each time with a new group who has never read books in Spanish. I start with very easy books to build confidence, while allowing for higher level discussion in Spanish. The first 6 are from TPRS Publishing and I have all of the teacher's guides. 

The teacher's guides have tons of great pre-reading discussions, during reading questions, post reading follow up activities and cultural expansion. They have been essential to saving my planning sanity and give more than enough ideas to make a novel a complete cultural unit. Also, make sure before you start to plan to check out teacher blogs and Pinterest for even more ideas and activities to complement the novel. 

What I struggled with at first was not what to complement the novel with, but how to actually read each chapter without it getting stale. Here are a few ways of how to mix up actually reading each chapter. 


Teacher reads the chapter to the class


  • This is how I would suggest doing the first chapter or two, or even more for first time students or low levels. This is the preferred method for most students as they enjoy when I read with inflection, as well as pause to ask questions, expand and personalize. The issue is reading five classes in a row takes a toll on my voice and requires a lot of teacher energy. You have to vary your approach not just for student interest, but teacher sanity. 
  • MIX IT UP! 
    • Students get to sit anywhere in the room while listening.
    • Everyone gets to bring in comfy blankets and pillows and lounge around the room.
    • Students sit on the floor around the teacher's chair, similar to kindergarten style. 
    • Have projected discussion questions on the board, that remind you to pause and talk about these topics, relating them to the students.
    • Read to students in a new location that fits the chapter, such as outside or in a dim auditorium.
Students following along with Robo en la Noche (during Homecoming superhero day:)

Students read alone

  • I usually start having low levels students read alone after I have already read it to the class. As a review, students can start the day re-reading yesterday's chapter.
  • Some upper level students prefer to read alone, as they do not like to be dragged down by reading at slower students' pace. Last year my higher level section of Spanish III preferred to read on their own every day if given the option. 
  • MIX IT UP! 
    • While reading students jot down how they feel after each page or paragraph. 
    • Students have a graphic organizer to keep their focus on important events or character organization.
    • While reading students decide one change they would make to the story.


    Students read in pairs


    • Some teachers have had great success with students "volleyball reading," where they take turns reading a paragraph and then translating it out loud. This can be a good confidence builder to show students they understand more than they think. It works best when students have a task while with their partner as well to keep focus. I generally give students the option to read in partners or alone, for those who would rather read on their own.
    • MIX IT UP! 
      • While reading out loud to their partner they must use accents like the character. There can even be a competition for the best character portrayal. 
      • Change the seating to side by side partners in a circle. 
      • Students get to sit anywhere they are comfortable, also allowing other parts of the school or outside if possible.

    Reading Tumba outside in pairs


    Class listens to audio recording 

    • The audio books are an amazing resource that I mistakenly rarely used my first year using novels. They allow for students to hear a native speaker and someone other than their teacher read the novel. It is a great refresher of a chapter after a weekend too. They are also a lifesaver when you loose your voice or are just plain exhausted and need a break. 
    • MIX IT UP! 
      • Pause the audio like you would do while reading to discuss and personalize. 
      • While listening, students draw a mural or story board of the chapter. 
      • Silent student actors portray what is happening during the book with props and costumes. (A class favorite!)
      • While listening, students have paper characters that they move, imitating movement in book.
      • Students follow along in their book with their finger while listening, jotting down questions, words they do not understand, or reflections. 
      • While listening a second time, students move paper strips of events around in order. 
      • Here are more of Kristy Placido's great ideas of using audio books.


    Students read outside of class 

    • This is only something I would recommend with very high level classes. Last year in my amazing Spanish IV class, I wanted the second semester to be run more like a college class. While reading Cajas de Cartón, students were given a syllabus in advance of the unit, of dates that each chapter would be discussed. Students had the awesome guide questions from Musicuentos, and were to come to class prepared to talk. Throughout they had time to work and read in class, either alone or with classmates, especially during days when I knew many were very busy with out of school events at night. These high level students had read books previously in Spanish class and had the skills necessary to read completely on their own. I know that this does not follow the storytelling CI model, but it was a way to differentiate for high achieving students. 

    Also, for more pre and post reading ideas, here are 5 Activities to Spice up any Novel.
    What are other ways you mix up reading novels in class?

    Thank you to everyone who entered the book giveaway. Congratulations to the winners Wendy F, Stephanie E, Heather S & Erin M. Your books should be shipped this weekend. No one entered for Portuguese, so if you know anyone who could use them, let me know!
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    Lista lunes - Día de San Valentín 16

    January 11, 2016, 8:11 am
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    Lista lunes - Día de San Valentín 16

    Here are some ideas from around the web to get your wheels spinning for the celebration of love. Remember holidays in language class can be so much more than a free day to "make a card in Spanish" while we eat food. (Which is what we always did while I was in high school and I did my first year teaching). The cultural connections and possibilities are endless with any celebration!



    El Día de San Valentín Infografía Activity


    Last year I made this simple reading comprehension activity over a Valentine's infograph. It is perfect for a novice level class for basic reading comprehension and to get the discussion started.

    Full Valentines Unit from Profe Cochran

    Profe Cochran shared an awesome full free packet on Valentine's day last year. Last year I used her helpful speed dating sheet to do a little speed dating in Spanish II. I even got out the prop box so students could date as their alter ego, which is way more entertaining than speed dating with just your normal classmates ;)


    Martina's Dating Unit

    It works out great that Spanish I will be using Martina Bex's Dating Unit (which is unit 12 in the Spanish I curriculum). We will be taking a break from her curriculum reading Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro this month, but will jump back to this fun unit after we finish. Last year I used an awesome authentic video that is a part of this unit in upper level classes as well. It is about dating and students thought it was hilarious. 

    Tengo tu Love


    This catchy song by Sie7e is perfect for this time of year. It has wonderful repetitions of "tengo" and is usually one of students favorite songs of the year. I like using Zachary Jones wonderful clozeline activity that can be found in the clozeline 2012 packet. 

    Flirting in Spanish Poster

    Mi clase es su clase has a cute idea for a flirting poster or bulletin board. These are the kind of phrases students want to learn and will remember!

    Es dia de san valentin - Charlie Brown


    This full video of Charlie Brown's Valentines Day in Spanish could be used in parts for a movie talk or the entire thing for an upper level class. 

    New**Valentine Poetry in Spanish - shared by Kim Huegerich

    Thank you @DonaKimberly for sharing your Spanish Valentine's poetry activity on Twitter after I posted this!


    lista lunes - Día de San Valentín 15

    Here are my ideas from last year including using authentic cards, Spanish conversation hearts, the song Chocolate and more.

    What are your go to resources for this holiday? please share in the comments!

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    General Sub Plan Template

    January 18, 2016, 2:35 pm
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    It is that time of year again. The plague has hit. Students are dropping like flies, and so are teachers and their children. If you are in Iowa with me the balmy high of -11 yesterday is not helping much with the sickness that has been going around. My little guy caught it, had a fever, and I needed to stay home last Friday. I was glad to already have my basic General Sub Plan Template, which made planning that much faster. Once you insert your class schedule and class times, adding in daily activity for each class is pretty quick. 

    During graduate school I subbed part time for three semesters for everything from preschool special education, to elementary P.E. to high school. There I learned exactly what I wanted and did not want to leave for substitute teachers in my absence. My favorite plans were simple, one page and to the point, including classes, times and activities. This led me to put together my basic Sub Plan Template. Some teachers go way overboard, leaving 5 pages of plans, which a sub never even get a chance to read. Make the job uncomplicated for the sub, so they are willing to come back to your class. It helps if your students are trained on routines, which they continue with even in your absence as well. 

    It is important to note, that this is my quick one page at a glance notes to set on the desk for the substitute, along with my full substitute binder. This binder already has class lists for each section, helpful students for each class, daily and emergency procedures, as well as extra forms and emergency plans that can be copied for any class. Spending a little extra time setting up a binder like this will save you SO much time when you feel like death and have no time to do so. It is essential if you will be gone long term. Here is my post about planning for maternity leave, which includes a link to my binder. 

    Stay healthy!

    Finally, everything in my teachers pay store will be 20% off this Wednesday & Thursday to go with the site wide sale!
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    TPT Sale today!

    January 20, 2016, 5:59 am
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    Everything in my teachers pay teachers store will be 20% off TODAY and tomorrow, the 20th & 21st. This is with the site wide sale! Use the code START16 for an additional 10% off!


    I know I am planning on heading right now to purchase items waiting in my cart. I like to plan smarter, not harder. This means 90% of what I do in my classroom comes from someone else. I have a teacher in my building who prides herself on making everything she implements. That is great if you have that kind of time, but as a mom, my family comes first. Why waste my time reinventing the wheel, when I can use tried and true great resources!
    Head to teachers pay teachers now!

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    Exploratory Spanish - 6 week plans

    January 25, 2016, 7:43 am
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    For the first time ever this year I teach junior high exploratory Spanish. This means I get to have all of the 7th & 8th graders, each for a 6 week block of time. We are on trimesters and have about 60 minute classes. You can see my reflection on one special student from my first group. it is a pretty neat opportunity, because it means I get to have every single junior high student and help to convince them to take Spanish in high school. Usually it is just encouraged to the "college bound" at my school, but I want to change that because EVERY student can benefit from knowing Spanish in their future. 

    I spent a lot of time thinking about exactly what I wanted to do with these students for our 6 weeks together. Well Friday 2 was the last day of group one and I am very sad to see them go. The progress they have made in our 30 hours together is amazing and I can not wait to get to see these 7th graders again next year before they even take Spanish I. I wanted the basis to be a fun, enjoyable experience, where they were surrounded with comprehensible input and the language came naturally. The items below were a part of our daily routine every day. 

    Explore Daily Routine

    • Para Empezar - Exploratory - Every day we had a fun class starter. They especially loved Música miércoles & Baile viernes
    • Special person interviews - We then had our "persona especial" interviews, which really helped me to learn about everyone, as well as reinforce basic questions and answers.
    • Real World Choice Work - Their only homework, was one stamp style sheet, collecting eight cultural experiences using Spanish. These included playing Duolingo, asking people their names in Spanish, being the greeter, the special person, watching Snapchat stories, or any other way they used their Spanish or learned about culture. 

    A huge thank you to Martina Bex's amazing storytelling units, for making up every other week of our class. The students LOVED acting out stories, and I think I may add more in with the next group. I also thought it was important for these first time Spanish students to have an idea of where in the world speaks Spanish, hence the mini geography unit. So here is what we did with our time together. 



    Week 1





    Week 2





    Week 3





    Week 4





    Week 5





    Week 6


    • Write own story & create project - This was my first time attempting something like this, and I think I will try and add more direction the next time around. It did not help that I was home with a sick little boy the day they started writing their stories, so they missed some crucial early guidance. I was hoping for more creativity with their projects, and may add risk taking to the rubric for next time. I think I will really encourage them to make some kind of video next time, so they will be able to look back at them to see their progress the next year. These videos would also work well to show the other sections. 

    Have you done exploratory classes? What other plans have worked well for you?

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    Curriculum Year 4

    January 28, 2016, 7:41 am
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    Last year I posted my Curriculum years 1-3. Some of you have requested an update, so here is my year 4, which includes tentative plans for the rest of the year. Please remember that I am at a new school this year, which was previously legacy methods textbook driven curriculum. The comprehensible input and novels were quite new, so I eased in all levels with more simple texts to build confidence. You will notice that the whole year my sophomores were only one unit behind my juniors. This was intentional, as I laid out the novels I had and put them in the order I wanted to teach them. I then started each class in that order. 




    This year each level is composed of two trimesters that are 12 weeks each, with 60 minute classes. This means that students completed one and a half "levels" in a year. Next year we are moving back to semesters, meaning we did not want to start half of a level trimester three with the freshman. This means for one year only we are able to over an optional culture class for freshman as an extension and preparation for Spanish 2 in the fall. I am highly encouraging those who have more difficulty with Spanish to take this class. I plan to give them a long list of possible culture units, which they will vote on their favorites. Tentatively, they will read the novel Tumba, as well as complete many mini units that are about two weeks long. 


    Year 4 - New school with (attempting) full on     comprehensible input 

    My working Google Sheet document to plan 15-16 Curriculum
    Yellow - Martina Bex Units, Purple - Novel Units, Blue - Culture


    Freshman - Spanish 1 & optional Culture & Civilization Sp1C

    • Spanish 1 C - Trimester 3 (optional extension this year)
      • Class will choose units to focus on. (chart above are just ideas)

      • Ideas I have include the following: lucha libre, bullfighting, medio ambiente, immigration, health, superstitions, biblioburro, native civilizations, la guerra sucia, guachos, yipao parade, fairy tales, geography, la tomatina, geography, culture of piñatas, specific countries of study, music, food, holidays, etc. 


    Sophomores - Spanish 2 B & Spanish 3 (A&B)


    Juniors - Spanish 3 B & Spanish 4 (A&B)

    Exploratory Spanish - 6 weeks each of 7th & 8th grade groups


    For next year, I am planning on going back to having my Esperanza unit before Robo en la Noche in past tense. I think it makes more sense to stick with present tense novels for me, and then moving on to past tense. I made the temporary switch this year because I know that Robo is always a popular and enjoyable first book, which is how I wanted Spanish 3 to start the year. 

    Also, this summer I get to order a TON of new novels with it being my year for curriculum supplies. I am very pumped and my next year curriculum map will look much different with the addition of many new books:) I may go to an every other year with some books, to keep it fresh for myself. 

    What does a typical year in your class look like?
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    Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro - year 2

    February 1, 2016, 6:01 am
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    I was recently asked to give an update on how I been teaching novels. All of my original posts on teaching the novel Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro were written as I was teaching the book for the first time, which was my first TPRS novel EVER. Last year my Spanish 2 started the year reading Brandon Brown, after their first year was based on Avancemos 1. I realized how much storytelling vocab they were missing out on, when many of the high frequency words such as ve and va, were unknown to many students. Also, last year Spanish 1 read it 2nd quarter. You can purchase the novel and teacher's guide from TPRS Publishing.

    This year Spanish 1 is reading Brandon Brown after completing Units 1-10 of Martina Bex's Spanish 1 Somos curriculum. It has gone SO much smoother this time around, because our whole year has been focused on high frequency vocabulary and storytelling words. We actually could have done it earlier in the year, because they have been flying through the chapters, they even want to read them on their own. 

    Before starting the novel unit, I posted all materials on Schoology in a Brandon Brown folder. This includes a full power point of the whole book with vocab, pre discussion questions, during discussion questions, and cultural expansion for each chapter. This has worked really well for students who are are absent, as they know the expectation if they are gone is to read the next chapter and complete the accompanying activities. This has been a great management management technique, as it saves me a lot of time filling in those who are gone. I usually project what we are doing, but students can pull up their own power point, if they wold like to see the questions closer. 

    Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro - year 2


    Before starting the novel
    Mini cultural unit - Carrie the Dancing Merengue Dog

    During novel
    • Almost everything we did was from the great teacher's guide. Many of the items we did were the same from these posts. 
    • With 60 minute classes we spent 2 days each on chapters 1 & 2, and one day each on the rest of the chapters. 
    • I was absent the 2nd day of chapter 2, when students were instructed to re-read the chapter, complete the comprehension questions, and prepare with scripts in groups to do a reader's theater presentation when I returned. I was very pleasantly surprised when a couple groups actually filmed themselves in class and posted them to Youtube for our viewing pleasure. They chose to use ridiculous non related props from our class prop box, but they were still entertaining for us to watch. This would be a great no prep sub plan for a novel - create a script of the most recent chapter, practice, and make a video acting it out. 
    reader's theater with random unrelated props
    • This time, I did a better job differentiating between my two classes of Spanish 1. I used to insist that we did the same activities each class, but the personality of each class, and time of day makes such a difference. 1st hour is always sleepy and needs waking up. They enjoy reading out loud and group work. While 4th hour is wild and right before lunch. This class loves moving, such as acting out scenes with the audio book, or with reader's theater. They like quickly reading on their own, and then doing comprehension Kahoots. Just search "brandon brown" and there are lots of great public Kahoots. 
    • Something else I just added this year was a Chapter 9 - Running Dictation. I just typed up 8 main events of the chapter in large print, and posted them around the hallway. See instructions of how to implement it here.
    • To go along with the "Vaya" fun expressions slideshow found in the teacher's guide, we watched Sr. Wooly's Sé Chévere video, which they LOVED. I can not wait until we get our subscription to Sr. Wolly Pro for next school year!
    • Check out this post for more ideas of keeping each chapter fresh - Mix it up - reading TPRS novels in class.


    After Novel 

    • As a culminating project, we once again did our movie trailer final project. This is one of the few times in Spanish 1 that we do a writing assignment that editing is allowed. I do this so they get a chance to make sure they are proud of their final project video.

    I consider this round a win, considering I had multiple students ask if we get to read another novel!
    What other resources do you use to teach brandon brown?
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    Quick Tip: Carnaval 2016

    February 9, 2016, 6:01 am
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    If you are looking for some culture filled lessons this week that do not involve San Valentín & love, look into the current festival of carnaval! While French teachers are celebrating Mardi Gras, and Portuguese teachers are focused on the biggest carnival in Brazil, there are many Spanish speaking celebrations to look into. 

    Image Source - Flicker - Michele Marini - Carnaval de Barranquilla


    Carnaval de Barranquilla
    This large celebration in Colombia would be a great opportunity to talk about music, dance, clothing, and cultural traditions the official website is in Spanish and very user friendly, as a authentic resource web quest. For example the excerpt from the schedule below would be a great authentic way to talk about days of the week, numbers, time and places. 
    Carnaval de Barranquilla

    Zachary Jones - Carnaval Unit
    As always the go to site for activities to go with authentic resources is Zachary Jones. There are many ready to go activities, including a song activity for the catchy Carnaval de amor, which takes place in Barranquilla. 

    Last year we used this activity for Muévete y pégate, which can be purchased as a part of the Cancionero 2015 unit. The video would also make a great movie talk as it includes the reina of carnival, as well as a ton of great discussion items culturally. 


    For cultural comparisons

    What resources do you have for carnaval? Please share!!
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    CI: Comprehensible Iowa Conference

    February 10, 2016, 8:10 am
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    As you may have seen on social media, Iowa is officially going to have a conference this summer specifically geared for comprehensible input strategies. I am very excited for this opportunity to learn and grow so close to home. It is especially neat, since it has come together rather quickly. Less than a month ago, the amazing Elizabeth Dentlinger posed the idea on the Teaching CI in the Heartland Facebook group , and has worked very hard to make this a reality. Kim Huegerich jumped right in offering for her school in Nevada, Iowa to host. Check out the Comprehensible Iowa website for for information. 



    We would love for YOU to submit a proposal. There will be separate tracks for beginners and those experienced in CI, as well as more "edcamp" style sessions that will be decided the day off. If you would like to present a session, please submit a proposal here by Friday, March 18. 


    Registration will open February 19, and you can register here for this great one day event. Did I mention there will be TWO keynote presentations from both Carol Gaab and Grant Boulanger?!? If you are in the mid west, this is the event of the summer to be at!

    I look forward to learning and growing with many of you this summer at #CIIA16!
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    El Internado: NEW Season 2 Resources

    February 16, 2016, 1:13 pm
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    I have posted before how I use the Spanish TV show El Internado: Laguna Negra in my Spanish III and IV classes on Friday. Dustin Williamson, Mike Peto and many others have posted a lot of great resources for season 1. Since I never want to reinvent the wheel, I use these wonderful resources to complement and enhance the comprehension of the show, along with frequent pausing of the show to restate and check for understanding. 

    Dustin Williamson has great resources for the first half of season 2, but I realized I could not find any supplemental activities for season 2, episodes 6,7 & 8 (12,13 & 14). I created the following activities, adapting the summaries from the site Formula TV. These are for my Spanish IV class, who has been watching for a while and does not need as much support anymore as they did for the first few episodes. These are mostly for review after the episode is over and to practice reading, writing, and guide more speaking discussion. It also helps the couple students who need something to go along with as they watch, or those who are absent and need a review to catch up. 





    Please feel free to use these in class, and let me know if you find anything that needs to be corrected or changed. If you adapt on these and make them better, please return the favor and share them back! I just ask that you do not sell or post them as your own work. 

    El Internado 2.6 - Ver para creer

    El Internado 2.7 - Mi amigo el monstruo

    El Internado 2.8 - El polo norte


    To review season 2
    Temporada 2 Kahoot (SraMonell)
    Temporada 2 Reading (Dustin Williamson)


    If you have other resources for season 2 please share them in the comments!
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    March música miércoles madness

    February 21, 2016, 1:20 pm
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    Last year I posted Música miércoles - bracket style based from this awesome post from Bethanie Drew. It was very low tech and drawn on my unused chalk board. This year I actually planned ahead (mostly because I knew I needed to change out my Valentine's themed bulletin board and wanted something for March). 

    This year I wanted students to have more say in creating the bracket, so I created a quick Google Form for students to nominate potential songs in Spanish. I put the most requested ones together in an excel bracket chart and tried to give it some kind or organization. I ended up having four quadrants: class favorites, current songs, past chart toppers, old school songs (aka what I listened to in high school Spanish in the early 2000's:). I tried to have a variety of artists, but you can tell by the lack of genres that these students love reggaetón and Latin pop. We listen to a variety in class, but when given the choice of their favorites, you see a lot of the same types of music. 


    board made by my awesome senior assistant Carley
    (the bracket is made with yarn)


    Here are all of the resources for our bracket this year!

    For logistics, all classes will watch and vote for one pairing each day via google form. To keep it easy, all classes will have the same bracket, and as a school decide who wins and moves on. This way on the giant bulletin board we can all follow along with who is winning. I plan to post the youtube playlist, bracket and voting forms on Schoology, and as a class starter students will vote each day. We will probably start by watching them as a class, but once we have moved past round one, students will re-watch them on their own if needed and vote. 

    I will post the bulletin board once it is done this week. 

    If you are doing something similar, please share your bracket in the comments!
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    Teaching Esperanza - Year 2

    March 3, 2016, 8:00 am
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    I just finished teaching the novel Esperanza by Carol Gaab for the fourth time in two years. Last year it was the first novel my Spanish III class ever read, and then my Spanish II class read it semester 2. This year at a new school, Spanish III read it trimester 1, and my second class of Spanish III read it trimester 2. I know that it is marked a "level 1 book" and is in the present tense, but I would personally shy away from reading it in Spanish I due to the deep themes and discussions that it brings up about social justice and immigration. 
    If you are going to teach it, I would high recommend the Teacher's Guide & Audio Book. Here is my first post about teaching Esperanza after year 1. 



    You may think that after teaching something three times, it gets easier, but that was the opposite for me this past time. I made the mistake of teaching this novel during the Iowa caucuses, a time where students are bombarded from all sides on TV, social media, and people around them with political views, especially on immigration. After a particularly difficult class discussing chapter 1 and unions, I was called into the principals office, because two separate parents had come in complaining about my class and how I was "pushing my political agenda on the students."(I exposed students to the possibility that immigration is needed in certain situations. There are many in this town of 700 people who are in the "build a wall" camp.)

    I was obviously quite upset about this reaction and sent an SOS to a local Iowa CI group that I am a part of. Luckily, some pretty awesome educators came to my rescue and convinced me to keep going and not just drop the novel. They shared similar stories of parents, administrators, and students fighting the real life content that they were trying to get across. I decided to focus my attention on just immigration from Guatemala during the civil war, as to not bring in current politics. Also, I really pushed that one of my essential standards is "I can use my language skills to recognize others' ways of thinking as well as my own." As an educator, I would love if my students' gain empathy for a situation, but I will even settle for just gaining a new, broader way of thinking about the world. 


    Before starting the novel

    Before starting to read, we spent two weeks introducing Guatemala, poverty, the Guatemalan Civil War, and immigration from Central America. There are a lot of deep topics in the novel and all of this front loading really has helped the deep comprehension of the novel and the themes. 
    • Living on One - A great hour long documentary on Netflix. It is in mostly English, but it takes place in Guatemala and really made students think about the extremity of the poverty that many people live in. Here are some discussion questions in English that could be used if your class needs something to do while watching to keep them focused. These could also be put in Spanish as well. 
    • Guatemala Slideshow - The slideshow from the teacher's guide gives a nice introduction to the country, as well as the Guatemalan civil war. 
    • Which Way Home - Before starting the novel, as a class we watched this great documentary about child immigrants from Central America. Check out this post about why I would recommend using the subtitles to get the most out of the movie. I moved this to before reading, since it gives the students a better visual picture of the lives people are trying to leave behind in Central America. 


    During the novel 

    I have one large PowerPoint for a novel that includes chapter by chapter pre-reading questions, vocabulary, discussion questions, and class activities. I shared this on Schoology before we started the unit, so anytime a student is absent, they know they are expected to read the next chapter and complete all activities listed. During class I post the discussion questions, which helps me to focus while conversing as a class, and keep everything organized. This PowerPoint is heavily based on the Teacher's Guide, so I can not post it here. Here are some specific things we did while reading the novel. 

    Chapter 1 - Union reading from Teacher's Guide 

    Chapter 2 - Casas de Guatemala slideshow & discussion from Teacher's Guide & Timeline activity by Martina Bex

    Chapter 5 - Vocab word sort by Martina Bex

    Chapter 6 - Esperanza - the immigration game - great game from Jason Noble
    • Jason was one of the teachers who came to my rescue and convinced me to not shy away from immigration, but instead have students experience it through the simulation above he created. I printed colored game board and directions for each table, so we had many going on at once. One mistake I made was not specifying that immigration forms are to be filled out as Alberto from the book. This ensures that students see how he would do in an immigration interview, and how difficult the process really is.  
    Chapter 7 - Find Someone Who character cards from Teacher's Guide

    Chapter 9 - Immigrant Archive Project - with activity by Martina Bex

    Chapter 10 - Sentence strip story review from Teacher's Guide 



    After the novel 

    My first year as our assessment, we completed the great choice board project from Elizabeth Dentlinger. For this, you would need more class time if you want quality projects. This year I gave students the option of a project or a interpersonal speaking and written presentational writing assessment. They chose the assessments instead. Here is the assessment study guide for both the speaking and writing portions. I will share the writing assessment if you leave your email address in the comments, as I do not want it out there for the world and students to access. 

    Overall, I am glad I stuck with the novel, and hope that students gained a new perspective on the topic of immigration.

    For more inspiration for teaching Esperanza check out these posts from Martina Bex, Profe Hanson, Kristy Placido, Elizabeth Dentlinger. Sharon Birch & my immigration Pinterest board. 
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    Lista lunes - March Ideas

    March 7, 2016, 5:00 am
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    Lista lunes - March Ideas

    Today marks the start of the 3rd trimester. This means there are only 12 little weeks before summer starts. The only problem is that in my school there is NO spring break, so this trimester is like a marathon without a water break. Here are some ideas to hopefully bring some sparkle into your March as we wait for the warm weather and flowers. 


    St. Patrick's Day

    I am aware that this is not a holiday that is normally celebrated in Spanish class, but I come from a family that is 100% Irish, meaning it is one of the most important days of the year. I love the new resources below from Kristy Placido that DOES have a cultural link from St. Paddy's day to Chile. Plus, you get a bonus throw back of my buddy as a squishy green leprechaun. 


    Throw back to my little leprechaun 2 years ago.  


    Unless you have been living under a social media rock, you have probably seen the many awesome brackets going around. With the start of the trimester today, the madness starts NOW!

    CSCTFL15 

    I am pretty bitter that I do not get to attend the best conference I have ever been to again this year. I plan to live vicariously through the hash tag, but it can not come close to the amazingness of meeting #langchat royalty in person. To relive a little of the greatness here are all of my posts about CSCTFL15. Good thing I already submitted a proposal to hopefully present at CSCTFL17 in Chicago!

    Semana Santa Resources

    While I am no longer at a catholic school, I still plan on doing a week long mini unit on Semana Santa in my level one culture and civilization class. It will be centered around this Martina Bex Unit.

    image source

    CI: Comprehensible Iowa Conference

    Make sure to submit your proposal to present at the first ever Comprehensible Iowa Conference on June 18 in Nevada, Iowa by March 18! Or just sign up to attend what is going to be a great day of sharing and learning! I hope to see many of you there!

    NEW Las Fallas

    Check out plans for my mini Las Fallas unit. The festival takes place in Spain on March 15-19. 

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    Las Fallas - Mini Cultural Unit

    March 10, 2016, 7:40 am
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    One of the perks of my one trimester Spanish I expansion class, Culture & Civilization is I have endless possibilities of incorporating current cultural events. I just decided yesterday that for the end of next week I want to focus on the Spanish festival Las Fallas, which takes place March 15-19. 

    I was given the idea by another teacher in my local Spanish department-of-one monthly Cedar Valley Northeast meetings. She mentioned how last year one of her small classes created cardboard "ninots," and then went outside to light them on fire. While I am not sure is I can get away with the fire part yet, I do plan on studying this celebration with using the resources below. 


    I plan to use this Las Fallas - Slideshow to guide our exploration and discussion.The students will be filling out this Las Fallas - Note Sheet to help keep them organized and focused. (Please feel free to use these resources, but let me know if there are any errors I need to fix as I threw them together quite quickly, and do not post them as your own). 

    NEW @HolaDMSSpanish shared a great "hook" for this unit. It would be perfect to have this cute video & song playing as students enter. 



    I plan to start with a PQA discussion in Spanish talking about our local festivals and leading into the basic of Las Fallas. We will watch the video below, pausing for discussion. 

    The fallas of Valencia, festivals of Spain - Tio Spanish Video



    Then students will be let loose with their Chromebooks to explore the following resources. They will fill out their Las Fallas - Note Sheet to organize their findings. 

    Las Fallas Official Website

    Valencia Blog - Las Fallas

    Las Fallas - Authentic Resources - from The Creative Language Class

    Veinte Mundos - article, quiz & videos. 


    We will all come together and share our resources, discuss in Spanish, as well as go through the rest of the Las Fallas - Slideshow, focusing on the specific parts of the events. We will also watch some authentic videos of the event parts as well. Depending on time we will hopefully then create mini cardboard or paper mache "ninots," that can either be ceremoniously burned here or at home. We will probably end with a free write, where students share as much as they can about Las Fallas. 


    What other great resources do you have to share of this event?
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    La Guerra Sucia - mini cultural unit

    March 15, 2016, 9:54 am
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    In my Spanish 1 expansion course this trimester, culture & civilization, I sent out a Google form with many culture ideas that we could investigate and learn about as a class. One of their top choices was the Guerra Sucia in Argentina, so this is how we started the class. 


    image source

    We started with this comprehensible culture unit from Martina Bex about the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo. We went through the discussion questions, Spanish language cultural reading, comprehension questions, listening activity, and slide show. We also did the song activity for Maná - Desapariciones. (We saved the interpersonal discussion questions and writing activity for the end of the unit assessments). 




    Since the students seemed to be craving more in relation to the topic, we investigated further with Guerra Sucia Stations by Kristy Placido. They made for good independent work for students, while providing more material and opportunities for discussion. 

    We then watched the 1985 movie La Historia Oficial with subtitles in English and using these movie questions in English to keep students focused, and provide more discussion. It is rated R for some language, but all students and their parents signed a permission slip for class. It is a little slow, but does show the perspective of the desaparecidos from another side. 

    If this was an upper level class, we would have read the TPRS Publishing novel La Guerra Sucia, but it is too far out of the language range of this particular class. Also, our plan is to investigate many mini cultural units for only about a week or two each. 

    For assessments we used materials from Martina Bex's unit . Students used the interpersonal discussion questions cards as an informal assessment, while I circulated and listened. Then individually they did the writing activity, where I just wanted them to write in Spanish about anything they learned from the unit. 

    What are your favorite resources for teaching about La Guerra Sucia?

    Here are some other mini cultural units that I have used in the past or plan to use this year. 
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    El Internado - NEW Season 3 Resources

    March 18, 2016, 9:27 am
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    I have posted before how I use the Spanish TV show El Internado: Laguna Negra in my Spanish III and IV classes on Friday. Dustin Williamson, Mike Peto and many others have posted a lot of great resources, especially for season 1. Since I never want to reinvent the wheel, I use these wonderful resources to complement and enhance the comprehension of the show, along with frequent pausing of the show to check for understanding. 

    Dustin Williamson has great resources for episode 1 & 2 of season 3, but  I could not find any other supplemental activities for season 3. I created the following activities, adapting the summaries from the site Formula TV & Antena 3. I made other similar simple activities for Season 2 - episodes 6,7&8. These are for my Spanish IV class, who has been watching for a while and does not need as much support anymore as they did for the first few episodes. These are mostly for review after the episode is over and to practice reading, writing, and guide more speaking discussion. I have also started adding in a little grammar in context as it comes up. It also helps the couple students who need something to go along with as they watch, or those who are absent and need a review to catch up. 

    ** Also, check out my new page El Internado Resources, organized by what resources I use for each episode. 





    Please feel free to use these in class, and let me know if you find anything that needs to be corrected or changed. If you adapt on these and make them better, please return the favor and share them back! I just ask that you do not sell or post them as your own work. 

    El Internado 3.3 - El soldadito de plomo

    El Internado 3.4 - En el fondo del mar

    El Internado 3.5 - La vida es un sueño


    Do you have other resources for El Internado season 3? Please share in the comments!
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    Advice to a 1st year teacher (from a student)

    March 23, 2016, 6:01 am
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    Students in a local English class were asked to write a classification essay where they categorized and then explained with justification. One student wrote an essay organizing teachers into categories, and some of it is pure gold. The categories include "listers" (substitutes who just read monotonously from a list all day and then online shop), "soon to be retiree" (if you get them off topic, you will be indulged in life lessons and hilarious stories), "rulers" (mean teachers who do not want you to have fun, but to learn), and my favorite, "freshies" (first year college graduate teachers), who I will focus on.

    You see a lot of advice for new teachers coming from seasoned teachers, but not often coming from the students themselves. Here is how one high school senior sees new teachers fresh out of college.


    New teachers lack authority

    The student says, "usually these new high school teachers will lack the discipline needed to keep the classroom under control; they allow swearing, back talking, and all around lack of authority." New teachers lack experience with behavior management, while students have had years of being professional trouble makers.

    What can you do? Get as much experience first hand of managementopportunities as you can before your first year. Volunteer or substitute teach at inner city schools, Boys and Girls clubs, special education classrooms, summer camps, or any time where you may be faced with a chance to try out your management skills. Having pretty expectations posters is great, but if you have not experienced being in the trenches, you will be caught off guard on many occasions by these profession trouble makers, who are just trying to test your authority.


    Students think new teachers are a joke

    High school students know when they have a first year teacher. According to the essay, "students think new teachers are a joke and can learn nothing from them because they have no experience." Students assume that their class is being used as a trail run, and do not like to have their time wasted.

    What can you do? Show your students that you know your stuff. Brag on your accomplishments. Be confident and fake it til you make it. At the same time, if you do not know the answer to a question, instead of making something up, be honest and use it as a learning opportunity together to figure it out.


    New teachers have no idea what they are getting into

    Even with the best preparation, a first year teacher often walks blindly toward the end of the day, week, quarter and school year with just a hand drawn map they made themselves. According to the student, "Freshies have the hardest job of all teachers because they have almost no idea what they are getting into with the students or the curriculum." It goes on to say that if new teachers persevere, they can become great teachers.

    What can you do? Find a mentor. This may not be the school assigned mentor you were assigned to, but instead a like minded teacher of the same subject you met in #langchat on Twitter. This is especially important for those of you who will be a department-of-one. These mentors can really help out with the curriculum side, while fellow teachers in your school should be your go to people with questions about particular students. It is better to ask then continue to walk blindly alone. it is so much better with someone by your side, coaching and cheering you on.


    The student ends by saying, "all teachers have your best interest at heart." If you can get across to students that you care about them as people, then you are on your way in the right direction. So whether you are a "freshie" or a "soon to be retiree," remember that your students are watching your every move, and may even be categorizing you as well. If you persevere, you too can be a great teacher.
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    Culture & Civilization - Spanish 1

    March 24, 2016, 7:52 am
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    This year with our switch from trimesters to semesters, I have the opportunity to teach an optional extension to Spanish I. I decided to title the class Culture & Civilization (title from Kara Jacobs) and focus on comprehensible culture. Since it is an optional class, I wanted it to be fun and interesting, while still providing the needed input in Spanish to help these students be better prepared for Spanish II in the fall. I sent out a Google form to those signed up with many culture ideas that we could investigate and learn about as a class, including: lucha libre, bullfighting, medio ambiente, immigration, health, superstitions, biblioburro, native civilizations, la guerra sucia, guachos, yipao parade, fairy tales, geography, la tomatina, geography, culture of piñatas, specific countries of study, music, food, holidays, etc. Their results guided my planning of this class. 




    Since they wanted to learn about such a wide variety of topics, I decided to keep most as short cultural mini units. This way no had had the chance to get bored and everyone gets to learn about their number one choice. Also, I wanted our study to be currently relevant, so as much as possible we studied festivals and celebrations that were happening at the moment. In addition to our units, students completed 5 points bi-weekly of choice real world homework, to make sure they were also experiencing culture locally and outside of class. Many thanks to the wonderful resources of others, which made planning these units so much easier! Below are the units we have completed so far, as well as our tentative plans for the rest of the trimester. 

    Unit 1 - La Guerra Sucia

    See my plans for this mini unit by clicking on the image below.  


    Unit 2 - Las Fallas

    See my plans for this mini unit by clicking on the image below.  

    Unit 3 - Semana Santa

    See Martina Bex's plans for this mini unit by clicking on the image below.

    Unit 4 - La Tomatina

    See Martina Bex's plans for this mini unit by clicking on the image below.
    image source

    Unit 5 - Tumba - novel by Mira Canion

    I decided to do one culturally centered novel in this class and knew Tumba would be the perfect fit. Using the teacher's guide would be a great way to talk about The Day of the Dead, as well as many aspects of the culture and history of Mexico. 
    See my posts for this novel unit by clicking on the image below.


    Unit 6 - Bullfighting

    See Elizabeth Dentlinger's plans & resources for this mini unit by clicking on the image below. Have you seen all of the wonderful resources she has posted for this unit for free! Mil gracias!
     

    Unit 7 - Comida

    I have not planned this unit yet, but plan on doing something similar to Kara Jacob's Gastronomia unit, focusing on the cuisine of a couple Spanish speaking countries. I know I will use many of the awesome Zachary Jones activities such as "¡Qué rico!". I figure this will be a fun and lighthearted way to end the year. It was their top pick, probably because they have hopes of being able to try food out in class ;) I would like to include an end of year field trip to a local authentic Mexican restaurant is possible. 


    A couple units we are not using based on student choice, but would fit well are the following:
    Piñata Mini Unit
    Geography of Spanish Speaking World Mini Unit


    It is pretty awesome to not have any focus on certain sets of vocabulary or grammar and to just teach Spanish with culture at the core. This class has shown be that ANY language class could ultimately be set up like this, but with a better planning of targeted high frequency vocabulary. Overall my goals for this class are to help struggling students be better prepared for Spanish II, while meeting the following essential standards related to both culture and communication in Spanish.

    Have you ever done a class like this? What did you include?

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    Why you should host a student teacher

    April 2, 2016, 1:29 pm
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    This week I had the pleasure of having my first ever student teacher. It was for more of a "practicum" as some people call it or in our local university lingo "level 3," the last level before a full semester of student teaching. It. WAS. AWESOME.



    I have been impatiently waiting for the opportunity to host a university student for the past years, as you can not have one until you have your standard Iowa teaching license. Except I used to think I wanted a student to be able to help me out. Boy was I missing the whole point. Having a university student in your classroom is not just so they can complete menial tasks for you, or teach so you do not have to. Having a university student is an opportunity to be a mentor, co-teacher, and coach. It is a chance to have a collaborative partner to share ideas and immediately reflect on both their teaching as well as your own. In a language class it gives you another speaker of the target language to model conversations, and personalized questioning and answering. It means as a team you can plan to go back and forth taking the lead, and being the assistant who circulates the room providing proximity and student assistance. 

    As a teacher you get to TEACH an eager student (teacher) who really wants to learn how you do things in your classroom and best practices. I was able to spread my new found love for comprehensible input based teaching, and have a new believer who is so excited about using these techniques in her own future classroom. She said on multiple occasions how impressed she was with the students ability to understand what was being done in the target language in the classroom. As 4th week students of Spanish the rowdy 8th graders GET IT. She was able to see first hand story asking in action and the 8th graders loving every minute of a girl in their class seeing, meeting, and then rejecting Kanye, while running the other way. (Camina y Corre story by Martina Bex)

    After just one week together she gave me the sweetest thank you card, which really reminded me what I do what I do. I TEACH. But, this week I got to teach more than just students, and it was more rewarding than I ever though possible. So, if you are ever asked about mentoring future teachers. DO IT. Will you actually have all of this extra time since they are doing everything for you? No, not if you are really focusing on coaching, reflecting, and working with your student teacher. Will it be worth it? YES. 
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    Write a grant for your classroom

    April 5, 2016, 10:10 am
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    My first year teaching I went out of my comfort zone and applied for my first grant to start my classroom library. Like many of you I had $0/year budget and everything for my classroom was going to come out of my pocket unless I figured out some other kind of funding. My local education grant was approved and I received almost $1000 to start my Spanish classroom library. I was hooked and realized all I had to do was apply. 

    I then applied for two more grants this education grant in my area & the IWLA grant for language teachers in Iowa. They were for building my Spanish classroom library, as well as purchasing class sets of novels with teachers guides. I received them both!

    Now I am not an expert in grant writing, and even though I started out 3/3, my next one was rejected. I have had a few people ask for advice, so here are my tops tips for writing and receiving money to fund your classroom. 



    Apply!

    • I have figured out the secret is just to apply! I know one year the local education grant had only 48 applicants and ended up funding 36 projects worth a total of $30,000. For some grants the money goes unused because there are not enough worth applicants. So just like you tell your high school seniors with scholarships, the money is out there just waiting for you! To find grants to apply to, fire up your Google, talk to your administration, and look to professional and local education and language groups you belong to. Do you know of a grant? Please share the link in the comments!!

    Follow Directions 

    • Just like we tell our students, make sure you carefully read the directions, use any given rubrics, proofread, and submit early. You do not want to be immediately discarded for unprofessional writing (never use contractions in professional writing!) dumb errors, or not following the directions. If you are given a rubric in advance, use that to your advantage to make sure that your project perfectly fits the given criteria. 

    Do Your Research

    • Prepare some killer grants by selling yourself by aligning to your district's goals and using professional literature. My grants have always been literacy based, and every district has literacy goals that your reading project can hopefully help support. Also, use the professional literature for studies showing examples of the importance of second language acquisition. 
    • Here is my plug for our Iowa World Language Association grant. If you are a language teacher in Iowa you need to apply! There are up to two grants just for Iowa language teachers. The deadline for applications is April 30, so get it in soon. Forms, instructions, rubric, and submission details are all found here. There is also a separate grant for elementary language programs in Iowa as well with the same due date. 


    Want more ideas? See all of my posts with the label grant. 

    Another Alternative - Ask for donations

    • I have never personally tried this but I know of teachers with success in crowd sourcing sites such as www.gofundme.com & www.donorschoose.org. I am not a fan of fundraising myself, but many times celebrities and businesses go on these sites and mass fund for tax write offs. It never hurts to try!

    Do you know of a grant that language teachers should know about? Please share the link in the comments!!
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