Combat Teacher Stress

Let’s talk teacher stress, and how to combat it.

Combat Teacher Stress

If you’re anything like me, you feel stressed at the end of the school year and look forward to the summer for recharging your teacher batteries!

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Spanish Class Game, Agarra la Rana!

We’ve been playing “Agarra la Rana” to review vocabulary in our Spanish classes! Check out how to play and find the link to a free printable of Frog Points to use with your classes!

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The First Week of Spanish Class, Part 2

The First Week of Spanish Class!

The First Week of Spanish Class

This is Part 2 in a series of blog posts discussing ideas of how to set up your Spanish classes in ways that will can help create an environment conducive to language acquisition.  I hope you find some of the information useful!  I would also love to hear your suggestions because the more we share the better teachers we become!  Please consider leaving a comment with your suggestions at the end of this post! Read more

Spanish Class, Engaged Communication, Café y Conversación

Cafe y Conversacion

A whole class communicative activity for your World Language Classes

A guest blog post from teacher Kim Huegerich.  When I read about Kim’s Café y Conversación idea in a FB group, I knew I needed to reach out and ask her to share this idea with my readers!

Read about Kim’s awesome whole class communicative activity and learn how you can implement it in your world language classroom!

Thank you, Kim for being willing to write a guest blog post and share your fantastic teaching ideas with us!

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The First Week of Spanish Class, Part 1

The First Week of Spanish Class!

Spanish Class Week 1 Danielson Framework

This is Part 1 in a 5 part series of blog posts discussing ideas of how to set up your Spanish classes for the first week of class in ways that will can help create an environment conducive to language acquisition.  I hope you find some of the information useful!  I would also love to hear your suggestions because the more we share the better teachers we become!  Please consider leaving a comment with your suggestions at the end of this post!

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It pays to be a follower! Most products posted at 50% off for the first 48 hours!

Did you know?? 
It pays to be a store follower on TeachersPayTeachers!  Most new products are posted with a 50% discount for the first 48 hours! 

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Spanish class Fast Finishers, Bulletin Board SET for your quick workers!

What to do, what to do with those fast finishers in your Spanish class?!

Consider making a Fast Finishers bulletin board with these cards of activities that your students can do while they wait patiently for others to finish!

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Differentiated Instruction in your Spanish classes, Using STATIONS / CENTERS

One way to add Differentiated Instruction to your Spanish lessons is to set up “Stations” for a particular topic or unit and allow students to work through the activities at their own pace.

They’re also a versatile way to flip the script and let students be in charge of their learning. They’re also great for days when you’re feeling like you need a break from being in front of the classroom, or when you need a substitute. Students are given a checklist of activities that they are required to do and move from station to station to complete each task.  Why does this work so well?  Because students can take charge of their own learning!

In an effort to add student options and help them take responsibility for their own learning, I’ve created several units that can be used as Differentiated Instruction Stations. Scroll down to see them all!

How do Stations / Centers work?

Stations are physical learning locations set up in your classroom.  Each location focuses on a specific area (or modality) of learning. The beauty of Stations / Centers is that YOU choose what works best for you and your classes. You can have as many or as few stations as you want. Stations can last for just 1 day, or for a big unit, stations could last for several days.

Classroom Set up:

· Choose locations around the classroom to place each learning station. 
· Choose 1 teaching table.  This is where you will sit, students will know they can approach you for individual instruction (any questions they might have) when you’re at this table.  Students can also approach you here to check off their work so they can move on to the next task.
· If you prefer, you can circulate in the classroom and students can find you to ask questions.
· Group leftover desks in clusters around the classroom.  Students will be able to go to any cluster to do their work.
Explain to students your expectations. If you’re planning to only do Stations for 1 day, you can ask that students move from Station to Station on a timed schedule, or you can ask that students complete a certain amount of tasks by the end of the class period. If you plan to do Stations for several days, I would suggest giving students a checklist of the tasks you want them to have completed by the end of the designated Stations days. To allow for various speeds of your students moving through the activities, you could require that students complete 2/3 of the tasks in each Station, and if they finish the required tasks they can go back and complete 3/3 of the tasks for bonus points or a higher score (for example).

Station / Center Ideas:

Choose as many stations as will work best for your classes and for how many days you want to do stations.

Vocabulary Station

    • Choose activities that help students learn or practice vocabulary.
    •  puzzles, word searches, flashcards
    •  copy the new vocabulary into their notebooks
    •  students draw visual vocabulary (CHECK OUT THIS VISUAL VOCABULARY FREEBIE IN MY TPT SHOP!)
    •  students create a word search for another student to complete (CHECK OUT THIS WORD SEARCH CREATION FREEBIE IN MY TPT SHOP!)
    •  Find YouTube videos with the vocabulary for students to watch and complete a small task.
    • play hangman, matamoscas or Octopus On Guard in small groups.
    •  relevant worksheets from your textbook (if you use a textbook)
    •  any app you currently use in class for practicing vocabulary or competitive vocabulary games

Partner Speaking / Communicative Station

    •  Choose activities that will help students practice speaking. This could be simply practicing pronunciation, or practicing asking and answering questions.
    •  partner interviews
    •  “find someone who,” questionaires, “firma por favor” type activities
    •  Cootie Catcher / Fortune Teller / Comecocos activities – students use guided questions in a fun and hands on way
    •  conversation starter task cards on the topic of study

Media / Listening Station

    • Choose activities that will help students practice their listening skills.
    • a relevant song plus an activity
    •  a relevant YouTube video plus an activity
    •  a recording of a native speaker talking about the subject
    •  a task in which a student records him/herself to submit to you for grading / correction / points
    •  students record a partner interview or conversation to submit to the teacher

Reading Station

    • Choose activities that will help students practice their reading comprehension.
    • relevant realia plus an activity
    •  online news articles in the target language plus activity to check for comprehension
    •  a website in the TL plus activity to check for comprehension
    •  a Comprehensible Input reading on the topic
    •  an excerpt from your textbook (if you use a textbook)

Writing Station

    • Choose activities that will help students practice their writing skills.
    • students can write a paragraph in the TL about what they have learned
    •  a timed write
    •  any relevant writing worksheets from your textbook (if you use a textbook)
    •  writing prompts on the topic

FINAL PROJECT STATION

To wrap up the unit, you may want your students to show what they know with a project. Once students have worked their way through the required stations activities, you could have several final project options for students to choose from.

Want to get your feet wet without having to worry about gathering all of the activities for your Stations? Some of my Differentiated Instruction Units might help you out! Each Unit is set up for Stations, and many teachers have been happy with how easy they are to use!

Please click on the thumbnails below to visit my current Differentiated Instruction Units.

Differentiated Instruction Unit La Casa

Here’s what another teachers have had to say about these units:

“Very high quality visuals – I love the station strategy for differentiating. I am just starting to use this – and as far as I can tell now – this bundle will be one that I return to each quarter. Thank you! ”

And just one more.  😉

Here’s what one teacher had to say about the “Around Town Differentiated Instruction Packet:

“So many great activities to choose from! I love the flexibility of using these for stations, classwork, homework, etc. Nicely done! ”

Have you applied Differentiated Instruction lessons in your classes yet?  Differentiated Instruction is a great solution to teach the multiple levels of understanding that take place within each mix of students you have throughout the day.

Looking for some ready made Differentiated Instruction Units for your Spanish classes? Please swing by my TpT shop and check out the different units I currently have available. 🙂 Make sure to check out the free preview and take a look at everything included in this Stations packets.

Enjoy!

Caperucita Roja, Little Red Riding Hood reading comprehension practice Spanish lesson

Looking for new resources for Reading Comprehension lessons for your Spanish 1 students?

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Lesson plan: How to make reviewing Spanish letters and numbers FUN!

How do you make learning and reviewing numbers and letters in your Spanish class FUN?

How do you encourage your students to use the target language to practice their ABCs and 123s?  Please leave a comment below and share your ideas with us!

Here are some ways that I’ve used with my Spanish classes:

1.  Through song!  Even though I work primarily with high school students, they still get into singing the ABC song in Spanish.  🙂  The ABC song that I use in my classes is: “El Alfabeto,” from Sing, Dance, Laugh and Eat Tacos 2! by Barbara MacArthur.

2.  Asking for phone numbers.  Students can be silly with this one and pretend they’re asking for a date.  🙂  They can pretend they are someone famous and they don’t need to use their real phone numbers.

3.  Math and the Maya.  Teach how the Maya wrote numbers.  Even if you’re not a “math person,” it’s fascinating to learn that the Maya were one of the only ancient civilizations that had the concept of “zero” and place value!  Discovery Education even has a Brain Game using the Mayan math system!  SO cool for fast finishers.  You can find YouTube videos that explain Mayan Math.  One year my students got so into Mayan numbers that they always used the Mayan math symbols to keep score of games we played in class!

4.  Connect The Dots!  Using not only NUMBERS but ABCs too, these partner Connect The Dots activities are super fun!

This is a Communicative, Partner Activity— Students pair up and practice listening and speaking skills while one guides another through a dot-to-dot activity! ( GREAT for foreign language classes, but also awesome for younger students learning their ABCs and numbers! )

The letters and numbers are in a specific order, but NOT in numeric or alphabetic order. Students need to pay attention and listen to their partner to connect the dots in the correct order! The order is given at the bottom of each page.

10 separate dot-to-dot activities are included in this packet and each set of instructions guides your students to create a different animal.

Make sure you have enough time to give each student a chance to be the one giving directions and the one listening and connecting the dots.  I would also suggest printing off 2 and sticking them right into your emergency substitute folder!  ABCs and 123s are ALWAYS a good thing to practice, no matter what time of year.

If you check these out, please let me know what you think!  Positive feedback makes my day!  🙂

Enjoy!