Follow your Language Dreams

Dream On

                                                                                                               by Caroline Marion

When I was a freshman in high school, I did a report on the beautiful and unique country of Switzerland.  There began my dream of going to Switzerland and  hey,  why not aim high. . . work at the UN in Geneva as an interpreter!

My mom had taught high school French before she got married and had seven children.  My only exposure to French before college was learning the song Alouette which my mom taught us kids.  So when I told my freshman college adviser that I wanted to become an interpreter at the UN in Switzerland, she basically told me it was too late to start on that dream.  I had already missed out on the best years to learn a foreign language.  

I continued with my foreign language study (French and Spanish) and added the education block thanks to my sister, Marnie, who told me, “You’d better take the ed block.  What else are you going to do with French?”  So I took the ed block but didn’t give up on going to Switzerland.  When I graduated from college (way back in the 70’s), I headed to Montreux, Switzerland where I worked in a Swiss hotel as a waitress in the dining room. (Yes, a waitress, not an interpreter at the UN!)

That was an eye opening experience.  The Swiss hotel did have some tourist business but also housed several older ladies who rented rooms there on a permanent basis.  They came to the dining room every day and sat at the same reserved table with the number of their hotel room on the table.  We sometimes referred to them by their room numbers.  Well, I thought I knew my French numbers but found out the Swiss had a more efficient number system.  For example, the French number for 70 is 60 + 10 (soixante-dix). The Swiss simply say septante for 70 (sept = 7).  The French use four 20’s for 80, quatre-vingts. (I’m not kidding.)  The Swiss simply use huitante for 80 (huit = 8).  Luckily, I learned those Swiss variations quickly.

Years later I did come to realize my dream of being an interpreter.  After several years of teaching high school French and Spanish, I became an ESL teacher and from time to time would interpret for my Spanish speaking families at parent teacher conferences.  There, teachers would try to impart lots of specific information which I sometimes had trouble translating.  How do I say phonemic awareness in Spanish and then explain what that term means? One parent told me, all I really need to know is this:  Is he behaving?   Is he passing?  Does he have friends?

Follow your dreams!  

This post written by:
Caroline Marion from I Speak Your Language

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/I-Speak-Your-Language

 

World Language Teacher of the Week: Spanish Sundries

This week's featured seller is Holly Lamovsky, of Spanish Sundries. You can visit Holly's TeachersPayTeachers store and her blog Throw Away Your Textbook.

Teaching History:
I have been teaching Spanish since the Fall of 2000. Although I have predominantly been a High School Spanish Teacher, I have also helped out by teaching courses at the Middle School and Junior High levels when needed. During my 15 year career, I have taught everything from an exploratory Spanish class to Spanish 5. I even have taught a Spanish Enrichment Summer Camp. This year I am focusing all of my energy on Spanish 2 and trying to increase enrollment in our Spanish level 3-5 courses.

Favorite Thing about Teaching Spanish:
I love that teaching Spanish means that you don't have to limit yourself to one topic. I can find materials that are interesting to students and create a meaningful lesson. I love creating lessons that blend culture, vocabulary, and grammar all into one.

Favorite Lesson:
One of my favorite lessons is one that combines learning about the Running of the Bulls with comparisons and body part vocabulary. We learn about the event and the different ranches that provide the bulls. Each ranch has it's own reputation for having bulls that are fast, fiesty, etc. We then compare and contrast the bulls from the different ranches. We also learn about the course and watch video clips of the running where we discuss on what part of the body different runners were gored or injured. After we have learned all about the event and the bulls, we play a board game that simulates the running and students get to be bulls and runners and we see who can catch who. It is a high interest lesson that really gets students using the target language because they WANT to express their feelings and opinions on the topic. I have to admit, the kids aren't the only ones having fun with this one.

One Tip to Spanish Teachers:
Find ways to work material that you are passionate about into the curriculum. Culture and language studies are all about appreciating diversity. Teachers have diverse interests and experiences with the language - share those with your students.

Free Product:

Spanish Cartoon Listening Activities: Peppa Pig FREE PREVIEW

I love to use cartoons for listening activities. Since they are made for children, the language tends to be simpler and easier to understand. Also, the episodes are short and don't take up an entire class period so there is still time to do other things. Use the URL included in the product or do a search on YouTube for the cartoon title. Give your students this activity to complete as they watch the episode.  

Featured Product:

Corrida de Toros: Running of the Bulls & Bullfighting Cultural Unit

You can use my favorite lesson in your own classroom. This works well as a mini-unit that can be done in a variety of formats. I like to use it during testing week when I only have a short time with my classes and need something very interesting to combat the boredom of testing. I have also used this in stations or as several 10-15 minute class activities. However you choose to use it, your students will enjoy it.

Leveled Readers for Second Language

I have typically only used leveled readers in the 4th and 5th years of language studies. In the 4th year we have read "El Abuelo ya no Duerme en el Armario" which is available from Scholastic Books. It has nice, manageable chapters so it is excellent for an introduction to reading longer narratives. In 5th year we have read Lazarillo de Tormes, Marianela (my personal favorite) and student additions of Don Quijote.

One of the keys to implementation is to vary the way in which the chapters are read (whole class, small group, partner, individual) and vary the activities (graphic organizers, alternative ending activities, etc). Reading longer books can be daunting for students and is very time consuming. Mixing things up will avoid that "Groundhog Day" feeling.

-Spanish-Sundries

My absolute favorite to use with higher level Spanish students is "Cuentos con sazón". I stumbled upon this when looking for a reader for my Spanish 5 students. The novel starts off with a family reunion that turns into each relative telling a story about growing up in various Hispanic cultures. It combines culture, food, morals, and humor to create a great reader. My students read, discuss, and act out the book. For their end of year project, they write their own chapter including a moral, a famous festival in the country of their choice, and of course, advanced grammar. If anyone is interested, I could put together a packet of resources for it. My students loved it! Email me at worldlanguagecafe@gmail.com if you're interested.
For French, I love Le Petit Nico and the readings in Trésor du temps (history based French text).

-The World Language Cafe

Grades

This week's question of the week is about grades. A user asked "How do you weight your grades? Do you assign a certain percentage of the grade towards homework, classwork, tests, etc?"

Here are how some Foreign Language teacher's answered:

Activities for Language Club

If you are a sponsor for your school's Language Club or Culture Club, or are thinking about starting a Spanish Club, French Club, German Club we'd like to offer some fun activities that you can do with your students. 

Promoting Reading in WL Classroom

This week's Question of the Week asks how teachers promote reading in the target language. Here's what our teachers had to say:

Spanish Sundries:
I like to encourage students to read in the target language by engaging them in reading activities that are appropriate to their level AND interesting. I have had a lot of success using infographics as reading activities for all levels of student. You can read more about using infographics in the classroom in this blog article.

Get reading activities (novice, novice-high, and intermediate available) to accompany infographics here.


The World Language Cafe:
Create a Reading Library:
At all the schools where I have taught, I have started a reading library either in my classroom or on a rolling cart to be shared within the department. You can purchase the books through various sites (borders.com, amazon.com, scholastic – great collection of books in Spanish). Sometimes, you can get your department or school to pay for the books and the cart. We shared a cart within our World Language Department and had a clipboard to sign the cart out for class periods. I applied for grants through the school’s education foundation to purchase the books. We use the books in a variety of ways:

1. After tests and quizzes, students had the option to start their homework (for my class) or to have free reading time. The students like reading the books because many are the same books that they read when they were kids. This is also a great way to challenge your top students.

2. Read books out loud to practice pronunciation. Student pronunciation improves dramatically when they read aloud.

3. For extra credit, have students take a book home and make a glossary for all the difficult words in the book. They should organize the words alphabetically, type and double space them in a small font, and hand them in for you to check. Correct them, and have the students resubmit the final copies. Tape them in the back of the book so that students can search for the meanings of difficult words in the glossary.

4. Have advanced students read books to younger students. They can practice reading the book out loud using animated voices, use props to help explain the meaning of the story, and teach students gestures for common words in the book. When the younger students hear the common words, they can do the gestures as well. Have the advanced students practice a few times before they read.

This Reading Library is one of the ideas from my 50 Games and Activities to Spice Up Your Classroom product (also available in French or World Language).


Señora Speedy:
We've been writing collaborative class books in kindergarten and are getting ready to write another one in first grade. Kids are writing, reading, and connecting with the target language. After we read the finished product in class I send it back with them to their homeroom where they can add it to their class library and read it again and again. 

SpanishPlans:
I use student choice to allow my students to explore the topics that interest then. Many of the students choose sports and read articles on espndeportes or they can choose to read about celebrity gossip, fashion, animals, movies, or anything else that interests them. Read more in my blog post.

Anonymous:
I have my Spanish 3 students read the daily news from online newspapers & networks. Dos Mundos (bilingual) newspaper is great!

Educators Give Thanks

"As an educator, I am thankful for my supportive colleagues whom I work with every day who truly give their best to their students. I am thankful for my students and how they motivate me to seek out new ideas in my efforts to make language learning more engaging and relevant. I am also thankful for the online community of educators who willingly share resources and ideas via TpT, Pinterest, and blogs."
-Island Teacher
http://islandteacherblog.blogspot.com/

"I am thankful for my 4-6 year old students who come to class with so much joy and enthusiasm every day and soak up the language like little sponges."
-The World Language Cafe
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-World-Language-Cafe


"While I was teaching, I was grateful for "snow days", Thanksgiving break, polite students (or as we say in Spanish "los bien educates"), and Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences.
Now that I'm retired, I'm grateful for this site, Language Teachers' Cafe, and the opportunities it gives foreign language teachers. I'm so thankful I don't have to do the 30 minute commute to work on snowy days."
-Caroline Marion - I Speak Your Language

"I'm thankful for the Kentucky World Languages Program Review. Most people see it as annoying and one more thing from the State that has to be done but I see it as a way that motivates districts to make sure they include foreign languages at EVERY level - including elementary! I think once people start seeing the impact it has on their students they won't be sorry that Program Review made them include it in their daily instruction."
http://senoraspeedy.blogspot.com/

"Getting that hard-earned thank you from the tough kid!"
-Anonymous 

What are you thankful for? Leave a note in the comments below.