Why study a foreign language

I like to start out my semester answering head on in a positive way the very question that many students negatively bring with them to the foreign language classroom.

Why do I have to study a foreign language anyway???

I hope that you not only find this interesting yourself, but that perhaps it may enable your students to see the benefits of what we already know to be true concerning knowledge of a second language!

Question of the Week Beginning the Year Positively

Back to School Spanish French Resources

As the school year starts up, many of us are looking for beginning of the year activities and review games to start the year.

Spanish Present Tense Regular Verbs Interactive Flip Book
This file includes everything you need to create an interactive flip book with Spanish present tense regular verbs. This can be a stand alone flip book, or it could be added to an interactive notebook. It can be used to introduce or review regular verbs. It also works as a great study tool for students.







Spanish Question Words Picture Notes Set

Spanish question words in picture form! Make learning the questions easier for your students by giving them this concise study guide with each question word represented by an appropriate picture. Notes and quiz in one package!












Ontario French Curriculum Expectations - in Eng or Fr
Voici seize affiches (qui mesurent 8,5 x 11 ”) à imprimer et afficher dans la salle de classe pour rappeler aux élèves – et à l’enseignant(e) - les attentes générales du curriculum français langue seconde. Ces buts d’apprentissage conviennent aux années élémentaires, de la 1ere année à la 8e année pour les programmes de français de base, immersion et immersion tardive dans la province de l’Ontario et sont tirés du curriculum publié en automne 2013, qui sera mis en pratique dès septembre 2014.

French 1 Bundle
French Review Bundle: Save 20% by purchasing this bundle of four products for beginning French students! The four products are all saved as pdfs:

-French 1 Differentiated Instruction
-French 1 Review Packet (27 pages)
-Les Verbes au Present (46 pages)
-French 1 Task Cards  (31 pages)



Bienvenidos a la clase de espanol worksheets

  This product contains three worksheets that should be utilized at the beginning of the school year. Worksheets include:
1- Todo Sobre Mi-writing activity
2-Bingo Humano-Ice Breaker
3-Procedimientos de la clase-Group/Individual activity (students make predictions about classroom procedures)

Ser Adjective Flashcards
Spanish Level 1 Game to Practice Subject Pronouns, the Verb Ser, and forms of Adjectives with this interactive and engaging activity. This Kinesthetic/tacticle approach to teaching is a great way to differentiate instruction. Use it as a game and get your students excited about adjective agreement!
Over 50 flashcards ready for print.

Question of the Week August 18 Changes

While summer is a great time to rest and spend time with family, it is also a time of planning for teachers. Many teachers use their vacation to reflect on the past year and begin planning for the upcoming school year. Our teachers at Language Teacher Cafe have reflected and have come up with the following changes they plan to implement in their classes this year:

World Language Resources for Back to School!

Check out these World Language Resources for Back to School!

French Back to School Bingo Game

Colorful, ready-to-go French Back To School Lotto Game. 30 lotto 
cards and the calling cards are all included.  If you laminate the cards 
they will last for many years and can be reused over and over again.

Guten Tag!  Greetings and Introductions Activity Bundle

Activities to help students practice basic 
greetings and introductions. Focuses on students being able to say: how they're doing, their name, their age, their phone number, where they're from and where they live. 

Spanish Subject Pronouns Picture Notes Set

Spanish subject pronouns in picture form! Make learning the subject pronouns easier for your students by giving them this concise study guide with each subject pronoun represented by an appropriate picture. Notes and quiz in one package! This set contains all of the subject pronouns in two formats: 1. Picture notes with word labels in an easy to follow study guide, which can be used to introduce the vocabulary, review pronunciation, prepare the students for an exam, or cut into flash cards for study purposes; and 2. Pictures without word labels, which may be used as a homework assignment, quiz or test of the vocabulary. As a bonus, these Spanish notes and visuals are also perfect for the ESE student in your class that requires modifications. Includes 2 pages.

World Language Teacher Planner

This planner will walk you through lesson development that is focused, 
organized, and follows the natural process by which students learn 
language.

First Week of School in the World Language Classroom

One of the activities I like to do the first week of school in my classroom is to ask my students, “Why are you studying a language?”  After they give honest answers such as:  “because I have to, so I can get into a good college, etc.”, I then ask them (in small groups) to come up with a list of why knowing another

language (Chinese, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Russian, etc.) could be useful in the future.  We write the answers from each group on the board so they can see the list.  I emphasize the global economy and the importance of knowing another language for your job, so you can communicate with employees and clients from other countries.  I talk about the numbers of people in the world who speak the language that we are studying:

Five Back to School Tips for the World Language Classroom

Five Back to School Tips for the World Language Classroom 

Okay so the summer has passed too quickly. You’re out of the house and on your way to school for the first day and as you are driving you’re wondering how you can motivate yourself to knock that list of things to do down to begin the school year off with a bang. Here are 5 Back to School Tips for teachers of World Languages.

1. Create a Poster to Remain in the Target LanguageStart the year off strong by remaining in the target language! Recent studies have shown that students of a second language acquire it at a faster rate if immersed in the language. To help keep yourself on target and your class as well create a poster with a flag from a country where the target language is spoken as well as a caption in the target language such as, “We speak ________ here.” On the reverse side create a poster with a flag of the native language of your students with the same expression in the native tongue and with an image of the flag. Place both posters in a page protector or laminate them front to back and pin the poster at the front of the classroom. Throughout the class period if you find that you must communicate something in the native language of your students be sure to walk to the front of the room and flip your poster to the appropriate flag/language. You will find that it is easier to remain in the target language and re-explain the information than it is to walk all the way to the front of the room and reverse the poster.