Language Teachers of San Diego

Here is a link to my Meetup group, "Language Teachers of San Diego." I encourage anyone to join us to discuss innovative strategies for teaching languages!

http://www.meetup.com/Language-Teachers-of-San-Diego/

Images for Blog

Exciting K-8 program in Oakland, CA

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_15334820

"Ninety percent of kindergarten instruction is in Spanish, but more English instruction will be added each year. By the time students finish eighth grade, they are expected to be bilingual in reading, writing and speech."

I wonder how indicative this is of the necessity for immersion to enable students to become bilingual between K-8 grade? How realistic is my hope that I can accomplish a similar goal with my students in the same time frame, but with much more limited instruction?

Cafecito Quizzes

Thoughts on Cafecito Quizzes for next year:

Keep a list of students who failed previous organizational quizzes and check in with them while they are completing Cafecitos to make sure they are dating them, correcting their answers, and filing them appropriately afterwards. Keep list in weekly plans.

Conversational Portfolios

I was thinking of doing "interviews" of students in the primary grades as a review of the conversational Spanish they've learned this year when an idea came to me..

It would be really neat to videotape students "interviewing" each other in Spanish to document their conversational skills that school year. The videos could be compiled into a portfolio that would help students visualize their progress over the years. As the students move to the junior yard, they could document their own progress on iMovie by reciting a poem, filming a conversation, etc. This assignment could also double as a pronunciation assignment, grammar concept project, etc.

Syncing a 2x/week class with a 3x/week class

This year I attempted to keep 5th and 6th grade on the same track throughout the year. I had an idea that I wouldn't get through as much material with the 5th grade as I would the 6th grade, but it was important to keep them somewhat synced for next year when they will both have Spanish three times a week. At the end of the year, the 5th graders are exactly 10 weeks behind. Eek!

While this problem won't come up for another two years when the current 3rd and 4th graders are in the same situation, I want to document some ideas:

- More projects and cultural days at the 6th grade level to keep them from getting too far ahead
- Give the fifth grade students required homework (This hasn't been the case this year, and assigning homework also includes the added component of more complicated grading structures, procedural changes, etc. I would need to run this by the 5th grade teacher)
- Don't include projects/cultural days with 5th graders to keep them on track academically. (I don't prefer this idea at present.)

We have a Meetup!

The biggest part of my professional development has been engaging in community with other language teachers. The ACTFL convention in November was like a breath of fresh air as the lone second language instructor at my school site. Being with other teachers and sharing ideas is so valuable! Since then, I've been meeting individually with a few other Spanish teachers in San Diego. I always come away from these experiences with new ideas and inspiration.

Last week, I started a group on Meetup.com to take these experiences to the next level. With Carol's help, we have already coordinated over a dozen teachers for our first Meetup! I wasn't expecting so many teachers to be interested in an end-of-the-year Meetup, but I've been pleasantly surprised with the responses.

One unexpected downside is the cost of the Meetup site. In all my years of attending other Meetups, I never imagined that there was a hefty monthly fee. I'll be looking into sponsors to offset this cost once we have a larger number of members. I have a feeling that there is at least one university out there that will be interested in sponsoring our group in exchange for exposure to teachers that may be seeking further education.

Overall, I'm just tickled to get some fresh ideas and meet some other language teachers!

http://www.meetup.com/Language-Teachers-of-San-Diego/

No world language cuts, please!

http://www.suntimes.com/news/maxedout/2262994,CST-NWS-cuts12.article

This article about Chicago public schools makes me verifiably triste. It seems that world languages make for an "easy cut" when it comes to school budgets... but it clearly makes our students less competitive in the world market and robs them of a myriad of cognitive benefits.

A better approach would be integration of world languages into the core curriculum, so that they become a greater support to the coursework being studied. I've tried this a few times in my classroom - re-teaching the current science lesson in Spanish - but have found that unless I do that 100% of the time, it doesn't seem very effective. Maybe I need to give it another go - but would that style put a damper on basic conversation skills?

What kind of teacher does it take to learn the core curriculum of a school and fuse it with world language learning? I think I'd need an aide...

Veinte y cinco vs. veinticinco

I have been teaching numbers over 20 the same way that I was taught in high school.. with the three word method: "Veinte y cinco" = "Twenty and five." I find this the easiest to understand, which is why it is the method I have chosen to teach.

I've been alerted on several occasions that it is far more common to use the one word method: "Veinticinco," but I have shied away from it because of the spelling change in the tens place and for general ease of teaching.

Should I start with the three word method at the elementary level, then introduce the alternative at the middle school level? After all, it would be beneficial for them to know both. Or, should I start off with the one word method straight off?

Uno

¿Cuál es la fecha? Grades 2-5

2nd through 5th grades: Instead of beginning a unit on the calendar, we've begun writing the date each day on the same sheet of paper. Students are recognizing patterns and making predictions. Ensures a writing component, however brief, in each lesson. Drawback: Students write the same two days of the week repeatedly based on the days of the week that they have Spanish class.

Next year, I'd like to make more use of the "Spanish spiral" in the primary grades by dating a page each day and writing some form of notes related to the day's lesson. This sets them up for good note taking skills in the future and ensures a writing component in each lesson.

Ideas:
Handwriting practice: ¿ and ¡, accent marks
Poems or prayers
Draw pictures related to cultural lessons

Onward, Vigilante!

Again with the 6th grade..

Off-topic English conversations have been squelching the learning process. Beginning today, students will speak only in Spanish. I am employing the "Proyecto del Vigilante," which will enable students to hold one another accountable for speaking in Spanish. (See notes from ACTFL convention 2009)

After all.. we really should be speaking in Spanish all the time, anyway. :)