First Week Getting to know Challenge!

Traveling Sra.

I love to do lists and challenges! Soooo, I have been pondering what some good quick goals I can meet this year. How many of these have you accomplished? What are your quick getting-to-know goals?

Teaching tip: Students learn better when they feel as though you are interested in them as a person. 

**Before school starts challenge: Names, Faces, and subjects that colleagues teach (this challenge is easier to accomplish for teachers who have been at a school for a long time!)

Week 1 Challenge 

Day 1: Pronounce all students’ AND faculty names correctly

Day 2: Be able to go around the room and say everyones’ name as they sit in a predetermined order.

Day 3: Be able to accurately recognize all students in a class, even when they scramble.

Day 4: Know all students’ first and last names while in class.

Day 5: Know all students first and last names when encountered in the school.

 

Ok, I know that learning everyone’s names might seem like an impossible task, but we language teachers have a distinct advantage! We can play name games and teach our subject simultaneously.

Here is what my first day looks like For levels 1 and 2: Sit in a circle (if possible) Teach me llamo… and your name. Have every student go around once and say me llamo___ . Then teach él se llama, ella se llama and have every student say the name of the person on both sides of them and their own name. Finally, start at the beginning of the circle again and have every student say the names of everyone in the circle in front of them using se llama… *** here is the kicker*** you get to be very last meaning you have to pay attention and say every students’ name. in the circle! Good luck 🙂

Now some of you may be asking yourself, but when do you do the important housekeeping stuff? My answer is in small chunks over this first week. Why? because no student can retain an hour’s worth of housekeeping stuff from every class in the first day. Second, I want my class introduction and expectations to follow the way I want to teach. I want participation and interest and activity so I want my first day to be structured in a way that promotes what is important to me.

Let me know your thoughts and happy 2019!

Let’s play!

Traveling Sra.

It’s October!!!!

And I’m sure if your school is anything like mine, it has felt like one very long sprint through September. Mountains of new students to meet, open houses, opening school programs, all sorts of meetings that take away from planning periods, etc. So, sometimes my initial lofty goals of ensuring mountains of speaking time, authentic resources, etc. start to feel strained.

Here is the plan for tomorrow’s speaking activity…. absolutely no materials needed except for you and the students. Unless the classroom has an even number of students, I usually participate in speaking activities.

Goal: Have the level One and Two students practice speaking and gain confidence (ok, I know this one’s not measurable).

Student set-up: I prefer an inside/outside circle where the inner circle shifts one student to the right, but you can put the students in pairs however you please, as long as it’s a seamless rotation (because nobody wants to waste time changing partners).

Activity: Single word question and answers, timed for a minute. Then full sentence question and answers, timed for three minutes.

Because it’s October, you will have to demonstrate this activity with a student. Pick one who has the confidence to answer your questions in front of the class! Remember these are one word questions so questions such as ¿Color? ¿Música? ¿Clase? ¿Carro? ¿Animal? are all excellent because they are cognates, and most students will be able to give a semblance of an answer.

For the first minute, have the student on the outside of the circle ask the questions and the student on the inside answer. Then switch.

With my level 2 students, I will have them practice the single word questions (although I will expect them to use words that are not only cognates). Then, about halfway through the activity, I will ask them to ask real questions (and I will extend the speaking time to three minutes per person).

What is a quick speaking activity that you can incorporate into your lesson tomorrow! Let me know so I can use it!!!!! 🙂

Welcome!

Traveling Sra.

I am starting a new blog here to replace my old night-light lessons one! Please bear with me while I begin to move old entries over and generally update my site!!!! I am so excited to be starting with something new and fresh!

Teaching tip today: Give authentic compliments daily  that have nothing to do with students’ appearance.