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CI - I Still Have Questions
I got so many great tools and ideas from attending the CI workshop with Ben Slavic and Tina Hargaden, so conveniently located in my home state! I know I said I was going to "stay home and process," but...
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Languages Look Good on Paper [MCGRAW-HILL]
Putting on symposiums for Spanish teachers is a fabulous direction for textbook companies to go in this day and age. And getting leaders in the field like Martina Bex to take part? You cannot go wrong....
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IPA Template
Integrated Performance Assessments typically have three components based on the modes of communication:InterpretiveInterpersonalPresentationalIn my class, each component is a separate test grade,...
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Interactive Notebook Pages: Past with Participles
There's no point fighting the past tense. You're going to have to sneak at least a COUPLE of words (read: functional chunks) in even in Spanish I.HINT: "Fue" will cover a LOT of your past tense needs....
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BRAIN BREAK - Name that Spanish cover!
If you could meet with all of your students before they got to your class, what would you do to get them pumped about Spanish?My first thoughts were food and music--and keeping it as familiar and fun...
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You Can Do This: Promises for the first day of Spanish class
How and why are still probably the most important questions to answer for learning a language, but I forgot a very important question last year. There is one burning question that every novice language...
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GUEST POST: Hope for Higher Ed
I have the pleasure of picking Dr. Karen Tharrington's brain regularly on #langchat, and once as a co-presenter for SCOLT! @kltharri is a Senior Lecturer and Methods Instructorat North Carolina State...
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Slow Down - Asking cultural questions ain't easy
Once upon a time I went too fast. It was long ago, too long for most to remember: let's call it last Wednesday. It was week 2 of Spanish I, you see, and I had been watching eyes and noting attitudes,...
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Pizza, sushi, ceviche and CI - Weird combinations that work
I guess I shouldn't be shocked that pizza and ranch is a thing. But when one of my students drew it next to her name for her first card talk, it got my wheels turning.We OBVIOUSLY had to start with the...
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Target Language Reset Button
YOU are a MASTER teacher. You are a better teacher than I am, better than I ever will be--better than ANYONE--at least once a month.Picture that day.Or that lesson.Hey, maybe you even had a streak...
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Visitor Videos - Cultural comparison PBL
They will be here in two weeks. They do speak English, but it is not their first language. They may have traveled to the U.S. before, they may not. One thing is for sure.They have never seen anything...
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Mandatory Office Hours and The Gleam
My planning periods have only lasted about 30 minutes for the past two weeks. Even though grades are due next week, I wouldn't wish that time back for anything.What I'm doing with that time is too...
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Foolproof Portfolios - Who am I fooling?
So you make a template--with instructions repeated on the template--and they still get confused. I mean, I thought portfolios could have been smooth sailing if I could have just shared a template on on...
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Important Problems: Adversity, Inventions, and Authentic Texts
First world problems are so 2015.Still, I thought that brainstorming problems they could personally relate to would inspire and motivate the young inventors in my class to come up with something, you...
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Flipgrid for Novice Listening
I put out the call on Facebook and Twitter for some Spanish speakers. I was inspired by a call this summer for Introducciones from hispanohablantes. What an awesome, easy way to collect samples of...
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Selfies and the Silent Period
So you've got an authentic audience: real live native speakers in the same room with your students. Maybe you're lucky like me and have a thriving Sister Cities exchange program. Maybe they're some or...
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Wisdom Teeth: How I learned to take time off
It was after school, and I suddenly felt little pieces of bone? tooth? on my tongue. I moved my tongue around, and felt still more pieces. I spit them out.Tooth. Tiny shards of tooth.I didn't even have...
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AAPPL Bites: DIY Listening Assessments
I've kind of abandoned IPAs this year. I have always been really pleased with how my open-ended assessments compared to AAPPL rubrics allowed me to focus on what kids can do, but I've never really seen...
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PUEDOS - Differentiated Social Warmups
You know when you get a great idea at a conference that you can immediately implement Monday and change E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G? Well this isn't one of them.I implemented it on Tuesday.We had an...
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La Casa de la Dentista - Graphic Novel Student Survey
Sr. Wooly cracks me UP. He has a handful of videos I could watch on repeat all day and just laugh until I cried the whole time. However. There are some stories on his list that I just don't GET. I can...
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