Yikes! I just caught myself being naughty! I almost asked them to produce the language before they had meaningful input. But I caught my mistake so I hope Santa doesn’t put me on the list.
The students want to make cards in Spanish, so I started writing some simple directions for them to follow. Then it hit me. Where’s the learning? How will they know the phrases they need?
I searched “tarjetas navidad” (Christmas cards) on Google images and copied some that used different phrases. First I will ask them to tell me whose Facebook page they would put the picture to see if they can get the overall meaning of the picture. Some students will probably look up new words, while others will be content writing some phrases they understand. (Do you have other ideas how they can demonstrate their learning?)
Now they can make the cards with the new phrases from the “reading”. Even better, give them a real reason to write in the target language, like making the cards for local refugee organizations or send them abroad.
Santa says:
Oh, check your “list” twice, make sure your not naughty, but nice!
So students don’t go kaput, give plenty of meaningful input. 🙂
You are adorable!
Happy Holidays! I hope you all are enjoying a nice break and some R&R. I have a couple questions I’ve been wanting to ask you both; since you offer the best professional development on a weekly basis that I have come across! I’m a new teacher this year without many mentors to seek wisdom from, so I really can’t express how grateful I am to both of you for sharing so many of your tricks and tools of the trade. I, and my students, are forever grateful! At the ACTFL conference this year, I discovered TPRS along with proficiency-based rubrics and the IPA’s from ACTFL (Wow!). As I delve deeper into each, I wonder how well they mesh with each other and I’m curious about your thoughts on the matter. I’m thinking of attending a TPRS conference in San Diego to get more training on how to, but I also know I’m looking at the tip of the iceberg. Are there other great conferences or workshops out there that are better? I love the stuff your school district has put together in terms of rubrics… but I’m not sure if / how it matches with TPRS. I know I have a lot more to learn about both and would love to hear your thoughts on TPRS teaching. Secondly, you two must have pinterest pages, no? Would you be open to sharing your username – no doubt you have amazing resources linked. Thank you again ten thousand times for your every effort thus far. Happy New Year~
Thank you! Your comment means a ton.
TPRS- I tried it, but it didn’t fit my style. Many teachers use it successfully. There is a TPRS yahoo group that is good that a friend uses and some great blogs. I don’t know about conferences, but I bet they are out there. I believe any method can prepare students for performance-based assessments depending on how the teacher implements it.
Anyone else have some suggestions?
I’m so glad to read that someone else has tried TPRS and it didn’t fit. I continue to try it, but its just not my personality and feels very forced and unnatural. I’ve been pushed to use it because it works for some of the teachers in my department. They don’t understand how the style doesn’t fit me and think that I should fit the style. I wonder if others have had this same experience.