Talia Block
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Keeping Current with Current Events

5/11/2017

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I don’t know about your school, but with my elementary students, fidget spinners are all the rage. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen these toys on the news, on social media, and in your students’ hands. What was meant to be a fidget to help certain students concentrate has become just another distraction in class. Add it to the list: putty, cubes, erasers, squishies – the list goes on.
 
Instead of droning on to the students about who might need the spinners and who doesn’t, I decided to let them use information to decide for themselves. A colleague of mine shared an article from BBC Mundo with an easy to understand title for our novice level students. While she decided to share only the title with her students, I decided to take it one step further.
 
To help acclimate the students to the conversation, I created a word cloud from the article using Tagul.com. As an aside, I love this site as it allows you to change the shape of your cloud (and upload your own image) and to save the clouds you make for later use.

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Students easily understood the topic of conversation, and were then able to pull a large number of familiar words and cognates. After working individually to highlight all of these words, students worked in groups to brainstorm a list of vocabulary from the word cloud. Each student then took a turn writing a word on the board to create a larger vocabulary list. In doing this, they also created a second word cloud of sorts with words they knew.
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Using their brainstormed words, I asked them to make a prediction about the article’s take on fidget spinners. Not only did they have to give an opinion (good, bad, toy, tool, etc.) but also give me the words that supported this claim.
 
Day two meant diving deeper into the article. I created a t-chart for students to place evidence in the categories of tool or toy. 

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I pulled various sentences from the article that supported both sides of the argument. In groups, students read through the sentences and chose the correct category for each. I made sure to choose sentences that had enough cognates or familiar words that students could work through them without the use of a translator and without too much frustration. We did the first two together: I asked students to tell me all the words they understood. 
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Originally, I did not have students complete this step, and despite doing the first few together, they struggled to work through the sentences. By breaking down each sentences into doable words and phrases, students were less anxious and more able to see the sentence in pieces.
 
After assigning each sentence to a category, we switched into English. Based on the evidence, we had a short conversation about whether fidget spinners were tools or toys and whether they should be allowed in school. It was important to me to have the end conversation - just a few minutes long -  in English to ensure that we were all on the same page and that they heard themselves and each other give the answers. In each of my five classes, students concluded that the spinners were ok for kids who need it but that they had become just another toy that was a distraction to themselves as well as their peers and teachers.
 
In having students do the “research” and come to the conclusion themselves, I’m hoping this conversation will have an impact on their choices. This was an incredible opportunity to address a current issue in a positive and engaging way while using the target language and pushing students to think and engage in that language.
 
This, of course, works for any current event. What was a big thing in your school that you could find an article for?

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Música Madness - Elementary Style

3/17/2017

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I’m not the first, and I won’t be the last to implement a Música Madness tournament in my class. With the help of people like Carrie Toth and @Spanishplans, I’ve been able to craft a tournament that works for my students and me. A bracket of 32 or even 16 songs seemed a bit overwhelming for my first go around with 5th graders, so I settled on 8 favorites. At the end of the year, I do a Lip Sync Off, so I chose songs that students would see again in our next competition. I figure the more contact the students have with the music, the more likely they are to connect with it.
 
I set up my brackets attempting to put like music together to even the playing field. I also tried for different genres of music to engage the widest audience. Once the brackets were set; we completed one bracket a week for the first round, listening to the whole song. As we move forward in the brackets, we’ll listen to just a few minutes to remind students before they vote. I’m so curious as to whether the totals will change the more they listen to the song.  
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Lip Sync Battle

5/9/2016

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Who doesn’t love a good lip sync? It takes me back to my days at summer camp, but lately, lip sync battles are all the rage. So why not bring it into the classroom. Not only is it a great way to introduce students to popular music in Spanish, but also a chance for me to catch up on the latest and greatest while throwing in some of my favorites! (Plus it was a chance to watch Jimmy Fallon’s lip sync battles gratuitously.)
Students have access to the set of music videos they can choose from before we begin the battle. At home, they listen to as many of the songs as they like and come to class with an idea of their top video. Based on their video choice, they are put in groups. If there are multiple groups that choose the same video, it is up to the group to make their performance standout.
 
Once in groups, students get to work on the studying the song lyrics, and especially the chorus. As this is 5th grade, students are only responsible for truly lip syncing the chorus. In order to impress the judges (a few teachers I roped in and me), they can learn more. Students get to practicing the lyrics while they listen and dividing the work amongst the group. Students perform no more than 2 minutes of the song for the sake of time (we only have a 30 minute class).
 
Next comes the dance moves. No one wants to watch you standing still for 2 minutes! Students choreograph a dance to the part on which they will focus.  It’s really fun to watch the students get into their dance moves. You never know who’s been hiding their talents all year!
 
Groups go against each other in pairs. The winner of each pair advances to the next round. Students are judged on their creativity, the clarity of the lip sync during the chorus, and group dynamics.

While this is a great way to wind down the school year, it is also a fun way to introduce new music to the students. It opens their eyes to culturally appropriate artists and genres, as well as provides input in the target language. Hearing different accents and voices broadens students’ ability to interpret the target language and make use of it. This activity can also be connected to their music classes, adding another layer to its’ purpose. 
 
Next year, I’d love to pair the songs for our lip sync battle with a Music Madness tournament in March, a la Carrie Toth and @Spanishplans. I would introduce these songs/videos in March and get the students geared up and listening. By May, they wouldn’t even need the lyrics to study! 
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Taking it to the Next level - Connecting Students to Content

3/26/2016

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I don’t know about you, but as long as I’ve been a Spanish teacher, I’ve always taught some iteration of activities students like to do. Sometimes it’s sports focused while other times it’s plans for the summer. No matter what, kids like to share what they do. Over the years, like many others, I’ve tried to find different ways to incorporate this into larger themes or ideas – no more me gusta without a purpose or intent. I’ve been toying with the idea of creating a thematic unit around world sports for the past few years, but it never seemed to gel. With the help of some great ideas from #CSCTFL16, I think I’ve finally started to pull it together. With the summer Olympics just around the corner, I figured this was the perfect time to get my butt in gear!
 
Part of the push to focus on the Olympics, or anything other than just sports, was that many of my students had no interest in sports. Ask them what they like, and they say “I don’t know”. If the goal is to have interpersonal conversation, that obviously isn't going to work. With the Olympics, however, there are something like 42 events to choose from. There has to be at least one that interests everyone! (Or at least I hope!) While still a work in progress, the unit is starting to take shape. Here are the current essential questions:
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As a way to introduce the unit, I shared the official Olympic events symbols. Without any information, I asked students to match a set of vocabulary words to the pictures. 
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After attending Amy Lenord’s Central State’s session on List Liberation I went back and forth on whether to provide any vocabulary at all. After some internal debate, however, I decided a set of core vocabulary was necessary to get my 4th graders started, but to let them go from there. The personal vocabulary piece is essential to maintain their interest, but at this age, I believe they still need a starting point. Once students matched the vocabulary I gave them (mostly cognates or words they needed to think about but could guess), they were tasked with finding 3 extra words which they shared in groups.
 
Once we matched the vocabulary, we began the conversation about the Olympics with this great infographic:
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Using interpretive reading strategies from ACTFL’s Implementing Integrated Performance Assessments, students worked in groups to see what they could figure out. There is a lot of language here for a 4th grade novice mid, so I made sure to focus their attention. Students already saw the pictures in a previous activity, which helped bring down their affective filter. This map gave us the opportunity to talk geography (Where is Brazil? What is the capital?) and language, since many students don’t realize that Brazil is not a Spanish-speaking country. I also made sure to focus a question on the transportation available, to give students an opportunity to add these words to their vocabulary. We used the map to practice our interpersonal skills with questions about what activities are available and the similarities and differences in the offerings at each stadium. By breaking students into 4 groups (one per stadium), they needed their classmates to answer questions about event availability before they decided which stadium location they might choose to attend.
 
Sadly, neither my 4th graders nor I will be attending the Olympics this year. And even if we were, the students certainly would not be planning the trip. Keeping this in mind, I decided to focus on what students might watch with their friends instead of what they might attend. In 4th grade, they may not be planning travel, but they are deciding what to watch on TV and with whom to hang out. 
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Using the schedule of events, we did some more exploring of what was available when. Central States keynote, John De Mado, discussed the need for students to “guess” effectively in order to continue their language growth. Acting on this principal, I focused my questions on sports that students had possibly come across, but would not necessarily know. For example, they know correr is to run, but could they figure out Track and Field based on the picture and previously hearing the information in conversation? If they know nadar is to swim, can the determine that nado sincronizado is synchronized swimming? It seemed easy enough, but for some of my 9 year olds, it was a push. Not only did the schedule allow me to bring in more vocabulary, but also to have the conversation about the date in Spanish. Despite having this conversation before, the students ALWAYS seem to get tripped up! Another crack at a cultural difference (and numbers practice) is always a plus!
 
The schedule was also a great way to talk about student interests around the sports. Since each word has a picture associated, there is less stress in choosing activities that might not be so popular or easy to decipher. If I like archery and you like fencing, it doesn’t really matter that they aren’t cognates. I have the pictures and Spanish there to assist me! As students started talking about which events interest them – moving away from me gusta and introducing me interesa – we also added in some adjectives to describe why. Yet another chance for guided interpersonal practice (woohoo!).  Using a simple chart, students tracked their friends’ answers and talked about who had similar interests. (I use this structure a lot for interpersonal practice so students can clearly see the questions they are working with and also keep track of the information.)
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As we move forward in the unit, we will look at medal counts as a way to further practice numbers in context. Lord knows we need the practice! Eventually, students will predict what country might win the most of each medal and why. Students will take on the identity of an Olympian in a sport they enjoy and will do a presentational activities with personal information as well as information about their sport, which will lead to a final interpersonal.

Bringing the Olympics into the classroom is so much more than just activities. We’re making connections to geography, math, culture, and beyond! Using authentic resources to guide the conversation makes the language more real and gives it a purpose beyond the classroom walls. So many of my students play sports that are involved in the Olympics, and now they have a chance to share about themselves in a cultural and language context.
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Using Instagram for INterpretive Activities

11/4/2015

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Instagram is a social network platform of images and descriptions from around the world. By following people on Instagram, you receive photographs and videos in a constant stream. These visuals, posted by native speakers from around the world, offer a wealth of resources for the World Language classroom. Posts are done by native speakers, for native speakers, and make for the perfect piece for classroom activities. These images are great for activities in all three modes, but especially for the interpretive.
 
One of my favorite accounts is National Geographic in Spanish (@Natgeoesp). As expected, the images in this account are gorgeous, and offer stunning scenery and animal shots. The photo below is one of my favorites, and is perfect for my novice-level unit on animals and the food chain! Not only does the picture capture the food chain in motion, but the caption “¡La captura! ¡La caputra en el aire!” gives a jumping-off point for a conversation around the animals, their eating habits, and the food chain in general.

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Pushing for Proficiency Through Conversation

9/28/2015

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It's the first day of school, and one of my fourth-grader says: “Are we going to learn how to speak Spanish next year?”. “No!” I respond. “You're going to learn today!” What he really wanted to ask was if he was going to speak in Spanish the same way he speaks in English. As much as I would love to tell him that by the end of fourth grade he would be fluent in Spanish, but the reality is that he won't. Until this moment, I never thought to share the proficiency guidelines put out by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL). I just did not think it would matter to an elementary school student. The more I think about it, however, the more I see the importance. In order for our students to understand their growth potential, however, we need to be clear on what we truly expect them to do. ACTFL provides proficiency levels to help guide us through our language learning. 

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