Talia Block
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Word Clouds

5/31/2016

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Over the years, I’ve gone back and forth on whether I like word clouds or not. After attending Amy Lenord’s session on Liberation from the List at Central States, I decided to give them another try. Over the past few weeks, I’ve worked with the clouds in various capacities to get the most out of their use. Here are a few of the activities:
 
1. Introduction of vocabulary
Copy and past the content of a website into the word cloud site and create! Once the word cloud is complete, students can begin by searching for cognates and words they know. I also encourage them to make educated guesses about words based on what they already know about the language. Students can share all the words with the class, and this becomes their vocabulary list. Once students have found these words (which usually ends up being WAY more than they could imagine), have them write a short summary of what they think the website might be about. For novice mid students, you may just have them write the most important words from the cloud. Now that you’ve activated some prior knowledge, students can read through the text and do various interpretive activities.
 
2. Info gap activities
There are a few different ways to do info gaps with word clouds. For my 3rd graders, I created a word cloud with adjectives and asked students to highlight the words that describe themselves. Once they did that, students paired up and asked each other about the various adjectives, highlighting with a different color on the word cloud. Students finished by creating a Venn Diagram to compare themselves with their friends. This could work with any set of vocabulary in terms of likes and dislikes.

In the 5th grade, I used word clouds to condense an “All About Me” page from a blog post. I created two clouds – one for each post. Students answered questions about their post based on the cloud and then partnered up to ask and answer questions based on their cloud.

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3. All About Me
Word clouds are also a great way to present information. They can be used to start the year as a way to introduce students to one another or at the end of the year to sum up the various vocabulary pieces the students learned. I find that providing a brainstorm document of some sort helps students organize their thoughts and put more information into the cloud.
 
4. Guess Who
A word cloud is a great way to play Guess Who? in class. Students create their cloud without their name and their classmates try to guess who it is. The other day, I had students move from cloud to cloud. Not only did they guess the name of the person, but also wrote palabras claves, key words that helped them determine to whom the cloud belonged. Some were obvious, such as the student obsessed with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James, and others were much trickier as multiple students participate in the same activities.
 
There are various sites you can use to create your world cloud. Here are a few that I’ve used in the past:
 
-Wordle: This is one of the original sites and provides you the ability to change fonts, colors, and word direction. The more times you write a word, the larger it becomes. You can copy text from websites, song lyrics, etc. It requires flash, so it cannot be used on a iPad. It often asks for updates and seems to work best on Firefox rather than Chrome or Safari.
-Tagxedo: This site is similar to Wordle, but also allows you to create the word clouds in various shapes. It also requires a plugin, but once downloaded, works just fine. It also works best on Firefox or Safari.
-Tagul: My favorite of the three at this point, Tagul works on any browser and also on the iPads. It gives more freedom than the others in that colors, fonts, and word directions can be changed for individual words or the word cloud as a whole.  Tagul does require a login, but if students have Google accounts through the school, they can use them here. The benefit of logging in, however, is that the site saves your work and you can return to it later.
 
How do you use word clouds in class? 
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Central States Conference 2016 Reflections and takeaways

3/19/2016

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Just a week out from Central States Conference 2016, and I think I'm finally ready to put what I've learned into words. As I reflected on my time at the conference, I realized that aside from the classroom and student focused takeaways, there are some big picture ideas that really stuck with me. My growth and learning came to more than buzzwords and targeted practices, but also in the importance of sharing time with colleagues and learning from those colleagues. We may not all be experts in anything, but we have a passion for language and teaching and we want what is best for our students. The presentations and conversations at Central States made this very clear. So here’s some stuff I picked up:

Everyone is doing their best to make learning better for their students. 
No matter where my colleagues are in their career or in the process of writing or rewriting curriculum, we are all working hard to take the baby steps necessary to make huge changes. The way we teach language has changed drastically over the past years and there is a lot to take in and learn. It isn't just about what and how to implement ideas, but an incredible shift in the way we view language teaching. Just accepting this shift is a huge accomplishment. Diving in and making those changes is just a part of the process. Each time we take a small step, we really can't have a big impact on the students learning. Just the small steps can lead us to where we want to go with her teaching to where we want our students to go. It doesn't have to happen overnight and we, As teachers, have to be OK with making one change at a time to reach our bigger goal. 

Sometimes all we need is a spark. 
As I started the weekend at Central states, I was feeling a little lost as to what I really wanted to get out of the conference. I feel really good about where we are in our curriculum as a district, but it just isn't enough. I really couldn't decide what it was I wanted to focus on. After Amy Lenord's presentation on ditching the vocabulary list, however, I realize that I wasn't looking for a solution, but a spark. Just one idea can have a huge impact in changing the way we think about curriculum and how we teach. Why was I picking vocabulary (seemingly out of thin air) when I could use my authentic resources to dictate? Add this to Laura Terrill's idea of starting with culture and content and the pieces begin to come together. Neither one had the whole answer, but each of pieces begin to fit together to help solve the puzzle of how to push students to higher language proficiency. 
 
Don't forget the conversation 
The amount and variation in the sessions offered at Central states was incredible. But sometimes conversation after and between sessions is more valuable than attending twice as many sessions. Not only is it a time to continue the learning from the session, but to brainstorm ideas and connect with other colleagues. The more connections we make, the more potential there is for sharing and collaborating down the road. I am a person that likes to process information with other people; I like to talk it out to help formulate ideas and thoughts. Without these conversations, I’m not sure I would necessarily come to the same ideas or conclusions that I do when sharing and brainstorming with others. Not only do they have different perspectives and come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds and situations, but also they have differing experiences that lead to seeing material in distinctive ways.
 
Social media isn’t just a distraction
Despite constant commentary about millennials and technology, Twitter played an extremely important role in Central States for me. Not only is it impossible to attend all of the sessions, but it is also impossible to take everything in over the three day conference. The backchannel Twitter conversation provides an archive of thoughts, ideas, conversation and more that occurred during, between, and after sessions. Days, weeks, and months later, I can return to that “archive” under the #CSCTFL16 and review these ideas or moments to spark a new idea. Not only that, it is a great way to process ideas and have conversation even if you aren’t sitting next to the person in that moment. The amount of sessions I was able to “attend” was expanded just by virtue of reading the ideas or thoughts of others. Moreover, everyone hears the information differently, even if they are in the same room. The ability to read another perspective opens my mind to greater possibilities.
 
Central States this year didn't really feel like a regional conference. It was amazing to hear from some of the top people in the field and to connect with those who are facing the same everyday struggle to make language learning more effective and authentic for our students. Looking forward to next year in Chicago!

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Top Instagram Accounts for the Spanish Classroom

11/18/2015

 
As I mentioned in my previous post, Instagram is a great authentic resource for our students. Instagram bills itself as a platform to “capture and share the world’s moments”, making it a fabulous resource for the language classroom. With engaging visuals and language-rich descriptions, Instagram provides a stream of authentic resources at your fingertips. These visuals can be used as a hook to any lesson, as the center of interpretive activity, a jumping-off point for interpersonal conversation, or as a way to introduce authentic content into a unit. The possibilities are endless! Below are some Instagram accounts worth following for Spanish resources. (If you are not a Spanish teacher, scroll to the bottom for tips on finding good accounts for the classroom.)

Places/Travel
These accounts are pictures and descriptions of places around the world. Some are country specific, while others explore the world.
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Photo by Kristen Ryan via @natgeoesp
@natgeoesp
@natgeocast@Latinoamericaneando
@Viajaportupais  (Argentina)
@Colombianiando
@Chiletravel
@Peru
@Ecuadortravel_ig
 
Food
Whether you need cooking inspiration or just love food, these sites have it all. Just make sure you have a snack on hand!
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@hellofood_mexico
@Comidaven – Explore the food of Venezuela, from the typical to the foreign.
@Recetasveggies –
@Hellofood_mexico – A food delivery service with witty commentary & fun photos
@Comidala – Photos and videos of food from all over Latin America
@Comidabuena
 
Sports/Activities

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@eubeisbol
@decathlones – Exploring all types of sports and activities
@rbdseleccion – All about basketball in the Dominican Republic
@eubeisbol – Venezuelans in the MLB
@ligabbvufut – The official Instagram of La Liga fútbol
 
Arts/Words
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@wawawiwadesign
@wawawiwadesign – Illustrations and designs by Andrés Colmenares; often includes play on words and puns.
@jheycoco – Literal illustrations
@igers.design.mx – Designers and photographers professional and amateur from Mexico
 
This, of course, is not an exhaustive list. Some tips for finding other accounts to fit your needs:


- Search hashtags (#) in the target language that reflect what you are interested in. You can search by country (#peru), by topic (#viaje), or by idea (#chevre)
- Search accounts (@) in the same way.
- Use the tags in the accounts you follow as a pathway to other fabulous and interesting accounts.
- See the account followers and the
accounts being followed. People tend to follow and be followed by those interested in the same things.


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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To review or not to review

8/25/2015

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For many of us, the start of school is just days away. The room is (almost) ready and the excitement is building, but what are you actually going to teach on the first day? Do you dive right in, or do you spend time reviewing and warming up your students’ brains? I’m always torn on how much time I should spend reviewing. While it seems to help ease the students back in, I’m not sure that it actually elevates their learning in any way. Every year, I feel like I go back and forth on how and what to review and how much time to spend.

In years past, I feel like I’ve tried everything. Some years, students create Facebook pages or write short books all about themselves. These activities pull in vocabulary, such as colors and activities, which we’ve learned the previous year. (See some samples below.) Other years, I skip the projects and do more interactive getting-to-know-you activities like human bingo. There is NOTHING wrong with these activities! It eases students back into school while allowing them to share about themselves and learn from others. (Truthfully, I think it also eases me back into the school year.)


Facebook Review.pdf
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Human Bingo.doc
File Size: 34 kb
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