Simple 5 Question System for Choosing Preterite vs. Imperfect As Spanish teachers, we all know that one of the trickiest topics to teach is how to choose between the preterite and imperfect tenses. For years, I watched students struggle with this concept, and to be honest, when I was a newer Spanish teacher, I had
Looking for high school rewards or middle school rewards to motivate students? Tired of finding reward ideas that are more applicable to elementary kids than your 8th, 9th, or 10th graders? No need to look any further. As a language teacher, I'm always searching for high school incentives to get my trickier classes to speak
Here is what we decided to do for our families in recognition of "Thanksgiving"... We will also be doing a journal entry after we learn about the traditions of Thanksgiving. As part of the Grade 2 curriculum, we get to learn about all the different celebrations, so we will be doing an activity/journal entry for each of them this year. Here's how our pumpkin pies turned out!! The orange "pie" spins, showing each of the different things the students are thankful for! Before we started, we did a brainstorm as a class of all the things we have in our lives to be thankful for. They shared first with their elbow partners, and then we shared as a class (always looking for time to practice our oral French!). Then when they were done, they shared their pies with their classmates.
High quality mug makes the perfect gift for everyone. Printed on only the highest quality mugs. The print will never fade no matter how many times it is washed. 100% Dishwasher and Microwave safe. Shipped in a custom made styrofoam package to ensure it arrives perfect. GUARANTEED. Packaged, and shipped from the USA. Absolutely love your order or contact us and we'll make it right. Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed.
French games for grammar, vocabulary, and verb conjugation for Core and Immersion: French class made fun and engaging!
Looking for high school rewards or middle school rewards to motivate students? Tired of finding reward ideas that are more applicable to elementary kids than your 8th, 9th, or 10th graders? No need to look any further. As a language teacher, I'm always searching for high school incentives to get my trickier classes to speak
As a follow-up to my 3 part series of 20 Ways to Get Your Students Speaking in the Target Language, I created this list of 15 creative Spanish speaking activities to use in class. Here is a collection of my favorite ideas and activities to get your students talking. Beware: Once they start talking, they
I'm starting to (trying to!) wrap my head around the fact that it's almost fall - so it's time to start thinking about fall vocabulary! To help you navigate through all of the many resources on TPT, here are some of my fall resources! This file is my favourite for students who are brand new to fall vocabulary! I use this for weeks with my grade 1 French Immersion students. Includes: ♦ 21 word wall cards ♦ Bang! game cards ♦ Matching reading game (image to word) ♦ Sentence building cards ♦ Teacher book to introduce vocabulary - 21 pages ♦ Student book template (following the same pattern as the teacher book) ♦ Tracking sheet and rubric example for student book This file includes even more games, to go with all the vocabulary from the file above! You can use both of these files together to set up the basis of your games for your literacy centres/daily 5 centres! Includes: -18 flashcards -bug in a rug game cards -domino game cards (small and large) This resource has the basics that you need to teach fall vocabulary to your Core French or French Immersion students using photographs - it has flashcards, word wall cards, and vocabulary games! **I use this with my second year French Immersion students, and prefer the clip art for my first year students. Some of this vocabulary is more complex! Includes: ♦ 4 x large and small images to prompt discussions ♦ 27 x flashcards ♦ 27 x word wall cards ♦ Bang! game cards (two choices - with and without words on the cards) ♦ Worksheets and assessments for primary FI students ♦ Class book (5 different choice pages - with options to draw or draw and write) ♦ Student mini strip book (to use as a presentation) - with options to draw or draw and write The pictures and vocabulary in this file match the vocabulary from the main flashcards file (above). Includes: - Matching game cards - Domino game cards This file matches too - and it's a really fun vocabulary game! I have "bug in a rug" in my daily 5/literacy centres all year round. I just switch in the vocabulary of whatever we are focusing on at the time. This mini book pack has a simple mini book, word wall cards, and a template for assessment! I like to read this book to my students every other day for a few weeks. They also make their own version to practice at home. I record myself reading it and upload it to youtube, so that they can listen to the audio from home. They get a big confidence boost from reading this book to me when they've mastered it! If you want matching that is more complex than just pictures to words, this file has pictures to sentences! Bingo is a great game to help reinforce the vocabulary that you are practicing/learning with your students! These sentence prompts make up a big part of our morning routine. We learn the verbs in the prompts, and apply the French fall vocabulary that we are learning to create fall sentences! I put magnets on the back of them and stick them on the whiteboard as we learn them. They can also be used regularly as journal prompts! If you're teaching French in Kindergarten or grade 1, these are a fun introductory reading game! They make another easy centre. For a more complex reading center, these cards include a variety of different fall sentences. They are a good fit for grades 2 or 3 French Immersion, depending on your students' reading levels. If you're looking for some reading practice and assessment, these activities are great for advanced grade 2 or grade 3 French Immersion students! Same with these! You can use them in a writing centre, or have the whole class do them at the same time. These sheets are great for writing! We start out by doing them together as guided writing. Each sheet includes 5 French words, and your goal is to use them each at least once. I like to do some at the carpet together over a few weeks with my grade 2s, and then let them try it on their own. They're also easy writing centre activities! When you're all done with fall vocabulary, these simple activities can be used as practice in centres or for assessment! Looking for other fall resources? Leave a note in the comments to let me know what resources you need!
Are your students still making their own French flashcards? I sure hope not! Here are the problems with student-made French flashcards. They don't have visual cues. Students spell the words wrong. English on the cards prevents true immersion. Students lose their flashcards. Students don't even bother to make them in the first place. Check out Learn how to use 3 new types of French flashcards - so much better than student-made flashcards Your students will love them!
Welcome to this blog series about ways to get your students speaking in the target language. Part 1 taught pointers and habits to change to be more successful. Today's post, Part 2, will teach you 20 ways to get your students speaking in the target language. 20 Strategies to Get Students Speaking Some of these strategies
In this series on teaching Spanish writing skills, we've discussed using templates to model good writing, as well as the importance of Spanish transition words to decrease choppiness. This post will continue the writing discussion with ideas for great Spanish writing activities and Spanish writing projects to use all year long with your high school
Looking for an intercambio in Malaga? Here are four currently active Malaga intercambios happening weekly or more often. Improve your Spanish now!
Are your students still making their own French flashcards? I sure hope not! Here are the problems with student-made French flashcards. They don't have visual cues. Students spell the words wrong. English on the cards prevents true immersion. Students lose their flashcards. Students don't even bother to make them in the first place. Check out Learn how to use 3 new types of French flashcards - so much better than student-made flashcards Your students will love them!
In this series on teaching French writing activities, we've already discussed using templates to model good writing, as well as the importance of French transition words to decrease choppiness. This post will continue the writing discussion with 25 ideas for great French writing projects and French writing activities to use all year long for your
Board games can be a useful and ready asset for the ESL classroom. We round up some of our favorites and explain why.
As a follow-up to my 3 part series of 20 Ways to Get Your Students Speaking in the Target Language, I created this list of 15 creative Spanish speaking activities to use in class. Here is a collection of my favorite ideas and activities to get your students talking. Beware: Once they start talking, they
Looking for high school rewards or middle school rewards to motivate students? Tired of finding reward ideas that are more applicable to elementary kids than your 8th, 9th, or 10th graders? No need to look any further. As a language teacher, I'm always searching for high school incentives to get my trickier classes to speak
After reviewing French or Spanish adjectives with my students, I like to add a fun activity to get them reading, writing, and speaking, while learning about famous Francophones and famous Hispanics. We play a game called 20 Questions. For homework or in class, students write 20 clues about a famous person. More advanced students can
April is Poetry Month so I thought I would share a bit about how I use Poem of the Week in my classroom. If you read through to the end, there’s a FREEBIE waiting for you! When I first started with a new poem each week, we would just read the poem each day and then […]
Notes From the Portable is a blog about teaching, reflecting on connections to Common Core Standards and 21st-Century Skills.
Are you a newer teacher who could use some guidance and Spanish lesson plans from a veteran teacher? Are you teaching multiple levels of Spanish classes at once (3-5 preps)? Do you wish your students were more interested and engaged? Are you looking for fresh ideas to spice up your class? Do you feel really
Do you leave what you think are very clear Spanish sub plans or French sub plans only to return to chaos the next day? Have any of the following happened to you? The substitute didn't do any of the Spanish sub plans that you left, but just played games with the kids. The sub gave
Don't do it!!! Don't show your students a movie the last few days before a long holiday break! Instead, check out these 10 Spanish activities before break to save your sanity and keep your students engaged. All the teachers do this and the poor students end up watching movies all day long. Save your movie
I recently posted a file that I have been using this past month to help with assessing my students. It includes a variety of different activities for reading, writing, listening, and oral production. Here are some of the included activities: Below is a template for your listening test. Choose 12 winter words that you want to test your students on. To help see what each student knows, you can have them spread around the room. I read one word at a time, giving them time to think and draw. I find this helpful to know which of my students need more practice on the vocabulary. Below is the sheet I use to see what words my students can produce. This is more challenging for them than hearing and drawing the word. I point to each square and they tell me the word. Depending on where your students are, you could also have them use the vocabulary in a sentence as well. This is some writing practice - students can read the sentence and fill in the blanks with a word that makes sense. They can practice reading and writing for this one! To complete this activity, students need to read and then draw a picture to match what they read. I find it to be a helpful check-in for reading comprehension. I hope that you find some of these helpful! What are you using in your classroom to assess all the different French strands?
Are your students still making their own French flashcards? I sure hope not! Here are the problems with student-made French flashcards. They don't have visual cues. Students spell the words wrong. English on the cards prevents true immersion. Students lose their flashcards. Students don't even bother to make them in the first place. Check out Learn how to use 3 new types of French flashcards - so much better than student-made flashcards Your students will love them!
Want to get your students excited about reading in the target language? In this post, learn how to create a reading library in your World Language classroom. It's much easier and cheaper than you'd think. I'll cover how to get books without paying for them out of pocket, which books to pick, and how to
FOOD IS ONE OF THOSE TOPICS IN WORLD LANGUAGE CLASSES that gives a lot of bang for the buck.. we all like to talk about food, and there are so many ways to make it part of our lessons. Since I am a huge advocate of hands on learning, I use both plastic and paper play food whenever I am doing activities related to food- not only do they give little hands something to engage in, but it also provides visual support for my students. And this applies to all age groups, not just the littles- when I was teaching Russian to adults, I frequently incorporated manipulatives to support learning. Here are some ideas for using play food in your class: *CATEGORIZE ACCORDING TO PREFERENCE: This is a simple way to practice expressions of preference, even if your students don't know the words for all the food items. For my younger students, I make up ziploc baggies or an envelope with approximately 10 foods in them along with a set of cards indicating 'I like', 'I really like', 'I don't like', and 'I don't know' (for those foods they've never tried) and divide the class into pairs. Each pair gets a baggie and takes turns categorizing the foods based on their preferences. After a few minutes, I have them leave the foods in a pile, and they move to the next set (each baggie has different foods in it) so they can categorize again. I encourage them to say how they feel about each food in Spanish as they place it under a preference card-this is the focus of the activity, using the preference phrases themselves. For older kids, you could have them add reasons why they like or don't like a particular food- It's too spicy, It's sweet, It's gross, etc. This makes for a great (and simple!) Interpersonal Activity, particularly for novice speakers! *MY FAVORITE MEAL: Use paper plates to provide the starting prop, and have kids "fill" their plate with their favorite meal- could be breakfast, lunch or dinner! You could also title this: A MEAL I REALLY LIKE, since sometimes kids have a hard time deciding between multiple favorites. Kids can then turn and talk with the person on their left, then switch and turn and talk with the person on their right. I love activities where kids share with one another, it builds community by providing opportunities to learn about each other! *PLAY RESTAURANT OR MARKET: Play food lends itself really well to activities involving restaurant or market vocabulary and provide a hands on component to the action. Students can "order" food which is then delivered to them (put the play food on a plate!), or the play food can be displayed as part of a market stand where students can "buy" what they need to make a dish or to get items on a shopping list. This is a fun way to integrate imaginary play for little kids, and manners expressions such as 'please', 'thank you' and 'you're welcome'. *"ILLUSTRATE A RECIPE": Provide students with an authentic recipe and a basket or bin of printable food. Have them read the recipe and line up the ingredients below the recipe. This is a great center/ station activity! ALTERNATIVE: Have multiple sets of play food available, pair students up and have one student tell his/her partner which foods are needed for a particular recipe or dish. This is an easy way to add CULTURE to your classes! *PLAY 20 QUESTIONS: Have student go out into the hall and choose a food from a basket or bag. Upon re-entering the classroom, the rest of the class tries to guess the mystery food by asking a series of questions that can be answered with yes/no. Is it a fruit? Is it round? Is it an orange? etc. Once guessed, or the 20 questions are spent and the food revealed, choose another student and play again! *PLAY 'I'M GOING ON A PICNIC AND I'M BRINGING...': I love this old favorite, but I find it is easier for students to engage in when we have the food visuals in front of them. It helps with recall, and provides some structure and limits to what they can choose from. I put out a bunch of play food that they know the names of and as one is named by a student, they put it in front of them so we can all reference it. This also helps keep the game moving, as the task focuses on remembering the Spanish vocabulary, rather than what someone said on down the circle. *WHAT'S MISSING?: One of my favorite games with the littles is this one- place 4-5 foods in front of you, on the board or in a pocket chart. Have kids close their eyes, and take a food away. Have them open their eyes again and identify the missing food. After a few rounds, take away two foods, then three, etc. The funniest is when you take them all away! :) *CATEGORIZE INTO...: There are so many ways students can categorize food- healthy vs unhealthy foods, groups based on the food pyramid, meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), foods they've tried vs foods they haven't, types of food (fruits, veggies, drinks, desserts, etc), and so on. Provide a graphic organizer for students to use as a template, placing food in categories they write at the top (or have the categories pre-written), ideal for novice speakers! When focusing on the category headers, this also means you can use foods that students still haven't learnt yet since the key language being used is the set of headers, rather than the individual words, meaning you can extend the activity beyond the food vocabulary set you've identified as core. *LUNCH TALK... an every more popular activity for class, lunch talk is a great way to incorporate authentic communication in a personalized format. The essence of lunch talk is taking the opportunity to talk with your students about what they have for lunch (or what they ate), which also allows for practice of high frequency phrases such as 'I have/I don't have', 'I like/don't like (and all the other variants), I eat (along with expressions of frequency), etc. The tricky part of lunch talk, most especially for novice speakers, is their limited vocabularies, yet quite unlimited set of possibilities in terms of what they might be having for lunch. One way to support your students is, instead of expecting verbal output of what they have, have them SHOW you using PLAY FOOD! This then allows you, as the teacher, to facilitate interaction and reaction (oh, I like that too!, Mmm, yummy! I eat ___ that every day, too, etc) in the target language. You can then scaffold and support students in using some of the phrases mentioned above, and you can encourage more general words, like 'sandwich' (instead of peanut butter & jelly sandwich) or 'soup' (instead of chicken noodle soup) to keep it accessible for the Novice proficiency level. Don't miss our Sandwich Printable Props Pack for this activity! NEED PLAY FOOD FOR YOUR CLASS? Look no further! We have an ever growing set of play food in Spanish, as well as the same set unlabeled, as well as sets in German, French, Russian, and English! Visit our shop and grab it now- click here!
The students have to look at the picture and read the story. There are 15 mistakes that the students have to find. They have to write the story correctly.If you want to practice more, you can find more picture descriptions herehttps://en.islcollective.com/mypage/my-creations?search_key=Picture+description&type=printables&option=published&id=5163&grammar=&vocabulary=&materials=&levels=&studentTypes=&skills=&languageExams=&dialect=&functions=&page=1&sorting_type=most_newest&filter_type=filter_all&view_type=list&view_length=12 - ESL worksheets
Can't stand traditional flashcards? Try French or Spanish Interactive Notebook Flashcards and your students will: * Learn verbs and vocabulary in the target language with colorful visuals * Have all their flashcards taped in their notebooks throughout the year for review at any time * Practice usi...
Here’s a fun idea for any world language classroom – it’s amazing how having your own kids in school inspires you. Got this class mascot idea from my daughter’s kindergarten class. Find a stuffed animal, doll, inflatable monster, gnome, etc. to be your class mascot/exchange student. Pick a different mascot for each class that you have. Let the students name him and decide where he’s from, why he’s here, what his family is like, etc. Each week, a student gets to take him home and take pictures of him doing activities. Give the student a sheet of paper with lines to write 10 sentences about what the mascot did and a rectangle for a 4×6 picture on the front and blank space on the back for additional pictures. Keep a different color binder with plastic insert pages of the student’s work and pictures for each class. The other classes will be interested in seeing what all the mascots are doing. When you talk about weekend activities on Mondays with your class, the student of the week is responsible for talking about what the mascot did and showing off the pictures. The student should bring the mascot to school every day so that he can sit in class and learn the language. Let the mascot be part of class activities when appropriate (games, reading in a funny voice, etc.). You can also make a flat version of the mascot and have students take pictures of him/her in other random places, cities, or countries. Written by World Langauge Café
After using traditional vocabulary and verb Spanish flashcards in my World Language classrooms for years, I have finally come to the conclusion that they just aren't as effective as they could be. How many bazillions of flashcards have we forced our students to make, yet they still struggle to use the vocabulary and verbs correctly
I'm currently working with my grade 1s to start building more complex sentences. Instead of "Je vois 2 crayons" or "Il y a 5 boules de neige", we started making "when --> then" sentences. Quand il fait froid, je porte un manteau. Quand il fait frais, je porte un chandail. Quand il fait beau, je joue dehors avec mes amis. Quand il neige, je fais un bonhomme de neige. This has really helped show who needs some extra help with the comprehension too, since they need to build sentences that make sense. We are also practicing the different verbs: Je porte J'ai besoin de Je joue Je vois Je fais Je patine Je bois Je mange Je nage I read the book from the file to them a LOT. I read it once through when they listen, and then the second time I read line by line, giving them time to repeat after me. They hear the book at least every other day, and they soon learn the words and are able to read along with me. We have talked about WHY we read books more than once (to learn the French words) and they get really excited when it clicks for them. Then we go through all the flashcards to practice the vocabulary again, repeating each card after me. There are lots of different centres that match the vocabulary from the book and the flashcards. We play "bug in a rug" as a class to practice the vocabulary, and do the matching centre to practice reading the words. We also start practicing building the sentences in partners and sharing them with the class. I draw/write them on the board as the students share them and then we read them all together as a class. After a few days of practicing orally, we start practicing writing the sentences. I write "Quand _________ je _____________" on the board, and they can use the word wall cards for help writing the full sentences. Next week they will be writing their own versions of the book using the template I made. They can stick to the "je porte" sentences, or they can use different verbs and endings to really show me what they have learned! One of my students blew my away by making this during Daily 5: If you're interested, here are the two files that I am using with my kiddos :) Le temps et les vêtements - Mini book and centres Le temps et les vêtements - flashcards, bug in a rug, and domino game
These 5 tried and true methods to get students speaking Spanish will revolutionize your classes. You'll be amazed how much more they learn!
Want to get your students excited about reading in the target language? In this post, learn how to create a reading library in your World Language classroom. It's much easier and cheaper than you'd think. I'll cover how to get books without paying for them out of pocket, which books to pick, and how to
Par hasard Madame Dugot a connu un livre très intéressant et drôle pour les enfants qui veulent apprendre le français. C’est une petite collection de l’écrivaine et professeur de français Catherine Duval. En plus d’apprendre le français avec ces livres les enfants trouveront des aventures et des jeux classés par âgé et niveau. La collection est établie de huit titres pensés pour attirer l’attention des adolescentes. En fait, le propos de Catherine Duval a été remplir un vide existant dans la littérature juvénile et écrire des histoires intéressantes pour les jeunes. Voici les titres et sa classification : L’anniversaire de Lucie et Le mauvais tour de Médor. Niveau 1. Papa, maman, revenez vite ! Et Je ne veux pas déménager. Niveau 2. Le trésor mérovingien et Un weekend de campement. Niveau 3. Susanne est fâchée. Le concert de ma vie. Niveau 4 Merci Catherine Duval d’être aussi aimable et sympa avec Madame Dugot!
