The Start of a New Year

Hola a todxs:

I am off to a great start of the year this year. It's nice to be at the same school for a second year because I already know a decent amount of the students, so it made learning names much easier this year! Phew!

Anyway, last year, at the beginning of the year, I was working with a new curriculum, new students, new colleagues, etc. and it was very overwhelming (but great!). I was not fully invested in teaching for proficiency at the beginning of the year, so I am still developing a lot of new materials because I do not want to use what I used at the beginning of the year last year.

I decided to give 7th and 8th grade a performance assessment at the beginning of the year to see where they were at, and I was very impressed by the students' work.  It showed me that the students were really ready for new material, which is great. On the feedback form (rubric) that I use, there is a section for cultural knowledge. I noticed a HUGE lack of cultural knowledge from our students, which means there is a gap in our curriculum in both sixth and seventh grade. I am going to try very hard this year to look more at products, practices and perspectives, because I think that this is extremely important. We are not just teaching students to speak another language; we are teaching them to think in different ways. If we are not discussing cultural topics in the target language, then I think that we are missing a huge chunk of world language teaching.

The sixth graders are eating the language up, and it is making me so happy. We are working on the alphabet right now, and this year, I thought to have them look up Spanish words instead of spelling English words to me and the rest of the class. This has been a really nice advantage because the students do not know the words that the other students are spelling, so they HAVE to rely on the Spanish alphabet. For example, I used to have the students choose any word, so they might choose something like "football." When they spell that to the rest of the class, I used to notice that the other students would often have the word "football" already spelled out on their mini-white boards before the student finished because they figured out the word. This year, if they want to spell "football," they have to look up the Spanish word, and spell "fútbol americano" to the class. This is great because the students have to actually listen to the person spelling until he/she/they finish. Phew! I am happy to have solved that problem.

With the 7th and 8th graders, I have been able to get to know them using the target language. We did a language pledge in our department this year, and it basically states that the students' first attempt at speaking will always be in the target language. If this means they have to use baby talk like "me want pen," then so be it! It's much better than having them rely on English all the time. This has been great for getting the students to express themselves, but has also been a great reminder for me to stay in the target language as well.

I have heard of many language teachers using some type of item that the students have to keep on their desks for using English too much. Then, they have to get rid of it by catching someone else speaking English. I am sure that this works great, but I was worried that it would become a distraction and would get the students to focus more on who's speaking English and less on the lesson (but I could be wrong!). My colleague, Kate McGonagle, had a great idea, however. She is planning on doing it the opposite way. She is going to give her mini-Eiffel Tower to the student who speaks the most French. In other words, it's more of a reward. I think I am going to try to do the same, so I will let you know how it goes!

We are talking about food in 8th grade, and it is so interesting to see what their likes and dislikes are. We also discovered that a lot of the students in the class have very different eating habits, which really really really surprised me! It's nice to use the language to really discover things about each other.

I did a check for understanding that I really liked this year. So, basically, they had just learned some food items, but I did not believe they were ready to produce the language yet. I wanted to know if they were recognizing the words for certain items without having to produce them, so I played this game "what color do you associate with..." It was really interesting to see some of the responses, and it actually sparked some good conversation. For example, when I said (in Spanish) "what color do you associate with steak," most kids said "brown," but some added "pink" or both. It was an awesome way for me to see that they understood the word for "steak" without making them produce the word themselves.

All in all, I feel much more prepared this year, and I am SO happy. I really really love my job.

Thanks for reading,

Timothy

The End of the Year

This year has certainly had its ups and downs. The good thing is that a lot of things clicked for me this year. As a new teacher, there are so many experts around you throwing out all these buzz words, and you're just trying to stay afloat to understand it all.

At the end of the Proficiency Academy last summer, one of the speakers said to me "you know what the second year means, don't you? It means you throw out everything you did last year and start over." I thought he was a netball for saying that. It turns out he was right. I only used maybe one or two things that I developed last year. It wasn't because those things were bad, but rather because I had ways of making them better.  

This year, as you can tell if you have kept up with my blog, I have tried to dive head first into teaching for proficiency. I am so proud of all that I have learned and done this year, but it is amazing that I am still sitting here thinking of how I want to improve next year.  Despite all the research that I have done this year, I certainly had some failures, and I can't wait to fix those failures and fail some more. That is how we learn, right? 

One thing that has been stressed to me is that, if it is not open ended and not spontaneous, then we really cannot assess someone's language proficiency. On my course evaluations, that was one of the biggest complaints I received from my students. "Stop giving surprise tests." I think that I need to explain my reasoning behind this better next year. I want them to understand that, if it's not spontaneous, then it doesn't really show me or them what they can do in the language; or rather, it doesn't show them what is in their head and can come out naturally.

I did an open-ended final with all six of my Spanish classes, and boy did that stress me out. However, I would not change it for the world because it is so beautiful to see what my students could do at the end of the year. My only complaint is that, because I was assessing all six classes at a time, the feedback I gave the students was not as in-depth as I would have liked. 

Each assessment had a prompt that involved a lot of what each grade had learned that year. In other words, they were cumulative assessments. It was really good for me to see where the students were the strongest and where they were the weakest, but I take pride in the fact that each student was able to communicate in the language. I was so proud to see my students focusing more on meaning and less on grammar. This type of assessment is so much more meaningful than a non-communicative grammar quiz. 

I have learned that teaching for proficiency takes a lot of time and creativity, but it is not as scary as I had imagined. I was so worried about "doing it wrong" at the beginning of this year and last year that I held back a bit. Once I committed, I learned more and more, and I have really grown as an educator. All that they have taught us at the proficiency academy is true; the students really do learn a lot faster and can communicate a lot when they are taught using a communicative approach. This all has made me love my job even more, and I am so unbelievably proud of my students. I cannot wait to see what next year brings. 

Con cariño,

Timothy

Verbs Verbs Verbs

Hola a todos:

In my last post, I mentioned the issue of separating language such as AR verbs from IR and ER verbs. I ended up not doing that with my sixth graders this year to see how it went. If they wanted to use an "ir verb" when stating something they do, then I gave them the tools to do that. It feels nice to not restrict them by saying "oh, you'll learn how to conjugate ir and er verbs in 7th grade."

It has been really fun watching them progress in their language over this school year. We played "Two Truths and a Lie" last week, and it was so cool to see how well they were using their Spanish to guess each other's lies. They have really impressed me, and I am not so sure that my lessons would have been as communicative if I had only taught them how to use AR verbs. Also, I have noticed fewer "errors" in their grammar when they are communicating. Over the years, I have noticed that language learners always want to make everything into an AR verb. Perhaps the reason for that is because we often teach it all separately. They learn AR verbs first and so they think that that is the way all verbs work. At first, I was worried about not teaching that way this year, but then I thought about it and realized that Spanish-speaking parents do not raise their kids only using AR verbs until their child has mastered those and then moved on to ER verbs. So far, it seems to have been successful.

One thing that is driving me crazy is stem-change verbs. For those of you who do not know, these are verbs that change a letter to another letter(s). For example, the "e" in "pensar" becomes "ie," so it looks like this: "pienso" instead of "penso." Honestly, you don't really need to understand what I just said to understand why I am struggling teaching this. All of the stem-change verbs have one thing in common: the grammatical structure. It is SO HARD to teach these in a meaningful way because it is so clear to the students that they are learning them to learn that the E changes to IE. They don't view it as learning to communicate, which, once again, is the sole purpose for speaking a language. When we focus on meaning and communication, the language gets into their heads. When we don't, the language stays as explicit knowledge in their heads for a bit, but they do not use it naturally. I firmly believe that. If I ask my current eighth graders to use the stem changers that my 7th graders are using right now, I have a feeling most of them will not be able to do it, and the same goes for the stem changers that they learned this year. It has never really been meaningful to them, so it mostly ends up being memorization.

My sixth graders, however, have inspired me this week, and I think that I have come up with a solution thanks to them. Two of the verbs that my sixth graders know are stem changers. Now that they have begun to state what they and others do, they have tried to use those stem changers. In the past, I might have said, "oh that verb is confusing; try to write something else." This year, I simply told them quickly how to do it. Now, they know that "I play" is "juego" and I sleep is "duermo," and a lot of them have been using it correctly ever since. I think the huge difference here is that, with my sixth graders, we have always been focusing on meaning. They learned that it was "juego" instead of "jugo" because they wanted to use it for a purpose. I have tried to make a purpose for it with my seventh graders, but it has been a lot harder since we are trying to ONLY use stem-change verbs that have nothing to do with one another. So, this summer, I am going to look at the curriculum and try to find ways of incorporating these stem-changers in a meaningful way throughout the year instead of all at once. This way, they will still be learning the grammatical structure that our curriculum demands, but they will be doing it in a more meaningful way.

Thanks for reading,
Timothy

What I Did When I Really Missed the Mark

These past few weeks have been hard ones. I gave my seventh grade students a writing assignment, and one class absolutely soared. I was in absolute shock at their writing ability. Some of these students already started to reach the intermediate level. For those of you who are not world language teachers, my mom recommended that I do a better explanation of what a novice learner looks like versus an intermediate learner. To help, here is a link to an infographic that I give my students to help them understand it.

I was so happy after reading these assessments; there was so much cultural knowledge tied in with their own opinions of Puerto Rico. I felt like super teacher.

Then, I read the same assignment that I gave to my other seventh grade class. I have never ever seen such a gap between students who are supposed to be at a similar level. Now, we know that there are individual differences for language learners in all languages. However, these differences were way too big for me to ignore. A colleague reminded me that these students are very different and are in a very different environment. I certainly understand that, but I was still feeling very very discouraged. I felt like crying, screaming, etc, and I did not know how to address this with the students.

I sat the students down, asked them to close their eyes and be honest. I asked them to raise their hands if they felt they put a lot of effort into the writing. No one raised a hand. When I asked if they put zero effort into it, the majority raised their hands. That actually made me feel better. Instead of getting angry with them, I decided to make them help each other. I did what I learned at the ACTFL conference this year, and I had the students form columns and write an opening line on their own. Then, they got into groups and picked things that they liked from each person's opening. Then, they got back into columns and write one tiny paragraph on their own with a focus on something they wanted to see in Puerto Rico, the definition of that place and then their personal opinion of that place. They returned to groups and had to give each person in their group feedback onto what they could add to make the paragraph better.

About a week later, I gave them the same writing assignment on their own unannounced. They did SOOOO much better. Mind you, they had practice with the prompt, but I believe that that's what this class needed. The issue wasn't so much the Spanish but rather basic writing skills. Once they knew how to set it up, they did much better. Fingers crossed that they do better on the next writing without any practice!

I also came across an issue with some of my sixth graders on a quiz in one of my classes. They recently learned how to express things that they have to do, which was very easy to teach communicatively. I realized, however, based on this quiz, that I did not give the students enough input with the "Ustedes (you all)" form of the verb. Since I do not give them paradigms, enough input is essential if I have any desire for them to acquire the language. To clarify, input basically means that they have to hear it and see it enough to be able to use it.

Quite often, I give all the students whiteboards and have them make guesses about me and other students, which ends up causing them to need to use the word "ustedes (you all)." I did not do that this much with this material because I feared that it was getting boring for them. It turns out that I was wrong. I sat the students down and asked them why that section of the quiz was so difficult, and they pretty much told me exactly what I thought. "We did not really use that very much." They also told me that they wished we had done the whiteboard activity because they said it really helps and is fun! Who knew?!

Now, we have moved on to stating what they can and cannot do. This has raised a question for me: we world language teachers often teach ar, er and ir verbs separately. If we are teaching communicatively, should we be separating language like that? I'm not so sure. If the students want to use an er verb to communicate a message, then they should be given the tools to do so. We, as teachers, should not always be saying "oh, you'll learn that next year." If our hope is for the students to be able to communicate, then we need to let them communicate what they actually want to communicate in that moment (within reason).

Trying to Make Non-communicative Topics Communicative

Hola:

As you may know if you have spoken with me or read my earlier blog posts, I have really had a tough time with the curriculum for the eighth graders at my school. There's a lot in there that does not necessarily relate to a classroom. Let me explain what I mean by that:

Something with which I have been struggling a lot is the topic that I think appears in nearly every world language classroom: the restaurant. This is tough for me because I really want my class to always be real and, unfortunately for me, my classroom is not a restaurant. I really struggled with this from the get-go this year. We were pretending that the classroom was a restaurant.  The problem I now see with that is that the students know the classroom is not a restaurant, and they start to view it as language practice; "my teacher wants us to pretend that the classroom is a restaurant so that we can learn this vocabulary/grammar." That really goes against my desire to make the language real and have as communicative of a classroom as possible.

I have been thinking about it, though, and I believe that there are ways to give the students the skills to be successful in places like a restaurant without pretending like the classroom is a restaurant. Phrases like "may I have...?" are phrases that can be used in the class without having to pretend to order something. One thing that I did this year that I liked was having the students guess each other's food preferences. That was fun because we were learning about each other, but next year, I will try to make a greater task attached to it.

I was also struggling with the sports vocabulary because it was soooo non-communicative. At the recommendation of a colleague--shoutout to Lauren Hayes--I decided to have the students start doing the best that they could to explain the rules of a sport. What I found was that, when the students tried to explain the rules, they came across vocabulary that they really wanted to use. When they came across something that they couldn't say, I told them to work around it and just jot down what they wanted to say. Toward the end, we worked as a class to communicate the messages they wanted in the target language. As we have continued to do this, I have been really impressed by the students' abilities to circumlocute and explain things using their limited language ability.

If there is one thing I have learned this year, it is the importance of staying up to date on the research in language acquisition and language teaching. Right now, my Amazon wishlist is a bunch of books about language acquisition because I just find it so fascinating! My love of learning about language acquisition has given me an even greater love of teaching. I really look forward to learning more and challenging myself, and hopefully I will soon find more teachers who understand language acquisition and proficiency to help me grow as an educator.

The Benefit of Tasks and the Textbook Trap

Hola a todos:

These recent weeks have been quite hectic, but I am back. I've learned a lot in the past few weeks, though. In my last post, I discussed the creation of tasks to help students see a purpose for the language. The more I am doing this, the more I am seeing the positive effects it is having on my students. 

Last week, a sixth grade math teacher mentioned that her students came into her class and kept saying "this class is the most popular math class out of all the kids in our Spanish class!" She wasn't exactly sure what that meant, so I explained to her that our task for that day was to figure out which math class had the most students. Since my sixth graders were working on time and many of them have different math classes, I thought it would be cool to have them discover which class had the most kids. I put up all the possible times for the math classes that day, and the kids went around and asked each student the time of their math class. In the end, we came back together and they reported which class had the most kids. I was so happy to hear that the kids left thinking "we used Spanish to learn something about our math class" instead of "I learned how to tell time in Spanish today." 

I've been thinking a lot about my objective boards. At the proficiency academy last summer, I learned about the importance of daily objectives (if you're not doing this, consider it! It really makes a difference). I also learned that each objective should always have a language function and that it should most likely be different each day. At that time, I thought "but if I work on something new each day, I'll be moving too quickly and not giving enough input." I think I get it now, though. The objective should reflect the language function and the task for the day, and the task might be what makes the objective different. What do my fellow language facilitators think about that? Am I on the right track? 

I also had a very helpful discussion with my boss today--shoutout to Dr. Jorge Allen--about feeling trapped by the textbook. This year, I have been trying very hard to let the students take control over the vocabulary that they learn. After all, if it's not vocabulary that they want and can use, why teach it? However, I was trying to do both; I was trying to let the students take control over their vocabulary and mandating the vocabulary in the book. Hence feeling trapped. I don't give vocabulary quizzes or anything, so it hasn't been horrible, but it hasn't felt right, either. 

I've also noticed how afraid my eighth graders are to speak and to use the language, but my sixth graders are trying to speak only in Spanish whenever possible. Where does this disconnect happen? I don't think it's because they're older and care less (for most of them). Perhaps they are scared to speak because they got used to explicit grammar tests and being corrected all the time. They aren't accustomed to using the language and focusing on communication. I am certainly a recovering grammarian, but I gave them the opportunity to speak without being corrected today, and I was so proud of them. And when they came across vocabulary that they wanted, THAT'S when we added new vocabulary as opposed to me mandating it.  I definitely need to give them more opportunities for interaction like this to feel comfortable speaking--not just writing. And I need to remind myself: input, input, input.

As always, please share your thoughts and ideas. 

Thanks,

Timothy

Tasks

Hola amig@s:

One thing I learned this week--thanks to Tea with BVP again--is that it is possible for something to be partially communicative. It turns out that a lot of what I had been doing in my classroom was only partially communicative. This is not bad, but it's definitely not as great as being fully communicative.

According to Bill Van Patten, in order for something to be fully communicative, there must be a task. Sometimes, I thought things like "oh, the task is to better get to know each other," but I am not convinced that my students really bought into that. They were simply asking and answering questions to complete the activity.

So, I have been trying my hardest to create realistic tasks for my students to show them that we are using the language for a purpose. With my 7th graders, I showed them a video in which people in Spain were asked "What do you want to do with your life?" Since my students just learned how to express their age, this video was awesome because they listed the age of all the people interviewed.  First, I asked the students to watch the video and just look for the people's ages. Then, we watched the video, and I asked them to try to get as much as they could out of the responses the people gave.

Then, I asked the students--in Spanish--if the question seemed difficult for the children, then for the teens and then for the adults. Most of the children in the video answered quickly with their job that they wanted. The teens had a more difficult time choosing what they wanted to do. The adults had a very difficult time. One guy called the question "complicado" and another woman said "What do I want to do with my life?.....I want to know what I want to do with my life." She couldn't answer it.

The students picked up on this very easily. We then discussed why the question was easier for the younger kids versus the adults. The conversation was awesome, and it was all in Spanish! Booyah! I then asked them to answer "is the question difficult for you?" We looked at the percent who said yes versus those who said no, and compared that to the ages of the people in the video.

With my sixth graders, they are learning about important people and places in Mexico City, so I had them go around and interview each other about the place/person that they would want to see most. The students took tallies of the responses their classmates said. I then had them report how many people wanted to see each place, and then we calculated the percentage of students who wanted to see each place. (Ex. 14% of the students want to see El Zócalo, etc.) So, essentially, the task for the students isn't practicing the phrase "I want to see" but rather finding out how many people want to see each place/person so that we can see the most popular place/person. When we develop tasks like this, the students see a real purpose for the language as opposed to "I am asking people what they want to see and then doing nothing with it because my teacher really only wants me to practice the language."

Keep your fingers crossed for me that I can keep developing new tasks because I don't want it to always be the percentage! Otherwise, I worry that will start to lose its meaning too.

Timothy

IPAs

I have a huge gap in my assessments because I am lacking in interpersonal assessments (transferring information with another person or people). This is probably the most important skill when acquiring another language. After all, if you cant interact with someone, then what's the point of the language?!

In world language, we have what are called IPAs (don't get excited; there's no alcohol involved). Basically this means that you do an interpretive assignment (reading, listening), which leads to an interpersonal and then a presentational (speaking or writing but not interacting). I figured it was time for me to get my act together and start making more of these kinds of assessments, but a huge question has been raised for me, and I am hoping that my world language educators can help me out with this!

Based on feedback from students, the IPAs drive them crazy in the sense that they don't like doing the interpretive, interpersonal and then presentational back-to-back. They say it's tiring and it's just too much. Is it ridiculous to do the interpretive, teach a little, do the interpersonal, teach a bit more, and then do the presentational? I'm really not sure. I am trying it both ways. What do you think?

Although these assessments are super time consuming, I think that they are so much better than a test with a bunch of questions on it, which I used to give last year. And just giving a quiz on one concept isn't enough. As teachers, it's easy to think "I don't have time to do all these things in the classroom." However, it's so important for us to do what is best for our students, and take the time necessary to do so. Even though I have had to take a lot of time developing new stuff, I actually feel like it has made my classroom move much faster and more smoothly than last year. And, these assessments take about the same time--if not less time--to evaluate than the tests I used to give. I hope that, years from now, I am still able to reflect on my teaching and am willing to improve or replace old materials.

These assessments have also made me reflect a lot more on my teaching. When I give quizzes on one concept, the students often do very well and it looks like they are "getting it." But that is not really an accurate evaluation of a student's language acquisition. It just isn't. Unless we are giving them the opportunity to speak/write using open-ended assignments, how can we truly say that they can communicate in the target language? And how can we truly reflect on our own teaching if we aren't seeing the students use the language realistically?

Please let me know what you think about all this!

Timothy

Assessments

I have truly fallen in love with my job. I have spent so much time in the past few months trying to gather as much information as I can about language acquisition, assessments, etc. The great thing is that it doesn't feel like work. It's truly fascinating to me, and I love putting what I learn into practice.

I am very proud of the assessments that I give. I have worked very hard to make them as communicative as possible. For those of you who have taken a language, I am sure that you have seen the conjugation chart. (I dance, you dance, she dances, etc.) I have gotten rid of that on my assessments because it isn't very useful. I don't remember learning English that way. We acquire language through input--that is, interaction with the language; we do not acquire a language through explicit grammatical instruction. Teachers get frustrated that their students--after years of explicit instruction--are still not conjugating correctly. Why is that? Well, I think that there are many factors, and it depends on the student. It may have to do with that students' willingness to actively participate in the course, of course. But I think a huge part of it is that these "conjugations" have not become a part of the students' inner language. What I mean by inner language--which I got from Bill VanPatten--is what is in the students' heads and is natural to them. It is not just explicit grammatical knowledge, which is what that conjugation chart pretty much represents.  With explicit grammar instruction, students start to learn about the language as opposed to acquiring it. That's not really the point of a class unless you're teaching a linguistics course, which most of us are not.

So, back to my assessments. When I assess the students, even when I am giving a short quiz, I make it as communicative as possible. They have to answer questions about themselves, their classmates, me, etc. Why would I have them do a conjugation chart when I can see what they can do with the language by actually using it?

However, these quizzes are usually on one concept. That is SO unrealistic with language because none of us wake up in the morning and think "oh, I am only going to have to state what I have to do today." So, I always give the students an assessment that requires them to use multiple aspects of the language in a real way. This is where errors come in. Obviously, a quiz on one concept is much easier than a speaking assessment that requires them to use a lot of what they have (hopefully) acquired. However, I love these assessments because it really gives me a true understanding of what the students can communicate.

The truth of the matter is that I think we all--myself included--expect our students to do more with the language than their language proficiency really allows. If we are expecting first-year students to use a complete sentence accurately on everything, then we are expecting too much. And I am not saying that we should stop giving them tasks that require full sentences, but I am saying that we should adjust our expectations and assess their ability to communicate--not their ability to use full sentences.

I gave my sixth graders a writing assignment a few days ago, and it was amazing to see how willing they were to take risks. They were trying to form questions (many did it successfully!) and communicate using the little exposure they have had to the language. When I graded this, if they wrote something like "my family and I from Massachusetts," obviously they missed a verb, but I understood what they said, and I emphasized the importance of that. When I gave feedback, I did not criticize them for grammatical mistakes (because THAT is why students stop being willing to take risks in the language). Instead, I praised them for making their writing comprehensible, and I gave them tools to improve by suggesting phrases like "I am very funny" as opposed to just "I am funny." When there was something I could not understand, I underlined it, and I just said "I had trouble understanding this sentence. Could you clarify for me?" I don't want students to have the expectation that they speak perfectly because they will start to be afraid to speak the language, and that is what I believe teaching for accuracy does.

That's all fine and dandy. However, my problem this year has been with my quizzes. I was giving them these quizzes and giving them half a point for communication and half a point for accuracy. Okay, but then I'm contradicting myself. On my big assessments, I tell them to focus on communication, but then on these quizzes I grade partly for accuracy? That's stupid. I talked to my boss about it, and he put it in perspective when he said this: "you have to ask yourself what you are assessing. Are you assessing their ability to use the proper conjugations or are you assessing their ability to communicate?" That did it for me. I cannot be doing both if I want them to feel comfortable using the language. At the proficiency academy, I learned that a goal must contain a language function. My goal for the students should not and will not be "I can conjugate verbs." So, if my goal is "I can express such and such a thing," then shouldn't that also be my goal for the assessments I give? The answer is yes. No more grading for accuracy in my classroom. If they have had the right amount of input, and I don't force them into output before they are ready, they will communicate successfully. That is the sole purpose for language.

Communication Versus Accuracy

Hello, everyone!

We just got back from Costa Rica (which was an absolutely incredible experience), and one thing I took away from that is the true value of teaching for communication as opposed to teaching for grammatical perfection. Our students made many mistakes when they were speaking Spanish on the trip, but they made themselves understood. Isn't that the whole purpose of language? 

I've been listening to the podcast Tea with BVP--Tea with Bill Van Patten--and one thing that he has pointed out is that explicit grammar instruction is not what the students remember. They remember the language that they have TRULY used and acquired. When they are speaking, they don't think "oh, I just used the conditional tense, so now I have to use the imperfect subjunctive after my 'if clause.'" I think that that is so true. Our students use what has been real for them. He has also said that sometimes explicit grammar instruction can even hinder the students' language acquisition. I'm only six episodes in, but I am sure he will give me a lot more to talk about soon. 

The grammarian in me has a tough time with this, but it makes sense. If we are constantly correcting our students mid-sentence or expecting them to speak perfectly and remember every single detail of what we have taught them, then we won't be developing speakers of the language. Students are afraid to speak and take risks because they are afraid to make mistakes. Why are they afraid to make mistakes? Well, I have to say that I think it is because teachers focus on the grammar and not on the communication. Why are teachers giving quizzes on using the correct form of "the" (el, la, los, or las)? It just doesn't make sense to me. 

Last year, I remember marking students off when they would say "¿Ustedes salen de la escuela a las 2:05? Are you guys leaving school at 2:05?" instead of "¿Salen ustedes de la escuela..." I marked them off because they didn't put the subject after the verb when forming a question. Even native speakers say the first option, and the communicative goal WAS met. Another example: teachers--my former self included--grow so obsessed with teaching time the way it is in the textbook. We make them say "8 minus twenty" instead of "seven forty." I, personally, have never heard a native speaker use this (not saying that some don't), and if they say "seven forty," it's not wrong and it is MORE COMMON. Why do we do this to them? So sorry to my students from last year! 

I find myself struggling at times with certain things that are in the curriculum. I am finishing up talking about chores in preparation for a party with my 8th graders, but the students even keep saying "I don't do any of these things." It has been so hard to relate it to their lives. We have basically made a joke out of it by trying to guess who does what chore. It was successful, but I don't feel that there was much meaning behind it. One thing that I have found, though, is that many of the mistakes that I saw last year when I was a bit more traditional haven't happened this year. I have focused a lot on providing enough input before I ask the students to produce the language. I think this has caused their minds to just know what sounds right and what sounds wrong, and they have just naturally begun to produce the language based on what they've heard. 

I have so much more I want to say and discuss, so please comment! I just don't want the post to be too long. 

See ya next time, amigos. 

Timothy

Burning Out

Hola amigxs:

Something with which I have struggled is separating my life from my job. This week, I have been so devoted to getting everything graded to give back to the students the next day that I forgot to sleep. All week, I've been telling myself that turning down plans with friends and working on all this feedback (of which I am proud--don't get me wrong) meant I was devoted. Obviously, that is true, but it is very hard to be fully present in the classroom without enough sleep. For the first time in my life, I have been relying on coffee. Yikes.

I think that this is something people don't always realize about teachers. We go home and have to still do work. Most people get to leave work and be done with work until the next day (not saying that other jobs are not stressful!). We have to assess, plan, worry about students, etc. If I'm not careful, I work from 7 AM until 9 PM. That was my problem this week. I really do believe in getting the students back their work with really valuable feedback the next day. Otherwise, the feedback isn't as meaningful. However, sometimes I need to remind myself that it's okay to take two days if I need. I think I will struggle with this for the rest of my career, honestly.

In great news: my seventh graders have been working with Puerto Rico, and I am loving what they are doing. The curriculum calls for teaching "ir" and "er" verbs at this point. I was struggling with that. How do I make it so that the students don't feel like they are learning and practicing a grammatical concept? How do I make this communicative? Well, I did this through Puerto Rico. They are making connections between animals, places, people, etc. in Puerto Rico, and they are using "er" and "ir" verbs while barely even realizing it.

I'd like to give one example: the students have learned some things about the Taínos--the indigenous people of Puerto Rico. At first, they were talking about the Taínos in the third person plural form (The Taínos are...they write using...). Then, I had them imagine that they were the indigenous people, so they were using the first person (we are...we write using...I am...etc.).

Their assessment on this is going to be a speaking assignment. I am giving them the pictures of the many things we've discussed with regard to Puerto Rico, and they have to explain some of them.  Our goal is that they will make connections between the items/people/places. Instead of simply defining each person/place/animal, they will also discuss how they are related. Some of the students have already built some connections that I hadn't even expected. I am really excited to listen to the final results next week. This is something I got from Ronie Webster; she did this when I was her student with "La comida mexicana," and I remember how powerful I felt after. It's nice to be able to connect ideas as opposed to just spitting out facts.

Thanks for reading! <3

Timothy