Rethinking Grammar in Year 1

About 3 years ago I started teaching grammar very differently than it is presented in the text book. It frustrated me that basic verbs were not taught until chapter 2 and er and ir verbs were not introduced until chapter 3! No wonder kids ended every verb with the ar verb endings. How strange I thought is was to start student with gustar (irregular) and ser (irregular) and have them get many verb that are irregular in that chapter 1 infinitive list: Ir, jugar, dormir, etc. This makes no sense!

So... I started teaching verbs (yes all verbs, ar, er, and ir) in the Para Empezar chapter. That's right I give a list of 20 verbs and the very first thing we learn (even before numbers and days of the week) are verbs and subject pronouns!!! How they conjugate, what all of the endings are...EVERYTHING!!!

What a difference this makes to students. They are able to communicate more authentically. Write better, speak better and most importantly understand the language better. Students now understand regular verbs and how they work in Spanish before they are exposed to irregular grammar concepts. In addition, by teaching all verbs at the same time, students don't overuse the ar verb endings!

Do many of you do the same thing? What are your thoughts on this?

Homework

Think about the role homework plays in your learning. Please give honest feedback! Do you think homework helps you better learn and understand the material you are taught in the classroom? How much homework do you think you should have each night? What type of homework helps you the most? Do you do ever copy homework? Do you do the homework to get it done and get the credit/points or do you try to use the homework as a learning tool?

Writting the Common Assessment

During the September 30th PLC - All Spanish I teachers in LPS will be reuniting to create a Spanish I District Common Assessment. Here are some things we should be thinking about as we get ready to put together the assessment.

As we create this common assessment we need to keep in mind our essential learnings that we came up with at our last meeting (in April):
- Subject pronouns
- Basic AR, ER, IR verb conjugation
- Stem changing verb conjugagtion (eàie), (oàue), (eài), jugar
- Irregular “yo” verbs (go verbs, dar, saber, conocer and ir and ser)
- Adjective agreement and placement
- Ser vs Estar and Tener expessions
- Double verbs (including tener que and ir a)
- Vocabulary from introduction – 6b

Also keep in mind:

- We want objective grading (quick and precise) NO GRAY AREA –Except final put it together section

o HOWEVER… Application is ESSENTIAL. Students must be able to create, write, communicate, synthesize, and write letters, interviews, responses, essays, and opinions. These should be the key components in teaching a language. If they can’t create it to communicate, then what have we taught them??? Grading the application of Spanish is subjective, therefore this assessment is to assess students’ essential basic knowledge and skills learned in Spanish I.

- Precise data analysis (exactly what can/can’t the student do?)
- Not too long
- We will implement in all Spanish I classes in LPS in April
- In order to be able to analyze the results to determine strengths and weaknesses, every section should be assessing 1 specific grammar point (when more concepts are put together to assess it is difficult to see the exact areas of weakness).

Bridging the Gap: April PLC

So finally we will be meeting as an entire LPS District Spanish PLC to get feedback from everyone and begin our road to better communication and articulation. With the current middle school PLC and with the new teachers at Powell and Newton, I feel that the communication is already on a great road!
I think our ultimate goal right now is to really agree upon the essential knowledge of a Spanish 1 student to be successful in Spanish 2. Therefore, I think that one of our goals will definitely be creating and agreeing upon a Spanish 2 entrance exam. (Most of us at the high school level already have an exam or have a good idea of what should be a part of the exam.)
So far this year, I feel like everyone is truly on the same page with the importance of language application and communication. I am very excited for our April 8th meeting and would love to hear from all of you about your hopes for the meeting and/or anything that you would like to see as part of the agenda.
I am hopping this blog serves as a pre-meeting brainstorm to make our meeting go as smoothly as possible with every voice heard :) Thank you all for your efforts to help students transition successfully in Spanish!

World Languages and Technology

I know that all of you are continually integrating new technology into your classes. If you have any awesome blogs, wiki's, podcasts, etc. that you have done and are willing to share, please post it here. Here is a wiki that my Spanish 4 has been working on.

http://kitchespanol4.wikispaces.com/

Have you been doing your part?

So as we hit the halfway mark in the semester and there are a few things you need to ask yourself:

1. Have you shared an assessment?

2. Do you know how other colleages are assessing their students?

3. Are your students applying (writing, creating, speaking) the language as much as possible?

4. Are you enriching the vocabulary given in the book?

Also attatched is a list of student products that may help you think of new ideas and new ways to have students demonstrate their ability to apply the language!

IDEAS FOR STUDENT PRODUCTS

What can your level 1 language learners do?

After teaching foreign language for 10 years, here is what I have found. I can teach a concept in class, for example the article "the" (el, la, los, las) and I can have kids do numerous activities using the concept including filling in a million blanks with the correct form of "the" in Spanish. However, what I found is that even though most students would successfully pass a quiz/test on this concept the students don't use it in the application of the language. When they start writing sentences, paragraphs, interview, etc, the students will write "la clases".

With that said, what I am hoping is that we create as many opportunities as possible in the classroom for the students to really apply the language and put it all together. Teaching individual concepts and testing singleton ideas doesn't always give a clear idea of if the students actually understand the concepts and if they can apply the concepts.

So my question to all of you is are you starting to really apply the language now in year one (with a good month behind us)? My students turned in their first essay (letter to me) yesterday. It included their name, date, the weather what they like and don't like to do in the various months/seasons, when their birthday is, etc.

Students should be creating and applying the language all the time. This also helps constantly review concepts. Even though I have taught articles, I circle them in every application when the students misuse them giving the students the opportunity to constantly review how to use articles. I would like anyone who can to share some assignment ideas to get the students applying the langage (essays, translations, interviews, etc).

Click here for one of my ideas for application (ME BOXES ch1a year one Spanish). The students fill out the me boxes in complete sentences. I use them as a prewriting, then they write me their first letter.