The Power of Public Art Check out this chalk drawing by David Zinn, a world-renowned street artist who happens to live in my neighborhood. Think of all the ways you and your students could talk about it in the target language! At all levels, public art can be a superb source of learning and interaction, […]
In this post: “Home Screen Investigation,” using a cell phone screen to generate focused and fun communication—oral and written—in the interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational modes. Major additions to my ultimate course on teaching with Zoom! Home Screen Investigation Home Screen Investigation is a new favorite source of interaction for me and my students. Basically, you […]
In this post: 1. Spanish for Latin Teachers, a new online course by JSB 2. Deep discount on just-launched virtual Summer Institutes with Tina Hargaden of the World Language Proficiency Project Spanish for Latin Teachers For years I have wanted to create this course to take advantage of the boost in comprehension and community […]
What is a place you would love to visit? It may be a place you’ve been and can’t wait to get back to. It may be a place you’ve never been before. The fact that we all have such places makes this one of my favorite classroom conversation starters. I ask almost every group I […]
Yes, this blog is still rolling! I’ve simply just returned from trip number seventeen this calendar year, covering fifteen states and three countries, so my blogging has been more like blah-ging. During those trips I got to learn and try lots of fun and useful things, one of which is the subject of this post, […]
March is over, but, like March Madness, #EdMarchSanity continues into April! A simple way to refresh your classes without needing to learn or do a bunch of new stuff is to dust off a task or routine that you haven’t done in a while. This may seem obvious, but I’m amazed when I think of […]
Could you use some ZERO PREP routines and activities during this long month? Following French teacher Rebecca Blouwolff’s inspiring lead, I’m putting out several posts in March and beyond with simple ideas for peace, balance, joy, and success. After brainstorming four or five #EdMarchSanity topics, I remembered that this whole blog is basically about learning and […]
Quirky Scripts is a lesson requiring almost no prep that can be used repeatedly all year, at every level. It’s also a way for students to acquire “advanced” language really early on with minimal effort. Skim the how-to or scroll down for three scripts and a dozen reasons these Quirky Scripts are so useful. Read this post’s predecessor, Quirky […]
Sometimes I use guided meditation to relax or to help me fall asleep. Because I enjoy it and in order to get a bit more out of life, I usually listen in a language other than English. (My partner recently said to me that the fact that I use even sleep meditation to get more input […]
Lots of teachers are looking for review activities this time of year. Here is one I recently thought of that doubles as a mood enhancer and can also be used throughout the year to prompt conversation or writing. I rarely do explicit review of language as content, but I do look for interesting and efficient […]