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, […]
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, […]
I’m excited to share two new Latin events for teachers and enthusiasts! Even if you are neither of these, please consider spreading the word or referring a colleague. Living Room Latin is an entirely new type of shindig that I’ve been eager to pilot for a long time. It will feature the activities and techniques that have […]
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 […]
I’m excited to announce Mitten Latin, a workshop for Latin teachers in or near Michigan! Mitten Latin will feature low-prep, high-payoff activities and techniques like those in the LIMEN collection. Even if you’re not a Latin teacher, would you consider spreading the word or referring a colleague?Mitten Latin will be held on April 22–the day after Mitten CI–and […]
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 […]
This is the fifth in a series of reflections and elaborations on Express Fluency 2017. If you haven’t yet, check out installment 1, on the skills of slowness and silence, installment 2, on making lemonade, i.e., capitalizing on would-be problems in class, installment 3, on brain UNbreaks, and installment 4, on getting something from nothing. […]
The following is a letter I received from Tim, a teacher in Colorado, in response to my recent video and commentary on getting Something from Nothing in our classes. It was encouraging to me and I thought it might be encouraging for you to hear about the repeatability of the filmed interaction and about the […]
It’s been a while since I shared a low prep/no prep activity, but I was recently reminded of the fun and the mileage of this one, so it’s time to share. Whiteboard Doublestack is a nice consolidation game or middle-of-unit (if you have those) activity, including both input and output, that I saw Nancy Llewellyn do in 2008 and […]