Month: January 2022

Have some digital fun! …or make manipulatives!

Hey there! It has been a while since I have posted. It has just been…quite a start to 2022. I hope you are all getting into the semester and finding your groove.

I have an activity that may be fun and can be adapted. I did this with my students last week in my Spanish classes AND my ESOL class and it was a HIT! So, of course, I will be making more. For now, I will share THIS one and how I used it.

I created THIS slideshow. I gave each student a copy of the slideshow through our LMS (we use Schoology, but you could do this with Google Classroom or Canva or whatever you use).

First, we reviewed the items on the last slides (the moveable parts). We practiced describing them by color, size and name. It was a great practice! Then, I had them open their copy of the slideshow. We chose a room and then I covered my projector. I called out the item and where to place it in the room. (We have recently covered prepositions of place.) After about 5 items, I revealed my room and had them look and see if theirs was the same. We did this a few times with different objects. Then, I had them partner up and create a room and a script of sentences. I only gave them about 5 minutes. Then, as time allowed, I had students come up to my computer and do the same thing for the class. They loved seeing if they could stump their friends.

This could also be used as manipulatives! You could print the blank room slides on paper and laminate them or put them in page protectors. Then, you could print the objects and cut them out and laminate them. this would allow students to move them around. I think this would be especially fun for the littles, but I know my middle schoolers would love it too.

I hope this gives you a fun activity to do and some ideas about how to use these. I will have more for sale in my TpT store in the next couple of weeks. For now, I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Teaching!

-Alana

Find me on Instagram (@SraKSpanish) and Follow my TpT store as I build more resources!

Get Them Talking! – A Listening/Speaking Review Activity

In the district I teach in, we have some required topics and vocabulary. This doesn’t always mix easily with the world of CI. I have found, through my work with Tina Hargaden, that it is possible to integrate required lessons/topics/vocabulary and still make lessons based in communication.

So, how do I do that? Well, one thing I do is follow the curricular framework presented in Tina’s book, Foundations. There are six cycles of instruction, and those really help me frame every lesson and keep a structure, yet still have flexibiity.

Recently, I had to teach house vocabulary. After introducing the vocabularyThis, I created THIS activity for us to do together. I incorporated a section for us to do together, a listening activity and then an interpersonal communication opportunity for students where they practice listening and speaking with a partner or group. This could also be done virtually by having students submit a video of them talking through their “casa.”

HERE is a Loom video I recorded explaining how I used this resource. Although it is in Spanish, you can absolutely put text boxes over the words (there are only a few) in your language.

I hope this helps with some ideas for teaching these required vocabulary sets and/or topics while keeping lessons focused on communication!

Happy Teaching!

Alana

Find me on Instagram (@SraKSpanish) and Follow my TpT store as I build more resources!