As far as homework is concerned, I have been trying something new which has been successful so far. Basically I let my students do what they want as long as it is in Spanish!
At the start of the year I told them that they will acquire the Spanish language,
A few weeks ago, I was asking you for suggestions to order Spanish books for my school library. Over my teaching career, I have found that reading is a key skill, if not the main skill to learn a language. By reading texts and books, language "acquisition" happens.
I am huge fan of the Michel Thomas method. The only thing that is bothering me is that it hugely relies on translation. I was trained to use the target language as much as possible in the classroom and my mentor taught me a few tricks to get the students to understand me in the target language like using lots of cognates.
I posted this picture a few years ago and instantly remembered it when pondering on goal 11 of the 30 goals challenge for educators 2012.
Goal 11 is about impacting our students. As Shelly Terrell mentions in her blog:" Educators don’t realize that every time they walk into a classroom they plant seeds that may grow into weeds and stunt their students’ learning journeys...
To share the Epiphany tradition with your French students, here are some ideas:
Explain the tradition worldwide
The Mary Glasgow website published an article La Galette des Rois which explains the different traditions in France, California, Mexico, Spain and Portugal with its audio version to download (all for free).
Some time ago I wrote a post about the Mary Glasgow website and how I used its free Spanish articles and audio versions. Last week I received several French sample magazines and the "Bonjour" one aimed at pre-intermediate learners caught my eye.
The thought of watching a Spanish or French movie with my classes has always appealed to me. It develops listening and comprehension skills which are keys to then improve pronunciation and speaking skills. By watching a moving in the target language you can acquire a lot of vocabulary and you can also learn so much about the culture,