Reflection on Comprehensible Input

I haven't updated my blog for a while now, and as I am taking a break due to my fourth baby coming at the end of September, I wanted to reflect on my last school year. I was teaching Spanish from grade 6 to 12 and I decided to turn to comprehensible input and TPRS since I was never fully satisfied with the traditional way to teach languages.

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6th graders2 acquisition33 comments1 comprehensible41 Education8 encourage2 feedback3 fluency15 fluent12 grade 108 grade 74 grade 85 grade 98 IGCSE12 input39 inspire4 languages5 listening29 Martina Bex10 middle school3 motivate7 motivation6 reading36 review4 song10 Spanish27 story34 story asking9 storytelling28 TPRS34

Spanish story: El chico cansado

This story comes from a French story on The Task Magic blog: Bob est fatigué. I wanted to recycle the structures "debe", "tengo que" which my students already learned with Los niños prisioneros de Bolivia and I also wanted to use "está cansado".

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cansado1 comprehensible41 comprehension31 debe2 debes1 Education8 input39 key structures7 obediente1 practice17 questions19 reading36 script10 Spanish27 story34 storytelling28 teacherspayteachers11 tengo que1 text4 TPRS34

Back to school with a song: mi persona favorita

I am back to school after a wonderful summer vacation and in order to get back into the swing of things, I found this catchy song which I played to my grade 8 and 10 classes:

As I mentioned in an earlier post,

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acquire28 acquisition33 answers8 communication7 comprehensible41 future1 input39 listening29 lyrics1 past5 PQA5 present3 questions19 Rio Roma1 skills24 song10 Spanish27 speaking37 structures6 TPRS34 vocabulary18 youtube17

Pablo Picasso y el Guernica for Spanish beginners

As the school year draws to a close, I have chosen to read a book in Spanish with my students. If we don't manage to finish the book, my students will have to finish reading it over the summer holidays which will be an excellent practice to keep up their Spanish.

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acquire28 Agentes secretos y el mural de Picasso1 book10 civil war1 cognates3 connect3 culture22 easy reader1 Guernica1 interactive2 key structures7 Mira Canion1 mural1 novel4 painting5 Picasso1 PowerPoint2 presentation10 questions19 reading36 recycle2 renew1 repeat3 skills24 slideshow2 Spanish27 speaking37 video32

Story script in Spanish

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.

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acquire28 acquisition33 circle3 circling5 classroom8 cognate1 command1 connection3 customized2 Education8 high frequency7 instruction2 items1 key structure10 language26 Martina Bex10 method3 Michel Thomas2 moods1 PQA5 proficiency8 proficient6 questions19 read7 reading36 script10 Spanish27 story34 storytelling28 structure10 target8 target language12 target structure10 TPRS34 translate2 translation2 verbs2

Marceline Loridan-Ivens: a moving account.

When I prepare dinner in the evening, I like to listen to the radio and it usually falls during Le Grand Entretien on France Inter. François Busnel, a journalist spends an hour interviewing different people from authors to comedians to politicians. I like the way this journalist conducts the interviews.

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acquired3 acquiring5 acquisition33 advanced3 biograhy1 cinema1 comprehensible41 comprehension31 culture22 French20 history5 input39 interview1 interviewee1 journalist1 life3 listen6 listening29 Marceline Loridan-Ivens1 past5 personal8 podcast3 radio2 risks1 speaking37 story34 storytelling28 war1