Cultural input: the prisons in Bolivia (or how to engage Spanish learners)

How to get students engaged and producing a lot of language???? Well.... I recommend purchasing Martina Bex 7-day lesson plans about Los niños prisioneros de Bolivia as it is truly worth the investment! Not only did it save me a lot of prep-time, it also made my students had a meaningful discussion in the target language!

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a favor1 Bolivia1 comprehend10 comprehensible41 comprehension31 conversation12 culture22 debate3 debe2 discuss1 discussion3 Education8 effort1 en contra1 engage14 family16 high interest5 input39 interest9 interesting9 issues1 key structures7 listen6 listening29 lo que hace1 Martina Bex10 meaningful4 output10 performance2 prison1 reading36 reflect3 reflection4 skills24 social relationships2 South American1 Spanish27 speaking37 story34 storytelling28 structures6 target8 target language12 TPRS34

IB Spanish students: La casa de Bernarda Alba

I am teaching Spanish language B IB higher level and my students have to read two works of literature. Since I have a group of only girls, I have chosen La casa de Bernarda Alba which is written by the famous poet Federico García Lorca.

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biography2 book10 free4 higher level1 IB6 La casa de Bernarda Alba. teacherspayteachers1 language B4 literature2 Lorca2 play7 presentation10 reading36 ressources8 slideshow2 Spanish27

How to use poems with first year Spanish learners?

I found this lovely poem on Pinterest and I used it with my grade 6 students (11-12 years old) as it was the prefect review for physical description and family.

Listening/comprehension: I told the poem “TPRS style” by drawing the "abuela" on the board little by little,

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beginner10 description5 family16 grade 68 physical2 poem4 pronunciation2 re-telling1 re-write2 reading36 Spanish27 speaking37 story34 storytelling28 structures6 TPRS34 vocabulary18 write5 writing17

Spanish story script number 5: ¿Por qué?

Here is another story script which follows the last story about Elena trying to apologize to Pedro. This time Elena offers a present to Pedro and he has to open different packages. The focus is on the difference between “¿Por qué?

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acquire28 acquisition33 because1 beginner10 ci16 comprehensible41 comprehensible input6 comprehension31 creative12 Education8 escuela1 furniture2 grade 68 grade 74 history5 imagination1 imagine1 input39 intermediate5 key structure10 languagelearning5 learn spanish1 material escolar1 por qué1 porque1 present3 re-write2 reading36 school5 school furniture1 Spanish27 spanish input1 story34 story asking9 story listening3 story telling1 structure10 surprise1 target8 target language12 target structure10 TPRS34 vocabulary18 why1 write5 writing17

Reading to promote language acquisition

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.

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achieve2 achievement1 acquire28 acquisition33 book10 children8 ci16 comprehend10 comprehensible41 comprehension31 Education8 engaged4 engaging9 exciting2 fluency15 fluent12 free4 fvr2 input39 interest9 interested1 interesting9 language26 learning14 library3 novel4 reading36 silent1 skill4 Spanish27 ssr1 Stephen Krashen1 succeed1 success2 sustained1 text4 TPRS34 understand7 voluntary1

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 personalized13 PQA5 proficiency8 proficient6 questions19 reading36 script10 Spanish27 story34 storytelling28 structure10 target8 target language12 target structure10 TPRS34 translate2 translation2 verbs2

Which Spanish books for the school library?

The very kind librarian at my school sent me an email about whether I could send her a list with titles of Spanish books for the library as there is some money to be spent. However, I am not sure what would be the best/most useful for the students to order.

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activity13 books1 Education8 foster1 learning14 lesson4 librarian1 library3 listening29 novel4 project10 reading36 series3 Spanish27 stories3 story34 telling3