On my edmodo page, I posted a link to Zachary Jones’s clozeline.  I asked Spanish 3 and 4 students to go to the site and listen to two songs of their choice and leave a comment.  I expected them to leave short little comments but they have been very communicative about what they liked and didn’t like about their chosen songs. 

I use the TPRS publishing novels in all levels and I am able to discuss such deep topics with my classes, even at level 1!  I am completely convinced that starting them from the very first year learning more about the people (not just geography, food, and art) of the target culture has made them more interested in acquiring the language.

In all levels, we do two film studies per year plus supplementary films to provide pre or post information about the study… The kids talk among themselves about how much they loved the film they watched the year before… I never had a textbook student tell me how much they loved the lesson we did the year before!  🙂

I think that biculturalism is just as important as bilingualism and I hope that I can give other CI teachers (and even textbook teachers) ideas for ways to create a bicultural environment that stimulates the desire to excel in Spanish!