senoracmt

Finish the year strong!

I don’t know about you, but I am down to 5 weeks of class remaining.  It is easy to wish the year away and then get to these last five weeks and think about how much there is left to do!!!

Wherever you are in your curriculum, I encourage you to incorporate a “passion based” unit in the next 5 weeks.  Take a break from the stress of  “covering” or the worry of planning and creating and just add in something new, engaging, and cultural!

Suggestion 1: Try a reader.  Whether you read as a class, use my free reading club pack, or read FVR style, a reader is an engaging way to get a lot of input in at the end of the year!

Suggestion 2: Try a song of the week.  Not sure where to get started?  Some of my favorites are here: Suena el dembow, Me niego, Sofía, Paraíso, La bicicleta

Suggestion 3: Try a cultural unit!  For late level 1/2 – Educarse para superarse, for level 2/3 Comer para vivir, for 3/4 Medicina o cura, for 3/4/AP Mar de plástico or El agua es vida, for some time outdoors Biodiversidad y conservación!

Suggestion 4: Try a movie talk! For anyone: Animales Redondos  For level 1 El regalo or La abuela que baila, for level 2 El cacto y el banco or Runaway, for level 3/4/AP Atrévete or Parecidos

Suggestion 5: Try a quick cultural read!

Ecuadorian Food, Guayaquil, Galápagos, Panama Canal

Free: National Geographic Explorer Story and Map Talk, Aceites Esenciales

Suggestion 5: Try wrapping up a unit differently! Discussion Thursday, Yellow Brick Road Retell

No matter what you try, have a great time.  Make memories that your students will take with them for a lifetime!

Blog Posts on new things I’ve been trying the last few years:

Map Talk

FREE UNIT: Material World – a unit on world homes

Butterfly Life Cycle

Snapchat and Frida Kahlo (the reader but could be adapted to her art only)

Novel Study Different Readers

 

Published by senoracmt

I began teaching Spanish in Illinois in 1994. I have taught levels 1-4 in a small rural high school, 8th grade introductory Spanish, Biology 1, and 101 and 102 at the community college level. My Spanish classes are partnered with the community college to offer students 8 semester hours of dual credit on completion of Spanish 4. In 2011 I met Carol Gaab and Kristy Placido and have since co-authored the book "La hija del sastre" with Carol Gaab and authored the novels "La Calaca Alegre", "Bianca Nieves" "Vector," "48 horas", "Bananas", "Sostenible", "Tucán", and "Papálotl" through Fluency Matters and Wayside Publishing. In 2006 I became National Board certified and renewed in 2016. I completed my Masters degree in Spanish education in 2011 and did my research on the use of Understanding by Design to create meaningful cultural units for the language classroom. I am a frequent presenter on this topic, please consider me if you are interested in a workshop on backward design. In 2013 I was named the ICTFL Foreign Language teacher of the year and in 2014 I was selected as CSCTFL's teacher of the year. In November of 2014 I was lucky enough to be one of the five finalists for the ACTFL National Teacher of the Year in San Antonio, TX. Please contact our info@somewheretoshare.com account with any questions you have about the curriculum or PD@somewheretoshare.com with questions about professional development opportunities.

3 comments

  1. Señora, I noticed in one of your units that I bought that you use Scholastic Explora tu mundo – selvas tropicales. Amazon sells that one book for 46.00. Yikes! How do you use that in your classroom? The book is amazing. The language is perfect for the students just taking it slightly above their level of comprehension yet not difficult enough for them to understand. I would definitely love to use them next year. What do you recommend?

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