When I started teaching back in the 1900s… (1994… I’m getting SO OLD)… We had our first day of school around August 25th and our semester ended about 10 days after Christmas break. I HATED IT! It was awful to be off 10-16 days and come back to a few days and then exams.
Around my 8th or 9th year teaching, I was at a school that wanted to give exams before Christmas so we started reporting back in mid August (13th or so) and finishing the semester exams right as we dismissed for break. Luckily, in my area, this is now the way most schools handle the semester! It’s great to be completely finished with the semester before we check out for our break.
This week for me is:
- Finishing Chapters 9 and 10 in Bianca Nieves (2nd edition) on Monday and Tuesday then reviewing the story on Wednesday. I have ONE Spanish two student who has to take the exam, so the review of the story is mainly for him so he can do the writing and speaking well… but it is GREAT input and output for the other students in the class. Many of them will be shifting to a different teacher second semester, so it will be our last week together until Spanish 3!
- Reviewing the semester’s topics in Spanish 3 and 4 on Monday (we’ve done Bajo la mesa, Parecidos, Frida Kahlo, La princesa y el guerrero, Scary Stories, Biodiversidad y conservación, Mar de plástico, Tucán, Leyendas impactantes, and more this semester between the two levels). On Tuesday and Wednesday, they all have to take a final exam for their dual credit requirement with our community college partner.
And while the semester is wrapping up… when we come back from break, there is NO teacher work day. We go straight from 0-60. The new semester’s students will be headed to our rooms on January 5!! So I am already thinking 3 weeks ahead.
Imagine my surprise when I saw THIS… Intermarché’s new commercial! I KNEW I had to make a French clip chat with this. AND FRIENDS, I have been learning French for about 10 years now through reading and duolingo… and I wrote the whole clip chat myself. Of course, my proofer had to fix my early intermediate mistakes, but I felt like a REAL FRENCH LEARNER when all the input I had gotten came out in the form of this clip chat. It’s how I know it will be perfect for your late level 1 and all level 2 students… because that is the extent of my French skill. 🙂
But once I had it done, I was sad because I want to use it with MY classes too. So I did a Spanish version. The video is in French, but I like to put my videos on mute anyway, so it will be great no matter the language!
I am giving these both to you as a Christmas gift! Just give Dylan the week (I am pressuring him during exam week) to get them formatted in Canva and they’re yours! It will make coming back after break SO MUCH easier to have a pre-planned 5 days of activities! Sign up for our mailing list here and we’ll let you know when the download is ready to go!
Have a great last few days!