Getting Started – Naturally

Getting started is often the hardest part in a unit, heck in anything new! We are often unsure how to take that first step and in our classrooms when introducing language chunks or vocabulary, how do we do that while staying in the target language and NOT translating. Language learning requires attention and practice, asking …

Ensuring Student Voice

How do we provide our students voice in our classrooms? In one of my graduate classes in urban education, I am reading a book by bell hooks (she chooses not to capitalize her name), Teaching to Transgress. In the book, hooks talks about voice and since reading this selection, my initial question keeps swirling round in …

On their own path this week (02/06/16)

It was a rather quiet week in the world language blogging world, so I’m sharing a couple of other interesting reads that caught my attention. Oh, and then on Saturday, Dr. Gianfranco Conti released another powerful post that addresses so many things we should consider when teaching for proficiency. Can’t wait to hear what you think …

Easing into Technology Integration

My district is working its way to 1:1 technology integration district wide.  We call it TEConnect.  Instead of rolling it out all at once, they determined it would be best to have a few cohorts work this model into their classroom and year by year they’ll add more 1:1 classrooms.  As a TEConnect educator this …

Grammar and the Airport

Here is the continuing saga of the travel unit…as promised. Would you like to jump into my classroom experience for a moment? “Sra. Rhodes, I’ve never even been to an airport…how am I supposed to know what happens there?”  So….The students have to learn all the different places in the airport, the people they need …