Developing strategic competence through portfolios: a Language Biography

Using a portfolio in our language class facilitates a deeper understanding and integration of assessment. It is an extraordinary way of introducing our students to authentic assessment. We can use it for assessing the process and the final product with evidences of our students work. In other words, it can be used for formative and sumative assessment. 
Sometimes we take for granted the assumption that our students know what they do, internalize the learning and reflect on the difficulties they had during the learning process finding ways of getting over them, but sometimes this is false and portfolios are a great tool to build these skills in our students.  

Thinking in portfolios as a piece of something bigger the first step could be to work on a Language Biography. 
I have the Language Biography broken down into four pieces: 
[click on the links to see the templates]

1. Languages I know What languages do I use to communicate with others? What can I do with the languages I know? How do other people speak my language?	2. Other languages What other languages are spoken where I live?
3. The way I learn How do I learn? What did I learn and what helped me? What do I do to learn out of the classroom?	4. My learning plans What do I want to do and say in each language?

Why is worth it for our students to start a project like this one?

- Students have the opportunity to reflect on their language and cultural experiences. 

- They take ownership on their language acquisition process.

- They realize the progress they make on the language acquisition process.
- They will be able to value other languages spoken in their environment.

When can our students work on these assignments?
You can have your students working on this independently or after school if they have a good command of the language, but in the first stages of learning I would discourage this option. They will definitely need some guidance and using at least some time during class will help them gain the necessary confidence to achieve their goals.

Do you want your students to take the challenge of weekly/monthly assignments? 
Check this post out!

Want to know more?

• European Language Portfolio
• An example of a portfolio using wikis

Lunaprofe 8/20/2015  No comment

An acronym to learn noun gender: LONERS

I know simplification can be a problem if we don't understand what it is and everything it comes with it... but if we truly understand that simplification doesn't mean we are going to live in a perfect world and we still have to face trouble because of the exceptions... can be a great tool to work with and can be very beneficial for our students.
This poster strives to be a colorful resource to remember our acronym: LONERS for masculine nouns in Spanish and also provides examples for each ending. 
Matching colors are a great strategy for visual learners to remember things. 

Try yourself out with this activity below to see if you internalize this concept:


Let's recap:

If a word ends in l,o,n,e,r,s it's almost always going to be a masculine word in Spanish.

Remember: in language there are no rules without exceptions ;)

If this works for you don't hesitate to use it, share it or print it out;)

More related resources:

• Short, simple and clear explanation [Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition]
• A Wikibook [A brief explanation with tables]

Don't put a limit on anything.

The more you dream, the farther you get.

Michael Phelps

22 medals

Lunaprofe 11/24/2014  No comment

Past tense contrast in Spanish: a brief explanation with examples. Guest post

This is the first guest post in my blog. 
I'm so excited about it! Thanks Ana!
Our buddy blogger Ana brings us an explanation with examples and very interesting tips on when to use perfecto or indefinido and interesting input about different usage within different varieties of the Spanish language. 

LOS USOS DEL PASADO EN ESPAÑOL

El uso de los pasados en español puede resultar confuso para los estudiantes. Aquí tenemos un ejemplo del uso simultáneo de los tres pasados simples en un diálogo cotidiano, corto y sencillo:

A: Hola, vecino. ¿Otra vez por aquí? No te he visto este verano, ¿te has  ido de vacaciones? 

B: Sí, fui/ he ido a hacer un tour por Asia. Estuve sobre todo en  Vietnam.

A: ¡Qué suerte! ¿Y te ha gustado?

B: Sí.  Es precioso, pero hacía mucho calor.

Consejo:
El truco está en relacionar las  acciones pasadas no con  el tiempo real, puesto que todas las acciones  surgieron en el pasado, sino en cómo relaciona y asocia esa  acción consigo mismo y con el relato el narrador. 

Utilizamos el pretérito perfecto para relacionar los hechos pasados que el narrador asocia  con el tiempo / realidad presente. Para ello, nos puede dar algunas pistas en el diálogo (siempre, nunca, este verano, etc.), aunque no es necesario.

Ejemplo: ¿te has  ido de vacaciones? ¿Y Te ha gustado?

Hay que detallar aquí que  es correcto e intercambiable en algunas partes de España y variedades latinoamericanas  usar el pretérito indefinido: 
¿Te fuiste de vacaciones? ¿Te gustó?

El locutor narra los hechos  sin relacionarlos con el momento presente: Para ello, también nos puede dar alguna pista (ayer, el fin de semana pasado, la semana pasada, el lunes, un día, el 4 de octubre de 1977, etc.), aunque tampoco es necesario.

Ejemplo: Estuve sobre todo en  Vietnam.

El narrador lo utiliza para dar el trasfondo o contexto a los hechos pasados (así es como los ve él en relación a la historia que esta contando), independientemente de que estos se hayan narrado en indefinido o perfecto.

Ejemplo: (…) hacía mucho calor. 

Ana Belén Merlo Ormeño

Aquí puedes consultar su blog ;)
http://amaelespanol.blogspot.com/

Lunaprofe 11/17/2014  No comment

Learn Spanish with movies: El hijo de la novia

Why movies?

1. Movies are something our students like. At least, they like the format. They are familiarized with them. They probably go to the movies on the weekends with their friends. 
2. The movies are primary sources for the language. The language our students are exposed through the movies is a native language, produced for/to native speakers.
3. The language in the movies is real. We will find a lot of authentic registers [poor people talking slang, rich people using a very sophisticated speech...] to work with.
4. With the right activities (pre-comprehension, ...) movies are not a passive activity but a really "active" activity in our class.
5. Movies are visual. It is a visual format we (pretty much all) are familiarized with it.
6. Movies are a huge "exposition" of the target culture. It depends on the movie but lots of them can help us bring up to the table interesting debates/discussions about cultural topics.
7. Movies stimulate creativity.
8. Movies develop our students capacity of analysis from different points of view.

A possible sequence to consider for planning purpose:

- Before the movie:

• Glossary
• Pre-comprehension activities [Anticipation]

-During the movie:

• notes
• comments
• answers
• quotes
• words lists

- After the movie:

• level-targeted tasks

Sequence based on Martha Florez

In this case, I propose a movie about rethinking our paths through life. The movie also expose us to a good dose of reality. Read the full review in IMDB or in BBC Reviews

It is interesting how many different types of text we can work with our students through movies. We can practice producing a review, a summary, descriptions of characters, dialogues/conversations, informal letter, email, interview, article... 

Ficha técnica de la película:

Título: El hijo de la novia

Dirección: Juan José Campanella

País: Argentina

Año: 2001

Fecha de estreno: 23/11/2001

Duración: 123 minutos

Género: Drama, Comedia.

Reparto: Ricardo Darín, Héctor Alterio, Norma Aleandro, Eduardo Blanco, Natalia Verbeke, Gimena Nóbile, David Masajnik, Claudia Fontán, Atilio Pozzobon, Salo Pasik

Productora: Patagonik Film Group, Tornasol Films, JEMPSA, Pol-Ka Producciones

Possible activities are listed below with worksheets and print outs. Enjoy!

Sources and resources:

• El cine, un recurso didáctico. El hijo de la novia. [Celia Carracedo Manzanera]
• El cine en la clase de ELE: El hijo de la novia [Josefa Álvarez Valadés & María Luisa Gómez Sacristán]
• Estrategias para desarrollar diferentes tipos de textos a través de las películas [Martha Flórez]

“Accordingly, globalization is not only something that will

concern and threaten us in the future, but something

that is taking place in the present and to which we must

first open our eyes.”

Ulrich Beck (German Sociologist; b. 1944)

Lunaprofe 10/27/2014  No comment

Stop and Think: Miguel de Unamuno

Nurture your students minds through crucial people that show and demonstrate the IB Learner Profile.
Inspiring our students is a core task for a teacher and a challenge every year.

Want to know more?

• Miguel de Unamuno [Wikipedia]
• Artículos sobre Miguel de Unamuno [Universidad de Navarra]
• Documental sobre Miguel de Unamuno [Documentos UNED]

Lunaprofe 8/18/2014  No comment

Tongue Twisters: a funny resource to learn a language

A tongue twister is really useful for acquiring a second language. 
But what a tongue twister is?
We can define it as a sequence of words difficult to pronounce fast and correctly. So we can benefit from it to help our students improve on their pronunciation and fluency. From a more informal point of view, we could say Tongue Twisters are the perfect tool to exercise our students tongues, and we can also use them to enrich our students vocabulary.
On one hand tongue twisters are linguistic tools but in the other hand are also cultural representations of the target country/language. 
They can be considered generally as a tool to improve on pronunciation and fluency and specifically a tool to improve on pronunciation of particular sounds isolated.

We can also use a particular tongue twister to work on specific tough sounds for our students. This is the case of the Spanish "R" pronounced as "RR" in certain cases. Using this little tongue twister [you can use any other one you find or make up for this purpose] we will help our students to improve their pronunciation on this difficult sound setting the stress bar low.

Por desenredar el enredo que ayer enredé, 

hoy enredo el desenredo que desenredé ayer.

Hay una rara palmera paramera en el páramo.

(Trabalenguas para practicar la R y con vocabulario específico de Venezuela)

Glosario: 

• Paramera
• Páramo

Tongue twisters to practice the "R" sound:

• Pequeocio
• Celebérrima

Sites with tonge twisters in Spanish:

• elhuevodechocolate
• International Collection of Tongue Twisters 
• Trabalenguas ERESMAS
• Literatura oral

Lunaprofe 8/11/2014  No comment

Personal reflections: new reality, new teaching

The power of an idea is unquestionable. Plato was right when he said ideas rule the world. Ideas also change the world. And this is the tool we want to provide our students with, because we want them to be able to solve new problems in the near future. New problems require new solutions and critical-thinking skills.
We want them to develop problem-solving skills and for that we are not helping if we are giving them everything already done.
In my beginning years as a teacher I clearly understood that I have the responsibility not to do anything that can be done by my students. If I do something they can do by themselves [like accessing information] I am stealing that precious moment of the discovery or just simply I am making their life too comfortable, too easy, or I am stealing the possibility of even practicing something.
The old paradigm in which the teacher present the "knowledge" / "information" and students study it and reproduce showing it through an exam is no longer valid. Our real world nowadays doesn't work that way. Education needs to be the driving force for shaping our future. Therefore, we need to update our strategies to our new reality.
A language class has a huge potential to introduce these new ideas to our students. A language class can be much more than just a snap course.

Let's put this into practice:
In my class I have built-in in my schedule a weekly time for "independent learning":
I provide my students with learning tools and I give them time to "play & learn". Let's take a look to a possible sequence:
1.- The teacher presents the "tool" (can be an app, a website, a manipulative, a worksheet, a game...)
2.- The teacher use the tool, showing to his/her students how does it work, what it is for, the benefits, the type of learning associated...
3.- The teacher and the students use the tool together.
4.- The students are independent to use the tool by themselves. The teacher just need to supervise them or check their progress later on.

This sequence is based on a wonderful one I learnt from my wonderful friend Marisa, thanks!

I encourage my students to present "tools" they like to me, and if I consider it appropriate, then we share it with the class. (This is really powerful, to let and encourage them to really take ownership of their learning, to do what they really want).

With this simple activity we are saying to our students: 
- You can do it independently
- you can learn by your own
- you can make it happen, you are capable to do whatever you want if you take the necessary steps (which depends on multiple factors: personality, type of learner...)

We are providing them with the idea that:
- THEY can learn by themselves (they will need to understand this perfectly to step into the outside world)
- learning is not a passive thing. A teacher just throwing content in their heads does not work anymore.
- to learn can be funny and can be done in many different ways.
- THEY can learn all subjects with different approaches and strategies.
- learning is not an isolated thing that occurs separately in each subject, they can transfer strategies to one subject to another.

Potential activities are endless. I'll try to post more strategies and activities with their sequences based on ideas more than just in rules, but the idea that underlies all this post is deeper and wider; it refers more to a change in our approach of teaching assuming we are entering into a new era and new realities need new ideas and solutions.
Further reading:

• The two-way language bridge [Melinda Martin-Beltrán] 

This is an interesting research on how students transfer knowledge between languages and how they benefit from that.

Image source: http://arte-actual.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html

Lunaprofe 5/23/2014  No comment

IB Profile: Solidario

The IB Learner profile is a core concept in IB education. 
Through these visuals I try to help my students understand, internalize the concepts and give them a visual scaffold to get the idea.
Activities involving the IB Profile are as many as your imagination can provides you.
Here you have some potential general activities:

• Let your students make their own posters based on the concept you are working on. [With this activity we help them develop their creativity and taking ownership of their own learning]
• Make your students find real-life examples that show the concept. [This activity helps them making connections] 
• Make the students find the person in the class that best shows the concept with his/her behavior. 
• Ask your students to think in a famous person that shows the concept with his/her behavior. 
• Ask your students to think in the last book they read, considering how the characters in the book acted. Was someone in the book caring?
• Let your students find a quote related to the concept we are studying in class and draw a personal conclusion from it.

For your Spanish class:

Sequence:

1. Break the concept down into ideas
2. Give examples using patterns.

1. Break the concept down into ideas and have your ideas in different lines [to differentiate them visually] like this:

Ser solidario es:

- mostrar empatía

- mostrar sensibilidad

- mostrar respeto

- comprometerse personalmente a ayudar a los demás

- actuar con el propósito de influir positivamente en la vida de los demás

- actuar con el propósito de influir positivamente en el medio ambiente

2. Giving patterns to your students to give examples:

1. [Nombre del estudiante] es solidario porque __[idea]________
2. [Nombre del alumno] es una persona solidaria. Lo demuestra + [verbo en gerundio -ando - iendo] ___[idea]_____

Adding more ideas:

1. [idea] y [idea]
2. [idea] también [idea]

Example:

Ryan es solidario porque muestra empatía y actúa con el propósito de influir positivamente en el medio ambiente.

Don't forget to conjugate your verbs ;)

Lunaprofe 5/05/2014  2 comments

Developing oral fluency through songs in Spanish

One day a friend of mine told me: "Hey, Antonio! You are always happy, always humming or singing a song with a smile on your face. I want to thank you because your happiness is contagious"
Sometime later I remembered this conversation when I was planning on starting to incorporate songs in my classes and gave me the last push I needed to make it happen (thanks Jose)
This is one really important point in incorporating songs in our classes. They are contagious, they just stick in our minds for days and make us sign or hum them without even noticing it.
A mother told me one day, "I knew my kid was learning Spanish because he was humming My way for weeks when he got home"
I was shocked! Not just me, but more people experience this feeling with music! 
Definitely, this is an insuperable tool for learning languages and in addition to that it gives us more things like being happy (not to be discarded).
What else can we learn from a song? Oh, yes! Culture!
This particular song "Se me olvidó que te olvidé" was written originally by a Mexican popular singer and songwriter Lolita de la Colina which bring up to the table Spanish speaking countries, their culture, their literature, their music, folklore...
but also, this jazz-flamenco version by Bebo & Cigala gives us the opportunity to talk about cultural contacts and exchanges through music and the consequences in real-life. 
Following the inter-disciplinary approach possibilities are endless.

"Interdisciplinary knowledge: don't blame Nature on our Universities and schools syllabus." 

Jorge Wagensberg.

With this particular song, we worked also vocabulary, reflective verbs and time basically through a worksheet in the back of the lyrics.

Remember! If you don't play the guitar you can always play the song in your computer, CD-player or any type of player you use!

Learn Spanish with "Se me olvidó que te olvidé" by Antonio Luna

Lunaprofe 4/28/2014  No comment

Learning Spanish through music: using Youtube

Music is a powerful tool of expression. Language is too. 
We can get to know more about a culture through their music, rhythm...
We can use music to improve on our listening skills, gain vocabulary... 
Many interesting angles can be discussed about the benefits of using music to learn a language, activities...
To start the ball rolling you can do a simple activity: just listen to the music, enjoy the melodies, without doing anything else. Yes, nothing else needs to be done in this first step. Do not stress out, no rush, just listen the music through the playlist.
If you want to go a bit further you can listen songs and read the subtitles.
You can also write down the title and the author's song and do research on them. Then, do a mini-presentation to your class or friends.

If you like it, subscribe to my channel

Sequence:

1. Listen to the song

2. Read the subtitles while listening to the song

3. Do research on the song, author and music style.

4. Compare styles, music and author's from your country with these ones. You can use the Venn Diagram for this.

5. Present to your class/friends your findings.

Remember: Music positively affects language accent, memory and grammar as well as mood, enjoyment and motivation.

Lunaprofe 4/27/2014  No comment

Tips for language acquisition: Do it in Spanish!

Usually when you travel a bit like we do throughout the world you meet a lot of people speaking several languages and almost a hundred percent of the times, among the most fluent speakers you find you'll find people doing things in the language they are studying or they want to speak.
This is a real-life example that happens to me frequently when we travel, this one happened in Morocco. I don't speak Arabic and neither do anyone in my family. So, we are in Morocco and we meet a guy that start speaking to us in Spanish (really fluently) 
We always take our time with these people because of our lack of Arabic language knowledge and our desire to get to know people from the country and our uncountable doubts & questions. In the end, we always get to ask to the person how he/she speaks such a good Spanish. And almost every time their answer is the same one: I learnt it watching the Spanish channel on TV.
These examples always made me wonder about the reality of these methods, but empirically talking it's obvious. We have to admit that works. 
So far I haven't done any research on this field. ButI can tell you than my experience is telling me that the continuous exposure you can get through these strategies is more than enough to recommend it. 
Today is really easy to consume Media in the target language and get an on-going exposure throughout your day. Typical examples: read/listen the news through national channels/newspapers of those countries, listen music in the target language...examples are endless!
But my best adivce is to be open-minded, if you extrapolate this concept you can find interesting benefits. Don't just think in Media, anything you like, try to do it in Spanish, you'll see the difference.

Keep it simple: if you like it, do it in Spanish!

This is a great article in The New York Times about language acquisition & inmersion/exposure if you want to read more about this topic. 

Also, inmersion learners benefit cognitively, exhibiting greater non-verbal problem-solving abilities and more flexible thinking (Met, 1998)

Sources:

• Met, M. (Ed.). (1998). Critical issues in early second language learning. New York: Scott Foresman—Addison Wesley.
• Center for Applied Linguistics

Lunaprofe 4/22/2014  No comment

Taking ownership of your learning: "Glosario" a GLAD strategy

Independence and self-knowledge are two important concepts nowadays. With this strategy we help our students to internalize these two key concepts. 
Using buzz words, we are working with Meta-cognition, but what does it really mean? To make it more understandable; we can define it as "thinking about thinking", which helps our students to take ownership of their learning process.

This activity is originally called "Cognitive Content Dictionary" and it's a part of GLAD (I personally designate it as "Glosario" because I teach Spanish and it's the more natural term I found) and contributes to :

- involve our students in Meta-cognition
- build vocabulary
- comprehend more the language

Sequence:

1. Teacher selects a word or words from unit vocabulary.
2. Students predict meaning of selected word/words.
3. Teacher provide final meaning.
4. Students write and sketch something that will help them remember the meaning.
5. Students use the word in a sentence.
6. This activity can be done with a whole class, in teams and individually.

A possible Follow-up: 

Signal word

1. One essential vocabulary word is selected each day as the signal word.
2. A synonym or short definition phrase is used each time the word is said.
3. A signal (a physical movement) is given that will help the students remember the meaning of the word.
4. Each time the class changes activities the signal word, synonym and gesture are used to signal the end of one activity and the beginning of another.

Sources:

• My own experience
• www.projectglad.com
• Metacognition: An Overview. By Jennifer A. Livingston
• Photography taken from Christina Orsi website

Lunaprofe 4/11/2014  No comment