Learning Spanish through music

One day I was talking with a friend and I mentioned I play the guitar. She saw it, she made the connection: 
- why don't you play the guitar in your classes? your students will love it. 
- Ummm... I've never thought about it.
One month later I was playing the guitar, my students were singing in Spanish and the result was amazingly unexpected for me. They got it fast. Way faster than me (it usually happens ;)
Their intonation, pronunciation and fluency were improved magically and we were having fun during classes. Whoa! I had to start doing some research on it right away! 

Here they are some of my findings:
It's so true that language acquisition depends on interaction [more when we are not in an immersion context]. And in my case the main source of interaction my students have available is their teacher. Also, even if we haven't noticed, there is a melody in our speech when we are teaching. We use so many different features like repetition, expansions, preference for simplified vocabulary, change in voice volume and modification of intonational contours.  These melodies become a scaffold for language learning. 
Exaggerated melodic contours found in adult-directed-to-infant-speech are considered to be parental intuitive behavior to guide their babies musical beginnings [Papousek 1996], but they are also seen as a species-specific learning guidance towards language [Feu and Piñero 1996, Wemke and Mende 2009]. 
An example of this is in the movie My Fair Lady when Professor Higgins distorts the rhythmic articulation of the following utterance: "The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain", and it is just at this precise moment when his student, Eliza Doolittle, starts reproducing language properly.

The same idea applies for our students singing and listening songs in Spanish acquiring authentic phonics through real native speakers.

On top of that I would add the contribution we are making to our students happiness and motivation.

But also remember that carrots & sticks are so last century. Let your students participate in class choices. You'll see the difference!

Further reading:

• Music & Language are processed by the same brain systems [Sciende Daily]
• Speaking in tones: Music & Language partner in the brain [Scientific American]
• Fonseca-Mora, M.C.; Toscano-Fuentes, C. and Wermke, K. (2011). Melodies that help: TheRelation between Language Aptitude and Musical Intelligence. [Anglistik International Journal of English Studies]
• Picture's source: http://www.melthodhaye.com

Lunaprofe 4/14/2014  No comment

Brief Unit Planner: a visual approach to curriculum mapping

This is one of my Units for my Spanish B SL Course. I am a visual learner that's why I try my best to put all my documents in a way I can see everything at a glance.
As plain as I can. The simple, the better. This ideas can help us out a lot.
One of the main objectives is to have a full unit in just one page. 
If you do Curriculum mapping [and if you don't you should consider it, be a thinker]it's really convenient to synthesize your planning and your ideas to be able to analyze all important information without extra effort. Time is money ;)
One of the best things is to compare your reflections from one year to another. You'll be able to grasp if your classes are evolving or not, the progress you are making as a professional and the direction your teaching is taking.




Remember: to stay positive will help you perform better (around 40% better than average)

This template is based on some similar ones found on Mr. Pak Liam's blog. Take a minute to visit his blog, it's amazing how many things this gentleman get accomplished within just a school year!

Lunaprofe 4/14/2014  No comment

Ideas gráficas: Resolver problemas

La resolución de problemas es un pilar en la educación actual. Preparar a nuestros alumnos para que sean capaces de resolver los problemas que se les plantearán en el futuro es crucial. Dotarlos de las herramientas necesarias para enfrentarse a la incertidumbre aplicando el pensamiento crítico. 

Podemos invitar a nuestros estudiantes a reflexionar sobre imágenes y/o citas inspiradoras como ésta. Además, podemos utilizar esta actividad para desarrollar habilidades descriptivas. Algunas estructuras que pueden usar para describir la imagen son:

- En esta imagen podemos ver...

- En la foto / fotografía se aprecia...

- La ilustración nos muestra...

- En la imagen se puede ver...

- Se trata de una imagen...

Si quieres ver más posters con frases para pensar pincha aquí.

Recuerda: normalmente las personas retienen un 75% de lo que aprenden de manera visual.

Lunaprofe 4/12/2014  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

Los 10 mandamientos según Bertrand Russell

Seguro qué no estoy totalmente en lo cierto, por esa razón publico este artículo invitando al personal a reflexionar sobre estos 10 puntos que propuso Russell.

Los 10 mandamientos en educación según Bertrand Russell:

1. No te sientas absolutamente seguro de nada.

2. No pienses que vale la pena actuar ocultando pruebas, pues con toda seguridad éstas saldrán a la luz.

3. Nunca te desanimes pensando que no vas a tener éxito. Nunca intentes oponerte al raciocinio, porque seguramente lo conseguirás.

4. Cuando te encuentres con alguna oposición, incluso si viene de tu esposo o de tus hijos, esfuérzate por vencerla con argumentos y no con autoridad, pues la victoria que depende de la autoridad es irreal e ilusoria. 

5. No tengas respeto por la autoridad de otros, pues siempre se encuentran autoridades enfrentadas.

6. No uses la fuerza para reprimir opiniones que consideres perniciosas, pues si lo haces las opiniones te reprimirán a ti.

7. No temas ser excéntrico en tus opiniones, pues todas las opiniones aceptadas ahora alguna vez fueron excéntricas.

8. Disfruta más con la discrepancia inteligente que con la aceptación pasiva, pues si valoras la inteligencia como se debe, lo primero implica una más profunda aceptación que lo segundo.

9. Sé escrupuloso con la verdad, incluso si la verdad es incómoda, pues es más incómoda cuando tratas de ocultarla.

10. No sientas envidia de la felicidad de aquellos que viven en el paraíso de los necios, pues sólo un necio pensará que eso es la felicidad.

Utiliza esta lista como punto de referencia para una posterior reflexión. Busca los puntos fuertes y débiles e intenta encontrar ejemplos concretos en tu vida real que te ayuden a interiorizar estos conceptos.
¿Quieres saber más? Consulta la biografía de Bertrand Rusell en Wikipedia en español y en inglés.

Fuentes: 

Wikipedia
El Malpensante
Recuerdos de Pandora
Póster de Bertrand Russell

Lunaprofe 4/10/2014  No comment

QuizUp: Learning while having fun

One of my very best students (Thanks Valentina;) told me a few days ago that there is available a great new App for learning Spanish [is not new, they just included Spanish] QuizUp.

It's a Trivia game but with some interesting features:

1. If you are fluent in English or a native speaker and want to learn some Spanish playing Trivia is a perfect fit.
2. If nor English neither Spanish are your native languages but you are learning them this App is great because it provides interesting categories like grammar, finish the sayings, Thesaurus... all in English and up to 457 topics.
3. You can sign up or connect QuizUp to your facebook and play with your friends, challenge them or just take a sneak peek to their rankings...
4. Using this App for learning some Spanish you might get impress by the amount and the variety of people speaking or learning Spanish in the world. [just playing with random players in 5 minutes I got people from Turkey, US, Rumania and Germany]
5. If you don't want to be find out by your friends you can also use it on Privacy Mode [Go to settings]

If you want to learn some Spanish through QuizUp, first select Educational and then Spanish, as simple as that!

Click here to get it from Google Play

Remember this: "If you like something it becomes easier"

Lunaprofe 4/09/2014  No comment

Describing people creatively in Spanish: Este soy yo

This is another activity to keep building vocabulary and fluency on our students with descriptions (A or Emergent Communicators). This image was built with tagul  which is an incredible tool to develop their creativity at the same time they learn some Spanish. 
How do we do this?
Sequence:
1.- Write down a 20 words list that describes you (in Spanish...) [I scaffold my students with Power Points, class practice, modeling keywords, collaborative work...]
2.- Your teacher checks the list and gives you feedback
3.- You make changes (if needed)
4.- Log in (or sign up) to your Tagul
5.- Copy and paste your list
6.- Customize the shape
7.- Do not forget to include your name (Red color + big size)
8.- Print it and use it ;)

The follow-ups for this activity are infinite but one that I really do love is to start the class asking random students [I pull sticks with their names] ¿Cómo eres? ¿Cómo te sientes? It is a great activity to review Ser & Estar and self-description at the same time.

Challenge yourself a bit taking this little quiz about describing people:

Check your answers here ;)

Resources for learning descriptions in Spanish:

• ¿Qué personalidad tienes? [Español para inmigrantes]
• Canción: Breve descripción de mi persona. Autor: Cuarteto de Nos [Youtube]
• ¿Cómo es tu familia? Spanish rap [Youtube]

As a facilitator don't forget the importance of revisiting your strategies. It is also a great tool to give your students feedback in real time.

Lunaprofe 4/03/2014  No comment

Learn Spanish Online: Centro Virtual Cervantes

This is the website of the Official Organization for the Spanish Language. Cervantes is a company that has presence in 43 countries all around the world.

This might be one of your most visited sites if you have any interest in learning Spanish. The site is full of activities, workshops and online courses to learn and improve your Spanish. If you are studying Spanish as your second language the forums could be a great option for you to get to know more about a particular topic, grammar or history of the language. They have lots of interesting discussions to read and to participate in the forums would be a great idea to improve on your Spanish.For advanced students they have a section focused on Literatura where you can find Biographies of important Hispanic writers or if you are interested in Cervantes as a historic figure or as a writer you might want to visit Cervantistas which is an organization specialized in Miguel de Cervantes and his Don Quixote. 

It would be impossible to sum up everything they offer for you as a learner of the Spanish language so better take a walk on the Spanish side: http://cvc.cervantes.es/

To stay positive: do not be afraid to laugh at yourself especially when you make mistakes. Remember people make mistakes... and YES! We are people!

  

Lunaprofe 3/30/2014  2 comments

Free textbooks in Spanish: Anaya

These are free text books Anaya has online for a sneak peek. Although it's not the full version, we still can learn a lot from it. We can access 3 Units or 63 pages, which is a lot.
The advantage is that consist of a real textbook that kids use in Spain, so what we are doing is using a native speaker book for learning Spanish language (basic level, though).
The most incredible thing is that they have incorporated audios within units, related to specific content. So, don't miss the opportunity to improve on your listening skills!

It doesn't matter which level of Spanish you are in, I would recommend to just click on it and play for a bit. 
Try some audios, read some "Técnicas de trabajo" and let me know what you think!

Their website with full catalogs on books is:
www.anayamascerca.com

Remember to stay positive, open-minded and happy help you learn, and also work in your real life!

Lunaprofe 3/18/2014  No comment

Aprendiendo español con Apps: Duolingo

Hablando un poco sobre la historia de esta aplicación, su creador es Luis von Ahn, la sacó al mercado en 2012 y en 2013 fue nombrada aplicación del año por Apple. Tiene 12,5 millones de usuarios en todo el mundo. El truco de esta aplicación está en la forma en la que se construye la comunidad. Se puede aprender idiomas con documentos reales de periódicos, sitios de noticias o incluso la wikipedia de manera totalmente gratuita y es la aplicación la que cobra a estas empresas por las traducciones que sus usuarios hacen de forma desinteresada.

Duolingo puede ser un amigo fiel a la hora de aprender un idioma. Lo puedes llevar en tu móvil* o usarla a través de una computadora*.

Si lo usas con tu computadora puedes básicamente acceder a los foros dónde hay discusiones sobre la lengua que se estudia y traducciones de documentos reales a tiempo real de forma colaborativa.

Si lo usas con el móvil tienes disponibles varias lecciones de forma gratuita con las que podrás practicar tu español más básico.

Su página web es: www.duolingo.com


Glosario:

- ordenador: es la palabra usada en España para computadora.
- móvil: usado en España, Cuba, Guinea Ecuatorial y Ecuador.
- computadora: palabra usada en la mayoría de los países de América Latina, en Ecuador, Chile y Bolivia también oirás computador.
- celular: usada en el resto de países de habla hispana.

Recuerda que cuando haces algo que te gusta tu mente está más relajada y preparada para recibir conceptos nuevos. Si te gusta el móvil usalo para aprender.

Lunaprofe 2/19/2014  2 comments