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What is Organic World Language? - YouTube

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What is Organic World Language? - YouTube

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Are you wondering what exactly OWL is? Check this amazing video out to learn about the history, happenings, focus and goals of the OWL Community. The teachers featured in this video are Spanish teachers, but the OWL community at large is comprised of teachers of various languages such as French, German, and Chinese and Hebrew!

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Plymouth North World Languages - OLA organic Language acquisition

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Plymouth North World Languages - OLA organic Language acquisition

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Plymouth North World Languages - OLA organic Language acquisition

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11 Bad Reasons Not to OWL | French. Learning. Community.

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11 Bad Reasons Not to OWL | French. Learning. Community.

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Yesterday, I met up with a handful of other teachers who are also implementing OWL (or at least some OWL strategies) in their classrooms. They made me realize how lucky I am to work where I work, with supportive administrators and a professional and open-minded department.

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Mme Ménard's Parent Blog - Mrs. Ménard's Website

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Mme Ménard's Parent Blog - Mrs. Ménard's Website

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Mme Ménard's Parent Blog - Mrs. Ménard's Website

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Creating a community that applauds mistakes, encourages students to laugh at themselves, and supports a safe risk-taking environment has pushed my students to embrace a growth mindset. They understand that in order to achieve their language proficiency goals, they have to get messy with the language, ask for help, develop a persistence for understanding, and figure out new strategies to communicate their thoughts and opinions.

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Desk-Free | Building an Inspired Language Classroom

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Desk-Free | Building an Inspired Language Classroom

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Blog by on OWL Teacher

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This year has been about a couple of new adventures! I want to tell you a little about my Podcast adventure and then about some consulting adventures coming up! Here I am, in April with 7 episodes recorded of the Inspired Proficiency Podcast .

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AN OWL ADVENTURE – Welcome to my Blog! Join me, Eliza Pfeifer, as I create a student centered Organic World Language Classroom.

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AN OWL ADVENTURE – Welcome to my Blog! Join me, Eliza Pfeifer, as I create a student centered Organic World Language Classroom.

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"English Week"

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Hello OWL community! Sorry for such a long break without posts. As many of you know my Denver condo flooded in early November and my husband and I were sent packing for almost two months. Recently, we returned to our lovely home with lovely new floors, new walls and a new ceiling. The mundane routine of work, gym, dinner, sleep, repeat has started once again, but it has never felt so good. Best of all, I am able to sit down on a Sunday night, blog and reconnect with my community of innovative and inspiring educators.

After such a long break, I have much to post, but have decided to to start 2015 with a reflective question and a challenge.

I'll start off with my question:
What is the role of literacy in a world language classroom?
It is embarrassing to admit, but for the first eight years of my teaching career, literacy played a bit part in my classroom. I taught students more about the language rather than how to be literate in the language. Instead of spending time looking for ways to improve reading, writing, listening and speaking, I looked for fun ways to teach grammar, memorize vocabulary and extensive lists of irregular verbs. I then wasted hours creating contrived "real world" scenarios which demanded specific vocabulary and grammar structures. Fortunately, since introducing the OWL method to my classroom, literacy activities alongside level appropriate questions have become the backbone of all lesson plans.

Unfortunately, literacy in an OWL classroom frequently gets overshadowed by the popularity of the circle. While the OWL circle is essential and loads of fun, the literacy activities that are completed daily in and outside the circle formation are what ensure the progression through the ACTFL levels. Therefore this year in my blog, I will be putting special focus on the literacy techniques within the outrageously awesome structure of the OWL circle.

This brings me to our challenge:
Redefine yourself as a literacy teacher.
Go ahead, make the switch. Stop worrying about teaching vocabulary, grammar and culture. Stop trying to teach how we were taught, it is OK. Instead think how you can teach for proficiency, how you can build literacy. How you can prepare students to interact confidently in their fill your language in here world. If you teach Novice levels, talk to elementary teachers. Do you teach intermediate to advanced? Talk to seventh, eighth or ninth grade language arts teachers. Observe them. What methods are they using to improve the reading, writing, listening and verbal skills of their students at the various developmental levels? Are you isolated or just don't have time? Follow some literacy boards on Pinterest. Take these ideas and work them into your lesson plans and of course, let me know how it goes!

Last week, a student was absent for all four days of a four day week. On the fourth day, the students asked in Spanish if they could write get well cards to the absent student. In the OWL spirit, I said sure and began rummaging around in my closet for stationary. While I gathered supplies, I asked students to write their well wishes on the board. Without hesitation the students rushed to the board, grabbed a marker, began chatting in Spanish and writing down their messages. Once ready, I called students back, handed them the cards and two minutes later I had get well cards ready to mail. The whole activity took a maximum of 8 minutes, from original inquiry to final product.

Now you might not be that impressed. There are no commands. (No mas inferma por favor.) There is no cute "Get well soon" slogan. (Tú necesito mucho bien.) There are errors both in spelling and in grammar. (Tú esta inferma. Me gusta tú.) Vocabulary is basic and sentences are incomplete and confusing. (Tu gusta "rojo de garganta"). However, I was ecstatic with the class. From my perspective, I saw class that cares about a each other. I saw a class that communicated comfortably all in Spanish. I saw all the community building activities paying off! Moreover, I saw a group of students attack an out of context task without hesitation. We had no prior conversations about health vocabulary nor grammar structures. Instead of trying to translate from English, they went right to the Spanish they knew and used it to communicate successfully. If they didn't know a word, they described it to a classmate who then provided the missing word. They were a class without judgement and as a result they were fearless with their language!

Moments like these remind me of why I love OWL. First, through constant community building, judgement is taken away allowing students to take communicative risks. Secondly, OWL students think in L2 from day one. In an OWL classroom there is never direct translation. Students are forced to find L2 meaning using their L2. As a result, students stop translating from English to their L2. Instead, they go straight to their base vocabulary and begin to use it to communicate. This combined with a supportive language community forms the perfect environment for creative thinking and courageous language learning. Again, did I mention, I love OWL!?

Standard

One of the goals of an OWL classroom is to empower students to take control of their language learning experience. With this end in mind, my students and I spent several classes discussing and exploring ACTFL proficiency levels. First, we examined the levels and how they are measured. Then we discuss their individual oral and written proficiency levels and made a road map of how to arrive at the next level.

Below, I share with you my lesson plan for the class discussion of the ACTFL levels. However, before you read the lesson please take a moment to watch this clip from Nathan for You as it is the basis for the whole discussion. This Comedy Central video, in which seven year Amir is interviewed for a position at a law firm became the hit of English week. It was funny and students empathized with Amir, but most importantly it was a fantastic introduction to the concept of language levels. Additionally, many students who did not identify as Spanish speakers do now thanks to Amir. It was obvious to them that he spoke English, but they saw that it was limited to certain contexts, vocabulary and structures. Drawing the connections between Amir and themselves, they grasped that just like him, their language has limits but without a doubt, they speak Spanish.

OK enough with the explanation, onto the lesson!

Time: Two forty minute class periods.

Levels: Spanish One and Two

Students will be able to: Describe the difference between novice and intermediate speakers using ACTFL level descriptors. Assess language levels using ACTFL level descriptors.

1. Watch the video clip and laugh.

2. Watch the clip again, but have students answer the following questions in their notebook:

a) What is Amir able to communicate in the video?

b) What difficulties does Amir have?

c) Does Amir speak English?

3. Record questions a) and b) on the board. Here is a sample:

4. Pass out the Proficiency level descriptors and have students read silently.
Performance Assessment Rubric Novice Low to Advanced Low - Hoja1
5. Discuss with students the meaning of context, form, function, comprehensibility and comprehension.

6. Pair students up and ask them to discuss the differences between a novice and intermediate speaker.

7. Watch sample videos of novice and intermediate speakers. Using the descriptors, ask students why the novice is a novice and what makes the intermediate an intermediate?

8. In a T chart have students and summarize novice and intermediate capabilities.

9. Watch Amir one last time have student assess Amir's proficiency level. Make sure students justify their response either orally or in writing.

10. End class by asking students if Amir speaks English. Then flip it on them and ask them if they speak Spanish!

This lesson is a bit late for English week, but perhaps it will prove helpful for next year, as a sub plan or as a refresher. At the very least, appreciate the video!

In my first year of OWL teaching, I was terrible at assigning homework. I would be so focused on repeating vocabulary and ending class on a positive note, that I would forget to explain the assignment. Likewise, if I did manage to assign homework, the following class would either take a direction that rendered our homework irrelevant or I would simply forget to check and incorporate the work. To tackle this problem, I decided to stop assigning and checking homework and jumped on the choose your own homework bandwagon.

Creating a Choose Your Own homework document has been a lifesaver. It has given me more time in class, taken away the stress of creating a homework assignment and most importantly, it forces students to take charge of their educational experience.

Below, I am attaching what I use for my Spanish One and Two Classes. You will notice that homework options are assigned a point value ranging from one to five. As the point value increases, the tasks become more difficult and interactive. The different point values also require different language functions. For instance, one pointers ask students to list words and use a lot of vocabulary from the class. A two pointer might ask them to write phrases or sentences with the vocabulary. A three pointer might require some internet investigation as well as a description while a four pointer might require narration. Five pointers frequently require interactivity with the community beyond the classroom.

For grading, I choose a number of points to be completed each week and then multiplied this by the number of weeks in the quarter in order to determine how many points are necessary to receive an A. I also had students record their homework in a blog. I chose blogger by Google as students can easily email videos and posts to their blog. This accountability system worked well for me, but use what works for you!

Enjoy and OWL on!

Español Uno- Elige tu propia aventura Español Dos- Elige tu propia aventura

We are off and running and what a great start it has been! Day one was invigorating. We did introductions, transitions and games and spoke lots of SPANISH!

Then on day two, we did course . . .

The decision to do so early was more logistical than necessary. As Ashley Uyaguari points out in her blog, through the use of the circle OWL students implicitly understand classroom expectations. My gosh is this true. Before even receiving the handout, the students informed me they were expected to participate, work with others, smile, laugh, and speak ONLY SPANISH! Way to go class! However, students did still have questions as to where homework is posted, how they are graded and most importantly what school supplies they should buy! Ha! We therefore spent twenty minutes going over expectations to address their questions. After this brief conversation students were rearing to get back to the circle. They had enough with English!

Below are my course expectations. Please feel free to use any components or just take a look to see how another OWL teacher presents her course to the school community. I did this flyer using Lucidpress Document, a Google Docs app. It was easy to use and if you email me, I can share the document and you can use the same layout and just change what is necessary. Anything to save valuable time!

Español Uno Expectations (1) Español Dos Expectations (4)

Most OWL classes start with a mix of greetings, at level warm up questions, clapping, cheering and of course vocabulary review. However, have you considered beginning class with some reflection? breathing? mindfulness training? A fellow bootcamp participant begins his classes everyday with this mantra:

For all of you non Spanish OWLers here is your translation:
You are my other self . If I harm you, I harm myself. If I love and respect you, I love and respect myself.
WOW! Talk about a community builder! Could you or would you use this? How else do you effectively begin class?

There has been some buzz on the OWL listserv and on the OWL forums about what everyone is doing for English week. I thought I might get into the mix and share my thoughts on the very important foundation week.

For me, English week (the only time where the classroom is not 100% immersion) has three main goals:

1. To Build Community

2. Establish OWL Routines (the circle, immersion, circumlocution, risk taking, class structure, etc. . . )

3. Set Quarter and Semester Learning Targets

This year, my English week is actually six days, two days before labor day and four days after. At the end of these six 40 minute classes, I want students to be comfortable with their classmates and me, understand the class philosophy, and be aware of their proficiency level and how to progress to the next level.

So here goes!
DAY ONE: NAMES and GAMES
My mantra this year is, build a community, learning follows. Therefore, the objective for this day will be for students to meet each other and me and to HAVE FUN. Let's set a positive and supportive tone from the start. Likewise, the expectation is established that in an OWL classroom, you will MOVE and BE ENGAGED. Most likely, even though this is the first day of English week, I will not speak any English. This way we can also establish the rules of circumlocution: describe it, draw it or act it out!

If you want some suggestions on first day games check out my earlier post or the OWL forums!
DAY TWO: VOCABULARY, CLASS EXPECTATIONS, and GOOGLE FOLDERS
Undoubtably, the classes will have produced some first day vocabulary. On day two I am going to stress putting backpacks on the tables, coming to the circle and repeating the vocabulary with a partner. However, instead of designing a lesson around the previous topics, the literacy activities and questioning will be replaced by reviewing my class expectations (coming soon!) and going over the contents of their Google Folder. (Many teachers have a class website, but I have found that making class documents available in a google folder works for me.) If time allows, we can play another game. At the very least, we will end class with a final word and a cheer.
DAY THREE: THE CIRCLE, TRANSITIONS and IMMERSION
After a warm up and circle activities, we will take some time to discuss the purpose of the circle, transitions and immersion. And of course, you can't forget a game or cheers!
DAY FOUR: CLASS STRUCTURE
Last year, students' biggest complaint about OWL was the lack or seeming lack of structure. Don't get me wrong, there is lots of structure in an OWL class, but at first it feels so different to students they just don't see it. As a result, I am making it a point to explicitly go over the class structure with students: Warm up, review of vocabulary, hook, conversation, literacy activity, conversation, literacy activity, final circle.
DAY FIVE: THE BASELINE
As a private school, my high school is fed by approximately 15 different middle schools. As a result, I have wide range of abilities in my classes, especially in Spanish Two. I cannot set blanket goals of for example, students must reach a novice high level by the end of the quarter. Proficiency targets need to be individualized given that I have novice mids and intermediate mids in the same class. Therefore, on this day I will have students write about and record a conversation on familiar topics so I can have a more accurate idea of their proficiency level. My prep and evening will be spent assessing approximate proficiency level!!
DAY SIX: INDIVIDUAL CONFERENCES
While students work on a choose your own homework activity, I will meeting individually with students to let them know their approximate proficiency level, look at what they do well, and to set quarter and semester goals. They love this individual attention!
THE END! WELCOME TO IMMERSION!
Thoughts? Feedback? What games will you be playing? What themes might you start the year with?

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Hello OWL community! Sorry for such a long break without posts. As many of you know my Denver condo flooded in early November and my husband and I were sent packing for almost two months. Recently, we returned to our lovely home with lovely new floors, new walls and a new ceiling.

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#ACTFL13 Where Sitting Is the Exception: Achieving 90%+ through Organic Language Acquisition (with tweets) · SraSpanglish · Storify

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#ACTFL13 Where Sitting Is the Exception: Achieving 90%+ through Organic Language Acquisition (with tweets) · SraSpanglish · Storify

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#ACTFL13 Where Sitting Is the Exception: Achieving 90%+ through Organic Language Acquisition (with tweets) · SraSpanglish

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Darcy Rogers of Organic World Language demonstrated how to break down barriers between students and to language learning

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Example of a Letter to Parents to Explain OWL 

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Example of a Letter to Parents to Explain OWL 

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Blog article by a non-WL teacher that visited an OWL classroom

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A funny thing happened to me on my way to the classroom the other day: I got bowled over by watching high school students LEARN Spanish.

So what, you say? Ah, but pay attention to that verb. Ask nearly any high school student in the U.S.-I don't care if it's P.S. 392 in New York City or Snobster Prep in Massachusetts-what their classes are, and they'll say this: "I'm taking Spanish [or French, or Japanese, or whatever]." TAKING. Not LEARNING.

Translation: "I have to do this because it's a college requirement."

"I've only been taking it since 9th grade because that's all our district funds." (OK, maybe not at Snobster Prep.) (...this when ALL the research shows that the best years to learn languages are the early ones!)

"I don't bother to speak with a proper accent, because when I do, the other kids call me a brownnoser."

"As soon as I've fulfilled the requirements of my school/college/parents, I'll stop 'taking.'

So, you're fluent in Spanish now? "Um, not exactly. We didn't really speak Spanish, y'know. But we did take it."

Can you tell this has been a bit of a sore spot with me? And I'm not even a World Languages teacher!

But: a few days I had the opportunity to visit my old high school, Franklin Pierce (home of the Cardinals) in Tacoma. And at lunch one of my former colleagues told me, "You have to see something."

Her next period was free, so she took me to the room of the teacher next door. There I witnessed a minor miracle. I'm going to get all teachery here for a sec and focus on OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOR, as though I were an evaluator.

Every single student had his/her assignment in his/her hands without being prompted: a hand-drawn map of a typical Mexican town, showing names of buildings, i.e. Correo (P.O.) and Panaderia (bakery).

All students sat in a giant circle of chairs without desks. As soon as "el Profe" directed, each student turned to the one sitting adjacent and took turns conversing on the assigned topic: "Tell your partner the name of your town, and the size of its population." "Tell your partner which building in your town is the most important, and why."

From the moment the bell rang, I heard not a word of English.

Did I mention that this was a first-year Spanish class in a mid-sized public school with a free-and-reduced lunch student population of over 50%? And that this was not an Honors class? If you are not, like me, amazed not to have seen a single student try to worm his/her way out of this assignment, or drag his/her feet, or otherwise try to hijack the teacher's attention onto anything but learning Spanish, well...let's just say you haven't been hanging around schools or teenagers as much as I have.

These kids were not only learning, they were having fun. They were proud of themselves. (I heard one kid, dressed in classic slacker mode, describe how in his town, "Robertlandia," the most important building was the statue of himself in the center of the Plaza. But he said it all in Spanish!)

Turns out this miracle has a very real source: The Organic World Languages program, or OWL. Their website says, We believe in movement, 100% immersion and an emphasis on the importance of creating community in the classroom. This was very evident, as we all moved and switched partners twice during the 20 minutes I was there. (Of course El Profe didn't let his visitors sit quietly on the sidelines-we got to participate! Turns out I can speak enough Spanish to converse with first-years, but only just.) So, we spoke. We laughed. And we learned.
If only I could go back to high school and start over!
Want to see what I mean? Here's a short video from OWL that explains its history, emphasizes its effect on test scores, and shows its work in action:

So, I'd like to hear about your own experience with learning another language. Did you? Was it because of, or more despite, your school experience? (If you were raised bilingually, I'm totally jealous, but go ahead and brag.)

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A funny thing happened to me on my way to the classroom the other day: I got bowled over by watching high school students LEARN Spanish. So what, you say? Ah, but pay attention to that verb. Ask nearly any high school student in the U.S.-I don't care if it's P.S.

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OLA (Organic Language Acquisition, aka OWL)-Story - IACS

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OLA (Organic Language Acquisition, aka OWL)-Story - IACS

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Article about an OWL Classroom

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SPANISH STUDENTS LEAVE ENGLISH AT THE DOOR

W hen Students walk into Ashley Uyaguari's middle school Spanish classes, they know to leave their English at the door. To warm up, they form a circle and review recent vocabulary. Either the teacher or a student volunteer will say a vocabulary word, act it out, and the class will repeat it.

This is then followed by a series of activities that move quickly: movement breaks, vocabulary repetition, pair or small group conversations, class conversa- tions, introduction of new vocabulary as it comes up, or a longer activity or game.

"In my class we typically end with a short writing prompt that students write about in their notebooks," says Uyaguari, who is known to students as Profe Ashley.

"We always make this interactive and students share out what they've written and respond to each other's writing. We always end back in a circle and close in a positive way," she says. "All of this happens with- out breaking from Spanish."

Uyaguari says she can tell you "about the ingredients that make up a class, but the order that we do them in is very organic." She allows for students to bring up topics that can change the direction of the class. The emphasis is on fluency of speaking and understanding Spanish rather than covering specific topics.

This approach to teaching language is called Organic Language Acquisition (OLA), and Uyaguari first learned about it at a workshop last March, led by Darcy Rogers, the founder of OLA. Uyaguari later met with Rogers to figure out how she could implement OLA in her class- room at IACS.

Rogers founded OLA as an alternative approach to traditional language instruc- tion. "To develop language proficiency we must go beyond the textbooks and the worksheets to an atmosphere where students are authentically engaged in lan- guage acquisition and hands-on interactive activities. A kinesthetic, communicative, immersion classroom will take students to higher levels of proficiency through a natural progression and strong sense of community," Rogers says. OLA is intended to simulate how people organically and naturally acquire a language.

"It feels more like my experience of learning Spanish with native speakers, when I didn't have the option of using any English," says Uyaguari. Unlike a tradi- tional language classroom, where there is an emphasis on explicitly teaching grammar, students work on higher proficiency of being able to use the language. "I think that only speaking in Spanish is letting me know what it truly feels like to be connected and inside of a Spanish speaking country," says Nathan Landis, a seventh grade student.

Emily Lyons, also a seventh grader, believes that the OLA classroom has changed her perception of herself as a Spanish speaker. "This year I have learned more Spanish than in past years because of the immersion classroom. It makes sense. In Spanish class, we should talk in Span- ish-the more, the better. Of course there are frustrations. You often don't know a phrase, but you can build off of what you understand and take risks. I now think of myself as a Spanish speaker as opposed to a Spanish student," she says.

Becca Kearns, an eighth grader, agrees: "You're thrown into an environment where you are forced to speak Spanish, and that's a really good way to learn. If we are put into a country that speaks a differ- ent language, we aren't going to be able to ask what we want to say in English, so the class is really similar to that. It prepares us for the real world, while being fun at the same time!" According to Uyaguari, the main goals of an OLA classroom are to have students speaking 100% in Spanish, to not be afraid of a Spanish environment, to take risks and make mistakes, to be able to infer meaning, and to participate and be a part of the class community.

OLA aligns closely with Innovation Academy's project-based learning approach. "We are learning by doing. Instead of learning about Spanish, we are interacting in Spanish and learning through communicating in Spanish. It's as if we were actually in a different country where only Spanish is spoken. This, to me, is the best project possible!" says Uyaguari.

Innovation Academy's Outcomes (Self-Direction, Effective Communica- tion, Problem Solving, and Community Membership) are the focus of the class, rather than the aspects of language like verbs, conjugation, and adjectives. For example, Effective Communication includes expectations such as "You speak with emotion, actions and/or drawings to help effectively communicate in Spanish" and "You remain in the Spanish-speaking mode." Problem-Solving includes the goals "You describe ideas/things when you don't know the specific word" and "You ask questions in Spanish when you don't understand."

The OLA classroom has been popular with students. Many have said that they really appreciate and enjoy the approach because it creates an active and hands-on environment. Students never sit behind desks-there aren't even any in the class- room-and are expected to participate through movement and speaking. "I'm always excited for the next Spanish class because it's much more fun learning with a bunch of hands-on activities, rather than sitting down and listening," says Anna Shi, a seventh grader.

Uyaguari began using the OLA method during fourth quarter last year, and the whole middle school implemented it this year after attending two workshops in August. Uyaguari says the collaboration in the middle school Spanish department, which also includes Rhonda Hawthorne and Stel Schmalz, has pushed their OLA work forward. "We are continuing to work on professional development in this area," says Uyaguari. "I traveled to Oregon for a working retreat with about 15 OLA teachers from around the country. There are online meetings with other teachers using OLA. I help host one on Wednesday nights." In November, she attended the American Council for Teachers of Foreign Language conference in Philadelphia. "IACS has been very supportive of profes- sional development," she says.

High school teacher Tom Hinkle uses OLA in a Spanish elective class he teaches, and the high school Spanish teachers headed to an OLA workshop in November.

"For me, the biggest benefit of the OLA method is that all students are speaking during class. There is no opportunity for students to hide when they are all speaking together in a group-everyone is held accountable. It also helps students gain confidence in their speaking abilities, which is usually the last area of language comprehension to develop," says Ben Ein- sidler, a high school Spanish teacher.

Uyaguari has already seen the benefits of this new approach with her students. Math teachers have commented that students have begun speaking in Spanish at recess, excited to show and explain to other teachers what they are learning. Additionally, says Uyaguari, she's seen an increased ability for her students to express themselves in Spanish, higher stu- dent engagement, and a lot more Spanish being spoken in the classroom. "Personally, I've noticed my students finding more success in class. My relationships with students have also improved," she says. It can be a challenge to get students to take risks when learning a new language, but OLA creates an environment where mistakes are a celebrated part of the learning process. "When my teacher started OLA I learned that mistakes were good. I learned how to get my point across, as well as to try to understand things I didn't know. OLA gave me more confidence to speak and take chances," says Becca McKiel, a seventh grader.

Aria Zegdoun, a seventh grader, agrees: "Instead of keeping quiet and writing the correct form for Spanish words, I spoke up. I spoke the actual language and I made thousands of mistakes, but I realized there is nothing to be ashamed about that and it is good to make mistakes, especially when you want to get your point across. I never spoke so much Spanish and worked on pronunciation until last quarter. It was almost like a life changing experience. I can go anywhere and speak a little Span- ish. I may not be fluent yet and speak fast, but when I do, I will be so proud. I am already proud that I made mistakes."

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SPANISH STUDENTS LEAVE ENGLISH AT THE DOOR W hen Students walk into Ashley Uyaguari's middle school Spanish classes, they know to leave their English at the door. To warm up, they form a circle and review recent vocabulary. Either the teacher or a student volunteer will say a vocabulary word, act it out, and the class will repeat it.

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90% Target Language, Authentic Texts, No Isolated Grammar? How?

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90% Target Language, Authentic Texts, No Isolated Grammar? How?

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Article by Owl Leadership Team Member Caleb Zilmer

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Motion and Emotion Bring a New Language to Life

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Motion and Emotion Bring a New Language to Life

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A Teacher's Experience with OWL