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Five favorite post reading activities | edcampCIVa

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Five favorite post reading activities | edcampCIVa

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Not Another Worksheet!! Our brains need novelty and worksheets aren't novel! So how can we review a reading without using another worksheet? Here are my favorite 5 activities: Write, Draw, Pass from Martina Bex This activity can be cumbersome the first time, so allow extra time but after the first time, they will be pros!...

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Free Reading: accountability and cultural detours – Señora Chase

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Free Reading: accountability and cultural detours – Señora Chase

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Dr. Krashen tells us that reading is important and supposed to be enjoyable:
"Specifically, I am recommending a certain kind of reading-free voluntary reading (FVR). FVR means reading because you want to. For school-age children, FVR means no book report, no questions at the end of the chapter, and no looking up every vocabulary word. FVR means putting down a book you don't like and choosing another one instead. It is the kind of reading highly literate people do all the time....FVR is also, I am convinced, the way to achieve advanced second language proficiency. It is one of the best things a second language acquirer can do to bridge the gap from the beginning level to truly advanced levels of second language proficiency." Dr. Krashen, The Power of Reading

Free reading is good for kids! But is it good for kids if they are just staring at the pages, pretending to read? I don't think so. When I implemented Free Reading as a major cornerstone of my curriculum, I knew that in order for it to be fun and enjoyable, no assignment could be attached. But the teacher inside of me wanted something, anything to gauge their reading comprehension.

Here's what's evolved and the unexpected cultural detours:

After my kiddos read silently for 10-15 minutes, I give them the sign and they tell their partner what they read about in English. This serves several purposes:

1. They're sociable and it's fun to talk to your partner.

2. I circulate and overhear them talking about their books, which gives me an idea of what they understood.

3. I want to pique their partner's interest about the book they're reading.

After 2 or 3 minutes, I sit on my stool, pull out my Magic Cards and we chit-chat. . I'll draw a student randomly and ask, in English, about their novel.

It sounds something like this:
Twyla, whatcha reading? Tell us about it, but don't give away the ending!
Twyla will tell us about her book, I'll ask some follow up questions, and at the end I'll ask "Do you recommend this book?" (If the answer is no, I'll say "Put it back, find a different book! I don't want you slugging through a book you hate! Remind me next class and I'll help you pick out one you'll like better")

Then I'll mark a B (B for Book, not very creative!) on her card and select another student. I usually do this with 4-5 students before we transition into the next activity. It's so simple, it's not rocket science, but it's been so helpful for me. Here are my observations:

It gives me a great gauge on how much they're understanding of their novel. Most of the times I'm surprised because I think they're reading a book that's way too hard for them, but their out loud summary totally proves me wrong!

Because it's in English, it's really low stress and the kids enjoy sharing about their books and listening to their classmates. And really, I want ignite other students' attention so they can make a good book selection.

I love to reinforce my Free Reading expectations and remind them to find another book if they're not enjoying it or if it feels too hard.

It's a great way to incorporate the cultural elements for the whole class's benefit.

This is the best part: cultural detours!

Chatting with students about their books is an excellent jumping off point for talking about culture in the target language!

Last week a boy was telling us about Brandon Brown vs. Yucatan and I hopped off my stool and opened up Google Maps, and we went to the Yucatan! Then we zoomed in and found Chichén Itzá. The I grabbed the tiny little Orange Man to show the Street View. Then we explored El Castillo, looking for Brandon Brown. And this was all in Spanish, people!

Sometimes one of our book chats will morph into a Story Listening activity. One of my freshman told us about Escape cubano. I wanted all my students to know about how and why Cubans escape to Florida so I illustrated as I explained what Escape cubano is about, all in slow and comprehensible Spanish.

Sometimes a book will spark great interest! One boy told us about Daniel el detective and mentioned La Tomatina. I pulled up a short youtube video and we did an impromptu Movie Talk.

Pancho y las momias spurred an interesting and disgusting Picture Talk:

La llorona de Mazatlán triggered a great Story Listening of the famous legend and Patricia va a California took us to Guatemala via Google Maps. You get the idea! There are so many fantastic CI readers out there with a cultural focus: weave those in whole class discussions. I try to do one or two "cultural detours" every time they read. My kiddos enjoy them because they think they're sidetracking me and delaying my carefully planned lesson. My little darlings have no idea it's all part of my evil, master plan to pack their little brains full of comprehensible input. Mua-ha-ha!

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Free Reading: accountability and cultural detours

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Dr. Krashen tells us that reading is important and supposed to be enjoyable: "Specifically, I am recommending a certain kind of reading-free voluntary reading (FVR). FVR means reading because you want to. For school-age children, FVR means no book report, no questions at the end of the chapter, and no looking up every vocabulary...

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Copyright information and take-down requests: All individuals submitting to the CI non-fiction library affirm that they have the right to submit their submission and that it is licensed for use under a creative commons license.

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¡Mad Libs en español! La fiesta de cumpleaños

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¡Mad Libs en español! La fiesta de cumpleaños

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C is for Connectigrams – Educationally Speaking

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C is for Connectigrams – Educationally Speaking

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Hola, Bonjour, Hello!

Post number two is a shameless appropriation from the brilliant Gianfranco Conti after his post on Twitter last week - the Connectigram. I've used it with Year 9 and Year 11 so far, and my favourite part is how creative it has made my students with their use of language.

What is it?

The Connectigram is a type of mind map/spider diagram with a sentence starter in the centre and a variety of connectives around the edge, to which students are challenged to add an ending to the sentence that makes sense.

How does it work?

I've done this in two different ways - from the board with plain paper, and on a pre-prepared worksheet. The former is less preparation but requires the class to be more biddable, the latter is definitely better for a higher ability group.

Does it work?

Absolutely. It got my higher ability students writing very creative short stories, with lots of twists and turns. It led one of my boys to discovering the Spanish for 'orchestra' and 'gills'. It's also raised their awareness of how to include a wider variety of connectives in their written work.

Target Grade 8 Monitoring Grade 6

Target Grade 7 Monitoring Grade 6

Target Grade 8 Monitoring Grade 6

Should I try it?

My lower ability did struggle with the more complex structures, so I'd definitely advise having a relevant writing mat or verb table to hand so they can access the work and then use their creativity. Make sure the connectives are visible in the room if students aren't 100% sure of them all.

Huge thanks to the brilliant Gianfranco Conti for this marvellous idea.

Let me know how you find it!

Muchas mercis et au revoir!

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Hola, Bonjour, Hello! Post number two is a shameless appropriation from the brilliant Gianfranco Conti after his post on Twitter last week - the Connectigram. I've used it with Year 9 and Year 11 so far, and my favourite part is how creative it has made my students with their use of language.

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Adding Detail In Writing…Learning to Accessorize to Add Flare! | Language Sensei

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Adding Detail In Writing…Learning to Accessorize to Add Flare! | Language Sensei

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One of my Yr2's came to see me at lunch. She is creative, energetic and outgoing - everything that I ask and very sincere in trying to improve her language skills. But she has been disappointed lately that she is not finding the 'fully meeting' in her presentational writing pieces.

"Sensei - I'm trying to hard to get to put in more details - but I keep getting 'mixed up' and feel jumbled in my thoughts." She felt that she was so busy trying to 'push her level of detail that what she was writing was not making sense. "How do I start?" she asked.

I struggled for a tip, a simple way to help her to understand how. Now I will add that this student is also a snappy dresser who melds her love of cos-play with her everyday wear. And it struck me that, like putting together an outfit, writing was a matter of adding 'layers' to basics too. So we talked about getting dressed. "Do you", I asked, "put on your earrings, bracelets, jacket etc before you choose your basic outfit?" "No," said my student, "I get dressed first."

"Well," I told her "This is just the same as writing - you 'get dressed' with a basic sentence - then you add some accessories.""But what would I add?" she asked."What do you do when you choose an outfit?" "I accessorize" she said...Then I asked "What are our 'accessories' when we communicate?"...All of a sudden I saw it dawn on her. "Our follow-up questions...".

And it dawned on me too. It's not just enough to write on the rubric and say "try adding more detail." I had to help them to do this in a logical and 'understandable' way. I had to more explicitly link what we do with ' Wheel Of Detail ' for interpersonal speaking to their writing too. With this in mind I went back to the entire class and talked about adding details using our follow-up questions as a guide. We started with a simple idea (and written) sentence:

Kenji watched a movie.

If this is what Ken said he did, I asked, what would you want to know? And their follow-up questions included (1) why? (2) when? (3) who with? (3A) what are they like? (4) how? (5) where at? (6) how did they watch? Gradually the expanded sentence emerged.

(1)Because he really likes them, (2) last week on Tuesday at 4pm, (3A) tiny but cute Kenji and (3A) really funny (3) Naomi (6) quietly watched a (3A) very interesting movie (5) at a movie theatre in Shinjuku.

They then practiced in pairs - coming up with their own 'accessories' for another sentence and we debriefed them as a group. I saw many have a "I can do this..." or "Oh this is how..." moment.

Making more detailed and interesting sentences should not be hard. I had neglected to help them see the link from the questions we use when we speak to the written text. My students often talk now about 'accessorizing' their sentences...and as they emerge out of novice it has also led to more interesting written pieces...with more detail than before!

C

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Adding Detail In Writing...Learning to Accessorize to Add Flare!

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One of my Yr2's came to see me at lunch. She is creative, energetic and outgoing - everything that I ask and very sincere in trying to improve her language skills. But she has been disappointed lately that she is not finding the 'fully meeting' in her presentational writing pieces.

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Interactive Infographics – Crafting a French Blend

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Interactive Infographics – Crafting a French Blend

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Finding level appropriate infographics is a challenge and it is frustrating when the one infographic that took you 30 minutes to find is only used for a 15 minute lesson. How can we get more value out of the infographics?

My IB students are learning about the benefits and dangers of using cell phones. All of my students in this class have a cell phone and this is a topic that is relevant to them. I have found a variety of infographics, but I did not want to only create IPA style questions to go with it. I wanted to use the infographics to start a discussion since we are preparing for the IB Individual Oral and really need to focus on speaking. I made the infographics interactive by putting personal questions next to the infographic so that students can make a personal connection to the text. This has helped students formulate their responses in writing before they have to talk about it.

Another way that I am getting more value out of the infographic is by creating a Google Forms survey with similar questions that the infographic has. The students take the survey and then we compare our class results with the results in the infographic. The class has had some interesting discussions as a result of this and they enjoy seeing how they compare to teens in a French speaking country.

I hope that these activities will help my students make better connections with the text and culture as well as be able to incorporate what they are learning in their Individual Oral.

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Finding level appropriate infographics is a challenge and it is frustrating when the one infographic that took you 30 minutes to find is only used for a 15 minute lesson. How can we get more value out of the infographics? My IB students are learning about the benefits and dangers of using cell phones.

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Reading Reps – The Comprehensible Classroom

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Reading Reps – The Comprehensible Classroom

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Posted by

I'm still on Plan B for one of my classes. Every day, I test the waters by doing PQA at the beginning of the period, and every day they continue to talk and talk and talk. The good news is that they are great at working independently and even with partners, so even though they are not getting the aural input that I would like for them to have, they are still able to get meaningful repetitions of the structures through reading. If you find yourself on Plan B (if even for a day...or need some sub plans...) here are some different activities that I've used to get many repetitions out of one reading text (reading it multiple times with different purposes). Remember, since the key is repetitions, the students should have access to the text at all times so that they can keep re-reading it to complete each activity. I typed this up quickly, so I'll add more to it as I remember...but I'd love to hear what you are doing, as well!!

Students read the story and write unknown words on the board. Teacher writes the translations beside them as they add new words to the board.

Students read and respond to L2 questions about the reading (since this is not for assessment purposes).

Students write a summary statement for each paragraph in English, then translate each summary statement into Spanish.

Teacher writes a list of events from the story and scrambles them; students put them in the correct order.

Teacher writes a summary statement for each paragraph in L2; students match it with the correct paragraph.

Teacher makes a list of events from the story, students write what happened before and after each event.

Horizontal conjugation: students change the perspective or tense of the story. This should be structured!! Have students first identify all verbs in the story that would be changed (present tense or verbs done by the main character). Students should also identify anything else that refers to the subject that would have to be changed to tell from a different perspective (nouns, pronouns, etc.). Then have the kids re-write it.

Teacher writes a list of events. Students write out a given character feels during that event.

Student illustrates the text, adds 2 speech bubbles, and describes the illustration in 3 sentences in the target language (activity from Bob Patrick)

Teacher writes an abbreviated version of the story (a summary). Students add details.

Teacher writes a detailed summary of the story from a different perspective or in a different tense (teacher-generated horizontal conjugation), and students have to change it back to the original (the text is slightly different since it's a summary, but they must reference the original to change the verb forms and other applicable words).

Teacher writes an alternate version of the story. Students read both and compare and contrast.

Students write a new version of the story using specific criteria (change one detail per sentence/all proper nouns/etc.). See more ideas here.

Students match (student or teacher-generated) illustrations with events from the story.

Students write questions using QAR models/prompts. Questions can be re-distributed and used later by classmates.

Teacher writes an erroneous version of the story. Students identify and correct errors.

I often give my students worksheets for the activities described, worksheets that have instructions written on them as additional support to help kiddos stay on task, and you can find most of them in my Independent Textivities and MORE Independent Textivities packets.

Let me know what you've done to get additional reps of a reading WITHOUT allowing talking or discussion!!

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I'm still on Plan B for one of my classes. Every day, I test the waters by doing PQA at the beginning of the period, and every day they continue to talk and talk and talk. The good news is th...

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Activities for Stories – The Comprehensible Classroom

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Activities for Stories – The Comprehensible Classroom

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Posts about Activities for Stories on The Comprehensible Classroom

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Posts about Activities for Stories written by Martina Bex

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Reader’s Theatre with triple the input! by Darcy Pippins - Fluency Matters

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Reader’s Theatre with triple the input! by Darcy Pippins - Fluency Matters

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Reader's Theatre with triple the input! by Darcy Pippins

Reader's Theatre is something I do with my classes at least once while reading a class novel. My classes range from 25 to 35 students depending on the level. Last year I taught 6 classes and my smallest class was 28. This year the biggest class I have has 28 students. The goal for Reader's Theatre is to provide tons of comprehensible input using a different reading strategy, and engaging all learners.

Every class novel that we read is full of scenes that would often times be better if acted out in class. Reader's Theatre is a great way to break up the monotony of reading and pull students into the book. Scenes we've enjoyed acting out include (CAUTION! SPOILER ALERT! Seriously, if you haven't read the following books, don't spoil the suspense! Skip to the next paragraph.) Emilia eavesdropping on her parents' conversation in La hija del sastre, Carlos breaking into the restaurant to search for his missing mother in La Calaca Alegre, the moment the moment Laney finally meets La Llorona de Mazatlán, the moment El Juli gets injured and rushed to the hospital in Bianca Nieves y los siete toritos, of course, the famous bus scene in when she's impaled by a handrail, the disappearance of Raúl in La Guerra Sucia , and the death scene of Analía in Vida y muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha. Before teacher guides were available I got in the habit of writing my own Reader's Theatre scripts for the scenes I wanted students to act out in class. Now there are SO MANY awesome teacher guides for the novels and many of them include Reader's Theatre scripts for our use.

When writing my own script, I try to by Katie A. Baker, but I added an entire dialogue between Laney and Luis that wasn't in the chapter as a way to engage more students in the activity. Attached is the script I wrote for use as many actors as possible and include descriptions of the scenes in for a narrator to read. This engages more students in the activity. Many of the scenes are dialogues between 2-3 people, so I like to add in some interaction from outsiders, maybe a waitress in a restaurant scene, or bus driver, or talking tree, etc. For example, in La Llorona chapter 11. For each script I write, I include a list of characters and props and sometimes I separate the scripts into two different scenes to get more bang for my buck. La Llorona, Laney receives a bracelet from her boyfriend which turns out to be the same bracelet that was given to her friend Desi by the same guy. I used the dialogue in the book italics La Llorona de Mazatlán

At the beginning of class I choose actors. If more than one wants a certain character, we play rock, paper, scissors to determine who gets the part. I select a narrador, always a native or heritage speaker or a student that can read well in Spanish. To give the introverted kids an opportunity to participate, I ask for volunteers to do costumes, sound, lights, props and set design (3-4 in each group). The costume group scans the script and dresses each character according to the scene (there may even be costume changes). The sound group scans the script and finds sounds to play in appropriate parts of the scene, (i.e. crowd noise during a bullfight, or a scream when someone falls off a cliff), the light crew scans the script to see when it would be appropriate to dim lights or use their phones for spots to create drama, the prop crew finds or makes props that are appropriate for the scene, and the set designers arrange my classroom for each scene (i.e. putting 4 desks together for a cafeteria scene, or arranging chairs for a bus scene). If you have a class of 30, the script I have attached has 4 actors, 1 narrador, 1 director and 16-20 crew members. This leaves only a few students that end up as the clean up crew after the performance.

Once the actors and crew are chosen, I choose a director that is in charge of making sure they are all doing their jobs. This person can be chosen first, but I like to wait until the end because there's always an actor or type-A personality that lost at rock, paper, scissor game but craves that spotlight.

I give the class 10-15 minutes to plan, practice, decorate and direct. I will even step out of the room and sit in the hallway (sticking my head in often to make sure they're on task) to give them some ownership. They work well under pressure with a deadline so set a timer. Sometimes they are so into it that they'll beg for more time, but you don't want to give them too much time for this part or you won't have time to film and then show them the video.

When it's time to perform, I act as the film crew. I like to film instead of assigning this job to a student so I can include EVERY student (even the clean up crew) in the video so everyone has a cameo appearance in the video. Sr. Wooly would DIE if he saw how I film. I do everything wrong. I'm all over the place. I get close ups, zoom in and out, walk around to make sure I don't miss any of the lighting or sound effects. Sometimes I coach the actors and interact with the crew. This also makes it very entertaining when we watch the final product. To film, I use a FlipCam (not sure they make these anymore). I like to use the FlipCam because it only requires AA batteries, and plugs directly into my computer via USB. Now that the school has provided us with MacBook Air laptops I could probably film with my phone and airdrop it, but I'm old school. If it's working, why try to fix it?

Filming takes about 5-7 minutes. Then the students get to watch their video. It's so important to publish their work whenever possible. I have attached a video we did when reading La hija del sastre by Carrie Toth. The script the students are reading comes from chapter one of the teacher's guide. It's the scene when Emilia overhears her parents talking about hiding her father in the basement during the Spanish Civil War. You can see the crazy costumes, my horrible filming skills, and how it all came together for this Spanish IV class. Sometimes, if time allows, I will MovieTalk the film or ask questions about the story as a formative assessment.

This is truly a triple dose of CI! Students are reading/hearing the script (chapter 11) 3 times, once in preparation, once while reading along with the actors, and finally hearing it during the video. This is an extremely engaging interpretive CI activity that is a BLAST to do with students!

La Llorona Chapter 11 Reader's Theater Script created by Darcy Pippins based on Chapter 11 of La Llorona de Mazatlán by Katie A. Baker. Copyright (c) 2013 Fluency Matters.
Darcy Pippins The 2015 Oklahoma World Language Teacher of the Year, the 2016 SWCOLT Regional Teacher of the Year, and candidate for the 2017 ACTFL Teacher of the Year, Darcy Pippins is a National Board Certified Teacher with a Masters degree in Education from the University of Oklahoma. , she has taught all levels of Spanish, currently teaching Spanish III, IV and AP Spanish Language and Culture at Norman High School. She presents at the state, regional and national levels. She strongly believes that accomplished teachers should not work in isolation and could not imagine teaching without the support of her professional learning community.

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Reader's Theatre with triple the input! by Darcy Pippins - Fluency Matters

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Reader's Theatre is something I do with my classes at least once while reading a class novel. My classes range from 25 to 35 students depending on the level. Last year I taught 6 classes and my smallest class was 28. This year the biggest...

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Hasta que lanzamos la propuesta #secundariasenprimerplano, muchos me han preguntado la razón de mi silencio en este espacio -tan querido, por otra parte-. No hay uno, sino muchos motivos, pero todos son ajenos a lo laboral, pues sigo a pie de aula, con una intensa actividad, con alumnos de bachillerato y de 2º de ESO, pergeñando nuevos proyectos, readaptando otros, y muy ilusionada con mi quehacer en la biblioteca del centro.

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La charla literaria: #SSR – discoveringci

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La charla literaria: #SSR – discoveringci

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This is my first year implementing #SSR and I love it!! We read for the first 8-10 minutes every class. My expectation is that they finish one book by the end of each marking period but many students surpass my expecation. At the end of our first marking period we had the culminating project of the novels they read. It was called Sabores literarios. It was a wonderful success. It was exciting to see the amazing work students put into their projects and the excitement they had to talk about their books in a gallery style format. Check out some pics here. They had to make a place mat to represent their novel and interview their classmates about what they read in the target language. I am working with intermediate students so I would like to replicate the feel of a book club with food and fun and this seemed to work with my sophomores to seniors.

However we can not do the same thing again!! "The brain craves novelty." -Carol Gaab And so therefore I searched for a new format for this marking period as our final project of the new novels they are exploring. I found a great format from Catilin Tucker and adapted it for my classes! If you are interested in using it in your classroom, click here. I like that this project incorporates small group discussions (interpersonal communication), literary analysis, reflection and FOOD. Students will bring in a food inspired from their novel. If you are interested in using this format, check it out. I can't wait to see how it goes!

Alina Filipescu, a middle school teacher, has an outstanding FVR program that Mike Peto just blogged about here! I am looking forward to Alina's upcoming post about it so I can learn more about this amazing way to get students excited about reading!!

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This is my first year implementing #SSR and I love it!! We read for the first 8-10 minutes every class. My expectation is that they finish one book by the end of each marking period but many students surpass my expecation. At the end of our first marking period we had the culminating project of...

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Stepping Stones to Interpretive Reading | Path 2 Proficiency

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Stepping Stones to Interpretive Reading | Path 2 Proficiency

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When I started to teach towards proficiency, I knew what the end product was, but I was not always clear how to get there. What would I do each day in class? However, once I started asking students more and more proficiency questions on my assessments, I would start to notice the gaps in their learning and understanding that needed to be filled. I realized that for interpretive reading, my students missed some key literacy skills. Many times, they would overlook basic text structures that would allow them to understand the text or their description of the theme was vague. Luckily, I combined some of my previous activities and I stole borrowed some ideas from our sixth grade English teacher! These ideas can really support novices as they interpret a variety of authentic texts.

One of my favorite pre-reading strategies is having students brainstorm all of the words they can think of in the target language around one topic. Ever since I have read John Medina's Brain Rules, I like to have students brainstorm and recycle vocabulary as much as I can to help students remember it. I allow students to take one minute to write down as many words as they can remember on a given topic then we spend a minute or two sharing out words from their list. This activity also gives students confidence to participate in class, and many students raise their hand to participate to share their words.

In class, I have also turned this into a game by pairing students to brainstorm a list of words around a theme. Then, pairs share their list while other students cross out similar words. The class sees which group has the longest list of original words that has not been mentioned by other groups.

Then, I focused on the actual reading. I noticed early on that students would ignore big clues to the theme and topics of a reading such as a picture or a heading. Then they had trouble interpreting the article. To alleviate this, when students first see an assigned reading, they can complete a "scavenger hunt" by finding text features such as captions, bold or italicized words, and subheadings. I have posted paper around the room, and students could add their findings to the list in a graffiti style activity. This also allows me to differentiate the text for all students and also allows me to make a big deal about features that many classmates had not noticed.

After students looked at the structure of the whole reading, I ask them specific questions about the content of the article or reading. I like to ask open-ended questions, but occasionally I will ask a true or false statement. I also like to turn this part into a game. My favorite game is this quick review game where students can win a variety of points for answering each question. Another fun way to spice up these questions is to play Two Truths and a Lie with statements about the text. I learned this at NECTFL from Michael Bogdan.

In addition to looking at specific facts about the text, students have to look at the text as a whole. Another part of an interpretive reading is identifying the main idea. Many of my students were vague about the theme and struggled to truly identify the theme. In order to help them become more specific, students can identify three words in the target language that support the main idea. With these three words, they can write a sentence that identifies the main idea. With these three words, students can explore the full text, and this can also help them add any supporting details to their summary.

In IPA tasks, students identify keywords. Another idea from our English teacher was to have students focus on a new word or two that they found in the reading. This activity can help them develop their vocabulary. They can find a word from the text that they do not know, and explain why this word is important to the main idea. Again, students could share this graffiti style around the room.

Another big change when I started implementing interpretive reading assessments was how to teach students to identify the purpose of the article. For beginning students, the teacher can introduce three purposes of the author: to entertain, to persuade or to inform. This will provide students a start for identifying an audience. They can start elaborating on a purpose beyond this list as students work with more readings.

For post-reading activities, I like to think about how students would use an article like this in the L1. When I shared a travel article, I wanted to know where students would want to visit from the article. They can compare and contrast the information with their own life. It is always interesting for me to hear about the sleep habits of my students. Once students brainstorm this, they can share their thoughts with a partner. In addition, it is interesting for students to come up with more questions that they have to research.

As I start incorporating more interpretive reading activities, it is important to break up these activities over a few days. Using the same article is important, so students can continue to work with the text and benefit from understanding all of the significant parts. I am sure as you start to give your students more interpretive tasks, you will find more gaps to fill. Don't forget to look down the hallway to a fellow English teacher!
Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/118667833@N07/12765304263/

Maris is a Middle School and Upper School Spanish teacher at an independent school. She earned her Bachelor's...

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When I started to teach towards proficiency, I knew what the end product was, but I was not always clear how to get there. What would I do each day in class? However, once I started asking students more and more proficiency questions on my assessments, I would start to notice the gaps in their learning and understanding that needed to be filled.

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Reading Club - 1 Novel, 3 Groups - Mis Clases Locas

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Reading Club - 1 Novel, 3 Groups - Mis Clases Locas

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After observing 2nd grade I was firmly convinced that I needed to try something different. After seeing amazing literacy differentiation in person, I figured it was time to try it myself with "that class." I have one level one class in particular that has a WIDE range of personalities and reading levels. It also has a para educator, and for the month, an instructional coach. Yet, I was not utilizing these other individuals to their full potential because neither of them speak Spanish.

Now that you have soaked up her wisdom, here is my (in progress) take on reading clubs in Spanish class.

Our last novel of Spanish 1 this year is You can see our full curriculum this year in Peter va a Colomb raig Klein of Spanish Cuntos . this post, but we have already read the novels Tumba & Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro as a class. I know that having separate groups would be great for upper levels, and knew that I was taking a chance by trying it with level one. I probably would not have had the guts to try it without the support of my instructional coach, who was currently in this class for the very reason that I needed more assistance with this particular group. You can see how I have done literature circles with multiple novels in upper level classes in this post. You can see chapter by chapter ideas for the novel in this post.

To start, students took this reading club survey adapted from Carrie Toth. I used these to separate students into three groups: Individual, Cooperative and Alpha (who read with me). Overall the students were very intuitive and made great choices for their groups. I did talk to an student with an IEP who wanted to be in individual, but is a much better fit reading with me. We started with five individual, six cooperative (which I split into two groups of three) and nine with me. These groups are not set in stone and I have tried to provide flexibility, especially concerning the group with me. I want every student to feel confident and successful reading.

As for prep work for me, I made my large slide show with vocabulary, discussion questions and activities by chapter. These were posted on Schoology, so everyone had access to them with their Chrome books. This saved me a ton of copies and day to day prep. For logistics, I am keeping everyone on the same chapters. We spent two days on the first, but most others we are doing about a chapter per day. Each day as a full group I explain our goals for the day, as well as write them on the board, and then set everyone free in their groups.
Example of plan for the day:
Ch3 Vocab - come up with a mini story to use in context
Ch3 - read (Ind - on own, Coop - in groups, Alpha - I read)
Ch3 - activities (Ind - answer questions & predict, Coop - create storyboard & retell, Alpha - I lead)
Sometimes we complete an activity as a class, before breaking into our groups for the day. This helps me to see how everyone is doing, as well as keeps our classroom community strong, instead of always being segregated. Some examples of all class activities we have completed are Running Dictation, Reader's Theater performance (from the cooperative and alpha groups), Quizlet Live vocabulary introduction, or discussion circles. Once we finish the novel I plan to blog about specific activities we completed for each chapter.
I also later realized that I needed some back up, fast finisher activities that could be completed with any chapter in case groups were done early. You can see this list posted on the board in the picture below.

The individual group is made up of five high flyers. These are all students who like to read at their own (usually fast) pace. A few of the individuals tend to sit together and occasionally use each other for questions and support. They usually all read on their own, and sometimes join each other or my group during work time. For example, My group did a Kahoot review of a chapter and I opened it up to any students who wanted to join. A few of the individual students chose to join, but others instead completed different activities. I casually check in with each student in the individual group while my group is completing a task or at the end of class. If they finish early they can pick from the list of activities above, or can always free read in Spanish.

The cooperative group has six students, who I have broken into to groups of three. Each one of these groups has a strong unofficial leader who naturally keeps everyone on track. Usually they break into their smaller groups to read and complete activities, but sometimes they all come together, such as in the photo above. My instructional coach has done a great job working with these small groups to help establish roles, and make sure everyone is being included. Each group has certain members who enjoy reading out loud, and others who would rather support by being the vocabulary master.

Since the instructional coach is not a Spanish speaker, she is learning right along with this level one class, asking clarifying questions and making sure she comprehends what is being read. The students even get the chance to teach her, which is a great higher order skill for their own Spanish learning. If I did not have this additional adult, I would have needed to give more guidance and literature circle style roles to these group members.

The alpha or señora group has nine members who expressed less confidence reading in Spanish. They receive the most support, and are at a variety of reading levels. It is the most challenging group by nature, as these are those with IEPs and many management opportunities. It is actually pretty awesome to be able to work with this group with lots of personalized questions and individualization to their interests. I usually sit on my pink stool and read to this group. I still post my discussion questions, which remind me to stop and check for comprehension.

After reading the chapter as a group, we usually have some kind of activity to complete. This is when I often give them the choice of working alone or in pairs. I have found that this part is essential, not only to give them the feeling of autonomy, but to allowing myself a break to check in with not only this group, but the other groups as well. Just like the other groups, if they finish early, they can chose from the fast finisher list to build on their understanding. I check in with them while working, as well as we usually gather again in our small group to share and once again check for comprehension.

We are two weeks in and currently just finished chapter five, so we are about halfway through the book. So far, it is going better than I could have ever expected. I am able to give so much more attention to my struggling students, my high flyers are able to work without being dragged down by their peers, and mini teachers are blossoming in the cooperative groups. I plan to share again once we finish. Have you done reading club style groups with the same novel? How did they work for you?

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After observing 2nd grade I was firmly convinced that I needed to try something different. After seeing amazing literacy differentiation in person, I figured it was time to try it myself with "that class." I have one level one class in particular that has a WIDE range of personalities and reading levels.

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An uplifting, versatile, low prep review task - Indwelling Language

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An uplifting, versatile, low prep review task - Indwelling Language

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Lots of teachers are looking for review activities this time of year. Here is one I recently thought of that doubles as a mood enhancer and can also be used throughout the year to prompt conversation or writing.

I rarely do explicit review of language as content, but I do look for interesting and efficient ways for students to re-encounter words or other instances of the language that they may not have encountered in a while, and to establish deeper connections with and among the words.

The idea below came to me while I was skimming The Working Memory Advantage by Tracy and Ross Alloway. The original task is actually a working memory exercise.* This is how it appears in a section about the relationship between mood and working memory:

Because I can't switch off my language-teachy-learny brain, I naughtily skipped the activity and instead developed these thoughts:

What if the words in this exercise were all target language words that students had encountered this semester? Seeing the words and reflecting on their positivity could help "re-activate" those words in students' minds while simultaneously providing a little mood-booster. (I might or might not bother with step 2, the recall phase; either way, I wouldn't tell students in advance that they were going to have to do anything other than connect the words they viewed positively.)

This task alone could already be an improvement on the classic semester vocab checklist. But I would follow up the word-association task with one or more of the following:

Discussion of which words students had positive associations for, how these differed from student to student, and why

Collaborative creation of a character, scene, or narrative that includes the concepts students connected

A writing prompt such as "Ponder your positive words for seventeen seconds, then write the first TL sentence that comes to mind" or "Choose two positive words that are connected in your thoughts and explain why/how." Discussion of students' ideas can ensue.

Such interactions would extend and deepen students' encounters with the words, with the relationships the words commonly have to other words, and with contexts in which the words are useful.

Variations

Instead of using individual words, use multi-word phrases or even short sentences, e.g., "a huge dog" or "The unicorn approached the rainbow."

Instead of distributing copies, project an array of words and invite students one at a time to come up and link them. You can then have a little TL discussion about how the items might be linked, who else has positive associations with both words, etc.

Do an edition where all the items are characters from stories students have read or created, or are public or historical figures.

Vary the linking criterion from "positive" to "funny," "awkward," "terrifying," or anything else. (Note that the effects on mood may change.)

To make it seriously low prep, assign the creation of the sheet to one or more students.

You could use a word-association task like this at intervals throughout the year, or every day of a school-wide review week, with different sets of words and a different follow-up task each time.

Have fun playing around with this, and let me know if you come up with especially useful variations or extensions!

*I won't get into whether such exercises actually improve working memory, or, if they do, whether the benefits transfer to other areas of life. The experts are still hashing these things out.

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An uplifting, versatile, low prep review task - Indwelling Language

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Lots of teachers are looking for review activities this time of year. Here is one I recently thought of that doubles as a mood enhancer and can also be used throughout the year to prompt conversation or writing.

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Copyright information and take-down requests: All individuals submitting to the CI non-fiction library affirm that they have the right to submit their submission and that it is licensed for use under a creative commons license.

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Gap-fill, Sentence Writing or Composition – Which Task Leads to Better Vocabulary Learning? – ELT Research Bites

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Gap-fill, Sentence Writing or Composition – Which Task Leads to Better Vocabulary Learning? – ELT Research Bites

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Di Zou (The Education University of Hong Kong) investigates the effectiveness of three different vocabulary tasks and comes up with interesting conclusions. But things may not be as straightforward as they seem.

Background

L2 vocabulary researchers generally agree that there is a correlation between the level of engagement with the vocabulary learning task and vocabulary retention. In other words, the more mental effort is required to complete the task, t he higher are the chances that the new words will be remembered. In order to conceptualise mental effort, two well-known L2 vocabulary researchers Batia Laufer and Jan Hulstijn proposed the (2001), according to which the amount of involvement in vocabulary tasks can be measured according to three factors: need, search, evaluation. A number of studies have tried to test the hypothesis by comparing the effectiveness of vocabulary tasks, for example: writing sentences with new words vs. a cloze exercise (Keating, 2008) or sentence writing vs. sentence completion combined with dictionary consultation (Laufer, 2003). These studies have yielded somewhat contradicting results. Keating's study carried out with Spanish beginner learners of English found that a sentence writing task was more Involvement Load Hypothesis Conversely, the 2006 study conducted by Keith Folse (famous for his book Vocabulary Myths ) found that completing a series of cloze tasks (3 times) was more effective than writing sentences with new words. involving (i.e. it induced a higher involvement load) than a cloze exercise, but also took longer to complete.

The Study

In a recent special issue of Language Teaching Research (guest-edited by Batia Laufer herself), Di Zou puts the Involvement Load Hypothesis to the test again comparing the effectiveness of:

Cloze exercise

Sentence writing

Composition writing

About 30-40 participants - students at a university in Hong Kong, all non-English majors - were assigned to one of the three groups according to the task type above. All three groups were provided with a list of 10 target words and their glosses based on dictionary definitions. Group 1 was given a text on the topic of procrastination with target words gapped out. Group 2 had to to write sentences with new words. Similarly, Group 3 was asked to use new words in writing but produce a coherent composition containing all target words. Note that Groups 2 and 3 were not given any text.

An unexpected test was administered to all the participants at the end of the experiment and another one ('delayed post-test') a week later in order to measure how many words were learned by the participants. These quantitative measures were supplemented by self-reporting - both during the tasks ('think-aloud' protocols) and after completion of the task (interviews) - in order to probe deeper into the strategies used by the students while completing the tasks.

Results

Participants in the composition writing group got the highest scores on the test (15.9), followed by the sentence writing group (12.3) and the cloze exercise group with the lowest score (8.3). Predictably, the delayed post-test yielded slightly lower scores in all three groups but the order remained the same with the composition writing group in the lead.

Discussion

The researcher discusses the results in light of cognitive processes involved in encoding information such as chunking ( not chunking of the Michael Lewis kind, i.e. multi-word units) and hierarchical organisation. She shows how the participants doing the composition task had to structure new information in a meaningful way in order to produce coherent piece of writing. To that effect they had to relate the new words to each other as well as the chosen macro-context. Thus, in this group the involvement load was the highest. Conversely, students writing sentences with new words didn't have to associate words with each other because they had to write isolated sentences - they only had to create micro-contexts for the individual target words. Finally, the gap-fill group wasn't involved in systematic organisation of information; in fact, some of them didn't even try to make sense of the text focusing only on the sentences with blanks.

Personal Thoughts

Despite the optimistic reporting of the results I have some reservations about the author's claim that gap-fills are a less effective form of learning new words. Many of the sentences produced by the participants - especially in the composition group with (seemingly) superior results - are full of miscollocations and inappropriacies:
When a disaster happens, life is indispensable rather than money or power.
Jack got seriously drunk and divulged Linda's privacy to others

(target words are underlined)
References
Vocabulary learning involves not only learning the meaning and form (spelling & pronunciation) of a new word, but the ability to use the word and knowing restrictions on its use. Admittedly, remembering the meaning and form is the first step in the word learning process whereas the ability to use it develops gradually over time (and it was not the aim of the study). However, getting students to write original sentences or a composition with new words without first focusing on how the words should be used is nothing short of setting them up for failure. This not only may lead to students forming unhelpful primings, it is also demanding on the teacher who will then need to give students feedback on their writing, specifically with regard to usage and collocation. If almost every student-produced sentence with a new word is a mangled mess, individual feedback will be time consuming for the teacher and potentially frustrating for students.

This time would be better spent on producing a simple fill-in-the-blank exercise by taking examples from a good learners' dictionary (see here) and deleting the target words. Such exercises are easier to check and, as Folse (2006) points out, "students will always end up with a correct English example sentence to study". In sum, I wouldn't ditch gap-fill exercises and rush into more productive activities such as writing sentences with new words in the initial stages of learning, especially with 'difficult' higher-level words such as those in this study.

Folse, K. S. (2006). The effect of type of written exercise on L2 vocabulary retention. TESOL Quarterly, 40(2), 273-293.

Keating, G. D. (2008). Task effectiveness and word learning in a second language: The involvement load hypothesis on trial. Language Teaching Research, 12(3), 365-386.

Laufer, B. (2003). Vocabulary acquisition in a second language: Do learners really acquire most vocabulary by reading? Some empirical evidence. Canadian modern language review, 59(4), 567-587.

Laufer, B., & Hulstijn, J. (2001). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: The construct of task-induced involvement. Applied linguistics, 22(1), 1-26.

Zou, D. (2017). Vocabulary acquisition through cloze exercises, sentence-writing and composition-writing: Extending the evaluation component of the involvement load hypothesis. Language Teaching Research, 21(1), 54-75.

Related

Posted in: Filed under: Research Bites Vocabulary

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Gap-fill, Sentence Writing or Composition - Which Task Leads to Better Vocabulary Learning?

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Di Zou (The Education University of Hong Kong) investigates the effectiveness of three different vocabulary tasks and comes up with interesting conclusions. But things may not be as straightforward as they seem. Background L2 vocabulary researchers generally agree that there is a correlation between the level of engagement with the vocabulary learning task and vocabulary retention.

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As you know if you read my blog regularly, info-gaps are some my favorite activities because students have a real purpose for communication. I'd like to share a type of info-gap activity that's often a student favorite as well: drawing info-gaps. I fell in love with them when I read about an activity called "Dress the Bear" in Curtain & Dahlberg's (2003) fantastic book, Languages and Children, Making the Match. (One of the few grad school textbooks that I seriously enjoyed reading!)

Ever since, I've adapted the activity several times to suit my students and courses. In my versions for 6th and 7th grade Spanish, the students performed 3 basic steps:

1. Draw and color something (2 different examples below). (Be sure to emphasize that their creation is a SECRET or they will get sooooo excited they'll announce what they're drawing and ruin part 3!)

2. Write sentences to describe what you created. (I found that my beginning learners needed this support to prepare themselves for the communicative part. Moreover, this was a great chance for me to circulate and help students who were struggling with the grammar constructions.)

3. Pair up for communication! Take turns reading your sentences to your partner and listening to theirs. As you listen, draw & color what they describe.

Here are a couple of the handouts that my students used for these activities.

7th grade clothing & colors unit: "Dress Brutus"! Even students who weren't OSU fans LOVED "giving Brutus a makeover", converting Brutus to their team's colors (ugh...), making a girlfriend for Brutus, etc! (Sorry, I didn't think to scan any actual student work, but these were usually hilarious!)

6th grade animals & colors unit: "Wacky animals!" My students LOVED any activity where they got to color animals crazy colors, including this one!

I'll admit that I had my students do so many info-gap activities that they'd get tired of some of the simpler types. (However, they would still rate them as activities they LEARNED the most from in post-unit surveys!) Nevertheless, the creative element in these artistic ones has always generated high enthusiasm, even though they came later in the trimester.

If you're struggling to get your students excited about speaking in the target language, try an activity like this! You'll be astonished as the energy level in your room skyrockets (in the TL)!

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As you know if you read my blog regularly, info-gaps are some my favorite activities because students have a real purpose for communication. I'd like to share a type of info-gap activity that's often a student favorite as well: drawing info-gaps.

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Warm-up Worksheet– Creative Language Class

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Warm-up Worksheet– Creative Language Class

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Posted by Megan Smith on March 27, 2012 in Class Routines, Listening, Writing

Are you required to do "warm-ups/sponges/bell work" at your school? Our administrators like to see them in classes at my school. I don't like doing them just because we have to. If it is meaningless then I am just wasting our students' time. Kara created this awesome format for a warm up and I tweaked it a little for my classes. Here it is.

The date and the "How are you?" box are good ways to review and help students practice some of those basics.

The "Yo puedo..." box is next. Students copy the goal of the day from the board, and it helps them focus on exactly what they should be able to do by the end of the class. I mention each classes' goal everyday, but it seems that having the students put this on paper makes this task a bit more personal.

I show a video clip in Spanish that relates to the lesson each day and they write about it afterwards. My students learned how to say "It's about..." and "In the video, there is..." and really get good about giving their opinions and explaining why they feel that way.

The last box is for my warm-up question, which I now do at the end of class. It gives students a chance to use what they learned that day. I walk around and give about 6 students instant feedback on what they wrote by marking the mini-proficiency scale on the side (Novice Low, Mid, High, Intermediate Low, Mid). You wouldn't believe how many times they have asked me... "What do I have to do to become an intermediate low?" and I've got them right where I want them. 🙂

Later, when students look back over this it serves as notes for them. They see what day it was, the goal for that day, and then a little paragraph as a sample of them using what they learned.

I love this warm-up! It's been a really good way to get things started and provides some closure to the class as well. It's a work in progress, but I am starting to realize so is almost everything I do as a teacher!

Hope this provides a spark of inspiration for your classroom somehow. Have a great day!
Similar Activity in the Mercado: Adaptable Activities - Italian
Tags: teaching, warm-ups. spanish class, yo puedo

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Posted by Megan Smith on March 27, 2012 in Class Routines, Listening, Writing Are you required to do "warm-ups/sponges/bell work" at your school? Our administrators like to see them in classes at my school. I don't like doing them just because we have to. If it is meaningless then I am just wasting our students' time.