Speaking Rubric

It's hard sometimes to let parents and families know what we are working on in Spanish class - especially since a lot of what I do is oral activities. This year, however, I have found some success with administering oral assessments, filling out the speaking rubric below, and sending it home in conjunction with my self-assessment stamp pages. (Click the link to learn more and download your own!)

I simply fill in the I can statements to match our unit learning targets, pass them out to students and let them set a goal for what they think they can get, and then walk around the room listening to them have a conversation in Spanish. I usually show them the score but keep the paper until I can record it and then hand it back later. They take home their stamp page and speaking rubric home together with instructions to show both papers to their "mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, brother, sister, dog, cat, fish, neighbors, and friends."

I can do it with confidence means that students are performing at the novice-mid level - with words and memorized phrases. You could add a column for Superbien that would show novice-high level if you wanted. Or if you like to use the ACTFL language with your students just label them with the proficiency level. For me, I say bien and muy bien in class so it's language the students are accustomed to. Bien corresponds more to novice-low. Students need either prompting from me or their notebook or visual aid to help them.

Más practica I save for students who cannot accomplish the task even with my help or by looking at their notebook OR they simply refuse to do the task. I have only given that grade to two fifth grade students and both of them have issues in other classes about completing work. With the exception of those two, all of my students are very good about trying their best. It also helps that I don´t give the formal assessment until I´m sure that they can do it successfully. Does it kill me sometimes to spend 2 months on ¿Cómo estás? Yes, yes it does. But it is worth it when I see my kids succeeding and speaking with confidence. If I had more time I could do more but I have to work with what I'm given.


So that's my speaking rubric. Click here to download a copy. How do you communicate with students/families about how they do on oral assessments? Share in the comments below.