Finding Balance as an overworked, underpaid World Language teacher

It's time to #highlightreal. My to-do list is out of control. My fifth grade unit is a hot hot mess but we're too far in for me to change much. Halloween just happened AND I was sick all week. I've been having stress dreams that leave me cranky. And my goal of drinking less caffeine has gone down the drain. It must be DEVOLSON (Dark Evil Vortex of Late September, October, and November.) Read more about that here.

Finding and maintaining balance as a teacher can be hard to do. I'll admit sometimes my sanity-saving strategies include wine and Cheez Its but with the exception of a week or two in late October and February I have healthier strategies for self-care.

1. Let go of perfection and focus on what impacts student learning. That means my door isn't as pinterest ready as it could be but my interpersonal activities are on point. Ditto for bulletin boards. I tend to go for things that can be left up for several months.

2. Document what you do with tips for what you want to change for the next time. Last year I made a google doc for each grade level with I cans statements, assessments, links to resources, and reflection on what to change for next year. It's has saved me a TON of time this year.

3. Get students to help you. I recruit fifth graders before and after school to help me with monotonous tasks like sharpening pencils, stamping papers, stapling paper books, etc. Having student teachers  has been a God send in that I almost never stay late now because I either make them do the copies while I'm teaching or I do them while they're teaching.

4. Plan on Thursday for the next week. It's the only day I stay late. I get all of my copies made, write my plans, and make any resources I need. I do work on the weekends but in my PJs with coffee and Law and Order on in the background. But only on Saturday mornings. I don't do the Sunday night panic.

5. Have teacher friends. I'm part of a book club that is really more teacher support group than book club...although some of us do read the books too. It's nice to have women who really get what it means to be a teacher that I can vent to.

6. Have non-teacher friends to remind you that the grass is always greener on the other side. I call my best friend Susan most days after school and listening to her talk about sales reports reminds me why I left my corporate cubicle for teaching.

7. Make time for your hobbies. I dance Cuban salsa which has the triple benefit of being exercise, a place I can practice Spanish and learn about Cuban culture, and meet new people. Dancing is an instant boost for me. I also love to read, listen to podcasts, hike, and travel.

8. Speaking of exercise...don't forget to get some. Besides dancing I also have an energetic dog who needs walking everyday. While we walk I listen to a favorite podcast (I love Happier by Gretchen Rubin and Stuff You Should Know).

9. Get enough sleep. I'm a morning person so that means I go to bed at a ridiculously early time but even if you're not a lark, make sure you're getting enough Zzzzs. I have an app that filters out blue light (which will keep you up) that automatically comes on at 7pm. And I listen to a podcast to fall as I fall asleep, which gives my mind something else to focus on rather than all the things stressing me out. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I either put my podcast back on or I have a phrase I repeat to myself that puts me right back to sleep.

10. Write everything on your to-do list, even the smallest things. I do this so I get the satisfaction of crossing things off and it reminds me off all the things I have accomplished even when I feel like nothing got done that day. Or you can keep a Ta-dah list and write everything down you've done rather than things you have to do.



What do you do to stay positive this time of year? Share in the comments below!

Scaffolding Interpersonal Speaking in the World Language Classroom - Getting Your Students to Speak in the Target Language

I was recently reading a conversation (lurking really) on Twitter about getting students to use the target language and not sneak in English in one of those activities where they have to interview their classmates.  Soon after I did a similar activity with my fifth graders (they had a bingo sheet with different activities and they had to interview each other to find people who liked to do those things) and I realized that I had very little problems with this.

I only had a few students who tried goofing off but the majority of the students happily spoke Spanish while trying to interview their friends and get bingo and earn a sticker.

So why do they use the target language instead of reverting to English?


I scaffold the speaking practice. Students switch to English when using the target language becomes too onerous. Giving them something to reference makes them less likely to make that switch.

We practice our interpersonal conversations each class as part of our warm-up that I call Hola. This year I laminated large blank pieces of white paper and wrote the questions and sentence frames for each grade level. I throw those up on the white board during our Hola time so that if I have any new students or students who struggle they can use that as a guide. Heritage speakers and kiddos who have been in Spanish class longer don't need it as much. Because I used vis a vis markers I can add and subtract to this scaffolding as the year progresses.

Anchor charts and language ladders are another of my favorite ways to help students use more of the target language. This chart for hobbies shows students what answers look like at each level and then based on their goal for the year they can self-differentiate. I color code everything in my room by the Novice sub levels. Yellow is low, green is mid, and blue is high. They get excited when they get to blue (and so do I!)

I color code everything for the proficiency levels. Yellow-NL, Green - NM and Blue - NH

This language ladder from a few years ago helps them build up from a novice mid answer to a more novice high.

The visuals also help ME to stay 90% Target Language as well

Before we do any activity where they will be doing interpersonal speaking, I like to activate their prior knowledge by having the class generate a list of words and phrases that they could use. This gets them in a Yes I can kind of attitude and it gives students who need extra support something they can reference if they need to rather than slipping into English. If I do hear English all I have to do is point to the board. You can ask for volunteers or better yet use Rally Robin or Turn and Talk to have everyone thinking and talking before you write anything down on the board.

Student generated lists help activate prior knowledge and get them prepped for an interpersonal task

Other factors:

I give them a reason to speak in the target language. See my post on I can statements here. Stickers are an added incentive as are Si, Se Puede bubbles.

It's part of our routine. We practice EVERY class period so they are accustomed to speaking in the target language. I get some push back at the beginning of every year from older students new to the school but once they get used to the routine and realize they can use the scaffolding provided any resistance dies down.

Kagan structures like Hand Up, Pair Up or Mix, Pair, Share makes it less scary and fun for kids to speak in the target language. Read more here.

They're elementary students and don't have the inhibitions older students have. Just another reason I love teaching the littles!

I CANs that promote proficiency

My district has implemented these 5x5 walk-throughs which means my principal pops in from time to time for 5 minutes and one of the things on her checklist is whether or not I have learning objectives posted and if they are rigorous.  I can statements and me have a stormy past. I learned in my university classes that I should be using them but I've written bad ones, forgot to post or refer to them, made them too vague etc. Every year though I get a little better at doing them.

Recently we did a training on Proficiency Based Instructional Outcomes in my district. Here are some thoughts we shared and asked ourselves to reflect on...

Most of the examples are learning objectives I have actually used in the past. 

1. Are they are at the right level? This means you have to know what level you are targeting. If I'm targeting novice mid I shouldn't have I cans that are asking for intermediate or advanced tasks. So "I can talk about what I did this weekend" (advanced) is out for my elementary kiddos but "I can tell you what the weather is today in Lexington, KY and at another famous landmark" (novice) is in.

2. Are they measurable? I used to be really vague. "I can identify colors." It's not horrible but admins are notorious for asking how I will measure it they made it or not. How many colors do they need to identify? Is one enough? 5? 6? "I can identify 4 colors in a Joan Miro painting" is a double whammy because it tells them exactly how many colors they need to identify and brings in the target culture. "I can make a Joan Miro inspired artwork and describe my piece" actually has my kinders doing something with the language.

3.Do they reflect what students can do in a real world context?  Part of the power of learning objectives/instructional outcomes is that students understand what and why they are working towards. If they don't understand the outcome then you lose that power. So "I can use the verb necesitar correctly" is out. "I can list items I need for school" is in. Or if they don't necessarily reflect a real world task like "I can list the days of the week" then they should be a stepping stone to something that is. My first graders start by listing the days of the week so that later they "...can read a weather forecast for the week."

4. Do you refer to them? How? Soooo...I've had several people who've told me to post them in English, point to them, and say them aloud in the target language. That sounds great for middle and high but it's problematic in elementary school for a big reason - a lot of my students are preliterate. They can't read the I can statements so I usually take less than a minute and say them in English. Or sometimes in upper grades I ask a student to read them in English. Referring to them is my biggest weakness although I am getting better.

5. Logistics - I see up to 10 classes a day. I don't have the board space to post the outcomes. And because I like it to be specific to that day not just the end of the unit I have a LOT of outcomes. I like to keep a Google Slides presentation that has a slide for each grade level. Each slide has a graphic with vocab that students can refer to, a bellringer activity for 3rd'5th to start the class, the essential questions for the unit, and the I cans for the unit.

This year I decided to put ALL of them for the unit on the slide and just bold and highlight the ones for the day. That way students can see where they have been, where we are going, and maybe most importantly I don't have to keep editing the slides EVERY single day. Below are some examples from first and fourth grade.

First Grade:

Fourth Grade:

How do I incorporate intercultural competence? With ACTFL's new Can Do statements I am still wrapping my head around this one. The main tenets are Investigate and Interact.

My fourth graders are learning clothing vocabulary. For investigate, we started with I can list 3 clothing items in a school uniform but then moved on to I can compare and contrast what I wear at school to what students in Spain wear. Although according to ACTFL they can't really compare and contrast until the intermediate level, but I think with guidance and scaffolding this definitely possible at a novice level.

For interact, they will get on the El Corte Ingles site and shop for a school uniform from a school dress code I found online (yay for authentic resources!) They will also design and describe a school uniform based on what they have learned. I threw in "I can compliment a friend on their clothing" because it makes a good entry activity and it gets them thinking about what they and their friends are wearing. This is my first time teaching this unit so I'm still making tweaks to both the activities and the instructional outcomes.


Resources:

ACTFL Can Do Statements  - New Can Do statements document
Musicuentos post on new Can Do statements - A run down of the new Can Do document that is really useful
NNELL Archived Webinars - Several of these webinars address Can Do statements. They are free for current NNELL members (only $30!)


So those are my reflections after our training on learning objectives. How do you write and post your learning objectives? How do you share them with your students? How do you incorporate interculturality?  Please share in the comments below!

No I Won't Say It In English - Motivating Students in a 90% TL Classroom

I literally just got home from another great KWLA conference. I had a great turnout Friday for my presentation - No I Won't Say It In English - Motivating Students in a 90% TL Classroom. Click on the picture below to access the Google Slides presentations. It has links to all the resources I talked about in the session.

How do you motivate your students? Share in the comments below!

¡Vamos al supermercado!

My kindergartners just "ate up" this thematic unit on the supermercado (haha...I love horrible puns!) We had so much fun that it's become one of my favorite things to teach. Who knew that an annoying weekly chore for adults could be so much for kids? The truth is that the supermarket is a gold mine for one of the big C's - Connections. You can connect it to math, literacy, and basic life skills.

Target Vocabulary:

supermercado/restaurante

comida - pan, huevos, leche, frutas, verduras, jamón, jugo, helado, chocolate, tocino

por favor

gracias

de nada

numbers 1-10

me gusta/no me gusta

Que rico/guácala

1. First things first we watched Calico Spanish's Chocolate video. This is always a hit no matter the grade and even though it's not wholly traditional, I really like the change from bate bate to a mi, me gusta chocolate at the end because it really gets students using that language chunk correctly. 

I introduced what a supermercado is. We talked about which supermarkets they knew of. Because they're in kindergarten some got confused and gave me restaurant names which led into a sorting activity. Then I introduced the foods with flashcards and students told their shoulder partners if they liked or disliked them. For an added bonus we also said que rico/delicioso or guácala (my kinders favorite thing to say each year.) 

2. To practice the food vocabulary more we looked at my picture dictionaries. I called out a food and they had to find it in the picture. Think Where's Waldo but with los huevos. It was particularly effective because as they looked for it they repeated the word and then repeated it some more with excitement when they had found it.  Next, we looked at real supermarket ads (authentic resources!) and we did the same seek and find game. This game worked a lot better than something like matamoscas because the pictures were more engaging than just flashcards and since there was no competition there were also no tears.

Get a free copy of the supermarket ads here. 

My Ks freaked out looking at these ads - they were SOOO excited. I thought it was odd until I remembered we live in a digital society now. They probably have seen very few grocery ads. Unlike me who grew up loving to look through the newspaper each week.

3. Then we read the book Peppa Pig va al supermercado. I was able to snag this book last summer when I was in Ibiza. 

4. Since our book was all about grocery shopping with a list we worked on writing our own lists. First we did it in a large group. I bought this gigantic magnet that looks like notebook paper last summer and it was perfect for writing and displaying our list. Students help me decide what to put on my list and we talked about which items we liked and disliked. We also counted how many items we had on the list.

In the next class I continued with whole group instruction. Again we wrote a class list but this time I had play food on my desk. After writing our list, I had volunteers come up and they chose something off my desk. Then I let them cross that item off of our list. As we went along we did math problems in Spanish. We subtracted one each time to get the new number of items on our list. Since adding and subtracting within 10 is a math skill in kindergarten this was a quick and natural way to integrate it into Spanish class. 

5. Finally students were ready to strike out on their own. First they did a matching worksheet where they had a list and they had to draw a line to the correct food. Then they got a chance to write their own lists based on what foods they liked. 

I printed out the grocery ads and put them next to the items. Some shopkeepers just asked for random numbers while others were very conscientious to look at the price advertised. Either way it was an easy way to make it a more text rich environment and students self-differentiated based on what they were ready for.

6. Once they had written their own lists we did a grocery role play. I had plastic food, plush food from Ikea, and laminated food I had printed off the internet. I even had plastic bags from Krogers for them to carry their bought items. This was of course pretty chaotic but they had so much fun. I even had one kiddo tell me that he was "so excited I can't sleep!"

You can get all of the worksheets, role play material, as well as links to other sites and additional videos I used in this unit in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

While I taught this unit with kindergartners I think it would work well with any age level. For older students I would give them a budget they have to keep as they shop. They could research a recipe from the target culture and shop for the items that they need. I can't take all 100 kindergartners on a field trip to the local Aguascalientes Supermercado but it would be totally doable with a Spanish club or Spanish 1 class. The possibilities are endless! How do you teach food and the supermercado? Share in the comments below!

Back to School - Big List of Links

It's that time of the year! We started last week and my schedule has changed so I'm back in the Specials rotation which means not only the craziness of a new school year but adjusting my lesson plans. Thankfully, I already have a lot that is ready to go from past years.

If you've already started or you're getting your classroom ready here are some of my posts that are the most useful this time of the year!

1. Bulletin Board ideas 

2. Classroom decorations including Question word posters and your calendar area.

3. Get organized - everything from extra glue caps to notebooks color coded by class and grade level.

4. Get student input on what they want to learn this year with a student interest survey.

5. Chichen Itza Proficiency Pyramid - teach your students what it means to be a novice mid vs. a novice high.

6. Have students set their own proficiency goals with this goal setting sheet. 

7. Have students track their progress using a Si se puede bubble sheet.

8. Send home newsletters with I can statements and links to videos so students can practice at home.

9. Plan your lessons using this free curriculum.

10. Teach your procedures and routines first so you can go 90%-100% target language later.

11. Start by teaching about school supplies or places around the school.

12. Need ideas for Spanish Club? Find them here.

13. Don't forget Hispanic Heritage Month is coming up and get started planning now.

12. Remember these things if you're a new teacher!


What are your favorite back to school resources? Share in the comments below and have a great year!

La Familia activities and 2 FREE Resources!

La Familia is a fun unit and I always learn a ton about my students - mostly who is related to who because even though I can remember all 500+ names I never realize who is whose brother or sister.  Here are some songs and activities that my students really enjoyed. 

My students love the following 2 songs. They're super catchy and you might find yourself singing them in the shower. 

I also love love love the interactive activities on the website Victoria Languages Online. Their family module is perfect for novice learners of any age. Since I don't have enough computers we rotated and did them with centers. The other two centers were a magnet center where students spelled out the different family members and a book center where I had different books that they could read about families.

And because I love to integrate math we also graphed who had brothers and sisters. We did it first in whole group using an anchor chart. (I recommend laminating it so you can write on it, then wipe it off, and do it again for the next class.)

Next, we did it again but students filled out their own graphs. Get a FREE copy of the graphing page here.

So yeah this graph came out looking interesting. Jajaja - luckily my friends just saw an upside down T. 

But my favorite set of activities came from Gap Minder. Have you guys heard of the website Gap Minder? It is seriously  awesome. I discovered it in a Facebook group this past school year and me and my students had a great time looking at how people lived around the world. 

Julie from Mundo de Pepita gave me the idea of looking at the different families and counting the different family members. First, students traced the different family members. Then we looked at pictures of families from different continents (which we had studied during our weather unit.) 

I had checked with one of the classroom teachers beforehand and she told me that they were working on and needed practice with tally marks so we kept a running tally of the different family members we saw in each picture. Later we counted by 5s and wrote the numeral next to our tally marks. This part was actually pretty difficult for most of my English speaking students but was a quick way to hit some core content with my heritage speakers and gifted students. 

In the next class I had students write out the members of their own family. Then we did the Kagan structure Hand Up, Pair Up and they walked around and described their families to each other. Get your FREE copy here!

Finally, students drew family portraits. I had them listen and draw the different body parts as I said them in Spanish (great throwback to our body parts unit in kindergarten) and then they labeled their pictures and again shared them with each other and the class. Fun for Spanish Teachers has a great La Familia Activity Set that I got the frame from. I also printed her cards and gave them to my first grade classroom teachers. They put them in their morning boxes so kids could practice outside of  class.

What are your favorite familia activities? Share in the comments below or on Twitter using the hashtag #earlylang!