Category: Educational

Reading Time: 4 minutes

What I learned in more than four decades in the world language classroom is that positive teacher and student relationships trump learning.

As a long-time mentor to new teachers, this was a pearl of wisdom that I always prioritized sharing with my mentees. I had noticed a trend with inexperienced teachers wanting to compensate for their lack of experience by using an authoritarian approach to the classroom.

Many times this leads to power struggles with students and ultimate annihilation. In this blog post, I will share a few insights into building positive teacher and student relationships and the benefits it offers to reach our ultimate goal of facilitating the learning experience for our students.

Teacher and Student Relationships in the Classroom

Taking a personal interest in your students goes a long way toward motivating them to put forth their best effort in building language proficiency. While it is difficult to balance the need to focus on last-minute lesson preparations as students are entering the class with greeting them in a personal way, never forget that positive student and teacher relationships are necessary for optimal learning. I had to remind myself of this every day! No matter how amazing and creative my lesson plans were, my personal connection with the students would always be the most important factor in their progress and ultimate success.

This tends to be an especially tricky conundrum in the world language classroom! Do we chat with the students in English or the target language at the beginning of class? Depending on the proficiency level of the student, I usually opted for a combination chat just to check in with my students before diving into my carefully crafted lesson.

Sometimes, standing just outside the classroom in the hall as students are entering is a great way to accomplish the same connection without disrupting the integrity of the commitment to using the target language in the classroom.

I remember early in my teaching career hearing a veteran history teacher often asking students about their athletic games, chess meets, music, and drama performances, in the hall. He teased, cajoled, and connected with students personally. I wanted to develop this habit because I could tell it meant a lot to the students but I was a little envious from always feeling like I needed to use the target language to communicate.

Just outside my classroom in the halls became a serious place to connect with students in an up-close and personal way. Not only is building positive teacher and student relationships essential inside the classroom, striving to connect outside the classroom can be just as important!

Teacher and Student Relationships Outside the classroom

Let me share a few incredibly meaningful ways to build teacher and student relationships outside the classroom.

While we certainly appreciate our students understanding the passion we have for our subject matter, they, in turn, appreciate the interest we take in their passions. Commenting on their performance in a play, concert, athletic event, or their artwork on the walls can make them beam with pride. I even liked to tease some of my challenged language students by saying things like, “I love seeing you in your element!”

This lets them know that I did not only see them in a one-dimensional light, “a struggling language student.” Believe it or not, many students think we only see them as a letter grade!

Even better than commenting on a performance, consider taking time to attend their events! This is extremely impactful for a young student and the parents, too! They can’t believe that you took the time to focus on them personally.

The next time they enter your classroom, they feel connected in a very satisfying way and often will go the extra mile to give you their best effort.

Teacher and Student Relationships Outside the World Language Classroom

You probably can already guess what I am going to suggest. Travel with your students! This creates lasting memories and serves as a springboard for motivation to further language studies.

Students appreciate getting to know you outside the classroom and get excited to put their skills to use! Opening their eyes to the world is something they never forget. Their gratitude comes through in the classroom as they find themselves motivated to continue improving their skills.

While travel is not always possible, finding cultural events in your own community or nearby city that you and your students can explore from concerts, plays, movies, restaurants, to embarking on a service project can serve as a bonding experience.

Think back on your own educational experiences. Weren’t the hands-on experiences the most memorable?

My Spanish teacher in high school asked my family to host an AFS student from Bolivia. This was pivotal in my decision to become a Spanish major in college.

Think of how you can further involve your students in the culture of the language you teach. Start an exchange program in your school or find a company that can provide a structure for you. Seek ways to build teacher and student relationships outside the classroom.

Build Teacher and Student Relationships Through Understanding How To Motivate Students

Gen Z is a particular breed of student. They need digital platforms, games, interactive activities, short segments of relevant information, and a variety of activities in every single class.

Understanding who they are and what they need to be engaged in learning can be paramount not only in best practices for language learning, but in building positive student and teacher relationships.

Many teachers fail to build meaningful relationships with their students because they have not explored how to make learning fun and relevant!

Yes, fun!

When students love learning in your class they tend to feel positive about being there with you! Why not make an effort to connect with students you teach? Both you and your students will look forward to the precious time you have together to learn and build skills in language proficiency.

A Single Platform

Looking for a single platform that interweaves interculturality and language proficiency and provides the fun factor for Gen Z?

As a recently retired Spanish teacher trained and certified in AP and the modified oral proficiency interview, an opportunity to be a consultant presented itself.

I could not resist joining a talented team of teachers and Stanford developers and designers to help create a state-of-the-art language program that interweaves interculturality and language proficiency all in a single platform.

It features customizable dialogue practice with built-in language lab capabilities, a 9-country interculturality program that includes cultural comparisons, discussion questions with commenting and polling in real time, and games uniquely designed to build language proficiency, all leveled for novice, intermediate, and heritage language learners. Check it out! FL4K.com

Looking to improve your students’ language skills with FL4K? Learn how you can get early access to our groundbreaking language program that teaches kids Spanish the fun way! Sign up for early access here.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

This Week’s Teacher’s Tooltip: Engagement Strategies are essential for teaching Gen Z students

Engagement strategies for the 21st Century world language classroom.

Do we really need them? You bet. I might even call them “survival” strategies in the Gen Z classroom.

This is a generation of language learners that have information at their fingertips and dopamine oozing from their pores as a result of regular digital stimulation from an early age. How can you expect these students to sit in their seats and listen to the drone of projects being presented or lengthy grammar explanations? This is totally unrealistic!

Engagement strategies must be considered for our Gen Z language learners in order to help them successfully build language skills for real-world use. Here are a few simple ideas to enliven your classroom!

Engagement Strategy #1: Create opportunities for interactivity among students every day

This is not rocket science! In my last decade of teaching, 2010-2020, I had to maintain a growth mindset in order to survive. This meant that my traditional ways of teaching from the 80’s were not going to keep my students engaged. I had to expand my toolkit in order to help my students build proficiency in speaking Spanish!

Having them sit and listen to presentations was becoming deadly. I started having students present to each other on their devices to make it more interactive while I circulated the room to listen and evaluate globally. I even had students create QR codes for presentations that their classmates could listen to and comment on. I used collaborative apps like Padlet where students could comment and share their work.

I did not have time to read books about engagement strategies. I had to get creative and figure out how to make my classroom more dynamic so that my students were motivated to build skills in proficiency according to the ACTFL language performance and proficiency standards.

Here is another idea that helped my novice high and intermediate students learn to ask questions. For a warm-up or wrap-up engagement strategy, a few assigned students would simply project a photo to the class about something they did over the weekend, summer, or any picture related to a thematic unit, for that matter. The student presenting has nothing prepared other than a picture of interest.

The other students spontaneously ask questions about the picture, e.g.

• “¿Dónde estás?
• ¿Con quién estás?
• ¿Por qué estás/estuviste allí con ellos?
• ¿Cómo se llama el restaurante/ la playa/ la película, etc.?
• ¿Cuándo fuiste?, etc.

Creative teachers will think of a million variations of this!

I kept track with Class Dojo or even an old-fashioned grade book of who asked questions for consideration in their effort and attitude grade. You could also evaluate the proficiency skills of the student presenting the photo according to a rubric that you have provided ahead of time that includes specific language proficiency goals for the level of the class. The novice-mid students would be encouraged to speak in phrases while the novice high and intermediate students would strive to connect sentences and begin to use time frames.

Engagement Strategy #2: Make games a part of everyday learning

Again, as a teacher from the 80’s, I had to learn about Kahoot, Blooket, Quizlet Live, etc. to engage my Gen Z students.

I heard many of my colleagues denying the necessity and effectiveness of these digital tools. Many could even be heard saying, “It’s not my job to entertain these kids!” While I agree with that retort, considering engagement strategies, there are few as popular and motivating as online games. The one problem with most of these popular games is that they weren’t created specifically for language classes and often are nothing more than vocabulary builders rather than proficiency builders.

Still, I’ve never seen anything much more engaging than a few rounds of Quizlet Live. This digital game randomly creates teams that compete to finish matching words, phrases, pictures, whatever the teacher wants to create.

After one team won two consecutive rounds I shuffled the teams. Each student kept track of how many times they were on the winning team and the student with the highest score went on our class leaderboard.

Crazy. Simple. An engagement strategy.

Within Quizlet, there is a search option to find all the games that you or other teachers have created. This is not only an engagement strategy; it is an effective tool for helping students build vocabulary.

Be sure to check out more games online. There are so many good ones that can create an unbelievable dynamism in the World Language classroom.

Engagement Strategy #3: Commit to having a student-centered classroom every day

One idea for doing this effectively on a regular basis is to give students a topic to discuss with a partner or in small groups related to a unit theme. Once the students have learned the vocabulary and/or structures for a unit, think of a clever conversation for them to have with each other and to record for accountability. Be sure to structure the conversation by giving the students a few bullet points outlining what needs to be covered in the conversation that may include structures, time frames, vocabulary, etc.

Students respond so positively to being given the freedom to leave the classroom to find a quiet place to record.

I gave the students a very strict time frame that included time for them to plan their conversations. Simultaneously, I watched on my own device as the recordings came into our learning platform to be sure all are accountable.

Another tip is to randomly group them so they all get to know each other in the class. Sometimes I grouped a strong and weak student or a shy and an outgoing student together, knowing that the more confident student will provide a model.

Taking myself out of the center stage of the classroom was not only less exhausting for me, but it was also an engagement strategy to give students an opportunity to practice real-world communication skills.

The key to getting good recordings is to provide very clear instructions and to review the evaluation rubric ahead of time with the students so that they know exactly what is expected of them. This is an engagement strategy that can be used for both formative and summative evaluations for every unit! Students not only build proficiency with these conversations; they build community with each other, too.

Engagement Strategy #4: Teach dynamic content in short segments interweaving thematic vocabulary, practical phrases, and scaffolding grammar structures

The World Language classroom can be a big bore if students are simply learning the words for clothing, rooms in the house, food, etc.

The Gen Z language learner needs to be intrigued and enticed with interesting content.

Many textbooks do a poor job of creating short fascinating cultural segments that interweave proficiency and interculturality. To learn about schools in other countries, while fascinating to us teachers, just doesn’t cut it for the digital native with fast facts at his fingertips.

Teachers need to find more dynamic cultural information for students and present it in small chunks with familiar vocabulary and structures in order to reinforce the practical language they are learning. Teach about unusual food, clothing, houses in the target culture. Get students thinking about how language is a gateway to different worlds!

Engagement Strategy #5: Find a single platform that serves all these engagement strategies

As a recently retired teacher, I had begun to look for opportunities to share some of what I learned in my four decades of teaching Spanish. Fortunately, a group of developers, designers, and expert teachers invited me to join their team in creating a state-of-the-art language program that incorporates many engagement strategies for the Gen Z student in a single platform!

It includes interactive games and practice questions as well as dialogues with recording features, and an engaging culture curriculum that covers 11 Spanish-speaking countries with polls in real time, commenting features, discussion questions, and hands-on activities all interweaving proficiency and interculturality in an innovative and interactive way. Check it out at FL4K.com!

Missed my past Tool Tips? You can read about the Can-Do classroom, the importance of building relationships with your students, the Student-Centered Classroom, and much more on FL4K.com right now!

Looking to improve your students’ language skills? Learn how you can get early access to our groundbreaking language program that teaches kids Spanish the fun way! Sign up for early access here.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Learn Spanish Fast!

Through my extensive 43-year career as a Spanish teacher I have been asked countless times the best way to learn Spanish fast.

Quite honestly, it’s all about the Super 7! If you have never heard of them, they are the secret! Mastering the Super 7 verbs facilitates the most basic conversations in Spanish. The problem is that many textbooks and programs don’t start with the Super 7 that allow a beginning student to learn Spanish fast.

So many programs start with ser and estar, two verbs that both mean “to be” in Spanish. Textbooks and many Spanish programs go into long explanations of how to differentiate between them. In my experience, even advanced Spanish students struggle with this very foreign concept after four or five years of study! What’s worse, is knowing the detailed rules of these two verbs doesn’t help students learn to speak Spanish fast.

In fact, starting off with rules to master is off-putting and discouraging! Why not give students some tools to communicate? 

Presenting the Super 7: the best way to learn Spanish fast!

Tener/to have; Querer/to want; Hay/there is or there are; Gustar/ to like; Ir/to go and then, of course, the all too confusing and challenging two verbs that mean to be; Ser and Estar. (I did not say that they weren’t useful verbs! It is just that learning long lists of rules on how to distinguish them is not the best way to understand and learn Spanish fast.) My colleague and friend, Elena Giudice, likes to include an 8th verb, Poder/to be able, and tweak the Super 7 to the Super 8.

So there you have it. Get busy and master these verbs, not only in meaning but in their conjugated forms as well.

Imagine being able to say “Do you have….?” Well, that is ¿Tienes? If you just learn some basic things you might need in a hotel like soap, towels, shampoo, you can quickly find out what is available to you. I hope that speaking Spanish fast just became imaginable.

Now, add querer/to want and imagine what you can say, ¿Quieres…..? Here you can add items like ¿Quieres agua/cafe?/Do you want water/coffee? or add any other verb infinitive to it and you have ¿Quieres ir?/Do you want to go? Quieres dormir? Do you want to sleep, etc.

Of course, it is handy if you can answer these questions in the first person. Si, quiero ir/ Yes, I want to go, or Si tengo agua/Yes, I have water. 

Most people learn to use the verb estar right away in the beginning level of learning Spanish, ¿Dónde está el baño? and ser, Él es mi amigo. Both verbs mean “is”  in these sentences, but one is identifying and the other is locating. Most grammar books make a mess of these two, giving you a long list of when to use ser and estar and dissecting the verbs to the point where you are never really quite sure when to use them.

Well, if you want to learn to speak Spanish fast, learn this rule, the verb estar is basically only used to tell where something is located, El baño está allí and a change or temporary condition, physically or mentally for people, ¿Cómo estás? Estoy bien or the “state” of physically inanimate things like ¿Está cerrada la puerta? Is the door closed? Use ser for everything else!

Are you learning to speak Spanish fast? 

Mastering the five vowel sounds!

Of course, you have to learn how to pronounce the words, and with Spanish, you may already know that a high percentage of sounds and letters match.

The easiest part of Spanish is the vowel system. Each vowel only has ONE sound, a=ah, e=eh; i=ee; o=oh; u=oo. So much easier than English where every vowel has three or four sounds, right? Have pity on those learning English!

There are a few letters that have to be learned. All h’s are silent, hola=ola, and all j’s=h sound, jabón = hah-BONE. The ll= y, ¿Cómo te ll (y)amas? 

Just THREE more verbs of the Super 7!

So, what are the other three verbs that will make you learn to speak Spanish fast?

Ir=to go. If you combine querer and ir,  you can ask some, ¿Quieres IR a…… un restaurante, museo, gimnasio, al teatro, al cine,  a un concierto, etc? The verb ir is tricky because it is irregular, so you have to learn these conjugations voy/I go; vas/ you go; va/ he/she goes, vamos/we go and van/they go.

In Spanish, if you want to ask a question, you simply need to choose the proper form of the verb and add the appropriate intonation. The form of querer to use with someone you know well is quieres. In English you need 8 words to ask, “Do you want to go to the movies?” In Spanish it is exactly half the number of words, ¿Quieres ir al cine? See how fast you can learn to speak Spanish!

The last verb of the Super 7 is gustar. Who doesn’t need or want to talk about what they like? This verb doesn’t work quite like the other verbs because it uses a different set of pronouns.

Many books go into long grammar explanations about this quirky verb, but the truth is, you just need to know that if you are the one expressing that you like something, it is ME gusta/n, but if you want to find out about another’s preferences, you ask ¿TE gusta/n?

Now why the two forms of gustar?  If the thing being liked is plural I like guitars/ Me gustaN las guitarras and if what you like is singular, I like your hat/Me gustA tu sombrero.

Now, if you really want to learn Spanish fast, add in Super verb #8: poder. You can ask permission with this verb because it means “to be able.” Can I go?/ ¿Puedo ir? Can I have two coffees, please?/ ¿Puedo tener dos cafés, por favor? 

Add cognates to the secret formula to learning Spanish fast

The other factor that makes Spanish easy to learn fast is that there are so many cognates, words that look very similar in Spanish and English.

Here are a few: elefante, océano, montañas, frío, garaje, mamá, papa, tomate, ensalada, yogur. Can you guess what they mean? Some words are exactly the same because English borrowed them from Spanish: chocolate, patio, cafeteria, coyote, etc. Just be careful to pronounce them correctly depending on whether you are speaking Spanish or English. Something that seems so similar can easily be misunderstood if you don’t get the pronunciation correct.

My husband tried to order a “yogur/yogurt” in Spanish and thought he remembered the word. He put the emphasis on the beginning of the word YO grrrr instead of saying Yo GURE and the waiter had no idea what he wanted. While my husband was frustrated because the words are spelled almost exactly the same, I can totally understand that the sounds gave very little clue to someone who doesn’t know English. 

Learn to speak Spanish fast? Is there an easy way? 

Not really, but some methods can really facilitate the process. Teachers that understand how to build oral proficiency concentrate on the super 7 verbs and build in a lot of repetition in their programs. They don’t bog their students down with lengthy grammar lessons that are lost on the beginning language learner and only serve to frustrate and discourage.

Be wary of programs that spend copious pages explaining grammar. Look for programs that get down to business with the super 7 or 8 right away!

Also, look for programs that emphasize building oral proficiency from novice to intermediate and advanced levels. These teachers, texts, programs understand the steps involved in language acquisition. You need a program that provides practice in speaking, listening, reading, and writing, too.

There are many programs out there that profess to help you learn Spanish fast, but the truth is that most of them don’t seem to have a clue about the super 7!

Learn Spanish fast with FL4K

If you are looking for a way for your children to learn Spanish fast, I would recommend going to FL4K.com to checkout a state of the art language program that interweaves interculturality and oral proficiency in a single platform with interactive innovative digital games and activities that serve to engage the Gen Z and help them to learn Spanish fast.

In my retirement, I have been privileged to join a talented team of language teaching experts to use my expertise in the scaffolding of a program for building oral proficiency. I really love what we are doing to help young language learners because the design is unique and engaging with lots of features to help kids actually learn to speak Spanish!!

Reading Time: 6 minutes

There are a few things I have learned in my 43-year tenure teaching Spanish! As strange as it may sound, it’s much like the game of golf – challenging enough that you want to keep doing it, knowing that you can always improve. I’ve often thought about writing a book about the lessons I have learned on the job to save inexperienced Spanish teachers from the harsh early learning curve. For now, I will settle on touching on the wisdom I’ve gained from my experience.

The art of it all! 

My husband used to chide me as I poured over lesson plans in order to be as creative and engaging for my students as possible. He would say, “Don’t you have this down to a science?” “Well, guess what?” I would say to him, “Teaching is not a science, it’s an art.”

This is the truth and is what makes teaching Spanish or anything, for that matter, both challenging and fun! There are literally thousands of ways to be successful and yet, success in Spanish teaching eludes so many professionals.

Why? One of the great secrets is that it is all about the learner, not the teacher! The days of the “sage on the stage” are over for Generation Z! The onus is no longer on the teacher, but rather on the student. The game of teaching, so to speak, is more about understanding best practices in language teaching that motivates and engages students in a way that they can’t wait to be in your classroom.

It’s all about them, not you! Easier said than done, right? 

Best Practice #1 in Spanish teaching: Create a safe community in your classroom 

Learning to speak another language can be intimidating and even daunting! Who wants to take risks in speaking when someone is publicly correcting them and others may be laughing at their attempts to imitate new sounds?

Sadly, this is a common scenario in traditional language classrooms. Think about it! This is awful. Who can learn when in constant fear of derision or scorn? Whether you are teaching Spanish or any language, let it be a place where it is OK to get it wrong. Set up lots of opportunities for individual and partner practice where there is no audience waiting for you to get it wrong!

Think about how children acquire language. They hear the correct words over and over before they can actually produce them on their own. They practice every single day! Acquiring language is a slow process and it is incumbent on teachers to provide the practice and patience necessary without humiliating their students.

There will always be gifted and talented language students that intimidate other language learners with their natural ability. If you set up practice in the right supportive community environment, every student does not have to constantly be compared to these born-linguists! 

Best practice #2 for Spanish teaching: Make your classroom a crucible for language practice that leads to proficiency

Again, this is easier said than done, but making your classroom a place where students can comfortably practice their skills is key to Spanish teaching!

Creating motivating ways for students to interact is the challenge of every day with your students. Join online Spanish teaching communities where the synergy of sharing ideas for best practices abounds. Adhere to the tenet of successful language classrooms by constantly brainstorming how to get your students talking to each other!

Recently, I had an inexperienced Spanish teacher tell me that she was rather flabbergasted that the middle school students she inherited had never heard of ser and estar! I wanted so badly to tell her that teaching the difference between ser and estar is NOT the key to Spanish teaching.

This fine grammar point has far too long been the focus of Spanish teaching! Forget about it and start thinking about communicative chunks of language that have meaning like, “¿Donde está el hospital?” and “¿Como es tu hermano?” Start planning for how you will get your students engaged in real-life scenarios using language in a context.

Ser and estar are going to challenge the English speaker forever! What a terrible way to set students up to fail at doing something as natural as learning another language. Let them hear it done right over and over and they will get it! This is true language acquisition. 

Best practice #3 for Spanish teaching: Speak Spanish 90% of the time! 

Don’t give in! Don’t give up! You have to model the language for your students in a way that they can understand you! Challenge yourself to communicate in a way that students can begin to understand you!

Find resources where simple Spanish is used! Use hand motions, lots of intonation, slow it down, and give them a chance to interpret! This is what the process of language learning is all about! Don’t take the easy way out if you want results.

If you are a native speaker, have mercy on your students. Slow it down. If you are a non-native speaker, find every way possible to keep your skills sharp such as summer immersion programs, online classes, and frequenting communities where Spanish is spoken.

In fact, help your students find as many immersion experiences as possible, too. Stay true to this tenet of best practice for Spanish teaching. 

Best Practice #4 for Spanish teaching:

Clearly outline the path to progress for every student by using standards-based teaching

Don’t make success in the classroom contingent on being better than everyone else! Make it dependent on developing and improving your own skills.

Allow for differentiation by comparing students to themselves according to a set of standards. Lead them all to their own eventual success, allowing for individual timetables for progress. As long as students are improving, don’t measure them according to another student’s rate of progress or level of advancement.

Some textbooks are beginning to provide rubrics for standards-based teaching. Wayside Publishing, for example, has a series called, EntreCulturas, that offers one of the best scope and sequences for standards-based teaching on the market today.

Educate yourself on standards-based teaching. Go to the ACTFL website and take a look at all the educational opportunities to learn about Spanish teaching for proficiency.

One of the very best professional opportunities would be to sign up for a MOPI workshop. Learn what the proficiency levels mean, Novice-Advanced, and how to create materials to help students acquire skills.

Honestly, students are so much more motivated and engaged when they understand more specifically how to improve. A Novice speaker can list, for example, whereas an intermediate can start to create strings of sentences using connector words that are intentionally taught. It is amazing to see the confidence that students develop when they know the steps to improving versus the confounding difference between ser and estar that in the end is not the key to actually communicating.

When did we ever teach babies the rules before they could imitate and practice? 

Best Practice #5 for Spanish teaching: Teach students about the Spanish-speaking world in a way that promotes proficiency and holds their interest. 

Teaching Spanish in a vacuum is dull! Why not promote intercultural awareness and nurture global citizenship at the same time you are building proficiency? Why not present global challenges for students to ponder and use authentic materials to engage Gen Z with information at their fingertips?

Seek curriculum that has real-life application. Integrate cultural lessons into every class, not something to be taught on Fridays.

If you don’t know much about the 20 Spanish-speaking countries and one Spanish-speaking US territory, start learning. It can be the challenge of a lifetime to maintain a growth mindset about delving deep into these very distinct cultures and even their regional language. You need never be bored with Spanish teaching. 

Closing thoughts

After 43 years in the classroom I finally hung up my hat, not because I couldn’t wait to get away from the demands of teaching, but to make my grandchildren my #1 priority. In fact, I suffered a great deal of sadness every day for the last few months in the classroom. I sincerely loved every day for all those years. I loved the students, the opportunity to craft lessons for them, and most of all the chance to learn and grow as a teacher every single day.

If you are lucky enough to have chosen Spanish teaching as a career, get after it! Take the leap to grow and learn everything you can about how to inspire students to love language learning and have some fun with each other along the way! 

I was perfectly poised to retire and become a very engaged grandparent when an opportunity landed in my lap to join a teacher team of World Language specialists in creating a state-of-the-art toolkit for building proficiency and interculturality for Pk-12 students.

If you have any interest in the latest iteration of our creation, check it out and sign up for early access at FL4K.com.

And lest you worry about the abandonment of my grandchildren, they ARE finally my #1 priority. “Pura vida” como dicen los ticos!

Reading Time: 4 minutes

I have been studying, learning, speaking, teaching, and tutoring Spanish for 40+ years, forever seeking the secret formula for language learning for my students that have ranged in age from 3 to 80. Many ask me what the best Spanish learning programs are.

Honestly, since I learned through school, study abroad, travel, and many extended immersion experiences, I have never felt like an expert on Spanish learning programs. That being said, I have taught thousands of Spanish students, and I listen to what they tell me about Spanish learning programs outside my class, and I note how they help my students.

There are no magical programs that do the work for you, of course! You have to be dedicated and committed to learning another language and use a multi-faceted approach to get results. Even though there are no perfect Spanish learning programs on the market, I will mention a few that have been popular with my students.

Spanish learning programs for adults

Many of my adults have been learning Spanish with me for 15+ years. Some tell me it is a hobby and they enjoy the pure challenge of it. Others are motivated to communicate as professionals with their clients or patients or are interested in traveling the culturally diverse and spectacular Spanish-speaking world. Or have read the fact that learning a new language grows brain cells and helps to prevent Alzheimer’s.

While I have learned from these dedicated language students that there is no perfect Spanish learning program, I have heard of several that are widely popular and even addictive.

Language student’s favorites

The competitive and conscientious students love Duolingo. I have one brilliant British student who calls it “Duobongo.” Cracks me up every time she says it with her accent! She always tells me that this Spanish learning program has helped her build vocabulary. She loves its discipline in between our weekly classes, where we practice using the language to build oral proficiency.

Another student told me that the best Spanish learning program for her was Behind the Wheel since she could listen to it in her car, and the language was very practical.

Last year I had one of my AP students tell me about a podcast series that she was listening to to improve her listening comprehension called Espanolistos. Another student said to me that she enjoyed listening to News in Slow Spanish in between classes to improve her listening comprehension.

Quite honestly, children have the most facile brains for learning language. Still, traditionally, elementary schools in the United States have not prioritized world language learning programs, missing an excellent opportunity to help students achieve native pronunciation in a second language and create intercultural awareness that fosters global citizenship for a lifetime.

Newsela is a Spanish learning program that creates interesting and relevant articles for students to read in Spanish. You can determine what reading level is best for you with options to read the same article with more or less detail.

All of these students learned that even though many of them had been studying Spanish for years, they had to find a Spanish learning program to supplement 1-3 hours a week in class. I highly recommend sampling the many programs on the market and finding one that enhances your learning and motivates you to practice Spanish every day!

Spanish learning programs for children

I became more convinced than ever about the importance of teaching a second language to children when I was tasked with creating a Spanish learning program for children PK-4th grade in the ’80s. Since I was teaching in Wisconsin, I had the opportunity to learn from the master of language-learning for children, Helena Curtain.

I learned all about how contact hours predicted outcomes and that there were minimum requirements for students to actually start building proficiency in what could be considered a FLES program.

I learned that an hour a week would not be enough to expect development in proficiency and would be considered a FLEX program with the “EX” indicating EXploratory. These Spanish learning programs simply served to create enthusiasm for learning languages in the future.

I have been searching for results for a long time and always come back to the same conclusion; no Spanish learning program will do the work for you! The results come with the opportunity to study and practice consistently in a way that motivates you.

FL4K: Foreign Languages for Kids

Upon my retirement from teaching last year, I had the opportunity to put some of my years of experience and professional development to good use when a former colleague asked me to join her in working to enhance a Spanish learning program for Novice-Intermediate Spanish students, FL4K.

I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect invitation.

Together with a small teacher-team of experts, I was being invited to help create an interculturality program interwoven with language to build oral proficiency. I had my Modified Oral Proficiency Interview (MOPI) certification, and as department chair of a world language program at a private school, I helped convert a traditional world language department to a standards-based proficiency-driven one. Through this experience, I truly began to further unlock the secrets to success in language learning.

Now I was being asked to help scaffold an intercultural curriculum to push proficiency? No brainer for me!

Many of the textbooks and Spanish learning programs I have used through the years are grammar-driven and bereft of cultural material relevant to Gen Z students. Aside from being dry, they are not written in a way that my students can access information in language written for their particular proficiency level.

The program we are building for FL4K is not only relevant and fun; proficiency is a priority. Students delve deeply into the culture of ten different Spanish-speaking countries while building proficiency at their own speed, differentiated for Novice to Intermediate levels.

The built-in practice exercises and games are specifically designed to build proficiency, unlike the majority found in textbooks and online Spanish learning programs.

The polling and commenting features that mimic social media are highly motivating! With built-in language lab recording features, students build confidence in speaking from an early age, beneficial for standardized tests like AAPPL, AP, and IB. The pre-AP cultural comparisons have students building cultural awareness and intercultural competency from elementary ages on.

My colleagues and I have joined a talented team of designers and developers that are making our wishlist for a results-driven Spanish learning program come true.

Please check out our website, Fl4K.com. You will not be disappointed with this state-of-the-art Spanish learning program for all ages!

And sign up to take a class with me, too! It’s always fun to meet and build relationships with other language learners. My students have become some of my very close friends, and they enjoy being in a community with each other!

Stay tuned for next week’s Teacher’s Tool Tip, and if you missed any of my passed tool tips, you can find them all on our blog. Be sure to follow us on social media for more language tips and fun resources!

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Have you ever been overwhelmed by grading? Or felt like grading was capricious, meaningless, or even superfluous? Read on to learn how standards-based grading could solve these issues and how to implement it.

What is standards-based grading

What I discovered in the last decade of my teaching career is that Standards-based grading is the most effective way to evaluate language students. Having rubrics that define expectations clearly according to standards helps students to find their way to success without confusion about the WHY of their grades.

Putting a grade on a students’ project, presentation, or any evaluation without expectations thoroughly explained ahead of time and a clear explanation of how a student performed compared to those expectations, leads to frustration and lack of motivation to improve.

As I started to shift to grading students according to their proficiency and performance levels, I saw not only a vast improvement in the quality of their work but a willingness to try harder to improve. 

How to implement standards-based grading

As an AP grader for many years, I have grown to like the global grading that we do for thousands of students. Our rubric very clearly defines, “Strong”, “Good’, “Fair”, “Poor”, etc. A few years ago, I started using these words with my students at all levels to evaluate their work in comparison with the ACTFL proficiency and performance targets for my classes. These simple words speak to students in a way that they understand what is good or lacking about their work. Of course, I define what “strong” is for them using the standards as assigned to their level of study.

In our program, we have our courses named according to the target proficiency and performance levels. A Novice 1 class has the targets in the range of Novice Low and Mid.  A Novice 2 class has the target of Novice High, for example.

This makes it very clear what the targets are for any particular course and helps students to work toward target goals for proficiency ranges versus a percentage correct on a fill-in-the-blank quiz. This way of evaluating is logical and gives students parameters as well as realistic goals to meet.

In a class where Intermediate Low is the goal for the students, guidelines for a short presentation might be: In order to get a  “Strong” you must:

1. use new vocabulary
2. have connector words such as “y”, “también”, ”pero” to show that you can speak in strings of sentences
3. NOT read your presentation to show that you can create with the langauge
4. include cultural information that you have learned, etc. It is amazing how students will soar with clear parameters.

Suddenly, they start to perform up to expectations because they are clear about what they need to do. This exercise is so much more useful than filling in the blank with verb conjugations. They are actually using what they know and practicing the skill of speaking another language.  When using this grading system, it is easy to tell the students where they are strong and where they need to improve. This is motivating to students, believe me!

Standards-based grading and differentiation

Another key to fair and motivating grading for language students is to compare each child’s progress compared to his own starting skill level.

As impractical as it may seem, it’s unquestionably encouraging for a student to know that he is improving! Even the least confident child will begin to make progress if he feels that his own progress matters more than his competence compared to others.

I always made a point in my classroom to find ways for my students to build on their own skills. This could be built into the rubric. The point of grading should always be to help students make progress. You will find that your students are more willing to try if they don’t feel defeated by difficult tasks that compare them to the most gifted students in the class. 

Pie-in- the-Sky Grading

My dream would be no grades at all! In the world language classroom. I prefer that students be motivated to speak another language versus to get a good grade that tells them very little about their actual progress in developing proficiency in another language.

Fill-in-the-blank quizzes and tests do not help students learn what they “can do” toward the goal of using the language for communication. It is an exercise in futility that our parents and their parents did; and guess what? Most of them say, “I studied [Target Language] for [x] years and I can’t speak a word!” We need to change this and start in our classrooms now.

First, we must become experts in the proficiency standards, and then we must teach students to reach them. We should scrap the curriculum with long lists of vocabulary words to memorize and grammar concepts to master. This kind of language teaching is outdated.

Yes, our students need to build vocabulary and grammar knowledge, but within a context and with repeated practice! When grammar and vocabulary ruled our curriculums, the best and brightest students succeeded in the language classroom, no doubt about it. Some even learned to speak the language due to their talent!

Imagine a new way to teach language acquisition that is all-inclusive!

Everyone can learn a language and improve daily, just not the way we used to teach it! Let’s reconsider how we evaluate our students and give them all a chance to succeed.

Let me know what you thought of this week’s Teacher’s Tool Tip! And while you wait for our next tip, make sure to follow FL4K on social media through the links at the very bottom of this page so you don’t miss any updates and for other language fun!

Missed my past Tool Tips? You can read about the Can-Do classroom, the importance of building relationships with your students, the Student-Centered Classroom, and much more on FL4K.com right now!

Looking to improve your students’ or children’s language skills? Learn how you can get early access to our groundbreaking language program that teaches kids Spanish the fun way! Sign up here.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I had the opportunity to get back in the classroom this past week due to a former colleague’s extended leave of absence. What an honor to have the opportunity to teach for a few days after six months of retirement! To go in with fresh eyes after working to integrate interculturality in a new and exciting way with FL4K was awesome! The difference that I felt so strongly about was the absolute commitment to teaching culture in an engaging and meaningful way.

Fortunately, the textbook that the teachers still use at University School is Wayside’s EntreCulturas that definitely has a focus on communicating, exploring, and connecting across cultures!

Don’t skip interculturality sections

The pages I chose to cover in the book were chock full of cultural points that I used to ignore because I did not prioritize teaching interculturality. Also, just reading the points in a textbook is not enough to engage our GenZ students!

I chose to emphasize two Enfoques Culturales during my five-day tenure. My fresh perspective as a curriculum writer for FL4K guided me in making the cultural points a priority and helped me to figure out new ways to make the information relevant and interesting for the students. It was a unit about the family featuring the Hispanic cultural traditions of greeting and saying goodbye to each other with a kiss and the practice of conversing with family for long periods of time after meals.

Make the topics fun and relative

In this intermediate low class, I asked the students to share with the rest of us their family traditions around these practices using reciprocal verbs. It was all nicely interwoven with vocabulary and grammar in the textbook, but in the past, when I was using the book, I never thought much about how to make culture an integral part of my teaching. The students were interested in learning about these two traditions because I was more invested in engaging them with culture in a personal way. It was so much fun to hear the different family traditions of the students around these practices. I was amazed at how they could easily talk about all this in Spanish because I scaffolded the lesson carefully, giving them all the vocabulary and structures that they needed to TALK!

I think teaching the skill of comparison and appreciation of other cultures is so important toward the goal of nurturing global citizenship in our classrooms. Challenge yourself in the new semester to make interculturality a priority in your classroom!

Consider checking out some of the curriculum that we are building in FL4K. You will be amazed at the treasures we are digging up about eleven different Hispanic cultures to engage students in our quest for their intercultural competence! Sign up for early access to our new program now!

Let me know what you thought of this week’s Teacher’s Tool Tip! And while you wait for next week’s tip, make sure to follow FL4K on social media through the links at the very bottom of this page so you don’t miss the next Tool Tip and other language fun!

Missed my past Tool Tips? You can read about the Can-Do classroom, the importance of building relationships with your students, the Student-Centered Classroom, and much more on FL4K.com right now!