Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Last week I mentioned some activities that can be used in the World Language classroom during the “forming” phase of group development. This week, I will address the next phase, “storming,” the time when students may begin to share differing opinions and even compete with each other in the classroom.

Teachers can provide time and space for students to wrestle with ideas and even disagree, ultimately building trust, in preparation for the norming and performing phases of group development. 

The storming phase can be both controversial and fun at the same time if the teacher helps to monitor the group development in a healthy way.

Students can get to know more than the basic facts about each other. They can begin to play competitive games and participate in polls, and even discussions, that may force them to contend with differences of opinion. When conflicts arise, teachers must guide students to listen to each other and maintain respectful behavior toward one another at all times.  

Consider digital games for this phase of group development. 

Quizlet Live

Many of you already play Quizlet Live in the classroom. You can mix up the teams every few rounds and have individual students keep track of how many times they have won. The student with the most wins at the end of class might get their name posted on a leaderboard (poster and marker) for the Quizlet Live Champions.

In my classroom, this was very low stakes and fun for students. Usually, we had different winners every week and then, the rivalry would start to see how many times each one could be featured on the board.

This works well for the “storming” phase because the students get competitive and begin shouting with excitement all in very low-key fun!

Kahoot

Kahoot is another good competitive game in the classroom that can be used for review. It always amazes me how students come alive when they can compete with each other. You can put them in teams to eliminate embarrassment or intimidation. A lively round of Kahoot can create just the positive energy you are looking for in your 21st-century classroom! 

Speed Dating

Speed Dating works well for this phase of group development, too. Students can line up in two parallel lines with one line rotating as they exchange information about a cultural topic that they are studying.

The questions can be controversial in nature and pertain to a very specific set of vocabulary and expressions. The students can prepare ahead of time what they do to help protect the planet and why they think it is important. Then in lines or concentric circles, one group can move, each time sharing their information with a different student in the class. 

Projecting a picture and having the students guess what is going on in it can lead to some differences of opinion. When they finish arguing about their ideas, the teacher can tell them what was actually happening in the picture. This allows students to disagree in a fun and friendly way. 

FL4K

At FL4K we have several activities built into the program that promote the opportunity to both compete and express their own opinions. We have digitized the old-fashioned game of Fly Swatter into a modern game that builds oral proficiency in an engaging and intentional way.  Students get a digital flyswatter and can compete against each other to swat as many correct flies/answers as possible while simultaneously building language proficiency skills. 

Another FL4K feature with the culture program is a built-in polling option in real-time. Students can register their opinion about something pertaining to the culture they are learning and then find out how many in the class agree with them and how many do not.

The teacher can then lead a discussion about the polling topic. For example, after learning about the many waterfalls in Costa Rica, students can answer a poll that gives them the option to say whether they would like to swim under a waterfall or not. Students can then share why they might be interested or fearful.

We have 30-40 culture posts per unit with polling questions for many. It keeps students interested and engaged in practicing the language in a natural way.

Early in our language program, students learn “tener” expressions and can quite capably talk about what they are and are not afraid of. This can stimulate good conversation and again, get kids to handle controversial topics in a healthy way.  

What ways can you think of to create energy and excitement in your classroom that help students learn to compete, communicate, and accept differences of opinion with a priority of respecting each other? Have fun with the “storming” phase of group development!

Next week we will enjoy exploring the next phase of “norming.” In the meantime, sign up for a free trial with FL4K!

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Be, Belong, Become. Make this a motto for building an all-inclusive community in your classroom!

The World Language classroom is a place where students should BE accepted for who they are, BELONG to a supportive community, and BECOME the best language learner possible!

Unfortunately, the World Language classroom is often a place where intimidation can be very high! Some students naturally have better pronunciation, some have an easier time understanding and applying complicated grammar matrices, and some are extroverted with no fear of making mistakes or speaking in front of others.

The World Language classroom can be scary for the introverted or intimidated! You need to consider giving every student the best chance possible to succeed, and that takes learning a little about building community and practicing it every day in the classroom. 

The following suggestions are not scientifically proven; they are simply things I learned on the job!

Give students the opportunity to get to know each other every day in your classroom!

Use small group and partner activities to reduce the intimidation factor. Mix them up randomly, too. Don’t allow them to always be with their friends. This leaves the shy students out and makes for a really miserable language learning experience for them. 

Encourage support for every student by not calling out their mistakes in front of everyone.

I was once one of those who had to publicly correct every verb form or improper use of ser vs. estar. What a ridiculous, uninviting way to teach!

Let those mistakes go as long as there is communication happening. Once students have heard the correct language chunks enough, they will just begin to use them correctly.

In my opinion, we are so wrong to call out every grammar mistake every day for every child. It is discouraging and makes them terrified to ever speak the language! How antithetical is this to what we want to do in our classrooms?

Give students positive feedback!

Make it up! If they draw beautifully, comment on that! Find something good about every child and praise it!

Let your students know that you appreciate them in all their wonder, even if their wonder does not include being talented in learning a second language in your classroom. Connect with your students and let them know that you don’t judge their whole being on whether they are successful in your classroom!

This will go a long way toward opening their spirit to the possibility of having a positive language learning experience. 

Measure students against themselves!

If a student can only get two words out the first time they speak in the class, praise that, and encourage them to get three or four out the next time! Let them know that they are making progress and that you have noticed it!

I have taught kids who stutter, have dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, suffer from severe anxiety and depression, are painfully shy, struggle with family issues, just don’t get it, etc.

It was always incumbent on ME to make a comfortable learning situation for them! And guess what? It was always so rewarding to watch those challenged kids shine! And they can and will if you build the right community for them!

Make your classroom about the learning COMMUNITY and not about you and your frustrations with them!

Tune into your kids and hone your community-building skills.

Study Bruce Tuckman’s group development skills of forming, storming, norming, and performing.

Starting with these methods will help build an all-inclusive community in your classroom. In the next few weeks, I will share specific activities for the World Language classroom for each of these stages of group development based on a workshop that my friend and colleague, Elena Giudice, has brilliantly created.

Elena and I are now part of a teacher team that is helping to write curriculum for an amazing language program for kids! Check out FL4K.com to see the latest design for an innovative and interactive way of engaging kids in learning Spanish (for now and many more languages to come)! 

Sign up here for our free trial and see what you think! And if you’ve missed any of my past tips, you can read them here!

Reading Time: 3 minutes

This Week’s Teacher Tooltip: Student success comes from making the target language come alive for your students by giving them opportunities to practice using the language outside the classroom. I’ll share some great ways to do this in this post.

Advocating for summer language camps, homestay experiences abroad, or even hosting exchange students can help language come alive for the learner. When students have friends who speak another language, they become more motivated to communicate and build their language proficiency skills almost unwittingly.

Check out Language Testing International and FlipGrid for ways to get your students talking in the target language with native speakers.

Student success comes from making the language come alive through entertaining, comprehensible input!

Other paths that lead to student success in language learning are through media entertainment.

Our students need ample comprehensible input. I remember asking exchange students from Spain how they learned to speak English so well. They told me they loved watching American movies and listening to American music.

TV series, podcasts, music, and movies in the target language are not only entertaining; they lead to student success. When students hear structures used in meaningful contexts, they tend to remember them and begin to use them with confidence. 

Student success comes from teaching your students the language to actually communicate!

Another key point in leading language learning to student success is teaching language in meaningful chunks for communication.

This helps students to hit the ground running as they build proficiency skills. Instead of bogging them down with unwieldy verb conjugations in a vacuum, teach them the super 7 verbs (poder, tener, querer, estar, ser, hay, gustar) that help them be conversant from the start.

When students learn basic phrases for practical needs early in their language studies, they feel empowered and more successful.

Student success comes from lots of repetition that leads to confidence in using the language for practical purposes!

One more key to student success in language learning is repetition! While this is a basic concept, it is not always easy to prioritize in instruction.

Many textbooks and curriculums try to force-feed language to the student. It is overwhelming for them and they often end up feeling defeated. A few gifted and talented students can do it, but the majority can’t. Language learning is for everyone, not just a few talented students.

Student success comes from providing dynamic contexts for the language to keep it fascinating for them!

The last key to student success in language learning is contextualizing the language for the students.

Embed chunks of language in a compelling culture program that helps students develop a global perspective about the world and not only speak the language, but appreciate the richness of being an inclusive language learner, embracing the cultural tapestry woven with language.

Student success is very possible if you find the right curriculum for your students!

Check out FL4K, a state-of-the-art language program for young language learners, that actually prioritizes the criteria that I have mentioned as necessary for student success!

We are a teacher team with many years of experience in the classroom that is helping this company to include these keys to student success in language learning in a single learning platform that captivates young language learners’ attention.

Our curriculum includes entertaining videos, interactive digital games and dialogs especially designed for language learners, built-in language lab practice, and an eight-country culture program that embeds chunks and prioritizes repetition, providing a scaffolded curriculum that truly builds language proficiency skills.

FL4K is designed to build student success. For a program that your students will love: FL4K.com.

We are currently accepting accounts for our upcoming free trial to pilot this program! If you’d like to participate in trying out the program for free, sign up here.

P.S. Missed any of my past tool tips? Catch up here.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Student success can be elusive at times if we don’t understand how to build confidence in the language classroom. Let’s first put ourselves in the shoes of our students and consider for a moment what it is like for them to achieve student success.

Learning to speak another language can be scary and intimidating! There is the challenge of having the right vocabulary words to express oneself as well as the right structures, not to mention the correct pronunciation. This can be overwhelming for any student to consider all at once. 

Measuring student success using the ACTFL Language Standards 

Using rubrics that clearly outline the expectations for student success can alleviate anxiety for language students and give them specific goals to work toward.

In the Wayside EntreCulturas textbook series for French and Spanish, the rubrics for the ACTFL Standards can be found in the indices at the back of the book and adapted for individual use. Teachers really need a MOPI training workshop in order to interpret them best.

Today’s language teacher needs a clear understanding of what it means to be a novice, intermediate, or advanced language student according to these standards in order to create a standards-based classroom where students know what is entailed in reaching success. It is amazing to watch students strive to reach standards when they know specifically how student success is measured. Comparing students to a rubric and not to each other is a formula for student success.  

Creating a cooperative vs. competitive community

From day one in the world language classroom, teachers need to work toward building a supportive community where students feel comfortable taking risks. This comes about through creating many group activities where students have the chance to get to know each other and practice language learning together.

Encouraging students to help each other achieve student success instead of competing with each other to succeed comes in studying group development strategies and instituting them in the classroom on a regular basis.

Teachers can attend annual professional development conferences like ACTFL, NECTL, SWOLT, and SCOLT to learn more about how to promote cooperation in the classroom. My colleague, Elena Giudice, and I will be presenting a whole session called “#ALLin!: Developing an inclusive and motivated community of learners” on April 1st at the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) in Norfolk, Virginia.

There are truly so many creative ways to create a community of mutually supportive learners, all striving for student success and all achieving it at their own pace!

Can-Do Statements help guide student success

Every world language teacher should familiarize themselves with the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements. It is important to use benchmarks to help guide student success.

Teachers can use these national guidelines but can also make up their own Can-Do Statements for every unit. Think of exactly what it is that you want your students to be able to do at the end of a unit and then guide them accordingly. It is amazing for students to realize what they “Can Do” versus the out-moded critical teaching style.

Remember when your language teacher was very quick to correct every grammatical error in front of the whole class? This leads to shame, embarrassment, and the ultimate resignation of “I am really bad at language learning.” Be a teacher who concentrates on what each student CAN DO and learn more about it on the ACTFL website.   

These are just a few basic ways to begin to learn more about teaching for student success! 

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: 5 minutes

In order for students to progress from a novice level of proficiency according to the ACTFL language proficiency standards to an intermediate level, they need to build competence in asking questions.

Once I went through the Modified Oral Proficiency Interview training and certification process, I became more intentional about helping my students learn to ask questions. I’d like to share just a few of the ways that I discovered to motivate my students to practice their Spanish question words.

While I am recently retired from classroom teaching, I still implement the same principles in my private classes. The only way for our students to learn to use the Spanish question words is to provide a lot of opportunities for them to use them. Asking questions in Spanish is not a unit in a book with Spanish question words to be memorized and forgotten. It is a skill that must be practiced daily and is not hard to include in your daily class activities for students.

Post Spanish question words in the classroom

From day one in the language classroom, the Spanish question words should be posted and referred to often! You can buy fancy posters online or make your own. With every creative activity that you do, consider ways to encourage students to use the Spanish question words.

Seek opportunities for your students to be the ones asking the questions daily

Teaching students to ask questions is all part of creating a more student-centered classroom. Take yourself off the center stage as the one asking your students all the questions.

With every student presentation, require the students to ask questions. I keep track of how many questions each student asks to count toward their effort grade. I don’t make a big deal about the percentage of the grade it is worth, but rather I make sure that they understand how crucial the skill is in building language proficiency.

Remember how we teachers used to always ask the questions while the rest of the students just sat in boredom? I learned to require my students to ask questions with every activity that we did in the classroom.

Mystery and Spanish question words in the classroom

Students love mystery! I like to assign students to share a picture with the class on a regular basis as a warm-up or closing activity.

The student presents/projects a picture of him/herself from summer vacation, a favorite weekend activity, a place they go with friends to hang out, etc, and the rest of the class has 5-10 minutes to find out as much as possible about ¿dónde? (where?); ¿qué? (what?); ¿quién? (who?); ¿cuándo? (when?); ¿por qué? (why?).

I give points to the ones questioning, making sure that everyone asks at least one question.

The student who is presenting can be evaluated, too, based on how spontaneously they can answer classmates’ questions. This can be very motivating if students get into the spirit of it and you make it count as part of their effort grade.

Guessing games and Spanish questions in the classroom

There is no end to guessing games you can create in the classroom.

I know a teacher who always has her students “show and share” once a week as an assigned warmup. It is easy to turn this activity into a guessing game. The student sharing would be the one to spontaneously field all the questions while students try to gather as much information as possible about the object, picture, word. A student could simply write a place or word on the board and students have to try to discover the significance of it.

For larger classes, you could have your students do this in small groups. You could also have students share the title of a good book or movie and have students find out the plot and why the student likes it.

The object is to learn something personal about each class member while at the same time building proficiency in asking and answering questions. In other words, building language proficiency for real-world use.

Twenty questions

Students learn how easy it is to ask questions in Spanish without the Spanish question words by merely making a statement and changing the intonation with a game of Twenty Questions.

If the place a student wants others to guess is “la playa” (the beach), the students might figure it out using the following questions: ¿es un lugar? (it is a place?), ¿hace calor? (Is it hot?), ¿te gusta ir los fines de semana? (Do you like to go on weekends?), ¿puedes nadar allí? (can you swim there?), ¿hay árboles allí? (are there trees there?), ¿está cerca de tu casa? (is near your house?), ¿vas allí con frecuencia? (do you go there often?), etc.

You could put the Súper 7 verbs + ir (tener, querer, hay, gustar, poder, ser, estar, ir) on the board and insist that students formulate questions using them. Cross them off as students use them ensuring that there are a variety of questions asked.

Cultural Information gap

Have students each read a short culture segment pertaining to a country of study.

The object of this activity is for each student to read their segment to themselves and then pair it with a student who read a different segment. Each one has five minutes to ask the other as many questions as they can about what the other one read or to simply share what they learned in their culture segment with a requirement for follow-up questions from a partner.

The partner will then do the same. After they have shared as partners, they can team up with two others and share in the same way.

Finding short cultural segments can be time-consuming! I am part of a teacher team creating short interactive social media-like culture posts tailored for the Gen Z attention span, covering food, nature, lodging, citizens, geography, sites of interest, etc., about 9 Hispanic cultures.

The innovative features of the program include fully customizable real-time commenting and polling as well as cultural comparison questions for discussion, hands-on activities, music, and embedded cultural videos.

Check it out at FL4K.com and request a demo. These culture posts are chock full of dynamic information about Hispanic culture around the world and serve as a springboard for teaching the art of asking questions. 

Current events

Have students present news on a regular basis. Each student briefly presents a headline with only a few facts while students in the class try to find out more about the news event by asking questions.

Students need lots of practice asking questions on a daily basis. Commit to having students master Spanish question words and to making questioning activities a part of every class.

It takes just a little creativity to figure out how to make the use of Spanish question words and the art of asking questions essential in your classroom. Ask your students what ideas they have.

Students could create a question-and-answer game where they invent answers and students have to come up with a question like Jeopardy. This is just one example! You and your students will be able to think of one hundred more ways to practice asking questions once you commit to making this a priority in your classroom!

Remember: You will be helping your students to build language proficiency for real-world use if you STOP asking the questions and get your students to START asking them! Try it tomorrow!

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: 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!!