A friend recently wrote asking, "What resources would you recommend for someone who is trying to learn Spanish? My barista's boyfriend's family speaks exclusively Spanish and she's trying to fit in. She's using Duolingo currently." Here is my response: In my opinion, Duolingo is not the best resource for [...]
How many digits of Pi can your students memorize in the target language ? Is this practical? Helpful for vocabulary growth? Useful for fluency in any way? No, not really. But… 1) it is a fun challenge, and 2) if students are not fluent with the numbers 0-9 yet, [...]
The Whale Done School, by Cindy Zurchin, James Ballard and Thad Lacinak. The subtitle of this tremendously impactful little book says it all: Transforming a School's Culture by Catching Students Doing Things Right. Like Whale Done did for adults in business, this book applies lessons learned from training killer whales to younger humans [...]
Bill, a reader of this blog, writes: I am writing to ask if you offer short stories that are designed to expose students of the Spanish language to the usage of the many and varied subjunctive "triggers". I am aware that there are many books out there on the [...]
Bill, a reader of this blog, writes: I am writing to ask if you offer short stories that are designed to expose students of the Spanish language to the usage of the many and varied subjunctive "triggers". I am aware that there are many books out there on the [...]
Language is more than mere vocabulary and grammar. Authentic cultural stories like this one can help students to communicate. Students need to know the background information that these kinds of stories provide to understand the metaphor-laden speech and imagery that every native speaker uses all the time—up to six [...]