Brain Breaks

PALINDROME DAY

By |2025-02-15T11:03:46-07:00February 14th, 2025|

Palindromes are words or phrases that read the same from left to right and from right to left. They are an ancient and impressive form of word play and occur in most languages. Palindromes are fun brain teasers for language students. My students like them because they are both [...]

TRADITIONAL SONGS IN SPANISH

By |2023-09-03T14:50:43-06:00August 16th, 2023|

Here is the set list for the gig at Backyard Tap in Loveland. I sang Spanish songs with professional musicians Dave Kaufman and Roy Berliner for an hour, and then folk and light rock songs in English. Great fun! We sang a compilation of traditional songs in Spanish that [...]

Celebrate and Explain Cinco de Mayo

By |2023-05-01T17:37:53-06:00May 1st, 2023|

SONGS FOR CINCO DE MAYO This is a set of 11 traditional Mexican songs—lasting favorites that will not go out of style in 2 weeks. The songs are in Spanish, with English translations and colorful graphics, and there are historical and cultural notes in English for each song. You [...]

PALINDROMES!

By |2024-03-02T10:44:09-07:00February 24th, 2022|

This is palindrome week. Every date from 2/20/22 to 2/28/22 is a palindrome - it reads the same backwards and forwards. Have you ever tried using palindromes with your Spanish students? A couple of well-known palindromes in English are race car and Madam, I'm Adam. Here are some SPANISH [...]

Brain Breaks with Numbers & Pi Day

By |2022-02-26T10:51:09-07:00February 22nd, 2022|

Numbers Brain Breaks World language students often need help with numbers. Numbers are useful, but they are abstract and many are not high frequency, plus teachers do not always incorporate numbers into lessons. So students begin to forget them. I hate it when level 2, or even 3, students [...]

Hansel & Gretel: Activate the Interpretive Mode

By |2021-08-21T19:59:08-06:00August 21st, 2021|

This is the perfect unit for when the teacher is out of the classroom for a few days: It delivers comprehensible input, it gives students a concrete task, it is multi-level, and the accountability is built in. Plus, the sub doesn't need to know the language or how to [...]

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