One of the shortest but most useful sayings by legendary French teacher Susan Gross, is, “Shelter vocabulary, not grammar.” It is important to teach and use verbs as vocabulary, rather than as drilled formulas. When the sound/meaning pair is different, verbs may need to be presented explicitly—but this is [...]
Regina, a teacher that attended one of my BER seminars last year, is using Special Person interviews in her Spanish 1 and Spanish 3 classes. She has some implementation questions: Hi Regina, These are good questions. For more information, look on the Special Person Interviews section on the Free [...]
Lee, a teacher I coached for 15 sessions last year, now has a new job. Here's what he's dealing with: I have a new a job teaching at a relatively small school. The curriculum is grammar-based, but the principal is open to modifications. My question is—how does a teacher [...]
(Download this as a pdf here.) Showing approval and giving positive feedback are important skills for teachers. Students cannot get too much praise. It is a way to engage and connect that is often overlooked. Students also need to learn how to praise and encourage one another. There is [...]
Start your students off right by teaching them effective reading strategies with these bookmarks. Download the bookmarks here to hand out to your students. They will remind kids how to read in another language: Just keep reading. Too many language learners stop to look up every unknown word. Terrible [...]
"Passwords" stick with students long term. Check this out: I ran into a couple of students the other night. Both were boys that were in my Latin class last year and will be entering sixth grade this fall. They excitedly asked me if I had seen the presidential debate. [...]