Teacher Training

I’LL BE IN COLOMBIA THIS SUMMER!

By |2024-11-12T16:03:41-07:00November 12th, 2024|

I've been invited by Experiencia Colombia to train Spanish teachers from the U.S. in Colombia in the summer of 2025. We'll be in the charming mountain town of Bochalema. Trust me, this is an experience you won't want to miss. Click here for more information. I've been there before [...]

Introducing the Subjunctive with a Story

By |2023-01-18T19:34:25-07:00January 18th, 2023|

NOTE:  This is from a unit that teaches the subjunctive with a story-based approach and compelling comprehensible input. You can get the entire unit here. The example in from a Spanish 3 class, but the principles apply to any language and any level. FOCUS STRUCTURE:         quiere que vaya [...]

THOSE ARE SOME GOOD QUESTIONS

By |2021-11-07T07:57:07-07:00November 7th, 2021|

I was invited to be a guest lecturer for two sessions in the EDUC-462-001: Methods and Assessment in Teaching Languages class at Colorado State University. It was a mix of graduate and undergraduate students. All were either teaching college language courses or doing student teaching at the secondary level [...]

STORY IDEA USING DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS

By |2021-06-16T17:31:32-06:00June 16th, 2021|

Here is an idea that will work if your curriculum demands you explicitly teach direct object pronouns: tell an interesting story that requires DOP's. Here's the outline of one that will work: Somebody sees something that another person doesn’t and they both get frustrated. It would be even better [...]

MANIAC: A Useful Acronym to Remember Krashen’s Hypotheses

By |2021-06-11T17:39:13-06:00June 11th, 2021|

MANIAC: Krashen's 6 Hypotheses is a document that will help you to remember the core ideas of comprehension-based teaching. MANIAC is an acronym that will help you to remember six of Dr. Stephen Krashen's hypotheses about language acquisition, and how they can be applied in the classroom. I chose maniac [...]

TOO OFTEN, IMMERSION DOESN’T WORK THE WAY WE WANT

By |2020-08-25T17:56:23-06:00August 20th, 2020|

Teaching with comprehensible input (98%) with occasional translation makes sense because students don’t acquire language from incomprehensible input. Many world language instructors are attracted to input-based teaching. They get that students cannot acquire language unless they hear it. So far, so good. That makes sense. So, they try to [...]

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