Show-Me Conference
Professional Development Day
World Languages
Eugene High School
September 4, 2009
Wendy Brownell, Spanish Teacher
Camdenton High School
wbrownell@camdentonschools.org
www.chsspanish.com
VISUALS IN THE WLOE CLASSROOM
Visuals are a good tool for providing students with comprehensible input that is vital for
language learning (Krashen, Vygotsky, Halliday). Visuals can be used as speaking or writing
prompts so that students are producing needed output (Swain). They can also be used to
teach culture in the target language. Visuals can be a scene from a textbook, a photo,
realia, an artwork, a cartoon, or even a video clip. Visuals are a good way to stay for
teachers and students to stay in the TL and to keep the TL comprehensible to the
students. The following is a list of ideas for using visuals learned from conferences,
professional literature, on-line forums, and experience.
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Teacher has a visual displayed as students enter the classroom in order to stimulate
students' interest in the day's lesson, such as photos of graffiti to accompany a
Scholastic magazine article or a music video featuring soccer for a sports lesson.
Teacher uses a visual to talk with the students in the target language (TL) in order to
introduce new topics or structures.
Teacher asks students questions in the TL about the visual, from simple yes/no and
either/or to short-answer and open-ended questions. The questions can focus on
current vocabulary and grammar as well as review previous-learned vocabulary and
grammar.
Culture lessons can come from visuals. For example, students can learn about the
concept “tooth mouse” by watching a movie trailer for a children's movie from Spain.
In this case, the audio in the clip is not the main focus of the activity. In another
example, students can learn about the role of the plaza in Hispanic towns by studying
photos of plazas from the Internet.
Teacher asks students to talk with a partner in TL about what they see in the visual.
For example, students practice family vocabulary and review clothing and physical
characteristics by describing families in works of art produced by Hispanic artists. To
practice making questions in the TL, particularly with question words, the teacher can
ask students to write questions about the visual, which they will then ask to a partner,
and the partner will answer.
Students can use the visual to create a written or oral dialog between characters in
the visual or that takes place in the location shown in the visual, write a personal
reaction to or an interpretation of a visual, write a postcard, newspaper article based
on the visual, etc.
A series of visuals can be used in a cooperative learning activity called blind
sequencing¹. They can also be used to illustrate a Gouin series².
The teacher can help students to comprehend the TL that is spoken in relation to the
visual by activating prior knowledge in a previewing activity, having an activity during
viewing such as a graphic organizer (Venn diagram, for example), and a post-viewing
activity that ties everything together, which could be an in-class activity, homework, or
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a performance assessment.
Frequent comprehension checks are important during the course of the lesson in the
TL so that no one gets left behind. These are specific questions to specific people, not
just “Does everyone understand?”
¹blind sequencing and other cooperative learning activities:
http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/Departments/OEI/Rojas%20Kagan%2056%20coop%20str
uctures.pdf
²Gouin series:
http://www.pmsd.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=08fZzLcTkHk%3D&tabid=730&mid=1393\
Drawings:
textbook overhead transparencies
RESOURCES
Photos:
textbook photos
www.google.es/imghp (Spanish)
www.google.fr/imghp (French)
www.flickr.com
Realia:
items from travels can be scanned or photocopied for all students to see
www.realiaproject.org
www.ielanguages.com/realia.html (French and German)
Video clips:
textbook videos
es.youtube.com (Spanish)
www.teachertube.com/channel_detail.php?chid=64
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AUDIO AND VIDEO IN THE WLOE CLASSROOM
Sites for Audio and Video Clips
Spanish
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/siteindex.php
http://www.eslconnect.com/apspanish/listening/listeningpractice.html
http://www.ver-taal.com/
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/ontheline/spanish/esindex.htm
http://ssl4you.blogspot.com/ (see “lista de podcasts”)
http://www.audiria.com/capitulos.php
http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/newhorizons/search_eng.html
French:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/html/toc/07.html
http://www.espacefrancophone.org/home_en.html
Various Languages
http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/lm_collection.html
http://spanishpod.com/lessons
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/
http://dmc.ohiolink.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?page=index;c=forglv
Sites for Music
Spanish and French through song:
http://web.mac.com/sanferminuk/The_Lead_Practitioner_Blog/Music_in_Language_teachi
ng/Music_in_Language_teaching.html
Lessons using songs in Spanish:
http://www.elenet.org/canciones/
http://formespa.rediris.es/canciones/
Information about Latin music:
http://musica.aol.com/
http://www.batanga.com/es/
Sites with suggestions for using video in the classroom
http://lookingahead.heinle.com/cnn/frame.htm
http://www.pearsonlongman.com/teaching-tips/using-video.html
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FILMS IN THE WLOE CLASSROOM
Ideas for using films:
* MOVIE PROJECT (from Nora Shields, CHS)
1. Re-enact the movie in five minutes, providing a script.
2. Write a children’s book or comic book and read it to us.
3. Create a poem, a song, or rap and perform it.
4. Write an essay and read it aloud.
5. Draw a concept map or flow chart and discuss in writing.
6. Draw a picture or pictures and discuss in writing.
7. Create a board game with trivia.
* Have students research cultural elements portrayed in the movie and present them to
the class.
* Create a journal from the perspective on one of the characters.
Links to film resources:
http://www.mflresources.org.uk/all_films.htm (French and German)
http://richtigerrich.lang-learn.us/ (Spanish film worksheets)
http://www.filmeducation.org/filmlibrary.html (study guides for films)
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/mfle/cinemaandmedia/dvds/index.asp (scroll down the page
to “DVDs featured on the MFLE” for film workbooks)
http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/SpanishFilm (Your username and password to gain access
to the Cine con Clase website are: spanishfilm and madrid.)
Movie reviews and other film-related information in Spanish:
http://www.labutaca.net/
http://www.elmulticine.com/criticas.php
http://www.muchocine.net/index.html
http://www.nomecuentespeliculas.com/
http://www.precriticas.com/
http://www.movisionary.com/
http://es.wordpress.com/tag/critica-de-peliculas/
http://www.elpais.com/cine/
http://www.hispanidad.com/criticas/cine.aspx
http://www.linkara.com/
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USEFUL WEBSITES
PACE Model for teaching grammar: http://www.cortland.edu/flteach/lessons/pace.html
Shrum & Glisan Model for listening and reading:
http://www.cortland.edu/flteach/lessons/S-G-model.html
National Capital Language Resource Center: http://nclrc.org/
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition: http://carla.acad.umn.edu/
Center for Applied Linguistics: http://www.cal.org/
Missouri Foreign Language Framework for Curriculum Development:
dese.mo.gov/divimprove/curriculum/Copy%20of%20frameworks/FLFrameworks.pdf
TECLA readings in Spanish: http://www.educacion.es/exterior/uk/es/tecla/tecla.shtml
Materiales magazine for Spanish teachers:
http://www.mec.es/sgci/usa/es/publicaciones/materiales/portada.shtml
World Language Assessment:
http://www.ecb.org/worldlanguageassessment/index.htm
SMARTBOARD LINKS
http://www.longwood.k12.ny.us/longsmart3.html
http://technology.usd259.org/resources/whiteboards/smartlessons/foreign_language_lessons.html
http://www.smart-education.org/?p=browse&cat=2&mat=6&sec=17
http://www.smart-education.org/?p=browse&cat=2&mat=6&sec=14
http://www.tulsaschools.org/employees/tr/SmartBoard.htm
http://www.lakelandschools.org/EDTECH/Smartboard/smart-files.htm
http://lynnreedy.com/smartres.htm
http://www.bridgeportisd.net/depts/tech/cit/henson/hs_dw_newweb/integ_sb_electives.
html
http://www.eduscapes.com/sessions/smartboard/#1
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE PROGRAM TO VIEW NOTEBOOK FILES:
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Support/Downloads/Notebook+IV/
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ACTIVITIES
DRY-ERASE GAME: Students are in groups of 3-4 by their seating arrangement. Each
group needs a dry-erase board, marker, and paper towel. I draw stairs on the board. Each
group chooses a magnet from my blue basket of magnets. I give a sentence in English that
practices as much vocabulary and grammar from a given etapa as possible. I also like to
throw in vocab and grammar from previous etapas. Students write the translation on their
boards. When all are finished, I ask to see the sentences, and then I move the magnets of
all correct groups up one stair. I have tried to think of ways to make each student
responsible, but the thing that I do now is remind students to take turns writing the
sentences. Students like this game. You need about 20 minutes for a good game, so if you
have less than that, you can do board races or the translation game.
TRANSLATION GAME: Some students don’t care much for this game, but it is good when
there is only 10 minutes left and you don’t want to start another activity. The first person
in each row takes out a scrap of paper. You give a sentence in English and each person
writes one or two words of the sentence in Spanish on the paper then passes it back.
Every person in the row should write at least one word. When the sentence is finished,
the row must hold up the paper, not their hands. If they are still writing or bring the
paper down to write more, it does not count. The first row to hold up the paper and have
the sentence correct gets a point.
BOARD RACES: Either divide the class into teams or use the note cards they filled out on
the first day to randomly choose two people to go up to the board. In English, give them
something short to write, like a current vocabulary word or grammatical concept, that they
have to write in Spanish. The first person correct wins a point for the team or stays up
and goes against another student until he/she loses. I don’t do this activity very often
because only 2 students are engaged at a time.
TEAM GAMES WITH CARDS: Divide the room into two teams. Pass out the cards with
Spanish words on them to the teams. One team usually gets red cards and the other black.
Some students may have more than one card, but I don’t let any student have more than
two or three. You stand at the back of the room and read a sentence in English. The first
group to get the correct cards in the correct order gets a point.
MATAMOSCAS: Put the overhead on the projector and put a transparency of flies with
words in Spanish on the overhead. Divide the class into two teams. Call out a word in
English and the first person to swat it gets a point for his/her team. If they behave
inappropriately with the flyswatters, the game is immediately over.
CHECKERS: I have checker boards for various types of verbs. The students play using
normal rules for checkers, but they must conjugate the verb in the correct tense for the
square that they want to move to.
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TIC TAC TOE: I usually have the students work in groups of three, with one student
having the answer key and playing the winner. The two students who are playing play a
normal game of tic-tac-toe except that they must write the correct answer in the square
in order to put their X or O. The person with the answer key tells them whether or not
they are correct. If they are not correct, they do not get to put an X or O and that
square is still available.
GRAB GAME: I have packets of cards that practice vocabulary or grammar. I have
enough cards for kids to work with partners. Sometimes there are enough for each
student. The students can use the cards to like flashcards to quiz each other. Then they
spread them out between them for a game. I call a word in English and they try to grab it
in Spanish before their partner. Then I call in Spanish and they grab the English. They
like this game, but it can get loud. I have these games and other manipulative activities in
the black crates in my room.
BLIND SEQUENCING: Each group of 3-4 students has an envelope of pictures. Keeping
the pictures face down, they are distributed evenly among the group members. Each group
member looks at his/her pictures only, and describes each to the group in SPANISH.
Once every picture has been described to the group in Spanish, the group decides in which
order the pictures should go chronologically, STILL KEEPING THE PICTURES FACE
DOWN. Once the order is agreed upon, the pictures are turned face up to see whether or
not the order is correct. Pick someone from each group to describe pictures aloud in
Spanish.
SHOWDOWN: Students are in groups of 3-4. Each student has a scrap of paper,
folded in half. Teacher asks a question (such as, “What is the yo form of “tener” in
the preterite?”) and student writes response on paper without showing the other
students his/her answer. The teacher says “showdown” and the students compare
their answers with their group members. You can have them pick a score keeper
and keep track of how many times the entire group gets one correct.
TWINS: Each student gets a card with information on it. Students must question
other students about the information on their cards in order to find the person
with the exact same information. They may NOT show their cards to others, just
ask questions in Spanish. When they find their twin, they sit. It is a fairly quick
activity if you only have 3-5 pieces of information on each card.
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