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Timed Writing. This is our 3rd timed writing of the year for my level 1 kids. Last week the average word count for this class was 20 in 5 mins. Kids can retell the class story or come up with their own but they have to write in Spanish the whole time.

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Using textbooks

I’m guilty. For many years I let the text book determine when and what (and how, sometimes) I would teach. I threw in some fun projects here and there but for the most part, the text was my bread and butter. Last year, I ran into some former students (who are now nearing their late 20’s) and they gushed about how much they loved my class but that they couldn’t remember anything. *Thanks, I guess?* This is a phrase that I fear many foreign language teachers hear. So I decided that I needed to try something different. In my mailbox I came across a flyer for Blaine Ray’s TPRS workshops and the annual conference just so happened to be in Dallas. To make a long story short, it blew my mind. Last year was my first year without vocabulary lists and book work. I still cover the same concepts as the rest of my level 1 counterparts in the district but I use story telling, acting, and reading to get my students to acquire language. They can write silly stories 6 weeks into the school year! No, they’re not grammatically correct all the time, but they’re still learning. My goal with this tumblr is to share a little bit of what we do in my class. I’m definitely not an expert with comprehensible input and TPRS but it is so true when the coaches tell you that a bad TPRS day is still better than a textbook. Kids don’t like textbooks. They’re boring. They have no basis for real world activities. 96% of students won’t remember 10% of the vocab list you give them to do. (But give them music. Kids dig real music.)

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Helpful review of when to use ser & estar

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Helpful words for story telling

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Additional structures and vocab (first 6 weeks of level 1)

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Main structures for the last 2 weeks (level 1)