"Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding". -- Stephen Krashen

"Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world".--Nelson Mandela


Spanish Resources

Teachers here is a list of websites that may prove to be lots of fun for your students and timesavers as well for you.  These websites allow students to practice verb tenses, grammar and vocabulary with built in quizzes and tests that are automatically graded for you!  The first website includes a teacher 
gradebook and Spanish vocabulary correlated to all of the major Spanish textbooks.
Click here for conjugation practice    


Click here for Spanish pronunciation, verb drills, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc.



Click here for Spanish vocabulary game


Spanish Vocabulary Fun!
Objective:  Students will play Spanish Bingo in order to translate new vocabulary


                   Los estudiantes jugaran Bingo espanol para traducir vocabulario nuevo 



Have you ever assigned vocabulary study for homework only to find that your students still haven't mastered the assigned vocabulary?  I am sure the answer to this question is a resounding "yes"!  Well, I have found that the answer to that problem is to play "Spanish Vocabulary Bingo" in class!! This is great for any parts of speech and is a great warm-up activity for any new lesson.  Create a Bingo board with 25 spaces, on  a sheet of paper and xerox one for each student as well as a few for yourself.  The center space is, of course, called "gratis".  Give the students a List of Words (Spanish) to be placed on the blank Bingo Boards. The positioning of the words is each student's preference.  Now read each word from the List of Words and state the English translation/s for each word to ensure that everyone has not only the correct English translation for each word but the same English translations/s for each word. Students will record the appropriate English translations as the teacher reads and translates.  The game then begins as the teacher or a student 
calls the words in English as students place a marker on the appropriate Spanish translation for each
word called.

The first person to call "Bingo" is the winner.  There may be more than one winner.  Teacher instructs the winner/s to read back the words in Spanish. Teacher has marked her List of Words with the words called for each round in a different color or teacher made code to certify that each student is actually a winner.  If correct, the student wins a "euro".  (Euros can be found online, printed on the computer, then enlarged and  xeroxed in large quantities for student rewards.)

Students can redeem each 5 point euro as bonus points on a test.  I set limitations on euro use as follows:
1.  Euros must be submitted with the test and not at any later time. (less headaches for the teacher)
2.  Euros are not replaced if lost.
3.  Euros are not valid toward Mid-Term Exams or Finals.
4.  Only (one) five point euro may be redeemed per test.
5.  Euros are not valid after May 15th of the school year.

Markers:  I collect enough pennies from a bank (my own money) for student
                 markers 
                Markers may be found at some "Dollar Stores". (round chips)
                I award a euro to those who distribute and collect markers.

Variations to the game:  Instead of always having students win by having a straight or vertical line,
vary the winning formation as follows: 
                          1.  The winner will form the letter "X" with his/her markers
                              (must reach from corner to corner of the Bingo Board)
                          2.  The letter "L", "T", "I", "N", etc.  (always reaching from
                                outside edges of the Bingo Board.)     
                          3.  Allow students who win a round to call the words for 
                                the next round. 
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Spanish Pre-Assessment that is Fast, Easy and Useful!

Looking for a Spanish Pre-Assessment Test that is not above the level of your students?  Usually the Spanish Pre-Assessment Tests that accompany our Spanish textbook series are so rigorous that they prove to be unfair to students.  I found a wonderful online Spanish Pre-Assessment Test that is appropriate for all levels of Spanish, including  native speakers and can be administered in less than a full class period. Each level tested is composed of 30 items. A student only continues to another level if s/he scores 70%.  The charm is that the computer scores the test, as well.  The test score places the student at one of three (3) levels as follows:
A1-A2     Basic User
B1-B2     Independent User
C1-C2     Proficient User
Click here for Spanish Pre-Assessment Test 

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Successful Seating for the World Language Classroom

Each year there are World Language students who are shy and try their best not to speak the target language and like to sit in the back of the classroom. We all know that this is every World Language teacher's nightmare!  Read what one Spanish teacher did. 
Don't let them hide
     In most high school classrooms, there are students who like to sit in the back.  To address this problem, Dawn Guerra, a Spanish teacher in Jacksonville, Arkansas developed a classroom set-up she calls the "aisled traffic light", so that all students have a green light to learning and aren't stuck at a metaphorical red light in the back of the room. 
     She arranges each side of her classroom with rows of desks angled toward the front, with only three or four desks per row and a wide center aisle that she can walk up and down during class.
     "With the large center aisle and my ease of movement up and down the classroom, no student is at the back," Guerra says.  "Even the kids in the last rows are still "green-lighted" by their location."

By Cindy Long, "NEA Today".

*This is a great strategy if you do not have a supersized class.
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Are you aware of the existence of the National Museum of Language?  Well, check this out!


 National Museum of Language
College Park, Md.

The purpose of the National Museum of Language is to promote a better understanding of language and its role in history, contemporary affairs and the future.  The website has online exhibits and podcasts of events.  This is a wonderful facility for field trips!

Click here for the website        http://www.languagemuseum.org/index.htm

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Maryland Field Trip and Teacher's Guide

The Maryland Field Trip and Teacher's Guide  is full of fantastic ideas to enhance educational field trips, fundraising projects, information to access homeschooling, great websites for teachers, and discounts for supplies.
Contact:  Charlotte@BaltimoresChild.com     Telephone:  410-467-0087


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Be a Global Leader. 
Pledge to take your school global.
World's Largest K-12 Social Learning Network
Choose a Project.  Find a Classroom. Collaborate!

  • Collaborate with classrooms in 200 countries
  • Give students safe and secure communication tools
  • Get resources from Smithsonian and National Geographic
  • Participate in Teacher Forums to communicate with other teachers
  • Community Media
  • International Baccalaureate resources
  • Replace pen pals with epals online using the target language
On a personal level, I give kudos to this website!  It is so secure that students and teachers once registered have to await approval from the site to begin utilization.  Applications are investigated for security purposes and that is just fine as we always want to keep our students secure online.  I knew that I was taking a group of Spanish high school students to Mexico and I wanted us to be able to visit a Mexican school.  I was already registered with epals.com so I located a teacher on their website in Acapulco.  Acapulco was our last stop in Mexico before returning home.  The teacher in Acapulco and I communicated on the epals website.  That provided security for both of us.  We planned a "cultural exchange".  Our visit to his school was so warm and sincere.  A bus was provided by his school to pick us up from our hotel.  We arrived at the school and a huge beautiful banner made by the students was hung at the entrance to the school.  It was given to us as a souvenir and today it hangs in our Multi Media Computer Lab.  Both groups of students engaged in a soccer game, lunch and conversation.  My students practiced their Spanish with the Mexican students and the Mexican students practiced their English with us.  While all of this was going on, the teachers conversed about all kinds of things from teacher resources to food and employment.  It is now three years later and we remain in contact.  I am now attempting to raise enough money for those students to visit the U. S.  Going global is a wonderful thing!

Click here for pictures of the cultural exchange:  http://teacherweb.com/MD/CharlesHerbertFlowersHighSchool/SenoraRichardson/gallery6.aspx

Check out epals by clicking here: http://www.epals.com/
You will be so glad you did!

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Special Education Reminders for Spanish Educators

  • Although a student may receive special education services, you as the Spanish Educator are also responsible for the implementation of a student's IEP
  • With your class roster/s in hand, seek out the Special Educator/Special Education Chair to identify the special education students who are scheduled to attend your class and ask for a copy of their IEP or IEP Summary Sheet.  This document will allow you to remain compliant and allow you to know key information about your students.
  • When unsure about what a SPED student needs ask the Special Educator/Special Education Chair for help and/or advice.
  • When collaboratively planning instruction, discuss with the special educator ways to implement  the curriculum that includes a special education student's IEP goals and objectives
  • When working with special educators, function as a team for the improvement of a child's academic needs.
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