A teacher on FB asked,
“Any suggestions on how to improve speaking Spanish in the classroom?
My co-worker and I are trying to come up with a good system. Any suggestion?”
Great and eternal question!. I have found that when I become a bean counter with student output it actually decreased their output because as soon as they had done their needed amount, they stopped.
Remember the story about the wind and sun having a bet about who could make the traveler loose his coat and the sun won?
Be the sun and drench your students with comprehensible input for every occasion in the classroom using transition videos. Soon they will be singing along, or imitating the announcer, in 30 second bursts every five minutes or so and soon it will be non-stop.
I have also found that teachers don’t give direct instruction on student-to-student interactions – yet expect them to create the language!
I explicitly teach 50 survival expressions including self-talk and speaking to one another.
I teach it all with music – and there is an added bonus – the music releases their endorphins making for a happier group and consequently even more Spanish is used. Here is a video of what I mean.
There are now over 100 videos!
Here is a template for your daily lesson.
Students need engaging comprehensible input and musical and visual comprehensible input speeds up the process!
All net proceeds from TpT go to three Venezuelan families.
Contact me at minutebyminutespanish@gmail.com if you have any further questions.
