Minute by Minute Spanish

Spanish Lessons

The Best Way to Start Spanish Class Each Day

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Musical Bell Ringer Activities Give You Grace to Take Care of Administrative Issues

As we head back to our classrooms, it is time to decide the best way to start our language class.

It really depends on our schedule because the year we teach the same class three times a day in the same room without having to share it with another teacher is very different from the year we are moving room to room or switching subjects/languages that we teach.

With the former, I play the “day of the week” song so that as students walk in they are switching to their target language and commenting on their reaction to it being Friday or Tuesday using the words in the song to express themselves.

 

 

I have it and my lesson in a daily slide show and all songs play as soon as I click to the next slide. I use a remote presentation device for this – I can be out in the hall doing this and the slide will change!

This remote will change lives!
This remote will free you to walk around the room and stand strategically behind challenging students. It changes lives!

When I am ready to start class, I use my remote clicker to play the count down song and students enjoy counting down as everyone must be seated before it ends.

I click into the class greetings slides with the daily calendar video and taking attendance routine video. And we are off! This routine works so well that teachers in six other languages have adapted them and are also available – see below.

But when I float or am switching gears from teaching a different subject and need a few extra minutes, then my students know to take out their weekly “bellringer” sheets, or open to them on their Google Drives.

I have six kinds of “bellringer” and they all involve music. Students are listening to a native speaker while I take care of administrative tasks.

  1. Encourage upper level thinking about analyzing pictures from Spanish-speaking countries while playing the “Lo veo, lo pienso, me pregunto” video. (Spanish 1 second semester, Spanish 2, Spanish 3, Spanish 4)
  2. Encourage the reading of question words in the five prompts as they look at the lush picture and answer the questions in the target language while playing the Question Song. (Spanish 2)
  3. Help Spanish One students to learn 50 chunks of survival vocabulary sung by a native speaker. (Spanish 1)
  4. Expand students’ writing skills with transition video. (Second semester Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Spanish 3, Spanish 4)
  5. Expand students’ oral fluidity by learning rejoinders. (all levels)
  6. Expand students’ greetings repertoire.

_1_Instructional Video – Lo veo – Paper from ellen shrager on Vimeo.

Spanish Two Pre-Class Bellringers with level1 Questions 10 weeks low prep from ellen shrager on Vimeo.

 


Students feel safe when they know what to do but are curious as to which picture will be used today. It is the right blend of routine and innovation. Give yourself a bit of grace starting each class with one of these and not stress about taking care of your administrative tasks while the students are engaged.

Spanish Rejoinders Replicas Musical Video from ellen shrager on Vimeo.

Spanish AP Upper Level Writing Transition Words from ellen shrager on Vimeo.

4-saludos-y-hola2 from ellen shrager on Vimeo.

Students feel safe when they know what to do but are curious as to which picture will be used today. It is the right blend of routine and innovation. Give yourself a bit of grace starting each class with one of these and not stress about taking care of your administrative tasks while the students are engaged.

 

 

 

 

These videos are available in other languages.

Click here for English Videos

 

Click here for French Videos

 

Click here for German videos

Click here for Italian videos.

Click here for Mandarin videos

 

Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!
Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!

Beyond Chants in the World Language Classroom: 3 Steps to Move from Advanced to Master Teacher

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Stimulate more sense beyond chants in the World Language Classroom with transition videos.
Go to the next level of classroom management past chants with transition videos – you and your students will be glad you did!

 

 

Congratulations.  Regardless of the actual number of years teaching, you are an advanced teacher if you use chants and claps for transitions to manage your classroom.

Are you ready to go to the next level?

Here are the three steps to follow to move from being an advanced classroom manager to a master classroom manager.

Three Steps:

1. Make a slide for each activity in today’s lesson — make it appealing and useful.  (for more ideas, read  The World Language Daily Tech Guide)

2. Insert one of my brief 50+ transition videos before the slide and train your students to watch the video in Spanish. Soon they are imitating the voice over or else singing the song. Do this every day and when you are observed by your administrators they will note your seamless transitions.  You will notice that the students stay in the target language and that the expressions in the videos just fall from your students’ mouths appropriately in other scenarios!  Even my level one students are spontaneously contributing these expressions at appropriate times!

3. Buy a remote presentation device or wireless mouse and click to the next slide from any part of the room so you can stand close to students who struggle to behave.

 

Here are the basic 21 videos for transitions:

 

More Transitions:

Kahoot

Quizlet

Sacar las Computadoras

Click here for another thirty videos!

 

Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!
Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!

“What are your best classroom resources for Spanish 1 first time taking Spanish?”

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Tee Denombre asked this  great question on the FB page “Spanish Teachers in the US.”

My students respond to compelling Comprehensible Input – especially audio that is supported with a strong visual.

Picture4 Picture10Students (and their parents!) can pull out phrases from a song months after I have played it in class as part of my “song of the week” series.  Music seems to attach to the long-term memory fairly easily but I have noticed that many of my students recently seen to just latch on to the chorus while previously students would latch on to the whole song.

Is this a direct correlation to their social media connections being so brief? Picture14

I don’t know but this year I started to make brief transition videos and they are ‘sticky’ —  students can go through a class and sing the 30 – 60 seconds songs and voice overs for as many as eight transitions.

I’ve also noticed that they work the vocabulary into their conversations in Spanish in class.  For example, my seventh graders sing the “Saquen la tarea” song while taking out their homework and really punch the ‘ya’ at the end.  Then they start to use it in class – spontaneously.Picture12

A chance encounter with some Venezuelans looking for work as musicians started the idea of having native speakers perform these songs and now we are rolling out this series of over 50 transitions on TPT.

Picture6

How do you get started?   Use a remote mouse or presentation device so you can click from anywhere in the room.  Make an outline of your lesson, insert a slide for each activity, and then insert a Spanish Transition Video to introduce it.

Soon your students will be trained to use Spanish even for those challenging transitions – you may be surprised that certain students usually looking for opportunities to get off task instead are watching and participating in the Picture9music!

Below  is a sampling of some of the transition videos.

If you are looking for Picture2

fun resources that stick in students’ brains and pop out spontaneously,

resources to help you and them stay in the target language,

resources to improve classroom behavior and make  your class more fun,

then  look below and pick the ones that match your teaching style.  Fifteen are available this week with the rest be completed this summer.

 

 

 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ PREVIEW VIDEO CLIP ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Feliz Lunes – Start the week off thinking in Spanish

Al Principio de la Clase – train students to stop talking when the video ends.

Saquen la Tarea – after a few days it will be easier to do this in Spanish than English

Sesenta Saludos – Take attendance while students try a new one each day.

Las Noticias Internacionales – perfect introduction to daily headline reading

Repaso Diario – Great intro to daily review

Grupos de Dos – Students learn how to get together with their partner without using English!

¡Vamos a Jugar charadas!

La Cultura – Fascinating way to remind students of all of the elements of culture!

¡Que desorden, Señor! – Clever and Colorful reminder to clean up room!

Adiós Libros – Perfect Transition to Clearing Desks for Assessment

Perfect Transition to New Song by showing 10 genres of music sung in Spanish

Saco Mi Agenda – Students will soon be singing along and writing down their homework.

Querido Viernes – The perfect pack-up for the weekends song that has students singing in Spanish all weekend.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ If you have an idea for a song or transition video contact me and maybe we can make one for you! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 

Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!
Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!

New Spanish Teacher Landmines!

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New teachers need to infuse their classes with their latest innovation techniques while being respectful of the experience of their colleagues.

Too late, many new teachers overlook the importance of investing time with other members of their department and getting to know all of the support staff.  It has become such a problem that I added a new chapter to my latest edition of Teacher Dialogues.  New teachers come with fresh and innovative ideas and many tend to discount the value of experience and collegiality with everyone in the building, not just their texting buds.

Experienced teachers will prevent you from having endless meetings with unhappy parents, lend you their version of a video when yours is scratched, and use the photocopying machine well in advance of their classes so that as new teachers rush in with the day’s handouts they can use the machine without waiting in line.  Balancing being a valued and respected member of your department with being an innovate teacher is a concern for this teacher:

Hola a todos. I need an advice! I will be starting my first job next year. It is Spanish 1A in a middle school where I substituted the last trimester of 2016-2017. I know the staff and school and I love it. I want to have an immersion class next year. However, most of the high school teachers follow the textbook and are grammar drive. They want me to teach ch.1-4 Avancemos. As a new teacher I do not know if I should follow them or what I think is the best for them, even if they disagree with me). Y es que no quiero los roces desde tan pronto, si saben a que me refiero.

Any advice about immersion classes, and staying in the target language at least 90% of the time. Where can I learn more about immersion languages programas for secondary education ?

My reply:

Welcome to the most rewarding profession!  I have a really good sense that you are going to be one of those wonderful teachers students remembered fondly because you are wise enough to seek advice from veteran teachers!  Over my 30 years, I have noticed that the best teachers honestly analyze what they do, seek advice from veterans, admit mistakes, and try new things.

I run my 7th grade classes as 90% target language classes and I think that is what you want to do as well!  For me, immersion means bilingual and I have no expertise with that.  The key to running a 90% target language class is to have everything be 100% compelling and engaging.  The best way to do this is to create a daily tech guide and use direct instruction for Survival Phrases.  Many people have their handouts and posters for these expressions – but my 50 are put to music that enters their brains like nothing else I have seen!

 

Every day I create a flipchart with our activities and musical transitions.  You can, too!  And you can teach what is expected of you so that you fit into your department.  Be circumspect. Let your colleagues come to you about what you do rather than flouting it to them.  Because not only are you paid to teach, but also to be a supportive colleague.  Even when your students make comments about how much they love the transition videos and the music, and that other students are jealous they don’t have your, be circumspect.   If you can  teach what they require and quietly do it with your flipcharts, you will be successful and rehired.

You can download the first day’s flip chart and watch videos of the first week, here

If you feel that this fits your teaching style, let me know and I’ll be glad to help you.  Welcome to the profession, I’m so delighted to be your colleague.

 

 

 

Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!
Thanks for Visiting For the Minute by Minute Spanish!