End of the Year Student Survey for World Language Teachers
Elon Musk once said, “Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.” Without being open to change, our classrooms could be headed toward disaster mode! Imagine teaching the exact same lessons, with the exact same materials, year after year after year. You don’t make any modifications for […]
Combining Three Modes of Communication
Well we made it to part 5 of the 5 part blog! Now that I’ve outlined the best ways to create and implement interpretive, presentational, and interpersonal tasks, how do we combine them? My favorite and I think the best idea: Integrated Performance Assessments. It is a 3 part test based on an authentic prompt […]
How to Easily Teach and Assess Presentational Communication in World Languages
Presentational communication is just one of the three modes of communication that world language teachers must teach and assess. We are also responsible for teaching interpretive and interpersonal communication skills. This is part 3 of the 5 part blog series on “The 3 Modes of Communication” where I explain in-depth each of the modes of […]
How to Find and Create Authentic Interpretive Tasks for Spanish Class
This is part two of a five part blog series teaching you all about the three modes of communication: interpretive, interpersonal, and presentation. Interpretive tasks assess a student’s ability to interpret and understand a written text or audio. Finding authentic and comprehensible interpretive resources in the target language can be challenging. Keep reading to learn […]
How to Teach Spanish with the 3 Modes of Communication
We all hear so much about the “communicative method” of second language teaching. The 3 modes of communication: Interpretive, Presentational, and Interpersonal are three words that are constantly used in the world language field. They are the basis of our standards from ACTFL. But what exactly are they and more importantly how do we incorporate […]
The New and Improved “PowerPoint Project”
Are you tired of getting the same types of projects from students – PowerPoints, posters, and essays? It can be boring to grade and even boring for our students to make. Here is a great idea to liven up your classroom and promote your students’ creativity: the infographic project! Here are 3 reasons why I […]
The New and Improved “PowerPoint Project”
Are you tired of getting the same types of projects from students – PowerPoints, posters, and essays? It can be boring to grade and even boring for our students to make. Here is a great idea to liven up your classroom and promote your students’ creativity: the infographic project! Here are 3 reasons why I […]
5 Interpersonal Activities for the World Language Classroom
Using the communicative mode in a world language classroom requires coming up with many authentic activities for our students to use the target language. For me, designing interpretive and presentational assessments and activities is not as hard as coming up with new and innovative interpersonal activities. So, I will share with you some alternate interpersonal […]
What is an Integrated Performance Assessment and Should I Use it in Spanish Class?
In the education field, there are so many abbreviations that our heads are spinning, but IPA is definitely one you want to know and remember. The Integrated Performance Assessment allows teachers to assess language students’ proficiency. They demonstrate practical knowledge and use of all 3 communicative modes in the target language. As most world language […]