How to Get More Out of Your Lessons
Real talk: the planning for my Spanish Class this year has been INSANE. No matter what situation you are teaching through right now, I think we are all feeling the stress of the planning. What if I told you that you could plan less and get more out of simple lessons? You can!
This year, we are fighting the clock. We always fight for time every year, but this year we are fighting a different kind of time: more restrictions yet the same curriculum.
It’s important to step back and re-examine our teaching. Is it more important to rush through the content just to say we covered ten units this year OR is it more important to develop language skills?
I think we can all agree that language skills are where it’s at! Our students can navigate unknown topics if they are confident in their core communication skills.
Ok…what about my planning?!
Before you re-examine your planning and begin to simplify, it’s important to understand that you may not cover as much material as you have in the past. I will also tell you that it’s ok. If your students leave your class with the power to communicate their thoughts, feelings, and opinions confidently, it will not matter that you did not spend a week talking about hotel vocabulary or indirect object pronouns.
Let’s take vocabulary for example. What’s better? A HUGE list of words that students never really know but have been exposed to OR a smaller list of words that students really know and can apply? The smaller list. Always.
The key here is: application. Sometimes we feel as if our students are bored with the vocabulary or know it because they have seen it three times. That is not always the case. They need practice. They need opportunities to use the vocabulary in authentic situations.
So, how can we use this to simplify our lives? We have to repeat, re-use, and give time. Repeat, re-use, give time.
I LOVE using Task Cards to practice vocabulary-I make one set and reuse with a bunch of different activities. You can learn more about that here.
Let’s say you find a great level appropriate video about your topic. Typically, we show it one or two times, then assess with questioning or interpretive response. Then, on to the next thing.
Stick with that video…let’s drag it out.
Here are 10 activities to simplify your planning in your Spanish Class:
- Play without sound- ask students to write down key vocabulary (in Spanish) for what they have seen
- Play without sound- ask students to write 3-4 sentences telling a story about what they have seen
- Play with sound- write down five words that you know from the video
- Play with sound & pause after 30 seconds- start questioning in Spanis- what is happening? Who are the people? What do you think will happen next?
- Play with sound and ask students to fill out a KWL chart- what do they know about this topic? What do they want to know about this topic? What have they learned about this topic? (fill in this last one after your lesson)
- Play video with audio and no visual- ask students to draw a picture to represent what they have heard
- Play video with audio and no visual. Pause the video after 30 seconds and question students- what is happening? Who are the people? What do you think they look like? What do you think will happen next?
- After playing the video, ask students what they think will happen next
- After showing the video, ask students to answer: who, what, where, when, why, how about what they just saw
- After showing the video, ask students to illustrate a scene that stuck out to them and then write 2-3 sentences about the scene and why they chose it
Finding quality resources for our students (that are level appropriate and school appropriate) is challenging. Why do MORE work? Our students need repetition to continue to grow along the proficiency scale.
So, you have my permission to STOP looking for new resources to use every single day. Get one great resource and use it multiple times this week. Take some of this insane workload off your plate while helping your students grow in their language acquisition.
Another amazing post on this topic comes from Lisa @ LaMaestraMcH. Check out her post on even more extension activities for your classes.
