Today we celebrated Dia de los Muertos (The day of the Dead) in class. Dia de los Muertos is a predominantly Mexican tradition (though it is also celebrated in some of the Northern Central American countries) in which people celebrate and pay tribute to their dead ancestors. Though the holiday is traditionally associated with Halloween it is actually a celebration that takes place over a number of days culminating on November second. During this time Mexicans partake in a number of events including cleaning and decorating the graves of their dead relatives, making and eating a number of traditional foods, and dressing up in costumes and holding festivals.
In class we began by having a short discussion of the roots of our celebration of Halloween, and then watched a video on the Day of the Dead celebration. We ended with a questionaire to help the students to better process the information in the film.
Tomorrow is my big day! The beginning of the unit that I will be teaching, which will last through November. I am really excited and a bit nervous. The book that we work with focuses on a different part of the Spanish speaking world each two chapters, and in this chapter we are headed to Mexico. Accordingly, after a bit of general transition work, tomorrow we will be learning about Mexico and hopefully get an opportunity to hear about the experiences of some off the students who have traveled there.
10.31.2006
10.28.2006
End of Ch. 3
This week we finished off Chapter 3. Monday we will have the chapter test. (We usually try not to test on Mondays, but it just worked out that way this time.)
We focused mostly on expressing needs and wants and also introduced numbers 30-100. The week was a bit crazy due to the cold season. I was absent on Tuesday and then had to step in for Lynette on Thursday, when she was sick. Several of the students are a bit under the weather as well, changing the energy level in class quite a bit. Hopefully everyone will get a lot of rest over the weekend and be ready to go for next week.
Monday we will test and Tuesday we will celebrate "El dia de los muertos" (a predominately Mexican tradition intended to honor those that have died).
On Wednesday we will start the section on Mexico, which I will be teaching. It will last until the beginning of December.
Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful autmn weather and getting rested!
We focused mostly on expressing needs and wants and also introduced numbers 30-100. The week was a bit crazy due to the cold season. I was absent on Tuesday and then had to step in for Lynette on Thursday, when she was sick. Several of the students are a bit under the weather as well, changing the energy level in class quite a bit. Hopefully everyone will get a lot of rest over the weekend and be ready to go for next week.
Monday we will test and Tuesday we will celebrate "El dia de los muertos" (a predominately Mexican tradition intended to honor those that have died).
On Wednesday we will start the section on Mexico, which I will be teaching. It will last until the beginning of December.
Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful autmn weather and getting rested!
10.23.2006
¡Vamos a leer!
Have you ever happened upon a magazine that had a really eye catching picture only to find out that it was written in Spanish? Well don't let language barriers stop you, Spanish has many cognates (words that are very similar in Spanish and English) that make deciphering it much easier than one might imagine. Examples include el arte, los colores, entratenameinto etc. Additionally, think of all of the things you can learn in a magazine just by looking at the pictures and making inferences.
This was what we did today in class. Using descriptions and pictures of magazine covers in our books, we made a list of all of the cognates and another list of all the words that we had already learned in Spanish. It is amazing how much students were able to understand after only a few months of Spanish.
We also introduced vocabulary and expressions from the third section of the Chapter which we began today. Tomorrow we will continue to practice this new information.
This was what we did today in class. Using descriptions and pictures of magazine covers in our books, we made a list of all of the cognates and another list of all the words that we had already learned in Spanish. It is amazing how much students were able to understand after only a few months of Spanish.
We also introduced vocabulary and expressions from the third section of the Chapter which we began today. Tomorrow we will continue to practice this new information.
10.21.2006
Classroom Expectations
Learning a language is a new experience for most of the students in our class. All students have had math, English, science etc. since the beginning of their educational experience, but most are studying language for the first time in our class. Consequently, we feel it is important to explain our expectations for the class, so that students will have a better idea of what it takes to succeed in Spanish.
In order to learn a new language, it is absolutely necessary that one practice it daily. It is for this reason that we place so much emphasis on participation in our classroom. Almost every day there is at least one partner activity in which students are asked to enter into a dialogue in Spanish and a number of other spoken, listening and written activities. In order for students to fully benefit from these activities they must pay careful attention to the directions provided and do them properly. Many of these activities come from students textbooks and workbooks, making it necessary that students come to class prepared with these, as well as a pen or pencil each day. We also encourage students to actively participate in whole class discussions, as all opinions are desired and welcome. We can almost guarantee that if students are willing to put in effort, they will be successful in our class and quickly acquire Spanish skills.
For these same reasons, it is vital that students attend class regularly, each time students miss a class session they miss several opportunities to hear Spanish spoken (the most important aspect of learning a new language) and to practice speaking, reading and writing it. Students with unexcused absences loose their participation points for the day and students who are tardy only receive partial credit.
Students have daily homework assignments which are listed on a monthly calendar which is distributed to them. Homework is also listed on the board each day and available on basmati. Consequently, late homework is often not accepted unless a student has an excused absence which may include an extracurricular event. We are, however, very flexible with students that actively attempt to change patterns of non-participation, and usually allow makeups in such cases. Our overall goal is that students learn Spanish, and we generally make this our first priority when making decisions about grading logistics.
We try to cultivate a feeling of community in our classroom, and consequently do not tolerate poor treatment of individuals. There is absolutely no excuse for discriminating against anyone based on ethnicity, 'race', sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, parental status, language ability, learning ability etc. We think that it is our responsibility as educators to prepare students to be positive contributors to society, and we do our best to cultivate in them a firm ethical foundation. We feel that this responsibility extends beyond the interpersonal level and immediate community, and attempt to create in our students a sense of global community.
Finally, we encourage open communication in the classroom. If any student or parent has a question, concern or comment they should feel free to contact us. Students are always welcomed to ask questions or voice concerns during class, at break, or at lunch, and can find Lynette and I in either the Foreign Language department or Lynette's office during first period and after lunch. Students also have Lynette's home phone number and are welcome to call her at home with questions about homework, notice of absences, etc. My contact information will also be available to the students beginning in November when I begin my unit.
In order to learn a new language, it is absolutely necessary that one practice it daily. It is for this reason that we place so much emphasis on participation in our classroom. Almost every day there is at least one partner activity in which students are asked to enter into a dialogue in Spanish and a number of other spoken, listening and written activities. In order for students to fully benefit from these activities they must pay careful attention to the directions provided and do them properly. Many of these activities come from students textbooks and workbooks, making it necessary that students come to class prepared with these, as well as a pen or pencil each day. We also encourage students to actively participate in whole class discussions, as all opinions are desired and welcome. We can almost guarantee that if students are willing to put in effort, they will be successful in our class and quickly acquire Spanish skills.
For these same reasons, it is vital that students attend class regularly, each time students miss a class session they miss several opportunities to hear Spanish spoken (the most important aspect of learning a new language) and to practice speaking, reading and writing it. Students with unexcused absences loose their participation points for the day and students who are tardy only receive partial credit.
Students have daily homework assignments which are listed on a monthly calendar which is distributed to them. Homework is also listed on the board each day and available on basmati. Consequently, late homework is often not accepted unless a student has an excused absence which may include an extracurricular event. We are, however, very flexible with students that actively attempt to change patterns of non-participation, and usually allow makeups in such cases. Our overall goal is that students learn Spanish, and we generally make this our first priority when making decisions about grading logistics.
We try to cultivate a feeling of community in our classroom, and consequently do not tolerate poor treatment of individuals. There is absolutely no excuse for discriminating against anyone based on ethnicity, 'race', sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, parental status, language ability, learning ability etc. We think that it is our responsibility as educators to prepare students to be positive contributors to society, and we do our best to cultivate in them a firm ethical foundation. We feel that this responsibility extends beyond the interpersonal level and immediate community, and attempt to create in our students a sense of global community.
Finally, we encourage open communication in the classroom. If any student or parent has a question, concern or comment they should feel free to contact us. Students are always welcomed to ask questions or voice concerns during class, at break, or at lunch, and can find Lynette and I in either the Foreign Language department or Lynette's office during first period and after lunch. Students also have Lynette's home phone number and are welcome to call her at home with questions about homework, notice of absences, etc. My contact information will also be available to the students beginning in November when I begin my unit.
quizzes and projects
Wow! What a crazy week! Well, while I was taking the day off Wednesday, most of the students were testing. Sorry guys :(. It sounds like everything went pretty well, though, and that there were some very interesting senior presentations.
Thursdays we spent some time reviewing for the quiz on Friday and Friday we took the quiz after a bit more review and a game. After going over the quizzes, I worry that somehow we are not doing a very good job about teaching certain concepts to the kids, though some are doing excellently, quite a few seem to be struggling a lot. We will continue to work on this as the semester progresses. I have found that working with students individually is very helpful, though that is often difficult as there are about 35 students in each class.
I spent last night and this morning grading projects, and really enjoyed seeing the students work. Though some students obviously put very little effort into the project, most did very well and some displayed amazing creativity. We will likely display these in the classroom after we hand them back for the students to review.
Monday we start the final section of the chapter and will be having our chapter exam at the end of the week. I will do my best to help students who are struggling to catch up, but encourage them to come to me when they feel they need help. I am available in the mornings, during fourth period in room 13 and at lunch. I can also make special arrangements for meetings if necessary. The success of my students is really important to me.
Hope everyone has a lovely weekend as autumn sets in.
Thursdays we spent some time reviewing for the quiz on Friday and Friday we took the quiz after a bit more review and a game. After going over the quizzes, I worry that somehow we are not doing a very good job about teaching certain concepts to the kids, though some are doing excellently, quite a few seem to be struggling a lot. We will continue to work on this as the semester progresses. I have found that working with students individually is very helpful, though that is often difficult as there are about 35 students in each class.
I spent last night and this morning grading projects, and really enjoyed seeing the students work. Though some students obviously put very little effort into the project, most did very well and some displayed amazing creativity. We will likely display these in the classroom after we hand them back for the students to review.
Monday we start the final section of the chapter and will be having our chapter exam at the end of the week. I will do my best to help students who are struggling to catch up, but encourage them to come to me when they feel they need help. I am available in the mornings, during fourth period in room 13 and at lunch. I can also make special arrangements for meetings if necessary. The success of my students is really important to me.
Hope everyone has a lovely weekend as autumn sets in.
10.17.2006
Bienvenidos
Welcome to my blog site! This site is intended to keep students, teachers, and any other interested individuals updated about what is occurring in Lynette Williams' Spanish I classes at South Eugene High School. I am working in her class this semester as a preservice teacher, and will use this page to keep everyone informed about what is happening in class each day and important events that will be occurring including tests, projects etc.
For those of you new to blogging, a blog is basically a simple website that is much easier to manage. My specific blog has a number of sections intended to provide you with information about Lynette and my Spanish I classes. You can easily navigate through these sections by clicking on their links in the right hand column of any page on the site.
In the "A bit about me..." section you will find a short biography explaining who I am and what I have been up to for the last few years, specifically concerning education. There is also a section explaining class expectations, which reiterates much of the information provided in the class syllabus and explained at the open house. The homework link will bring you to a page that lists the homework assignments due for the month, of which students also have a personal copy. "Today in class" is the main section of the blog, where I will post brief overviews of what we are doing in class each day.
You will also notice that at the end of each posting there is a link entitled comments. If you click here a page will open where you can leave comments about a specific post. But remember, everyone who has access to the blog will be able to read your comments, so please do not post personal information and please be appropriate.
I hope that you all enjoy the site! Let me know what you think.
projects in
Today projects were due. It was interesting to see the variety of "dormitoros ideales" (ideal dorms) that the students came up with. It was particularly fun to get to see the more artistic side of many of the students.
We are getting further into the content of section two of the chapter, which seems to be passing rapidly with the odd schedules of the past week. We are still learning to describe the contents of bedrooms and beginning to tackle more difficult topics such as verb conjugation. The students seem to be understanding the content well, but I we will have a better idea of overall comprehension after the quiz on Friday.
Tomorrow is a testing day, so there will be no classes.
We are getting further into the content of section two of the chapter, which seems to be passing rapidly with the odd schedules of the past week. We are still learning to describe the contents of bedrooms and beginning to tackle more difficult topics such as verb conjugation. The students seem to be understanding the content well, but I we will have a better idea of overall comprehension after the quiz on Friday.
Tomorrow is a testing day, so there will be no classes.
10.13.2006
First Project
What a crazy week! I have been sooo busy between working at South and attending my classes at the University that I am just not having time to do an update for Wednesday and Thursday. Sorry for the delay.
Wednesday was unfortunately a little slow. As it was the first day in a new section there was a lot of input (teacher lingo for teaching new information) which seemed to prove a little boring for the students. We will work to find a better way of beginning sections that are a bit more interactive.
Thursday, in contrast, went great. We did a lot of activities using the new information we had learned and got the kids up out of their desks to practice speaking Spanish with their classmates. There was lots of good energy and everyone seemed to be much more engaged than the had been the previous day. At the end of the day we presented a the first project of the year to the students. Each student is being asked to pretend that they are heading off to college, or moving into their firs apartment, and that they are being given the opportunity to design and decorate their room any way they like, with no economic restraints. The idea is that students will use the section vocabulary (furniture characteristic of a bedroom) to label the items they choose to put in their dorms or apartments, though they will also need to locate many words that the chapter does not provide them in order to Desirae their contents of their ideal dwelling. Many of the students seemed pretty excited about the project so I hope they have a lot of fun doing it. I will provide them with a good opportunity to develop their creativity, and hopefully allow us to see another side of our more artistic students.
As there is no school on Friday, the students will have extra time to work on the project, and we have also made it due on Tuesday, so that we can use Monday to answer any questions that they may have come up with over the weekend.
I cannot wait to see what they come up with!
Wednesday was unfortunately a little slow. As it was the first day in a new section there was a lot of input (teacher lingo for teaching new information) which seemed to prove a little boring for the students. We will work to find a better way of beginning sections that are a bit more interactive.
Thursday, in contrast, went great. We did a lot of activities using the new information we had learned and got the kids up out of their desks to practice speaking Spanish with their classmates. There was lots of good energy and everyone seemed to be much more engaged than the had been the previous day. At the end of the day we presented a the first project of the year to the students. Each student is being asked to pretend that they are heading off to college, or moving into their firs apartment, and that they are being given the opportunity to design and decorate their room any way they like, with no economic restraints. The idea is that students will use the section vocabulary (furniture characteristic of a bedroom) to label the items they choose to put in their dorms or apartments, though they will also need to locate many words that the chapter does not provide them in order to Desirae their contents of their ideal dwelling. Many of the students seemed pretty excited about the project so I hope they have a lot of fun doing it. I will provide them with a good opportunity to develop their creativity, and hopefully allow us to see another side of our more artistic students.
As there is no school on Friday, the students will have extra time to work on the project, and we have also made it due on Tuesday, so that we can use Monday to answer any questions that they may have come up with over the weekend.
I cannot wait to see what they come up with!
First Project
What a crazy week! I have been sooo busy between working at South and attending my classes at the University that I am just not having time to do an update for Wednesday and Thursday. Sorry for the delay.
Wednesday was unfortunately a little slow. As it was the first day in a new section there was a lot of input (teacher lingo for teaching new information) which seemed to prove a little boring for the students. We will work to find a better way of beginning sections that are a bit more interactive.
Thursday, in contrast, went great. We did a lot of activities using the new information we had learned and got the kids up out of their desks to practice speaking Spanish with their classmates. There was lots of good energy and everyone seemed to be much more engaged than the had been the previous day. At the end of the day we presented a the first project of the year to the students. Each student is being asked to pretend that they are heading off to college, or moving into their firs apartment, and that they are being given the opportunity to design and decorate their room any way they like, with no economic restraints. The idea is that students will use the section vocabulary (furniture characteristic of a bedroom) to label the items they choose to put in their dorms or apartments, though they will also need to locate many words that the chapter does not provide them in order to Desirae their contents of their ideal dwelling. Many of the students seemed pretty excited about the project so I hope they have a lot of fun doing it. I will provide them with a good opportunity to develop their creativity, and hopefully allow us to see another side of our more artistic students.
As there is no school on Friday, the students will have extra time to work on the project, and we have also made it due on Tuesday, so that we can use Monday to answer any questions that they may have come up with over the weekend.
I cannot wait to see what they come up with!
Wednesday was unfortunately a little slow. As it was the first day in a new section there was a lot of input (teacher lingo for teaching new information) which seemed to prove a little boring for the students. We will work to find a better way of beginning sections that are a bit more interactive.
Thursday, in contrast, went great. We did a lot of activities using the new information we had learned and got the kids up out of their desks to practice speaking Spanish with their classmates. There was lots of good energy and everyone seemed to be much more engaged than the had been the previous day. At the end of the day we presented a the first project of the year to the students. Each student is being asked to pretend that they are heading off to college, or moving into their firs apartment, and that they are being given the opportunity to design and decorate their room any way they like, with no economic restraints. The idea is that students will use the section vocabulary (furniture characteristic of a bedroom) to label the items they choose to put in their dorms or apartments, though they will also need to locate many words that the chapter does not provide them in order to Desirae their contents of their ideal dwelling. Many of the students seemed pretty excited about the project so I hope they have a lot of fun doing it. I will provide them with a good opportunity to develop their creativity, and hopefully allow us to see another side of our more artistic students.
As there is no school on Friday, the students will have extra time to work on the project, and we have also made it due on Tuesday, so that we can use Monday to answer any questions that they may have come up with over the weekend.
I cannot wait to see what they come up with!
10.10.2006
quiz day
Today we had a quiz on the first section of Chapter 2 which covers the information we reviewed yesterday (school supply vocab., indefinite articles, singular subject pronouns and the verbs, querer, necisitar and tener). We spent the first part of class doing activities to review the information to be covered on the quiz and then spend about fifteen minutes on the quiz. I'm hoping everyone is getting more comfortable with the quiz format and the idea of a new language and scores will be good. Our primary concern is that the students are learning Spanish, and the quiz will provide us with a chance to see if the students are comprehending what we have been covering and what we need to clarify. Also, we will have a better idea of what particular students are and are not understanding.
Tomorrow we begin section 2! We are currently working on designing a project to bring the content of this section to life.
Tomorrow we begin section 2! We are currently working on designing a project to bring the content of this section to life.
10.09.2006
New Seats!
We began class today by placing students in a new seating arrangement. We (my cooperating teacher Lynette and I) feel that it is important for students to have new partners every few weeks so that they become comfortable speaking Spanish to a variety of individuals and gain confidence in their communicative skills. The new arrangement seemed to work well.
After we settled in to our new seats we began to reviewed for the quiz over the first section of Chapter 2 that we will have at the end of class tomorrow. We began by going over the section's vocabulary which focuses on school supplies. We then practiced using the verbs "necesitar" (to need), "querer" (to need), and "tener" (to have) as well as the indefinite articles un, una, unos and unas, (a, and and some in English) and discussed the need for gender and plurality agreement between Spanish nouns and indefinite articles. Throughout the class we did a number of written, listening and partner activities giving the students an opportunity to practice the concepts that we discussed.
Tomorrow we will review key concepts that will be covered on the quiz again and attempt to clear up and fuzzy areas.
After we settled in to our new seats we began to reviewed for the quiz over the first section of Chapter 2 that we will have at the end of class tomorrow. We began by going over the section's vocabulary which focuses on school supplies. We then practiced using the verbs "necesitar" (to need), "querer" (to need), and "tener" (to have) as well as the indefinite articles un, una, unos and unas, (a, and and some in English) and discussed the need for gender and plurality agreement between Spanish nouns and indefinite articles. Throughout the class we did a number of written, listening and partner activities giving the students an opportunity to practice the concepts that we discussed.
Tomorrow we will review key concepts that will be covered on the quiz again and attempt to clear up and fuzzy areas.
10.06.2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)