When you ask kids "why are you taking a language" there's one answer that prevails. Apart from the "it looks good for colleges" or "it's a graduation requirement" if you get down to it they'll tell you that they want to speak the language.
It sounds like such a simple thing. You take Spanish so you can...speak Spanish. But for years our classes have been English with some target language thrown in there for a speaking activity or to practice grammar or vocabulary. What we should be aiming for is what ACTFL's goal of 90% target language usage in class. That means that 90% of your 1 hour class should be in the language from both the teacher and from the students. For teachers, it's pretty straightforward because most of us speak the language with colleagues or other speakers of the language. The problem is making our language comprehensible to our learners. For students, this can be tough because they are going from their English speaking lives to now an environment where the target language is the focus. Here are a few tips for helping the teacher speak in the target language. 1. Use visuals, images and gestures- When transitioning to speaking all Spanish you have to choose your words carefully. If you spoke with your Spanish 2 students like you did with a native speaker in Costa Rica they would look at you like you're insane. So what we have to do is at each level (including level 1) use high frequency vocabulary words, pictures/visuals to support what we're talking about and gestures as well. So for example, I could say the word "escuela" or I could put a picture of a school on the board and point to it as I say the word. 2. Build strategies for yourself and your students- Making a word wall is a great way to put words around the room where students can access them or putting important phrases up so that you can use them, reference them and assure they know what they mean. 3. Choose your 10% carefully- So if you're teaching 90% in the target language, you have 10% of your class that you're speaking in English. That means you CAN use English at certain points. The most common uses of language include:
Here are a few tips for helping students speak in the target language. 1. Start Small- It's hard to expect kids to instantly start speaking the language as soon as you make the switch. So, what I've found is starting by giving a certain time challenge of how long they can speak in Spanish. So saying "ok we're going to try going 15 minutes with No English" and see if they can do it. Keep that up and as they get good at it, push them to do 20 minutes with no English. And 25 minutes. And eventually you'll hit the 90% goal. 2. Make It A Game- Once kids are invested, there are a ton of games you can do to make it less of a chore and more fun. A few examples include:
3. Give Students The Words They Need- If you are expecting them to speak in the target language, there are a ton of words they don't know. Create a space where they can access the words they might need. Some people use chat mats where they give all the words they could use for the unit or for the task, a list of expressions they can use in conversations or to interpret a resource, a word wall with thematic words, a personal dictionary that they keep track of, a thematic vocabulary list based on what they will encounter in their readings/videos or need in their conversations. Give them any words they might need ahead of time and overtime, start to remove those supports. What you'll find is that they will use the words they needed without those supports and the conversations will flow more naturally. 4. Have Students Self-Assess (Maybe for a Grade)- This opinion is not always a popular one or one that is completely supported in research, however I still think it's valid. A lot of people grade participation which, to me, is similar to target language use. If you can find a good system to keep track of student participation then you can give a grade to them if you want. What I like to do is have them self-assess at the end of a month or 2 week period and provide themselves with feedback. I then give them my score and we see whether we aligned or not and it merits a conversation if we didn't. Here's an example of my self-assessment rubric that I've been using and is still a work in progress. What you'll find is that your classes are more fun when students are immersed in the language from the minute they walk in the class. And, if you're lucky, they'll leave the room still speaking Spanish and forget to speak English once they're in the hall (and that's a language teacher's dream).
1 Comment
Kathleen Price
11/13/2023 09:08:04 pm
Good ideas, but do they work?
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