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Title: Speaking Latino Spanish Slang Dictionary
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Here is an online Spanish slang dictionary: http://www.speakinglatino.com/spanish-slang-dictionary
Source: Speaking Latino
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Title: ELLs and Their Peers: What They Teach Each Other in the Classroom
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From http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2014/05/ells_and_their_peers_what_they.html
ELLs and Their Peers: What They Teach Each Other in the Classroom
By Lesli A. Maxwell
May 6, 2014
Schools all over the country have become a treasure trove of languages, as the numbers of students who speak a language other than English continue to rise.
Many of these students are English-language learners who are increasingly learning in classrooms amid native English speakers, but, depending on the classroom culture and other factors, may not have much in the way of meaningful interactions with those peers.
A group of researchers from the University of Virginia is setting out to investigate what happens to adolescent ELLs who don't have opportunities to engage with their native English-speaker peers during classtime and the impacts that has on them both socially and academically. They'll study 35 middle school classrooms that mix ELLs and fluent English speakers in two schools over the next three years to try and understand how melding language-learners into mainstream classrooms helps support learning for all students.
The lead researcher is Amanda Kibler, an assistant professor at the university's Curry School of Education who used to teach English-as-a-second-language to middle and high school students. Among other things, the team of researchers hopes to shed light on what teachers can do to help promote the integration of ELLs into the classroom.
Learn more about the study at http://curry.virginia.edu/press-releases/youth-nex-researchers-awarded-580k-to-study-english-language-learners-and-t
Source: Education Week
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Content Type: 1
Title: The Mixxer and MOOCS: Online Language Exchange
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From http://blog.coerll.utexas.edu/re-mixxer-using-french-and-german-oer-in-the-mixxer
Re-Mixxer: Using French and German OER in The Mixxer
By Todd Bryant
May 14, 2014
Last year, the Mixxer (a free educational website for language exchanges via Skype) offered a MOOC to English speakers learning Spanish and paired the participants with a partner course of Spanish speakers learning English. Using open educational resources from COERLL, Colby College, Voice for America and the BBC among others, the language learners were introduced to new vocabulary and grammar points through texts and audio and then given activities to complete with their language partner from the other course.
[COERLL will be using newly-developed lessons] as part of three MOOCs to be offered this summer (starting July 1st). As before, each MOOC will have a partner course for speakers of Spanish, French and German learning English. Learners from each course will then be able to find partners to complete the language exchange activity provided within each lesson. The courses and lessons are open and free to anyone interested.
Read the full article at http://blog.coerll.utexas.edu/re-mixxer-using-french-and-german-oer-in-the-mixxer
Source: COERLL
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Title: Reading Comprehension Activity: Author Commentary
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From http://www.edutopia.org/blog/author-commentary-and-app-smashing-ross-cooper
Fourth grade teacher Ross Cooper writes,
“For every major reading comprehension skill that my students learn, I try to have them initially uncover the skill through an engaging inquiry-based lesson. When studying author purpose and perspective, I decided to put a spin on a project that my students enjoy.
“Director Commentary is when students select a movie scene, import it into a video editing program such as iMovie, and replace the audio with their own track in which they provide commentary from the director's point of view. For author purpose and perspective, I adapted this experience to work with books rather than movies. We call it Author Commentary.”
Read his full article at http://www.edutopia.org/blog/author-commentary-and-app-smashing-ross-cooper
Source: Edutopia
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Content Type: 1
Title: Blog Post: Helping Your Students Make Inferences from Texts and Videos
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From http://creativelanguageclass.com
Here is a blog post exemplifying how a teacher can ask students to make inferences from a video (and by extension, a text), something that is being asked of teachers in content areas: http://creativelanguageclass.com/2014/05/12/infer-this
Source: Creative Language Class
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Title: CCSS Aligned L2 Reading Comprehension Questions
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Martina Bex shares her advice for aligning reading comprehension questions with the Common Core State Standards in this blog post, which includes an example packet based on Carol Gabb’s novel Brandon Brown quiere un perro.
Read the blog post and access the packets (and information about the novel) here: http://martinabex.com/2014/05/09/ccss-aligned-l2-reading-comprehension-questions
Source: The Comprehensible Classroom
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Content Type: 1
Title: Global Education Resources on the TeachUNICEF Website
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From http://teachunicef.org/about-us
TeachUNICEF is a portfolio of free global education resources. Resources cover grades PK-12, are interdisciplinary (social studies, science, math, English/language arts, foreign/world languages), and align with standards. The lesson plans, stories, and multimedia cover topics ranging from the Millennium Development Goals to Water and Sanitation.
Browse the available resources at http://teachunicef.org/explore/topic
Extra French and Spanish resources are available at http://teachunicef.org/explore/topic/world-languages
Source: TeachUNICEF
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Content Type: 3
Title: Assessing Reading
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by Julie Sykes, CASLS Director
Assessing reading presents a unique challenge for the classroom teacher. In order to gain insight beyond the decoding of words and structures, we need to ask learners to read for purposes that align with the text they are reading. This is not to reduce the importance of comprehension, but rather to move towards a more comprehensive understanding of reading. Take, for example, reading apartment rental listings. One must be able to read the specific details of a series of rental listings and select possibilities, while also eliminating those that are not viable possibilities. From a task-based perspective, an assessment task in this domain might ask learners to identify different apartments based on the descriptions they read, select an apartment and justify their choice, or make notes about the positive and negative attributes of each. The teacher is then able to determine how well the passage was interpreted based on the ability to use what was read.
As reading assessment tasks begin to mirror what is happening in the classroom, sample formats would ideally be drawn from the types of tasks in which learners engage during post-reading activities during classtime. These tasks should always reflect the purpose of the initial reading. For example, we read newspaper articles for information, novels for fun or intrigue, ads to buy or sell something, personal ads to find a date, and travel itineraries to know where to go. Thus, an assessment task focused on reading for details would ask the learners to engage with a text in which details were needed (e.g., ads, itineraries) and not a novel, which is generally read for holistic understanding. Likewise, an assessment task related to a novel would require reflection and analysis. Regardless of the format chosen, reading assessment should always move beyond comprehension questions to include real world tasks related to reading.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 4
Title: Sample Reading Assessment
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This activity is designed as a sample assessment item for a unit exam that addresses looking for details to make a decision.
Outcome: Learners will be asked to demonstrate their ability to read for specific information to make a decision.
Resources: Sample Assessment Task
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Content Type: 5
Title: Language Resource Centers Offer Free Resources by Mandy Gettler, CASLS Associate Director
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The U.S. Department of Education funds fifteen national foreign language resource centers (LRCs) across the country, and CASLS became an LRC in 2001. LRCs develop resources that can be used to improve foreign language education. Many of these resources are available to students and educators for little or no cost.
Thanks to a common LRC website portal, finding these resources is easier than ever. LRCs are led by nationally recognized experts in the field, so you can trust that the materials provided are high quality, which reduces the amount of time needed to vet the resources you find.
This month's issues of InterCom have focused on reading proficiency. If you'd like to expand the reading activities in your classroom, you can search for activities using LRC website portal. From the homepage, move your cursor to "resources and products" and then select "teaching and learning materials."
You can search for materials by language, proficiency level, and grade level. Some centers have also developed materials specifically for heritage and self-study students. You can even select to filter the results by free resources only. The LRC portal also includes a slideshare presentation on free resources offered by LRCs.
Finding the perfect reading activity is just a few clicks away!
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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