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Content Type: 1
Title: Transportation Resources for Young Spanish Learners
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Here is a collection of resources and ideas having to do with modes of transportation from the Spanish Playground blog: http://spanishplayground.net/spanish-words-transportation-video
Source: Spanish Playground
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Title: Spanish Music Website: La Biblioteca Musical
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Here is a website dedicated to the diversity of music in the Spanish-speaking world. Song videos are organized by country. Available at http://musicaenespanol.weebly.com
Source: La Biblioteca Musical
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Title: End of School Year Activity for Children
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From http://spanishplayground.net
School is winding up for kids, and many of us are looking for an end of school year activity. One favorite activity is to have kids record information about themselves. It serves as a record of the moment, and it also is a great way to review common Spanish vocabulary and structures.
Custom Literacy has provided Spanish Playground with a free end of school year activity where kids do just that – they record basic information about themselves. If you are not looking for something for the end of school year, this printable also works well as a birthday activity, or to mark the first day of school.
Access the activity and read more about it at http://spanishplayground.net/end-of-school-year-activity-custom-literacy
Source: Spanish Playground
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Content Type: 1
Title: Article: 5 Things You Might Not Know About ELLs
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Here is a recent article you can use to advocate for and educate about your English language learners: http://www.scilearn.com/blog/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-ells.php
Source: Scientific Learning
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Content Type: 1
Title: More World Cup Resources
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The 2014 FIFA World Cup is underway, and here are more resources that you and your students may find useful:
Larry Ferlazzo continues to add new and timely resources to his page “The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil.” Here are the latest: http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2014/06/10/a-zillion-new-world-cup-resources
The Common Craft Soccer Guide contains twelve chapters about how the game of soccer is played: http://commoncraft.com/soccerguide (Thanks to the Free Technology for Teachers blog for the tip).
Here is a collection of English-language articles about Germany and the World Cup: http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/08__Culture__Sports/06/02/WorldCup2014.html
Learn about the Japanese team in this English-language video: http://useenglisheveryday.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/samurai-blue
Here is a lesson plan for English language learners about “football” and motivation: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/football-motivation
Another find from Zambombazo: a catchy song to remember the teams and tournament groups: http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/samba-do-mundial-as-32-selecoes-da-copa-do-mundo-2014
Some short dialogues in Spanish along with helpful soccer vocabulary: http://spanishencasa.com/es/blog-es
A review of two movies dealing with history and soccer: http://spanishplans.org/2014/06/12/history-through-soccer
Source: Various
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Title: Project Idea: Lesser-Known Destination Travel Fair
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From http://leesensei.edublogs.org
Japanese teacher and blogger Colleen Lee-Hayes writes:
“What do you think of when you think of your Target Language country/countries? While you may have spent some time there – and traveled to various spots – your students may have not. As a Japanese teacher it seems that Tokyo is the number 1 ‘want to go to’ place for my students. However, as I spent my first 2 years in Japan in smaller more out of the way places, I want my students to learn that there’s more to Japan than the big urban areas. And so the Year4 travel fair – a summative activity at the end of a 2-week unit – was born. It allows students to utilize key words they will need if/when they visit Japan – and also allows them to research and introduce key areas to their classmates during an interactive oral.
“For me the fair takes a week – with time spent planning/preparing for the ‘fair’, running the fair and then using the information for a written ‘summative’ evaluation.”
Read how she implements the project at http://leesensei.edublogs.org/2014/06/09/the-travel-fair-an-interactive-oral-exploring-lesser-known-tl-places/#.U5qSO6ggXOU
Source: Language Sensei
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Title: Elementary Curriculum form Jefferson County (KY) Public Schools
Body:
From the Ñandutí listserv:
Hi everyone- I just finished working with Jefferson County (KY) Public Schools on a year-long project to redesign their elementary curriculum and wanted to share the link with you. At this website: http://www.jefferson.k12.ky.us/departments/gheens/WorldLang.html you can click on Curriculum Maps to view each map by grade level. JCPS has long been one of the foremost developers of secondary world language curriculum. Now they're updating their secondary curriculum and have tackled elementary and middle school as well.
A few notes about the K-5 program (the grades I worked with them on):
JCPS categorizes elementary grades beginning with P1 as kindergarten, P2 as 1st grade, and so on. At 4th grade the teachers stop using the P# reference.
We tried to address the problems that plague elementary programs - kids transferring in and out, the program getting hijacked by pull-outs and testing prep, too many students per teacher, not enough time per week. So we divided the program into two levels, with the levels layered. Then we developed five six-week units for the last six-week period to be used as review and assessment as the state testing schedule allows. So the first level has the same five units every year for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, but every year the vocabulary and functions in that theme get deeper. There's a lot of recycling and then moving deeper. Same with third, fourth, and fifth grades- the same theme for the unit every year with a lot of recycling and moving deeper.
We developed the program as if every teacher had the recommended minimum 90 minutes per week with students, which no one in the JCPS system does yet, so we actually recommend that teachers with less time throw out an entire unit instead of doing less per unit. If it were me I would skip unit 1 in Level 1 on the assumption that kids will develop the school vocabulary as the year goes on, and in Level 2 I would combine the All About Us and Hanging Out with my Friends units.
There are also many core content and connections built in. As teachers develop units and find resources those will be updated too, with a goal to have a really good IPA for at least each semester of 3rd-5th soon. The intercultural goals are something cool and innovative but will need some improvement so you can watch for that as well. We hope you find it useful.
--Sara-Elizabeth
musicuentos.com
Cottrell, S. [nandu] New curriculum documents from JCPS (KY). Improving Early Language Programs listserv (nandu@caltalk.cal.org, 12 Jun 2014).
Source: Ñandutí
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Content Type: 3
Title: Key Factors in the Integration of Writing Strategies within the L2 Classroom
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Laura Allen is a Graduate Research Assistant in the Science of Learning and Educational Technology Lab at Arizona State University. Research conducted in the SoLET lab addresses questions regarding theoretical explanations of cognitive processes such as text comprehension, writing, and knowledge acquisition.
Writing in a second language is a difficult skill that can be highly demanding on students. To ensure that students are not overwhelmed, teachers must aim to establish best practices for writing instruction in the classroom. Specifically, second language writing instructors should place an emphasis on providing students with explicit writing strategy instruction and formative feedback, all while maintaining their engagement during extended practice sessions.
Strategy Instruction
For second language writers, strategies can serve as effective tools that work to reduce the complex demands that are associated with the writing process. Providing students with explicit strategy instruction for planning, drafting, revising, and editing has been shown to dramatically increase the quality of their writing. Strategy instruction is most effective if it follows a clear progression, where the teacher first describes the strategy and its general purpose, demonstrates how to use the strategy in various situations, and finally provides students with practice applying the strategy to their own writing. Additionally, this instruction is most beneficial when teachers clearly relay the importance of the writing strategies and provide praise for their use (see Harris, Graham, Mason, & Friedlander, 2008 for more information about writing strategies that can be used in the classroom).
Formative Feedback
An important feature of effective strategy instruction is that students are provided with formative feedback on their writing. In direct contrast to summative feedback (i.e., final grades, exam scores, etc.), formative feedback helps students understand the criteria by which they are being assessed, and identify the factors that contribute to the quality of their performance. Teachers can reinforce the strategies taught in the classroom by paying careful attention to the feedback that they provide to students. In particular, teachers should avoid simply quantifying the quality of an essay (i.e., just providing an overall grade); rather, they should provide feedback that is specific, actionable and relates back to the strategies that students have been taught (see Shute, 2008 for a list of guidelines for constructing formative feedback).
Educational Games and Student Engagement
Despite its effectiveness, writing training can often be repetitive and boring, leading students to disengage over extended practice sessions. One way that teachers can combat disengagement is with educational games. Educational games leverage students' intrinsic enjoyment of gaming to increase their motivation and persistence to complete learning tasks. Importantly, students' motivation can increase even with the simplest of educational games. Thus, even if teachers do not have access to sophisticated, professional games, they can improve student motivation by adding game elements, such as a narrative or points, to basic writing assignments. As long as the game features are not overly distracting from the educational content, they can increase students' interest and, consequently, their learning outcomes. These game elements can be particularly important for second language learners, because writing in a second language can be extremely complex and frustrating; thus, having game elements might provide the motivation that students need to persist in training sessions.
References
Harris, K.R., Graham, S., Mason, L.H., & Friedlander, B. (2008). Powerful writing strategies for all students. Baltimore, MD: Brookes
Shute, V. J. (2008). Focus on formative feedback. Review of Educational Research, 78, 153-189.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 5
Title: University of Oregon Chinese Flagship Honors Top Students by Mandy Gettler, CASLS Associate Director
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Each year, the University of Oregon Chinese Flagship Program hosts a spring term colloquium to showcase students' research and celebrate the work that faculty and students have completed throughout the academic year. Over forty students and faculty attended this year's event.
One of the more memorable moments of the program included a skit performed by students in an advanced Chinese course that focused on health and wellness, using props and costumes students had made and gathered. Students posed as tennis players, yoga instructors, marathon runners, and basketball players to persuade an inactive student to incorporate healthy activities into their daily lifestyle. The skit was performed entirely in Chinese.
"I was very happy that, in addition to the prepared lines, students also improvised," shared Weijun Chen, the course instructor. "They tried to apply the knowledge and new vocabulary they learned this term in their performance."
This year, the Flagship Program presented inaugural student awards to recognize the leadership skills and proficiency gains of students in the program. Both faculty and students participated in nominating students to receive the awards. Katriel Perry received the Excellent Student Leader award, with Lindsey Larvick, Henry Lawrence, and Matt Sagers receiving honorable mentions. Alex Hardin, Henry Lawrence, Kelly Mucklestone, Lindsay Maben, Regina Johanos, Tiffany Picotte, and Yuan Sheng Song all received the Hardest Working Student award. The Most Improved Student award recipients were Brenda Heng, Katriel Perry, and Erik Thorbeck.
The University of Oregon Chinese Flagship Program provides a sequence of language learning instruction designed to help students develop Superior-level proficiency. The Flagship Program emphasizes real-world linguistic and cultural skills so that graduates are prepared to use their Chinese language and culture skills in a professional environment.
The Oregon Chinese Flagship Program is funded by The Language Flagship through the National Security Education Program.
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Content Type: 4
Title: A Strategic Approach to Writing
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The explicit use of strategies can be helpful for learners when improving their writing abilities.
Objective: To apply two explicit strategies to the writing process – (1) pre-planning and (2) using the dictionary.
Resources: Strategic Approach to Writing
Procedure:
- Use the Strategic Approach to Writing resource sheet as a guide to engage learners with two strategies to apply to their writing.
- After discussion and application to the writing process, reflect, as a class, on the usefulness of each strategy.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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