Monday, September 25, 2017

Proficiency and Families: Parent Night






I've written on Path2Proficiency about bringing parents in on the path to proficiency, since so many of us learned a language, well, not with a proficiency focus.  Because so many of my students' parents had the experience of "studying a language for four years, but can't speak it,"(we've all heard it), I thought I'd share what I send out to parents on our annual fall parent night, to communicate what working toward proficiency looks like.  

For the 6-9 year olds:


¡Español! 
 septiembre 2017
Teachers: Siobhan(Ext Day/6-9)       Valerie Shull (9-12/middle school, Program Director) class blog: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

¡ Muy bienvenido al nuevo año escolar! When it comes to language acquisition, long term thinking is required. Starting in Extended Day and 6-9, we envision what the 8th grade graduate will look like, and beyond that- the young adult speaker of Spanish. So, let’s start with that vision and program goals:
What are the goals?
Language development happens over time-much longer than just one or two school years. By
the time the children graduate 8th grade, the goal is for them to function at the Novice High-Intermediate Low speaking levels in class. What does that mean?
  • ○  Intermediate speakers of a language are know as survivors-they can survive in the target culture.
  • ○  The Intermediate level is characterized by the ability to combine learned elements of language creatively, though primarily in a reactive mode.
  • ○  The Intermediate level speaker can initiate, minimally sustain, and close basic communicative tasks.
  • ○  The speaker can ask and answer questions and can speak in discrete sentences and strings of sentences on topics that are either autobiographical or related primarily to his or her immediate environment.
  • ○  Novice High speakers are on the cusp of being able to perform Intermediate tasks in a sustained and consistent manner.
    Remember- Novice High/Intermediate Low is the goal of our graduates . What that means is that in 6-9, the children are interacting and having fun using the language to explore different topics. While the priority is interpersonal communication, we start some reading during the second and third years and introduce writing-all of which support oral communication. The children in 6-9 navigate real life situations encountered in childhood using Spanish-play, asking questions, grace and courtesy, talking about themselves and exploring culture through the language.
    We hope that you will sign up to follow the Spanish class blog where we post information on language learning, news on what’s happening in class and practical ways you can support Spanish language learning outside of school. Please contact us with any questions you have. We love talking world languages! 

    And for the 9-12 year old families:
    septiembre 2017

    Teacher:  Valerie Shull(9-12/middle school, Program Director)    
       

        class blog:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
            ¡Muy bienvenido al nuevo año escolar!  I am so happy to welcome you back.

    In 9-12 we use a  teacher created Spanish curriculum developed based on current research and best practices in the field. This curriculum has been under development over the several years and supports  further Spanish language acquisition, aligns to the ACTFL World Readiness Standards,  and encourages critical thinking by our young global citizens.  

    About the program:
  • The program is centered around themes that both support the children in acquiring Spanish language and encourage critical thinking about the world and the perspectives of its cultures. Some example units include:
    • Global Challenges in the Natural World(biodiversity and the environment)
    • Belonging: What Makes A family?
    • Identity: Who Am I?
    • Well-being: A healthy lifestyle
    • Exploring: Where  I live and my Place in the World
    • Challenges: What the World Eats

  • This way of learning is very different than the way most of us experienced a language class in middle school or high school. You will not see textbook conjugation charts or workbook pages with grammar drills.  The children are learning language in context of authentic texts, audio and video and activities in which they use the language as the vehicle for communication. Communication and global competency are the focus; this approach to language teaching is based on the most current acquisition and teaching research.

What are the goals?
  • Language development happens over time-much longer than just one or two school years.  By the time the children graduate 8th grade, the goal is for them to function at the Novice High-Intermediate Low speaking levels in class. What does that mean?  

    • Intermediate speakers of a language are know as survivors-they can survive in the target culture.  
    • The Intermediate level is characterized by the ability to combine learned elements of language creatively, though primarily in a reactive mode.
    • The Intermediate level speaker can initiate, minimally sustain, and close basic communicative tasks.
    • The speaker can ask and answer questions and can speak in discrete sentences and strings of sentences on topics that are either autobiographical or related primarily to his or her immediate environment.
    • Novice High speakers are on the cusp of being able to perform Intermediate tasks in a sustained and consistent manner.

Remember-Novice High/Intermediate Low is the goal of our graduates. Children in 9-12 operate at the novice level-living primarily in the world of the concrete and predictable,  answering in words, utterances and sentence fragments. That’s right on track.

I hope that you will sign up to follow the Spanish class blog, where I post information on language learning, news on what’s happening in class and samples of the children’s work.  Please contact me with any questions you have. I love talking world language!

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

FVR: Hallelujah!

After seeing so many inspiring posts from teachers using FVR(free and voluntary reading) in their classrooms, my interest was piqued and I really wanted to give it a try. I mentioned recently that I'm over working when it comes to comprehensible input(CI) and I know that reading is important to language development--both reasons to speed up the FVR project in my class.

One (perceived) roadblock for me was the length of my classes--we're a FLES program with 30 minute class meetings, three times per week. I was thinking that the 30 minute meeting time was too short for FVR, and so I'd put it off. However, during summer set up, I started looking through our collection of books in Spanish--it's pretty substantial with a wide range of levels and genres, so why not use them?

What I did:

I set up this little area in my classroom, putting out books that range from three words on the page to novels like Esperanza Renace and short graphic novels for my heritage speakers. Topics include content they're learning in class--biomes, animals, etc(in #earlylang, animals and their babies are king) to story book biographies and short fiction.

I'm in the process of creating booklets of short news articles from Newsela and elementary appropriate articles from Martina Bex's El mundo en tus manos to add to the shelf, and plan to add a basket to include books on loan from Chicago Public Library, as I get to know the children's interests better.

Part of my teaching better, working less project involved creating class opening routines AND sticking to them. (Monday/Tues: Music, Wed/Thur Writing prompts and Fridays start with FVR. So this Friday, I greeted each group, 4th-6th graders, at the door speaking very quietly,  using postcards a la A.C. Quintero 's suggestion for seat assignments. There was quiet music playing inside the room and the children entered and sat down calmly and peacefully listening to the music(I wanted to set a very chill tone in what is usually a very energetic environment).

After turning off the music, I quietly explained that we would be doing FVR(referencing D.E.A.R.-Drop Everything And Read) with which they're already familiar.  Then, thanks to the suggestion of my colleague Siobhan, gave some guidance on how to approach reading in Spanish, highlighting:
  • Choosing material that feels like a right fit and is interesting to them
  • seeking cognates to help make meaning
  • using pictures and illustrations 
  • changing books if it doesn't feel quite right 
Then, children chose their books, I set the timer for five minutes and away we went.

How did it go?

Day one was a huge success.
  • It was a solid block of quiet, engaged reading across the board.
  • Almost all of the children asked for more time.
  • I asked the students to reflect and give me some feedback on FVR--the overall theme was empowerment and BEING ABLE to read in Spanish(they can understand more than I thought).  The children also overwhelmingly enjoyed being able to choose their own reading material. 
  • I felt at ease and enjoyed sitting and reading with the children--it was a nice change that allowed me to simply BE with, and observe and learn from them .
Here are some highlights of the feedback:
 Going forward:

  • For older students, allow/encourage the children to use their notebooks to add to their personal vocabulary lists(a few made the request).
  • Build in some time for the children to share what they were reading with their classmates(maybe this will lead to a commercial for their book, in Spanish)--after observing them in action, I could see there's a strong desire.
In the end, I think this is a high impact, low prep activity that's allowing me to teach better and work less. 

Friday, September 15, 2017




As I began my first week of a regular teaching schedule, I found myself landing in a familiar place-- utter face-plant worthy exhaustion. While yes, I have a full day-beginning with community time for 1-3 graders and teaching 4th through 8th classes, reflecting on the week, I've come to a pretty quick conclusion: I'm over working.

Not over working as in too much paperwork or grading. Overworking in that this week I was doing almost all of the work during class time, with the children along for the ride.  One of my goals last year and this centers on building my comprehensible input(CI) tool box--using as my guide this very helpful poster from Elizabeth Dentlinger. 


After my first few days of classes, which can only be described as performance art all day, Elizabeth sent me some words of support and her personal goal: Teach better, work less.

Teach better, work less.

CI doesn't mean me doing all of the work--talking, acting/gesturing--or always being the source of input. In fact, the students need to hear multiple voices. So, here I go--focusing on teaching better, working less.  Some things I have in mind to use as class opening activities(as students enter and get settled):

  • Free and Voluntary Reading
  • Listening apps, podcasts and short videos 
  • Using children's magazines and age appropriate news sources in the TL(like Newsela)
  • Kid friendly info graphics 
I've started using some of these the last two days and am looking to expand the opening activities list.  From there, I'll be using the Comprehensible Input Umbrella to help me form my class lessons.  

I'll be posting progress.  In the mean time, how have you worked toward teaching better and working less?  Words of experience most welcome!