Building Rapport and Relationships with T.A.L.K. in Middle School

Learning about T.A.L.K. was a great aha! moment in my teaching--one that I've been able to apply with my 6th-8th graders to give more clear and consistent feedback. (I'm still working on how to use it with younger students, but have to consider that conversational output is much less at those levels).

If you're not familiar with T.A.L.K., in brief, it's a framework to encourage interpersonal communication and give feedback on it.  At our school, T.A.L.K. stands for: (T)arget language (A)ccuracy(enough to be understood, using new vocab. structures) (L)istening(being a good, active listener) and (K)eep it going(being a support, active conversation partner).

Before we use it, I have a conversation  with the students where we collaboratively defining what each of those areas look and sound like(ie. "A good listener makes eye contact with their partner, and is focused on what they're saying, rather than using their computer, working on work while their partner is trying to engage them in conversation, a good listener is nodding, or interjecting--"yes, me too, I didn't quite understand").  Then, while we do interpersonal activities, I make my rounds to listen and observe, and over the course of a 5-6 week period aim to give each student at least 1-2 T.A.L.K sheets, depending on the class size and frequency.  Below is the rubric for my upper elementary group(no grades), but for middle school where 7th-8th graders are graded, point values are assigned--4 pts. each area.

In my 7th-8th grade classes, I use T.A.L.K. frequently, and this fall, I've discovered that this framework provides me with a great opportunity to connect with the students individually, focusing on what they can do, and offering suggestions on how they can 'level up' to make it even better next time.  I used to simply hand back the T.A.L.K. rubrics at the end of class, but this year, I'm taking a moment with each student as they leave class to use it for a conversation and a way to connect.  The response has been very positive--most importantly, it's giving me a chance to connect with the students I don't know very well, or with which I don't have the greatest rapport.  During the course of our first marking period, I've noticed an overall improvement in my relationship with the kids, and deeper engagement on their part(asking questions about their learning and asking for what they need--help with vocabulary development, putting sentences together...).

While I don't think T.A.L.K. is perfect(I don't love the accuracy marker), it has allowed my students and me to use the same vocabulary to talk about their learning and connect personally in our first language.

Keeping it in the TL: Elementary Version

 

A couple of years ago, my colleague, Siobhan, and I attended a workshop that emphasized the importance of teaching students transactional phrases and words in the target language to be used during class activities. The presenters stressed that the value of whatever cutting/pasting/coloring project we had going on could be lost because students drop the TL to speak in English, but it's the transactional language that's the real life part. This rang true for both of us and we went back to school, where between us, teach kindergarten through 8th grade, and put some new practices in place to support TL use in our classes.  

As a part of our process, we asked the children what language they needed to get their needs met and express themselves without defaulting to English.  The list of language is ever evolving and is posted on our class white boards, so when a situation arises, we can add it to the list. Now having experience with the kinds of things the children need to say, we can predict some of that language and explicitly teach it and have visual reminders posted in our classrooms.  What we've noticed is that the children, when given these phrases and words, use them. Phrases like ¿Puedo ir al baño? or ¿Me das un lápiz? can be heard from very young children through middle school.  Not only are the children learning necessary transactional language, we're laying the foundation for on-going inquiry and ownership of their language learning. In upper elementary and middle school, rather than dropping to English, students ask "Cómo se dice...?" for something they need to express an opinion or ask a question, and add the language to their personal vocabulary lists for future use.  This stems from their early experiences in lower elementary and being supported in using target language from the start.

How Mexican Indepedence Day Saved My CI Day

I'm so lucky to teach in the culturally rich city of Chicago. On Mexican Independence Day we have no less than three parades--and cars proudly bearing el tricolor can be seen all over the city. 

But, every year on September 16th, I'm haunted by a secret I've been harboring--one that is a source of real embarrassment.  I'm a Spanish teacher who doesn't observe Mexican Independence in class.  I've struggled with how to stay in the target language and successfully relay the significance of the day, during the first two days of Spanish class for the year.  I know, I know--there are great videos of dancers and charros and El Grito...but it has always fallen into the too hard basket for me. Until now.

On September 15, I decided to confront myself and the roadblocks I felt were holding me back. One of my goals this year is to focus more on CI--especially within the first 15 minutes of class--so I knew whatever I presented needed to fit these requirements.  To start, I suspected that the 4th-6th graders would want to complete their Todo Sobre Mi activity we started with earlier in the week, so I wanted  some kind of reading that would help lay the groundwork for the children as they finished that work.  Here's what I did:

1)I headed over to Teachers Pay Teachers. There are literally 100s of options for simple, well illustrated readers for children about Mexican Independence. I chose one I thought would be best for those levels, had clear language well supported by images,  and made copies. 

2)I found a video of President Peña Nieto reciting El Grito, got the words to it and wrote it on the board.

3) I looked for any words that the children would need help understanding--I focused on héroes.  In order to help them make meaning of the word, I made a list of some "héroes americanos," like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson(planting the idea of independence), Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr, César Chavez, Rosa Parks (giving a range of heroes). I also pulled out a small print I have of Padre Hidalgo and put it next to his name in El Grito.

On the day of class(30 minutes)--here's how it went:

1) Children came in to mariachi music playing, and they found their Todo Sobre Mi work on the tables. I used TL to show that they needed to finish up the work and move on to reading the book on the table.

2) When children finished their work and read the booklets, I started a brief presentation about the day, referring to the calendar, the Mexican flag on the wall and my world map, telling briefly the story--that Mexico was a colony of Spain and fought for independence. I also referred to my calendar card for julio and compared it to the 4th in the USA, doing comprehension checks all along the way. (It was exciting--they were with me!)

3) I told the story of El Grito and acted out being the president...as they would see in the video, (highlighting los héroes, Padre Hidalgo)--they were all in. We practiced El Grito--and each class enthusiastically shouted Viva! after each phrase.

4) Finally we watched President Peña Nieto and the children enthusiastically chimed in. The lesson finished up with a 20 second TV commercial for El Grito Chicago--an annual celebration on Sept. 15 held in Pilsen--highlighting the strong Mexican American presence in our city.

During the lesson I heard lots of "Oh I get it!" Saw many thumbs up with "Entiendo!" It was just the start to the year we needed.

Looking back on it, I thought "Why was that so hard?" "Why didn't I do that before?"  But instead of lingering on those questions, I'm choosing to celebrate growth--it was hard for me and I figured it out.   That's what I want to remember the next time I encounter something that's challenging in my teaching.

¡Qué viva México!

Climbing the Proficiency Ladder Starting in Kindergarten

We don't need to wait for children to reach middle school or high school before we give them real world tasks-it can start right away in kindergarten!  At our school, we're asking 6 year olds to interpret and navigate interpersonal tasks such as greeting friends, asking about their friends' lives(family, pets), and understanding directions from the teacher and some information from context related recordings.  As they progress through 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade,  children navigate age-appropriate real world tasks, such as:

• Play(Very much real-life when you're a kid!)

 

Comecocos or Cootiecatchers are an opportunity to teach about and practice asking questions. After using a pre-printed one, children can make their own using questions they've used during lessons. Ultimately, this supports children in asking questions in the context of future interpersonal interactions.

Guessing games can be played in a way that ask the children to create and describe with language.  Games like guess the animal or bingo can be reworked so that children are describing-above is an animal guessing game in which the 2nd graders have to describe the animal they are assigned and then read their description for the rest of the class to guess.  In the past I would have played this as charades, which only asks for vocabulary recall-a very basic function. In this version, we're asking much more of them- they can and want to do it.  An activity likes this is paving the way for students to be able to narrate and describe, using complete sentences.  The context is a unit on the role animals play in our lives--especially pets--of high interest to young children.

• Navigating daily school routines:

Everyday our elementary classes begin with community meeting ala Responsive Classroom. During this time the children gather in circle to greet each other, review the schedule for the day, hear important announcements and generally come together as a class community.  This has been a rich opportunity for the Spanish program--I circulate among the classes to run at least one community meeting per week in Spanish.  My colleagues are very much on board and have learned how to write their class schedules in Spanish(although very few of them are Spanish speakers).  This has opened an opportunity for the teachers to model life long learning, as the teachers are learning right along with their students, participating in the meetings and greeting their students with their newly acquired language.

During community meeting we start off by singing songs, and then always have some interpersonal time in which the children greet each other, asking questions like How are you today? What did you eat for breakfast? What are you going to do today? What do you like to do?  This time also focuses on what in Montessori we call Grace and Courtesy, or developing good manners--all in Spanish. Practicing interactions that require I'm sorry, Are you ok? Please excuse me? Would you like to work with me? The children are encouraged to use these during their classroom work time.

Our final activity is reading and interpreting the daily schedule.  This includes saying the date, and reading times and class activities. Beyond that, I ask the children to interpret asking some questions in English to see what they understand about the schedule, or what seems different from their normal routine.  This activity has ended the topical units on telling time and school words.  They're doing it, in context and on a real life task.

• Navigating the classroom:

I focus on making transitions and transactions count.  By explicitly teaching phrases that the children will need to participate in class activities, we stay in the TL and reinforce interpersonal interactions. These interactions between the children are the real life part of language class-negotiating and collaborating using TL.

How do children in your programs navigate real life tasks, helping them to start climbing the proficiency ladder?

Do you celebrate Día de Muertos with your elementary or middle school students?

The children in my Spanish program range from age 5 to 14, most of them functioning at novice-mid language level.   How do I help them to understand and experience in a meaningful way Día de Muertos while maintaining 90% plus target language?  My approach is multi-faceted and relies on our school community:

1. Partner with other specialists: art, music and library teachers.  These colleagues have been a treasure because not only can they explore different disciplines on the topic,  they can help provide the holiday's context and meaning in English.  Combing art projects for the ofrenda, singing traditional Mexican songs, and reading books in English about holiday, make the work in Spanish class so much sweeter.  
2. Link Día de Muertos to the current thematic unit in some way. In order to build connection and meaning, we explore the holiday through the lense of the current thematic unit. For example-easy connection to a unit that ties to family, but a unit that ties to food helps to give focus to our celebration-even our thematic unit on biodiversity and conservation has a connection. I found a great authentic resource on celebrating Día de Muertos in a sustainable way-using recycled materials, etc.
3. Give lots of visual support. I love and use Spanish Playground's unit that provides a great resource for introducing the holiday in the TL. I use lots of photos and drawings to help stay in the TL during class presentations and discussions.
4. Give scaffolded support for presentational speaking. The children talk about their families-I know that is not the culture in all schools, but in ours it is an important part of the school culture.  My students have the option to remember and celebrate a loved one by placing items and photos on the ofrenda and/or talking to the class about them(every child has the option to pass-and many do). Since ground rules about respecting each child in the community, students' choices to share or not are respected-as are any emotions that come up.  At the early levels, children are provided with a form to fill in..."Recuerdo a....Se llamaba....era...." They can then use that support to help them to share, using Spanish. At upper elementary and middle school levels, students have more language experience and are able to create more on their own with more detailed descriptions of their loved ones.
5. Communicate with parents.  Communicating the plan with parents also provides children with an opportunity to discuss and explore the holiday with their families at home, which enriches the in class experience.  
6. A School Tradition Because celebrating Día de Muertos is part of our school's annual traditions, children are able to participate many times over the course of their time at the school-giving them lots of practice and opportunity to see it from different perspectives and ages.  Messages and language chunks are reinforced over a period of years.