Finals to Assess Language Abilities (not memorized grammar rules and vocabulary lists)

Spanish 1 Final - Listening Comprehension - Part 1 of 3

Today was the last day of the semester and the last day of finals. I gave finals to Spanish 1, Spanish 2, and Spanish 4 students this semester.  My Spanish 1 final was the same as last January; the Spanish 2 final was completely new (I haven't taught Sp2 in years) and I eliminated the formal grammar section on the Spanish 4 final.  The driving force when writing the finals was to assess the students' language abilities rather than memorized grammar rules and vocabulary lists. (I have discussed, with all of my classes, how the "Cram and Drop" method of learning is outlawed in my classroom.)

Spanish 1
Listening Comprehension - 3 parts - I made QuickTime recordings and uploaded them to our class group on Edmodo.  The students tooks their final in the computer lab in the library to access the online files and work at their own pace, with the option to replay the audio files as often as necessary. 

  - Part A (12 pts) - (pictured above) Listen to 12 statements. Write the letter of the statement on the line. 
  - Part B (10 pts) - Similar activity as Part A but focusing on a different set of vocabulary.
  - Part C (8 pts) - Listen to a short story.  Answer several comprehension questions and write 3 additional facts about the story that are not mentioned in the comprehension questions.

Spanish 1 Final - Writing

Reading Comprehension (20 pts) - Read a typed page-long Spanish story and answer questions related to the story.
Writing (10 points) - Read a story in Spanish (different than the one mentioned above). Add 5 new Spanish sentences (anywhere) to the story.  No credit is given for sentences that are similar to the ones used in the story. Students need to write original, creative sentences.

There wasn't a verbal portion for the Sp1 final, but I may add it in the future.

Spanish 2
Listening Comprehension (10 pts) - I made a QuickTime recording of a story from a book published in 1942.  The students listened to the recording and answered comprehension questions, plus wrote one additional fact about the story. I replayed the story as many times as students wanted to hear it.
Writing (12 pts) - Part 1 - Students read two paragraphs in English about two sisters.  I underlined 23 of the (English) verbs in the story and students wrote sentences in Spanish choosing 12 of the 23 verbs that were underlined.
Writing (20 pts) - Part 2 - Using my subscription to Reading A-Z, I printed wordless copies of the story The Three Little Pigs. There were 13 illustrations and students wrote 10 sentences to match the illustrations.  They chose which illustrations to narrate. To receive full credit, students had to write fully developed sentences and use 10 different verbs, with only 1 of the verbs allowed to be in the present tense (if it was used in a dialogue).
Reading Comprehension (33 pts) - Read a story and answer comprehension questions.  (I will need to revamp this section. The students did well but I didn't like how the format of the questions.)
Verbal - I didn't have a verbal section, but I would like to add one in time for next semester's final.  

Spanish 4
Listening Comprehension - There wasn't any on the final.  I should add one for future Sp4 classes.  My Sp4 students have been listening to Spanish every day, 90% of more of the class time and I have been informally accessing their listening comprehension throughout the semester (which is very good!).

Writing/Subjunctive (18 pts) - I wrote the first clause of 9 sentences followed by "que", related to the collage on the left. (The collage is currently only available by e-mailing me.) Most of the expressions required the subjunctive in the second clause and most of the first clauses were written in the past - meaning they had to use the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive in the 2nd clause.  The students finished the sentences. They had to use different verbs for each sentence and write well developed sentences. Even with students having the option which verbs to choose, many of them used a lot of irregular verbs such as "cayera", "hubiera muerto", and "sonrieran".  This is the closest I came to a grammar section, but because they were trying to explain why someone felt the way they did (doubted, demanded, were surprised, was irritated, etc.), it was more communicative and contextual.
Writing (10 pts) - Write a short essay describing a situation in modern times that is similar to the situation in the reading comprehension section of the test.
Reading Comprehension (16 pts) - Read a story (which they later informed me was difficult for them) and choose 16 of the 18 comprehension questions to answer.   
Verbal (30 pts) I typed 4 sets of 5 questions (all different) in Spanish.  While the students were working on the written final, I handed the 5 questions to a student and gave them 2 minutes to look at the questions and think about them. Then they went to the hall with my iPad or my iPhone (I trusted them with the iPhone - for the most part) with typed instructions on how to make the recording on QuickVoice, title it, and save it.  I allowed them 5 minutes to complete the task. If they hadn't returned in 5 minutes, I went out to the hall and ended the recording, which only happened with 1 student.
 
There are some sections of the final on which I want to make adjustments, but for the most part I was pleased with the format. I like to offer them choices throughout their exams because, as I see it, that is how real communication works.  I have a dear friend named Nelsi from the Dominican Republic.  We get together on a somewhat regular basis so I can practice speaking with a native speaker.  If, during our conversation, I don't know a certain word, I either use another word that will express the same thing or ask Nelsi. We make those choices in every real word conversation, why not let students choose how to express themselves on exams?

This leads to the question: Why are we forcing our students to use certain words on the finals? (i.e. sentences in the TL with the verb listed as an infinitive in parenthesis and students have to conjugate the verb in the tense indicated on the test.) I gave assessments like that in the past and now, looking back, I can't think of a strong argument in favor of that type of assessment.  As I mentioned above, students don't necessarily choose simple, regular -ar verbs when given open-ended sentences and assessments.  They want to express their thoughts and opinions and they don't limit themselves to simple verbs.  In the story about the 3 Little Pigs for Spanish 2, many students used irregular verbs like oyó, destruyó, vieron, se cayó, and fueron, along with regular verbs like bebieron  and tocó a la puerta.  They knew the words from previous stories and they felt comfortable with them.  In fact, students may not even view them as irregular verbs because they weren't presented to them in that way. In the writing section of the Spanish 1 final (photo above),  the student used as many irregular verbs as regular verbs.  When the students have a huge amount of input of hearing and reading the verbs, they're not "irregular" verbs - they're just words that express meaning. 

• Again, for emphasis, they're just words, not irregular, not -ar, not -er, not stem-changing, not -ir, not "go" verbs, not participles, not object pronouns,  just words that express meaning.

"What's going on in this picture?"

Today I found a new resource of photos to use in my Spanish classes. It is a weekly feature of The New York Times website in the education section.

I plan to use these photos as a variation of my Character Sketch activity.  For the Character Sketch activity, I project a photo of a person.  Then I guide the students in developing information about the person: where they live (lived); where they work (worked); describe their personality; are they married or single; and other information.  Keep in mind that you, as the teacher, are in charge of making sure the character sketch uses the structures and vocabulary that you want to stress and that the students stay within bounds in their descriptions.  

The new resource, "What's going on in this picture?", can be used in a similar way.  An advantage is that the photos capture your attention immediately.  If you have a class that doesn't compete to give their suggestions for a character sketch, the intriguing photos on this website should make it easier for them to think of possibilities for what is happening in the photo.  

For lower levels you can begin by describing who/what is in the photo and what they are doing.  For upper levels, you can slip in questions and descriptions using the subjunctive, the conditional tense, and a wider range of vocabulary.

I enjoy these type of activities because many times one student has an idea and the others "run with it", building on the information a piece at a time.  It provides ample opportunity for PQA and for circling.  It's like a ready-made lesson plan that can easily last for 30 minutes or more and that's 30 minutes of compelling input (because the students are the ones helping to create it) in the Target Language.  

So many choices for different types of input activities - so little time.

Ask your students. Be enlightened!

There are 3 days remaining in our semester before finals.  Yesterday, I noticed that many students were making the same mistake with a verb that immediately follows another verb.  Out of frustration, and in a weak moment, I wrote some sentences on the board and gave a grammar explanation that lasted...well...let's just say it was more than 15 seconds, and more than a minute.

Then I shared with the students that even though I know teaching grammar in that method doesn't help in language acquisition, nor does it help to improve their language communication skills, I am still tempted to revert back to the old traditional method of teaching to "correct" grammar errors.  I told them that they have less than 100 hours of instruction in Spanish, and I KNOW that with more time, that error would be erased, but sometimes I am impatient and want to clear/correct those errors, right away!

After I explained some of the reasoning and strategies of TPRS, the students made comments.  That..was when I was enlightened.  Through their comments I discovered that I wasn't giving them enough 'pop-up grammar' or contrastive grammar.  I've read in moreTPRS and have heard other TPRS teachers comment on the number of 'pop-up grammar' explanations they do per lesson or per hour.  I knew I was lacking, but it didn't cause me to change my methods.  Hearing it from students, was what impacted me.  Increasing (drastically) the amount of 'pop-up grammar' explanations will be a high priority as I begin the new semester on January 22, along with lots of CI and TPRS.

It was interesting and helpful to hear what the students had to say about their learning experience with the language.  Their maturity showed through in their comments.  They were honest and provided me with information that I can use to improve my use of the method.  An interesting comment from a student was that after two years of taking another language at our school taught with the traditional, grammar based method, she felt she could do so much more with Spanish, and felt comfortable listening to it, reading it, and speaking it.  

Why did I wait to ask for students' input on their learning experience until there were only 3 days remaining in the semester?  Another lesson learned by me.

 

Rediscovering ReadingA-Z

I am rediscovering the benefits of Readinga-z.com.  This website is designed for elementary readers in English, but many of the books are translated into Spanish and there are even some translated into French. In January 2012, I bought a year's access to this site through my school district's budget.  I used it several times, but then it was pushed to the side and I did not use it very frequently.

In December, I started using the site again for warm-ups at the beginning of the class.  The challenge was to find stories that had vocabulary that students already knew with only a limited amount of new vocabulary.

When I was planning my lessons last weekend, I decided to change up the way I was using the site.  Instead of showing the books with the words, there is also an option that you can project the book without the words. That's when I realized that here are ready-made sketches of either familiar stories or completely new stories to the students, that I can use with lots of Comprehensible Input!

My Spanish 2 class continues to need an incredible amount of input of verbs in the past tense.  For today's class, I projected the familiar story of "Los Tres Cerditos" (the Three Little Pigs), but without showing the words.  The sreenshot below shows one of the pages of the book without any words in the box below the illustration.  The bar on the left of the screenshot below shows some of the options available when you are projecting it, such as typing in your own text, highlighting, and others.

The students and I went through the pages and described the  characters, how they felt, their actions, what they said, etc.  The bar on the left of the screenshot shows some of the options available to the teacher such as adding text and highlighting.

After we had described every page of the book, I reviewed it again, by describing what was happening on each page.  Then the students worked in groups of 3 to retell what was happening.  After that, the students took a 10 point quiz on the story.  I showed them 10 pages and they could write anything that related to the illustration as long as it was 1) in the past tense, and 2) they didn't repeat any of their verbs.  It was completely their choice which verbs to use for each page.  

One change I will make the next time is to start with more Comprehensible Input by me.  I think I should have described the first page by using either/or questions, true/false questions, and short answer questions instead of going right into asking the students to tell me sentences of what was happening.  I asked for output at the start instead of giving input first.  I had a good deal of participation from the students the way I taught it, but I know it would have benefited all of the students (those that participated in saying sentences and those that didn't) if I had given them the Input first.

Next semester, I'll be using this website on a regular basis.  The cost for a one year subscription to the site is $89.95.  You can also print out the stories in a booklet format for later use.  If you subscribe to the site and need an emergency lesson plan, you can print out the story without words so the students can create their own story.

 

My first experience with iPads in Class

I used the new class set of iPads for the first time on Friday with two of my Spanish 1 classes. I felt a little like it was the good, the bad, the ugly experience. Thankfully, what started out as a frustrating experience ended on a good note.

First the bad: My plan was for the students to use the SockPuppets app to write a 3 question interview.  I wanted to keep it short for several reasons, one of them because the free version of the app has a 30 second limit.

The previous day I acted out/taught Episode 10 of Cuentos de Ensalada.  At the end of the episode the father and son say they need to get a/another job to support the family's new twins.  I had given the students a sample interview to use for a recording while getting to know the app.  Then they were supposed to write 3 questions and responses.  I allowed them to make minor changes to my questions and answers, but some students didn't limit themselves to that and really allowed their creativity to show.  The lady from tech support was there most of the class period, which was very helpful, but after one class of that experience I decided I was not going to go through that again.

The problems were:
1 - With 22 students in the class, it was too noisy for them to record in the classroom.  I sent them out to the hall which helped, but it wasn't the ideal situation.  (On a bright note: The superintendent happened to be passing through when they were recording and she was intrigued and asked two girls to explain what they were doing.  They impressed her and she was pleased to see the technology that the school bought being used by the students.)
2 - I should have had them do the writing the previous day. That was my plan, but we ran out of time and I didn't want to reschedule the date for the iPads since the tech lady was also scheduled to be there to explain the expectations to the students when using iPads.  It would have worked smoother if the students were ready to record right away.
3 - The free version of the SockPuppet app on the iPads.  Only after students had made the recordings did we find out that the free version will not allow you to email the recording. That meant we had to share all the videos they made before class ended.  There were 3 or 4 groups that we didn't have time to go over.
4 - A few of the apps made screechy noises.

Before the second Spanish 1 class of the day, I had changed the assignment.  First I asked them to tell me, in the TL, what happened the previous day in the episode and I wrote the sentences on the board.  I erased the sentences (because I didn't want them to copy them).  For the assignment, they had to work with a partner to think of 4 things that happened in the episode that they could sketch and then write on a paper two sentences that explained/described each sketch.  After I checked their sentences, they used the Educreations app to recorded themselves reading the script as they paged through the sketches they made on Educreations.

This worked better.  The only trick was the only way they could email it to me was if they created an account on Educreations.  Instead of asking them to do that, I uploaded them to my Educreations account and then embedded them on to Edmodo so they could share it with their parents online.  

Personally, I felt it was an unsuccessful class because it was all production/output and no input.  The students enjoyed it, but they didn't advance their Spanish knowledge or skills.  It sort of reminded me of my "old school" way of teaching in which I would play a review game with them and they liked it, but didn't really learn anything new from it; in other words - ZERO language acquisition taking place. :(

Now for the good:  Two boys were working in a group. One of them was absent the previous day so he took control of the iPad and was working on sketches.  The other boy is one that rarely volunteers in class.  He was more or less in charge of the writing.  When I checked their first 5 sentences, there were only 2 small errors. The quiet boy had written them by himself with no use of a translator.  I told him, "you are one of those students that don't participate in class often, but obviously all those hours of hearing the language in context and reading class stories and Cuentos de Enslada was sinking in or there is no way you could have written these sentences." They were great sentences! Spanish 1 - less than 92 class hours - and he wrote beautiful, grammatically correct sentences.  That...was the brightest part of my day on Friday and I'm smiling now, as I relive it.

I know I'll use the iPads again, but I'll have to try a different approach the next time.  Please share with me how you have successfully used iPads with your beginning levels, and at the end of the class, still felt that it was a productive, learning environment.  

Food Prep Videos

http://www.youtube.com/user/comidakraft/videos

Canal de comida Kraft has 119 videos of recipes in Spanish.  The Rosca de reyes video looks easy to make and you won't need to find those candy jellies that other recipes use.  Best of all, the host speaks clearly.  If you're looking for authentic resources filled with examples of the subjunctive, the Rosca de reyes video should fit the bill.

I wish I had found it before El día de los tres reyes.

Setting Goals for 2013

Usually before a new school year begins in August, I find a notebook and jot down 5 or 6 goals for the new school year.  From time to time I refer to them to see which ones I have reached and which I have completely pushed to the side.  Admittedly, that is the easy way out because if I don't accomplish those goals, nobody knows but me.  

However, for the new calendar year, I'm writing my list here, hoping it will be an extra incentive for me to work to accomplishing ALL the goals on my list.

   
Directly Related to the Classroom
1.  Continue to provide Comprehensible Input in the Target Language, with pockets of "pop-up grammar".

2. Provide more authentic listening resources to all levels and find a schedule that won't compromise that commitment.

3. Read, Read, Read.   I have a growing library of Spanish books at different levels.  Now I have to be consistent in providing time for students to choose a book that appeals to them and read during class. 

4. Rewrite Spanish 2 curriculum.  I've already made major changes to what I wrote last summer.  I have 3 Spanish 2 classes in the spring semester so I'm hoping to make adjustments and improvements as needed as I use it with my students. My highest priority are the High Frequency Words in the past tenses.

5. Have students in upper levels blog. I've done this in the past with Spanish 4 and Spanish 5, but I didn't have my Spanish 4 class blog this fall.  In the past I had them blog once a week, but then changed it to every other week.  I'll add this to the spring semester and weigh the pros and cons at the end of the semester.

6. Collaborate with other classes in the US and other countries.  Last year my students and I had success with students in several parts of the world through Skype and VoiceThread.  
- Postcard Project- Thanks to Amy Lenord for organizing this!
- Global Blog - My experiment with blogging with my students and students in other parts of the world. I'm still looking for classes of native Spanish speakers in other parts of the world that are studying English to participate with us and others in this project.
- Another VoiceThread?

7. Invite native Spanish speakers to the classroom to share their experiences and knowledge of Spanish countries and the hispanic community and culture.

Professional Development
8. Attend a minimum of one workshop or conference that is specifically aimed at TPRS instruction or has several sessions on TPRS and CI within the conference.  Several options high on my list are:
- NTPRS 2013 in Dallas, TX
- ACTFL 2013 in Miami, FL
- 2013 iFLT Conference in San Diego, CA - would love to go to this but it doesn't fit my schedule
- local workshops

9. Find a new blog by a TPRS teacher.  I have several that I read on a regular basis, but I know there are others that somehow I haven't found yet that would be helpful.  Here is my list I currently have.

10. Find new educators to follow on Twitter that share activities and technology that they use in the classroom.  My twitter name is @sonrisadelcampo.  If you tweet about ideas for teaching and professional development, please contact me so I can add your tweets to the stream.

11. Read in Spanish. I love to read in Spanish and I am convinced that this is the best thing I can do for maintaining and improving my abilities and knowledge of the Spanish language.  The challenge is to find time for reading.

Stepping out of my comfort zone
Admittedly, organization is not one of my strong points, which makes the following items more of a challenge for me than for some.

12. Offer an after-school Spanish program for elementary school students.  I've had this goal for several years now, but I've never moved past the idea stage.  Now is the time to get working on the specifics of the program and then share the plan with the school administrators.

13.  Organize a local group of TPRS teachers.  Michele Whaley writes about a group of TPRS teachers in Alaska that meet monthly.  I can't think of a better way to support each other and share ideas, but the idea of organizing something similar is overwhelming to me. My best bet is to team up with like-minded individuals to make this a reality.

14.  Write a proposal to share some of my classroom activities (in other words: present) at a conference.  This is way beyond my comfort zone. 

There is my list, online and out in the open.  It will keep me a little more accountable to work toward achieving those goals.  

 

Freeze Frame to Re-enact the Story

Last week was rough physically.  I was out the first two days due to the flu and pushed too hard to return to the classroom again on Wednesday. Because I rushed to return, Wednesday I didn't have the energy needed to lead a new story with TPRS.  So for my second day back, I felt like I had three days to make-up and in Spanish 1, we blew it out of the water!

There were two things that I felt I had to do to try to get back on track: 1) move to the next episode in the "Cuentos de Ensalada" story, and 2) introduce 3 new structures/vocabulary words in a new through TPRS.

Episode 7 (photo from 2011)

First, I reviewed the last information we knew about "Teresa and Tomás" and then I taught episode 7 from "Cuentos de Ensalada" with the surprise crime scene in the park.  I distributed a copy of the episode and I read several paragraphs in Spanish and then students worked in small groups to translate it to English. When they read it in English, I eavesdropped on several groups and was pleased to hear ALL groups reading through it without any major problems.

Immediately following the reading, I had new structures on the board for them to copy in their notebooks and added the English meanings.  Some we had actually had before, but it was a good time to review.  The structures were:  
- tropieza = s/he trips
- se cae = s/he falls
- es torpe = s/he is clumsy
- derrama = s/he spills

The story was about one of the students in the class that works as a waitress/waiter but is clumsy.  A famous person enters the restaurant, orders soup, which the clumsy waittress/waiter delivers to the table but unfortunately trips, spills the soup on the famous person, and then falls down.  The famous person is quite angry, stands up and leaves the restaurant.  

I started the story without any actors, but quickly added student actors when I saw the student interest.  The class enjoyed hearing the story from beginning to end with the actors.  That alone would have keep their interest, but I had one more activity for them - FREEZE FRAME, an activity that I learned from Carol Gaab's session at ACTFL.

In the first Spanish 1 class of the day, there were 3 parts so I put students in groups of 3 and they decided which person they would portray.  Then the groups spread out through the room and as I told the story, I paused at times to say FREEZE FRAME, and they froze their actions.  They needed no encouragement whatsoever to get into their roles.  The 2nd Spanish 1 class only had two roles and after a few practices, they were just as creative and imaginative with their poses as the first Spanish 1 class.  The best part was their laughter and enjoyment of the activity.  Of course, the fact that they followed along as I retold the story without any problems made the activity "worthy".  

It was two out of the ballpark homeruns in one class period - twice.  Yesterday's frustration is a dull memory.