More Social Distancing = More Social Networks

While we are social distancing when we are in person, Social Networks are the exact opposite especially when it comes to announcing offers for bundles of online books and FVR libraries. 

With COVID-19 concerns, the procedures for sharing materials (books) are more restrictive and not permitted. Publishers have seen this need and responding with what feels like a new offer popping up each week (in fact I had to update this post before I even published it!) My school has made it clear that there is no money for purchases, so at this point, anything I buy for the students will be out of my ow pocket. I’m still trying to determine which is the best option, or if I need to change up my curriculum and format for FVR and make it work with the books I already have. (Option: I have class sets of various books so I could have each class read a different book, but oh, the extra planning, time, and energy needed for that exhausts me just thinking about it.) 

E-book, and FVR libraries, and good deals - oh boy! 

Over the years I have spent much of my school department money on books for my students - class sets and books for my FVR library. I’ve also spent an untold amount of my personal money buying new books at conferences, from publishers, and from Amazon.

These are the offers that I know of for online FVR books and for class novels. They are listed in alphabetical order. If you know of others (appropriate for the needs and levels of non-native learners in a K-12 setting) and want me to add them to the list, let me know. 

- E-lit App - Combination of French, Spanish, & Japanese titles

*Unable to verify when this app will be available. 

Check the website for the current number of texts and novels included in the offer.

Digital subscription library with leveled texts and novels, states more texts/novels are being/will be added; online access through August 31, 2021, $199 for 180 students’ $249 for 250 students; $299 for 350 students

Price available through August 31, 2020

- Fluency Matters - online FVR library - French, Spanish, & German novels

Various choices depending on the target language and number of books in the offer. Order in multiples of 25.

Baker’s dozen, 13 pre-selected Spanish novels, 1 year online access,  $50 for 25 students

Six pre-selected Spanish novels,1 year online access,  $25 for 25 students

Current price available through Sept 30, 2020

- Mira Canion - online FVR library or individual books - Spanish novels 

Each package below is for 1 teacher, up to 300 students, for one full year from date of activation (“renting” the books online)

1) A Single title written by Mira: $68. 

2) 8 Spanish books written by Mira; online access for up to 300 students for one full year, $258 thought August 31, 2020; $298 after 8/31/2020

3) Elementary FVR Library - 4 book titles, $108 through August 31

4) 10 titles - Mira’s books and other authors, Spanish 1/2 FVR Library - $298 through 8/31/2020

5) 10 titles - Mira’s books and other authors, Spanish 2/3 FVR Library - $298 through 8/31/2020

- Mike Peto - purchase individual online books - Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese & Latin

The online access to the books you purchase is available through July 1, 2021. It appears as though there is a sale currently going on with book prices of $24.99 for up to 300 students and 1 teacher. 

- Storylabs - Spanish, French, Latin, and English novels & stories

You’ll have to check this website yourself because there are many different price points. For example, one book is listed at $249 for 180 students and with Teacher resources available; while another book is listed at $60 for 175 students. My guess is that each author set the price, but I don’t know that for sure.

It appears as Storylabs doesn’t offer anything similar to other publishers in which you can have a collection of texts/novels for a set price. If Storylabs does indeed offer a collection for a set price, I was unable to find it on the website.  

Two years ago, the blog “Spanish mama” posted a list of free online resources. I have not checked if all of these are available still today, but it may be worthwhile to check out the post HERE.

 

Note, there are other online resources available at different price points but I am not going to list them here because there are many and, for sure, I will end of making an incomplete list. What I suggest you do, is check the Facebook groups listed above and scroll through the posts. When people find resources, or when they are introducing and/or “advertising” their resources, they generally post it on a Facebook group where others will see it. 

Student Recommended Spanish Books for SSR

I don't know if the warm spring weather has transformed my students into  verbally appreciative readers or if there's some type of reading vortex swirling through Palmyra, PA, but something strange this way comes. Something is nudging my students to be extra complimentary about their SSR books. Whatever it may be, I'm loving it. 

Students, on their OWN, are commenting to me how much they like the books they are reading independently during SSR (Sustained Silent Reading).  In three days' time, I had several students tell me about their book or recommend to another student to read the book they're reading.

Starting a SSR program in a second language requires you to be diligent and consistent in your expectations, but it will be worthy your time. Eventually, the students will learn to enjoy and appreciate that reading time; at least I've found that to be the case for the majority of the students! 

The books that my students raved about last week were:  
` 1. El Escape by A.C. Quintero
The 11th grade male student said: "This book is really good."   I have observed this student many times during SSR in the last 3 months in which he was staring at the floor instead of reading, 'reading' on the same page for the majority of the 10 minutes; and sleeping. Since he started to read El Escape, his reading behaviors have changed and he spends the full 10 minutes reading. 

I told the author, A.C. Quintero, and she said she wrote the book especially for boys that don't want to read romance books.

2. La Calaca Alegre by Carrie Toth
A student wanted a recommendation for a new book so I suggested La Calaca Alegre by Carrie Toth. Three days later, another student needed a new book.  The student reading La Calaca Alegre told him to read La Calaca Alegre because she liked it and thought he would like it too. 

3. Brandon Brown Dice la Verdad by Carol Gaab
Before starting SSR today, a female student said, "Señora, I want to tell whoever wrote this Brandon Brown book that they wrote a literal masterpiece." (She was holding Brandon Brown Dice la Verdad) Yes, that is exactly what she said. I asked if I could videotape her saying that and she agreed. In the video she not only says Brandon Brown Dice la Verdad is a great book but "all of the Brandon Brown books are literal masterpieces". I texted that video to Carol Gaab. I think she is Carol's newest favorite student. 😂 

4. Rebeldes de Tejas by Mira Canion
A student completed his Book Talk assignment on Rebeldes de Tejas. He said he likes historical fiction and Rebeldes de Tejas was his favorite book this semester. I also sent a video of him saying that to Mira.

5. El Armario by A. C. Quintero
El Armario is the second book in a trilogy. The student did her Book Talk on this book and said it was her favorite book. The following day she asked me for the sequel to El Armario, which is Las Sombras. 
(The first book in the trilogy is Las Apariencias Engañen but other students were reading my two copies at the time, so she skipped the first book and read the second book. She said it was a little confusing at the beginning since she didn't read book #1, but it was so compelling and interesting so she continued reading.) 

You can find the above readers at the author's websites, or Amazon, or Fluency Matters. 

If you do not have a SSR program in place, I strongly recommend that you consider it. Finding funds for a class library can be a challenging task, but many teachers have been creative and persistent in searching for funds and reading materials and they now provide this opportunity for their students.  

Working on the Recipe for Success in the WL Classroom

The end of a semester is a perfect time to evaluate the progress that students have made on their journey toward fluency and what teaching strategies and techniques have helped or hindered them.

A few weeks ago on the #langchat Twitter discussion, teachers shared their teaching resolutions. However, this year, instead of resolutions, I followed the lead of my colleague, (@KristaApplegate on Twitter) and I compiled a list of things I need to Add, Tweak, or Delete, in my teaching this semester.

In many ways, I feel as if I'm on a search to find the Recipe for Success in the World Language classroom. I know the techniques, but that's like having the list of ingredients only. The proportion of ingredients and when they're added are essential for success. Many willingly share the techniques, such as TPRS, embedded readings, PQA, etc. (ingredients), but I sure wish they would share with me the specifics of how much and in what order to implement them (the quantity and order to mix them in). Also, at times I suspect that there is a small ingredient that eludes me.

While others may have found that perfect recipe, I'm not there yet. At times I want to stay with the technique with which I feel most comfortable because that is easier, when I know I should stretch myself a bit and turn to a technique that I need to work on.  I'm making strides each semester, but it is definitely still a work in progress. 

Schedule Kindergarten Day a minimum of 1 time per two weeks. On Kindergarten day, the teacher chooses a book to "read" in the TL. Usually, the teacher does NOT read the words printed in the book, but rather tells the story using words appropriate for the level of students, assuring that it is comprehensible for them. (Tweak)

Choose 1 student to interview with the class in the TL to find out about them and their interests.  The focus is on learning about the student and his/her interest, not on their language ability.  The teacher is charged with keeping the questions and answers comprehensible to the students being interviewed and others. Interview ALL students eventually. (Add)

I have several classes of upper level Spanish this semester which means stories by Jorge Luis Borges, Ana María Matute, Julio Cortázar, are a priority.  Making them comprehensible, enjoyable, and helping students to find a personal connection is the focus with these stories. (Tweak)

Students select a book that interest them to read silently for X number of minutes (depending on level). Regrettably, I scheduled little time last semester for this activity.  This semester, it will be a staple for both my Spanish 2 classes and the Spanish 4 classes. (Tweak)

I've heard about Word Walls for years and I've always resisted because I teach a language - ALL words are important in my class. But, I'm beginning to see the importance of being able to list words and key structures, then post them, allowing me to point to and reference them throughout the entire semester. (Add)


     Helping students to improve their listening comprehension is my focus of my required district action research. Sites like Mary Glasglow and Nulu have both recordings by native speakers and accompanying scripts.  Also available is a huge selection of podcasts, songs, recorded children's stories, commercials, etc. Adding a song a week for all levels is a much needed refreshing activity. (Tweak)

This technique is Blaine Ray's idea.  Basically, from time to time, tell students they can earn +1 on a quiz if they answer the question in English, "What's going on in your life?" on the back of their quiz. I'm a little hesitant to try this, so I'll try it first with my Spanish 4 class and assess its usefulness before implementing it across all the classes. (Add)


Last semester I did less stories TPRS style, and read more novels and increased MovieTalk lessons.  This semester I need to find a better balance of the different teaching techniques I employ in the classroom.

Another goal is to consistently assign student jobs with the TPRS stories: a quiz writer, a story sketcher, (a student will sketch the story on Educreations; I failed to do this last semester and I miss not having the story to share on Educreations with the students the following day), a student to tally which students are participating in Spanish, and a sound effects "technician".

As far as deleting, I'm considering saying adiós to dictations.  There are several class activities I do that students work in groups to write identical sentences, that has a similar focus on spelling and accents, but in an enjoyable way.  If someone convinces me in the next few weeks that dictations are worth the time in class, I may reconsider. (Delete)

New semester - new opportunities for me to improve. :-)

Free Voluntary Reading - PAEF Grant

Today was the official start of Free Voluntary Reading with my Spanish 4 classes. I followed the format that Laurie Clarq outlined in her blog and things went smoothly.

The students and I read for 15 minutes, which I really enjoyed because I wanted to finish the book "Vida y muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha" - I HIGHLY recommend it to any Spanish teachers. Then the students wrote the 3-sentence summary, page # & last line read, and if they liked it or not and why. It was interesting listening to the comments of the students as they were writing the summaries: some said how interesting their books were, others were pleased at how much they had read, some asked about a word that they didn't know (they weren't allowed to ask me during the FVR time), and on and on.

BUT, the BEST PART of the FVR was when 3 students asked if they were allowed to take the books home to continue reading! Of course, I said yes - well, actually I said "Sí".

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I'm following the steps that Laurie Clarq used to introduce FVR to her students. Tomorrow they will have 10-15 minutes of FVR and on Friday as well. Then, starting next week, my sts will have FVR twice a week. 

I was able to start my collection of books thanks to a grant I wrote to my school's education foundation, Palmyra Area Education Foundation.  I was thrilled when I heard I received a $600 grant to spend on books for FVR. 

Attached is a list of the novels I bought through TPRS Publishing, Inc. and Teacher's Discovery. (I also bought 25-30 children's books through e-bay that are not included on the list, but I wanted the students to settle into a short novel for the FVR experience.)

HAPPY READING TO ALL!