Teacher+Resources

For my PLC posse....
Among many of our district language teachers (particularly the grizzled veterans), we jokingly refer to being on board with proficiency-based language instruction as having "drunk the Kool-Aid." Gallows humor, to be sure, but the parallel to the Jonestown religious cult is not entirely off base. Personally, I am a convert from more traditional, textbook-driven instruction and I could never go back to teaching that way. My students can communicate more, they learn to make meaningful connections between language and culture, and they have multiple channels to demonstrate their skills. It's not a quick or easy way to teach, but the results make it worth the extra work.

What does it mean to teach for proficiency?

 * 1) Students and teachers communicate using the target language from the beginning...that means Day 1 of Level 1. Our district goal is 80% or more at all levels. Do I use 80% Spanish every day? Honestly, yes. Almost every day. Do my students use 80% Spanish every day? Not quite...most classes are between 50 and 60%, but we're working on it.
 * 2) Communication for real life purposes is king. This means that we look at how people use the language for real world tasks and design our instruction to prepare students for these tasks. This means that students watch YouTube videos, read short articles and graphic texts, write blog posts, tweets,& status updates, and talk about their friends, their favorite celebrities, pictures, and videos.
 * 3) Instruction is balanced according to [|ACTFL language standards] and [|proficiency guidelines] . Students are assessed in three modes: interpretive (listening & reading), interpersonal (unscripted interaction), and presentational (speaking & writing).
 * 4) Our units of study are thematic and driven by how people interact with that topic in the real world,rather than by which grammatical structure we need to teach next. We use authentic texts, even for beginners, and teach them how to make sense of what they encounter. Our units examine multiple aspects of the topic and are assessed using integrated performance assessments, rather than a traditional chapter test from a textbook. In short, we evaluate students on what they can do more than what they know. Our district unit guides can be found here

media type="custom" key="26666574"

"How Not to Be SOL with SLO's"
Alternative assessment tools: "I can" checklist for gathering SLO data

[|ACTFL Performance Descriptors] downloadable PDF with descriptors to identify what each level of proficiency looks like for each mode--Interpretive (Listening and Reading), Interpersonal, Presentational (Speaking and Writing)

model to be used with rubrics and/or ACTFL proficiency descriptors

= "Project Differentiation" =



Links to sample texts:
 * 1) 1 [|"Atracciones en Uruguay"]tourism we bsite
 * 2) 2 [[file:es-spanish-kids-food-servings-food-groups-servings-pictures-kids-printable-guidelines-food-portions (1).pdf]] nutritional guide
 * 3) 3 [|"One Thing in a French Day"] blog and podcast

Retrieved from Spanish Authentic Resources and Authentic Resources for French

The goal for this style of proje ct is to provide students with an authentic culminating task supported by practice opportunities that integrate:

 * ==== vocabulary development ====
 * ==== awareness of grammatical structures ====
 * ==== comprehension practice ====
 * ====authentic resources====
 * ====interactive speaking and listening skills====
 * ====cultural insights (the cultural triangle)====
 * ====cultural insights (the cultural triangle)====

[[file:OEC Project Differentiation handout.docx]]
Links to sample activities: To practice vocabulary:
 * [|Quizlet sample flashcard set] self-paced practice on vocabulary; can listen to and record own speaking; can generate practice tests with different question formats
 * other ideas include: creating flashcards, playing games (pictionary, taboo, etc),& visual glossaries

To practice grammatical structures: media type="educreations" key="30343606" height="200" width="300"
 * Tutorials created with screencasting programs. Here is an example using Educreations


 * Online tutorials from [|Studyspanish.com] or other websites for review in a flipped instruction model

To practice reading comprehension: ---some ideas for Take Any Text activities are: "While ____-ing ____________, I (present tense verb)"
 * short, teacher-created comprehension quizzes; these are often an available feature in a learning management system (such as Canvas, Blackboard, MyBigCampus, or Edmodo) or in activity platforms such as Edueto or Quia
 * Generic tasks that can be done with any text. I call these Take Any Text activities and they were inspired by the book, "Take Any Book" by Neill Stitt. Ms.Stitt taught ESOL and developed activities that could teach and reinforce spelling, grammar, and vocabulary using storybooks that her students were already reading in their regular classrooms. This approach helps students to see the structures in a relevant and familiar context, which supports comprehension along with structural awareness.
 * find examples of a part of speech in your text (nouns, adjectives, prepositions, adjectives, etc)
 * find examples of a specific verb tense and identify who is doing the action in that tense
 * find a sentence and turn it into a question or make a question for which it is the answer
 * find a sentence and make it negative or express the opposite meaning
 * find vocabulary in categories: geographical places, words to describe a girl, clothing, words to describe food, etc
 * use a sentence as a model to write your own: simple + conjunction + simple = compound
 * find 5 cognates
 * find 3 unfamiliar words and use context to guess what they mean; share your process with a partner
 * identify a word that is part of a word family: play(verb), player(noun), playful(adjective)-- give at least 2 additional words in the family.

For interpersonal speaking:
 * Use [|ClassDojo] to track student production in class--electronic replacement for tally marks on a seating chart!
 * Speaking Bingo--create a Bingo board with desired skills to be demonstrated, such as ask a question, answer a question, express an opinion, disagree with someone, use a verb in the "he/she" form, etc. Some spaces can also be for class-based tasks such as maintaining TL for 15-20 minutes or giving an example from homework review. At the end of the week or other designated period of time, students need to have a Bingo or X number of spaces marked off. The teacher can initial to show completion or stamp the space with a stamper pen.