Polyglot
Press
March 30,
2015
GAME ON!
Each edition of the Polyglot Press is archived
There are so many great things going on,
accomplishments being celebrated, challenges being met and online treasures
being found. Please share!
BRAVO
·
Welcome
Elizabeth Ceceña who has joined Weddington High to teach Spanish 2.
·
Wanda Parks has returned (temporarily) to UCPS.
She is subbing at Piedmont HS for Julianne
Lease who is out on maternity leave.
·
Eight UCPS teachers attended the AATSP conference at Davidson College
March 21! We were impressed with the keynote and presentations on teaching
students with learning disabilities and how to use formative assessments.
·
Xiaohong HuMueller offered the first HSK
test of Mandarin skills at MRHS. Interested students showed up on Saturday to
test their skills. The test is internationally recognized much like the TOEFL
for English. Passing scores are very prestigious and can result in scholarships
in China.
Professional
Development Opportunities
·
TODAY - 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. Monday, March 30, 2015 Tech Tools for
the World Language Classroom – Lisa will teach us about “Everyday Tools that
Will Make Your Life Easier”. New tech tools are constantly being invented but
what works great for language teachers and language students? Learn from tech
savvy UCPS French teacher, Lisa Helms from Cuthbertson HS. You will leave with
her presentation and tech tools you can use tomorrow. Lisa will share her classroom-proven
tips for all. French teachers will leave knowing her favorite French websites and
whom she follows on Twitter. These face-to-face hours will be added to the
2014-2015 World Language Content Area CEUs earned. Taking place at the
Professional Development Center at 721 Brewer Drive, Monroe
·
4:15 – 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, 2015 Movement and Pairwork in the World Language Classroom – Movement in the WL
classroom is important because it provides communicative practice, is a best-practice to stimulate active brains
and creates opportunities for students to use the language. Learn how to organize classroom movement and
pairwork that provides learning opportunities and avoids chaos. This
presentation is presented by UCPS Spanish teacher, Sarah Wade, from Marvin
Ridge HS. Taking place at the Professional Development Center at 721 Brewer
Drive, Monroe. These face-to-face hours will be added to the 2014-2015 World
Language Content Area CEUs earned.
·
4:15 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. Monday, April 27 Formative Assessment in the World Language
Classroom – Do your students understand? How do you know if your students
learned the content of today’s lesson? How do you know if your students
understand when you stay in the target language? How do you know if your
students understand what they read? Spanish teacher Alice Shrader will share proven
classroom strategies and activities that she uses daily to gauge what students
understand and what they don’t understand. Taking place at the Professional Development
Center at 721 Brewer Drive, Monroe. These face-to-face hours will be added to
the 2014-2015 World Language Content Area CEUs earned.
·
8:00 p.m. Every Thursday, the #langchat team moderates a Twitter
chat from 8-9 p.m. for teachers of all languages. Watch for a weekly poll
of questions on Tuesdays, vote for your favorite topic, then join the
discussion on Thursday. They publish a summary of each week’s Twitter chat, and
post the archives on our wiki at www.langchat.pbworks.com
. Add your questions for future chats on their website.
·
Monday, July 13, 2015 through Saturday, July 18, 2015 Bridging Cultures Initiative, The Center for Global
Studies at the University of Illinois: Urbana –Champaign is hosting a unique
summer workshop for teachers to increase their knowledge of diverse cultural
perspectives and facilitating relationships with professional educators from
around the world. Workshops
and other sessions are held jointly with a cohort of visiting international
secondary educators from the Global Institute for Secondary Educators, a Department of
State Program held annually at the University of Illinois. Through close
interaction with foreign teachers from 20 different countries, US teachers share
their craft, while gaining new understandings of cultural and educational
practices in many other countries that will enhance their ability to infuse
their curriculum with multicultural perspectives. Intensive collaboration
in workshops, structured discussions, and guided lesson planning will provide
opportunities for the establishment of relationships between American and
international teachers that will stimulate partnerships and coordinated
activities in their respective classrooms. All in-service middle and high
school teachers are eligible to apply. Social Studies, English, and foreign language teachers are especially
encouraged to apply.
There is no cost to
participate in the program. Accommodations will also be provided to
all participants at no cost. Support for transportation and food expenses may
also be available.
Visit http://cgs.illinois.edu/activities/bridging-cultures-initiative/
for more information and to access the online application. Questions? Contact
Jeremie Smith at smith193@illinois.edu Deadline May 1
Brain Breaks – from #Langchat
Thursdays at 8:00 p.m.
·
“Tell
your partner,“’You are a rock star and high five" or any compliment in the
target language. @tmsaue1
·
Count
with a partner in the target language.
·
Partner
1 holds up a finger from 0 – 10. Partner says the number needed to add up to
ten.
·
Activities
that get them using both sides of their body in diff ways (left hand up and
down, right hand forward and back. @Mr_Fernie
·
Throw
in a song http://musicuentos.com/2013/02/changeactivities/
·
Show
a 1 – 2 minute video in the target language.
Pedagogy
·
Formative Assessment – At the AATSP conference
at Davidson College last week, Dr. Bobby Hobgood shared comments, strategies
and tech tools to use in the formative assessment loop at http://bit.ly/UNCCfa
·
World Language
Learning and Learning Difficulties What are key issues with students who
struggle learning a world language? Dr. Sandra Watts of UNCC presented with
Amanda Howard on this topic at the recent AATSP conference. She shared this
paper she found in her research. http://bit.ly/TeachingWLEC
·
Can of Questions – As you teach
students new questions that they can understand and use, put them in a can on a
strip of paper. Use them as fillers, for interpersonal practice, etc. http://www.creativelanguageclass.com http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/activities/modes-skills/writing/creating-questions-for-trivia-time/
Tech Tools
·
Right ALT Short-Cut Do you know the
Right Alt shortcut on the keyboard? It is so helpful for world languages. Right ALT + vowel = á, é, í, ó, ú. Use Right ALT + ?, !, n for ¿, ¡ and ñ. MaryAnn Jones students at Piedmont
MS taught me this.
·
SuperTeacher Tools – group maker,
seating chart maker, Jeopardy games, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire game, Speed
Match, Random Name Generator, Timer, Countdown,
QR Island, https://www.superteachertools.net/
·
MindMeister is a new tool for making mind maps (place to go on a
trip, school clubs and their features, favorite artists, people in your family
and their traits, etc.) www.mindmeister.com is found online and
in the Google Chromestore. See a sample at https://www.mindmeister.com/387407544/my-trip-to-new-york
·
Tech Troubleshooting Tip
– If
your students get an error message in attempting to connect with a website that
they successfully connect with on a regular basis (i.e. Vocaroo), have the
students reboot their computers and / or clear the web history. ‘The laptops
like to use webpage information from their history cache instead of going out
to the net and requesting it. Clearing out the history always ensures the
laptop reaches out to the net.’ from UCPS Engineer Alex Alcantara
March
Madness in WL Classes: Print Your Own Brackets
·
Have
‘playoffs’ between anything: favorite activities, favorite songs (give students
the links to listen to the songs), favorite sports, favorite weather, favorite
camping spots, favorite artists, favorite poems, favorite famous person, etc. Choose
the number of teams in your own printable bracket http://www.printyourbrackets.com/
·
Use
an 8 team bracket from http://www.printyourbrackets.com/fillable-titles/8teamsingle.pdf This activity was
featured on SpanishPlans.org on the March 17 blog post http://spanishplans.org/
Chinese
Resources
·
Starting Out in
Chinese
PDF of 50+ page booklet with transcripts and vocab for the Living Language audio course.
http://www.livinglanguage.com/content/downloads/StartingOutInChinese.pdf
·
I Know Chinese PDF 40+ page booklet
of words, phrases and conversations. http://www.livinglanguage.com/content/downloads/Chin_9781400009527_4p_PDF_r3.pdf
·
eTicket Chinese PDF of 20+ page
booklet with vocabulary and phrases for travelers http://www.livinglanguage.com/content/downloads/Chinese.pdf
·
Chinese To Go – PDF 2 page quick
guide of basic vocabulary and phrases for travelers http://www.livinglanguage.com/content/downloads/ChineseToGo.pdf
·
Famous
painting / scroll “Along the River during
the Ching - Ming Festival” http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh96/orientation/flash_4/index.html . Includes a
painting of life along the river complete with ships, villages, palaces, etc.
There are videos embedded. There is no talking or dialogue. This detailed
visual helps students examine and imagine these historical timeframes. This masterpiece from the Song dynasty masterpiece is called Qīngmíng Shànghé Tú《清明上河图》 Other supportive resources are at http://asiasociety.org/china-learning-initiatives/upriver-qingming?utm_source=Chinese+Language+Initiatives&utm_campaign=2d9e3c3308-Chinese_Language_Matters_February_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_471f06bc9d-2d9e3c3308-386284262
French
Resources
·
Top 5 French Mistakes
to Avoid:
Vowels Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVI_TDGAfI4&feature=em-subs_digest
Spanish
Resources
·
First and Last Names in Spanish -- Primer Nombres
y Apellidos Video: 8:35
minutes (thanks to Dianne Mays for sharing) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUosdlR6Gy8
·
Spanish 1 Chapter 4B Resources: (Thanks to Natalie
Korda for sharing)
o
https://yeclaeys.wordpress.com/realidades-chapter-4b/https://yeclaeys.wordpress.com/realidades-chapter-4b/
·
Find
authentic resources about food, eating,
menu items, etc. from McDonald’s Argentina in Twitter https://twitter.com/mcdonalds_ar
o
YouTube Videos:
Spanish Commercials
§ K-Mart Smart with adjectives and clothes vocab - Videoclip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_h2azTgi5U
§ Si en el mundo solo existieran 100 personas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-0tc1cnlH4
o Educación
artística (libros enteros para hispano-hablantes)
http://issuu.com/sbasica/docs/eduartistica4_1011?e=1828153/2875764
o Los
diez edificios más altos del mundo (with height in hundreds of meters) https://infografiasencastellano.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/los10edificiosmasaltosdelmundo.jpg
o
Spanish
Memes http://www.vitamin-ha.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Vitamin-Ha-funny-graphs-english-spanish.jpg
·
Spanish
2 / 3: Preterite Conjugation Sheet from Señor Jordan –
This Word doc with regular, irregular, stem-changing, -car / -gar / - zar and i
to y preterite forms can be personalized if desired. http://www.senorjordan.com/2008/12/preterite-sheet
Quotes
/ Advocacy
·
“Good teaching
happens when competent teachers with non-discouraging personalities use
non-defensive approaches to language teaching and learning, and cherish their
students.” Dr. James E.
Alatis, 2007. Dr. Atlatis was Dean Emeritus of Georgetown University,
Distinguished Professor of Languages and Linguistics and Modern Greek, where he
taught for 46 years. He was also the Founding Father and Executive Director of
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) International for
over 20 years. He died February 28, 2015.
