Polyglot Press
Turning the Tables On Language Teaching and Learning
May 5, 2014
It is
that one week when we turn our attention to the teachers that make learning
wonderful, who light up their students’ lives, who make the unknown familiar
and friendly, who open doors to other worlds that students didn’t know existed.
One week is not enough. One word is not enough. That said, THANKS.
BRAVO
·
French teacher Jean Patterson at Parkwood HS is a grandmother! Congratulations and
enjoy!
·
Congratulations to Juliet Kasler, Latin teacher at Porter
Ridge HS. She has been chosen to be part of the UCPS Classroom of the Future. She will keep us posted on what she learns
in training and how they physically transform her classroom. They have already
come from New York to take measurements!
·
Two
German students in Danilo Loor’s
class at CATA are off to Germany! One has won a CB-YX scholarship (Congress
Bundestag Youth Exchange) to spend one
year studying in Germany. She
will be attending a German high school. She will be living with a German host
family. You can read more about the program here:http://www.usagermanyscholarship.org/.
Students selected to participate in the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange
(CBYX) program are awarded a scholarship that covers pretty much everything.
One student will be staying in Bernau, a small town just outside of Berlin, for
three weeks this summer. She will be
taking part in language and culture courses with the “Goethe Institut: Kinder-
und Jugendkurse.” You can learn more about the program here:http://www.goethe.de/ins/de/spr/kuj/kur/kuo/bbb/enindex.htm.
She will also be staying in student dorms. Students pay for the expenses
associated with this event.
·
China-Bound: Jessica Martinez, Christina Bachiller, Sibyll Salazar, Alejandra
Elliott, Ann Haddon and Amanda Mancilla are some of the teachers going to
China this summer to teach English in Nanjing at the MRHS sister-school.
·
What I Learned While
Out and About
Formative Assessment and Online Games
·
Daisy Rodríguez at Parkwood HS let
her Spanish students create the
questions for the Kahoot games she created for her students. Student input
increased interest, competition and encouraged student to review the new
content.
·
At
Forest Hills, Wanda Parks and Mitzi Berry are both using Kahoot with their Spanish 1 and 2
students. Mitzi stops after each question to discuss why answers were correct
or indirect. For 35 questions, she spends about 30 minutes. She can check
whether students catch on to explanations by having certain types of similar questions repeat in the latter
half of the Kahoot game. This way, she can see whether they have processed and
incorporated what they learned on a previous question.
·
Piedmont
HS teachers learned about how to create Jeopardy-style
quiz games from the school’s Instructional Technology Facilitator. Katie Kane has created some at http://www.equizshow.com and found that other
teachers in other districts who also use Realidades for Spanish are posting
quizzes that anyone can use. Katie has one at http://www.equizshow.com/play/12895
Classroom Management and Technology
·
Freedom to move
around:
I saw two teachers using a wireless
mouse as they circulated around the classroom. They could walk near ever
student, see what they were writing or doing whether in their notebooks or on
their laptops. When needed, they could provide individual feedback without
having to disconnect from the rest of the class. It was very impressive to see
Christine Knapp click on the mouse from across the room and to see the correct
preterit verb appear in a Power Point presentation to her Spanish students at
Weddington HS. In Stacie Thompson’s
Spanish classroom at Cuthbertson, she and students were reviewing reflexive
verbs. As each student gave the correct answer, Stacie was able to click on her
Logitech wireless mouse so that the correct answer appeared – from across the
room. The wireless mouse permitted the teachers to not be tied to the computer
at the front of the classroom.
Google Apps
·
Google drawing seems to be a bit
hit. Have you tried it? Juliet Kasler
at Porter Ridge HS has students who have used Google draw to tell a story, explain
a message, etc. Juliet references a Latin teacher’s website who uses Google Draw and Power Point to depict the
storylines for Ecce Romani. http://sb.ccsd.ws/webpages/mgerard/sixth.cfm?subpage=574195 Daniel Sellner at Cuthbertson HShas used Google Drawing templates
with Venn Diagrams for groups to compare and contrast different types of German
schools with US schools
·
Teachers
have used Google documents and Google presentations to write students comments
prior to turning in their work. Charlotte
Hancock at Sun Valley HS goes over student writings in Google apps on the
SmartBoard with the class while teaching students to critique writing and make
corrections as a class.
·
Many
people are catching on to Flubaroo http://www.flubaroo.com/ including Brooke Monroe at Weddington High and Marlena James at Monroe High. With
Google forms you can make a quick multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank quiz.
Once the students take the quiz (for practice or a grade), the teacher adds the
correct answers as the key then runs the self-scoring tool. You can email the
grades to students. The teacher can look at results per questions as well as
student success. The teacher can quickly find out what needs to be retaught.
Details at http://www.flubaroo.com/flubaroo-user-guide#step3
Accountability and Screenshots
·
Multiple
teachers have mentioned a desire to document
that students are on task while playing the games in Quizlet, answering the
online text self-graded activities, etc. Ann
Haddon is one of many teachers who is asking her Marvin Ridge French students
to turn in a screenshot of the
score, final grade, number correct, etc. of an online activity. If you don’t
know how students can take a screenshot on Chromebooks, it is explained at https://sites.google.com/a/ucps.k12.nc.us/wlgoeschrome/screenshots Students simply
click on Control and F5 (the screen image).
Audio Recordings
·
Daniel Sellner prints a list of the
URL from the Vocaroo recordings and cuts them up to give to pairs of German
students at Cuthbertson HS to listen to
and peer assess.
Personalizing Learning through Field Trips
·
For a recent field trip to the Mint Museum on Randolph Road, Amanda Mancilla prepared a
mini history lesson and gave a brief history of Mexico and South America before
and after Columbus' arrival. She provided students with ‘pan’ to eat while she
taught. The students and Amanda enjoyed the museum tour and their tour guide
Marlene and would recommend her. “They have several pieces of art from Mexico and
Latin America including pottery, textiles, masks and colonial ornate art. They
have several hands on activities built into the guided tour that my high school
students enjoyed. The tour guides engaged them with the discussion questions,”
said Amanda.
·
Amanda took her CATA
Spanish students to Los Paisas
Colombian restaurant at 8318 Pineville-Matthews Rd, Charlotte http://lospaisasrestaurant.com/ Before going to the
restaurant she called and they sent her a simplified menu that she printed for
her students. All students had a copy and circled their food or beverage choice
before they arrived. Amanda said, “The restaurant did an awesome job of
making sure students received the right order in a timely manner and paying was
a breeze.
·
Amanda also took her students to the Levine Museum to see two exhibits. One is
about undocumented immigrants and the other is the changing demographics in
Charlotte. “It’s neat how they show the products that are now found locally
based on the changes in demographics,” said Amanda. The person who greeted my
students and gave them a brief overview spoke Spanish to them. She did a great
job using cognates and slowed speech for them. Per Amanda, the Levine Museum
has an exhibit opening in October 2014 about Latinos and their impact on the
Southern economy.
Coming Events
·
AP Exams. Best wishes to our AP teachers:
o
Tuesday, May 13, French - Dawn Jones (MRHS)
o
Wednesday, May 14, German – Harry Braun (MRHS)
o
Tuesday, May 6, Spanish – Anahi Brusa (MHS),
Jessica Martinez (WHS), Andrew Rosene (CHS), Alice Shrader (MRHS)
Professional
Development
·
May
5, 2014 8:00 p.m. Live Twitter chat #WLchatNC about Web 2.0 Tools for WL Classrooms with Teryn Odom @SraOdom Archived
chats and how to tweet is explained at http://wlnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/WLchatNC This is a FLANC / NC DPI WL collaboration.
Teryn is a Piedmont grad who student taught in UCPS with Alice Shrader at Sun Valley
HS. She currently teaches Spanish online with NC Virtual Public Schools.
·
May
31st and June 1st Online, June 22nd to June 26th
At Winthrop AP Teacher
Institutes; Winthrop University; College of Arts and Sciences; Summer 2014;
French Language; Spanish Language;; www.winthrop.edu/cas/worldlanguages/ap Registration Due by May 20th
Send questions to apinstitute@winthrop.edu.
o
3 credit graduate course
(appropriate for the content area)
o
Reduced tuition cost of
$200
o
Institutes led by
experienced AP teachers, AP exam graders, and content specialists
o
Participants will leave
with: sample lessons, a syllabus for an AP course, resources for teaching AP
courses, tips on AP exam preparation and grading, review of pertinent content
o
Great professional development
for current AP teachers, individuals hoping to add AP endorsement to their
certificate, and all teachers in the discipline.
·
July 7–August 10 (5 week online course) Using the Web for
Communicative Language Learning through CARLA (Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition)
$400.00 $50
off if received on or before May 30, 2014 http://www.carla.umn.edu/institutes/2014/cll_online.html
·
July 14 – 26 Center
for Language Education and Research (Lansing, Michigan) $150 per course.
Flights and housing ($35 per night) are extra. http://clear.msu.edu/clear/professionaldev/summerworkshops.php
o
July 14 - 16, 2014 Basics of
Creating Assessments: From Principlss to Practice
o
July 17 - 19, 2014 Rich
Internet Applications for Language Learning: Intro Techniques
o
July 21 - 23, 2014 Speaking Activities for Oral Proficiency Development
o
July 24 - 26, 2014 Using
Authentic Materials in All Levels of Foreign Language Instruction
UCPS Update
·
Immersion Education - UCPS will be adding four new immersion programs
to their language offerings. Four new
Spanish immersion programs will begin at
Antioch ES, Poplin ES, Weddington ES, Western Union ES. UCPS currently
other Spanish immersion programs at Shiloh ES, Sun Valley ES and Unionville ES.
There are Chinese immersion programs at Kensington ES and Marvin ES. Teachers are trained and hired through
SPLASH, Global Schools Network / VIF. Dr. June Atkinson, NC State Superintendent
visited UCPS immersion programs January 2013 http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/statesuperintendent/blog/2013/20130108
·
UC Virtual – UCPS is investing in full-time positions for English Language
Arts, Math and Science teachers for grades 9 – 12.
DPI Update
·
All of the materials from World
Language Webinar #3, which was broadcast on Thursday afternoon, April 17,
2014, are now posted, including the archived broadcast, PowerPoint
presentation, handout on the ASW Process, and link to the ASW wiki. Please
go to the 2013-2014 World Language Webinar wikipage (http://wlnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/2013-2014+Webinars) and
scroll down through the chronological list of this year's webinars to
access these materials.
·
Local Guidance for Standard 6: “The
Department of Public Instruction has worked to ensure every educator has the
opportunity to receive an individual Standard 6 rating based on the growth of
that educator’s students. In 2014-2015, the Department will have covered
approximately 90 percent of educators through one of the following statewide
Standard 6 measures: Analysis of Student Work; CTE Pre- and Post-Assessments; End of
Grade/End of Course Assessments; K-3 Checkpoints; NC Final Exams. The
Department will work closely with districts to identify the number of educators
who do not utilize any of the above measures of student growth and to continue
development of local guidance and best practices on measuring student growth
for the following educators:
·
Teachers who only provide instruction on local elective courses,
·
English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers who do not participate
in roster verification,
·
Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) teachers who do
not participate in roster verification,
·
Exceptional Children (EC) teachers who do not participate in
Analysis of Student Work or participate in roster verification,
·
Teachers at the residential schools for deaf and blind students,
·
Teachers at alternative schools who do not participate in roster
verification, and
·
Teachers who do not participate in Analysis of Student Work due to
limited instructional time.
The three-year rolling average needed to calculate Standard 6 for
these educators will not begin until the 2015-2016 school year. MORE INFO:
If you have questions regarding local guidance for Standard 6, please email
educatoreffectiveness@dpi.nc.gov or contact Jennifer DeNeal, Educator
Effectiveness, jennifer.deneal@dpi.nc.gov “ source: the 043014 Race to the Top Update
Grants
·
The
Bright Ideas grants are intended to
provide funding for creative classroom projects outside normal school funding
parameters. Teachers can apply online now through the Bright Ideas website, ncbrightideas.com. This website features an on-line
application, details about the Bright Ideas program, and grant criteria. All teachers who submit their applications by the
early-bird deadline of August 15, will be entered into a drawing for one of
five $100 Visa gift cards! The final deadline to apply is September 19, 2014. Feel free to email carrie.stroud@union-power.com or call 704-220-0714
if you have any questions about the grant program or application process.
World Language Pedagogy
·
Achieving 90%+ through Organic Language Acquisition – ACTFL session notes on how to stay in the target language 90% of the time
https://storify.com/SraSpanglish/actfl13-where-sitting-is-the-exception Go to the Organic World Language webpage at http://www.owlanguage.com/about/ OWL goals are: To use the second language 100% of the time; To
not be be afraid of a second language environment; Take risks and break down
the filter (make mistakes!); To be able to infer and circumlocute; To
participate & be part of a community. Students stand
and sit in a circle. This structure allows for equality, accountability, and
the flexibility to create an academic and social space for language acquisition
to occur. The purpose of the circle is to create pairings and groupings of
students so that they can interact, practice, produce, learn, and teach each
other in a fluid way. This structure allows for students to interact with ALL
of their peers, all the time. @OWLanguage
·
Should foreign language teachers focus on grammar or their
students’ ability to speak? This
ongoing discussion among world language teachers received many responses on the
Nandu ListServ http://caltalk.cal.org/read/messages?id=58091
·
24 Ways
to Find or Create Comprehensible Input The Personal Setting: Children’s
Books; Children’s
Cartoons, Use Google translate to search in the target language; Podcasts or Blogs on topics you are
passionate about; Comic books, dubbed movies, narrow reading, Books in a
series, Label up, Repeat what you watch and listen to over and over; Catalogues,
Total Physical Response, Language Acquisition Projects (http://www.pikkert.com/files/LACE%20FIELD%20MANUAL%20(2)%20PDF.pdf ),
Handcrafted stories you write, Re-tell, Speak to a Topic, Ask multiple people
the same interesting question because you are interested in the answer, etc. http://www.everydaylanguagelearner.com/2011/06/02/24-ways-to-find-or-create-comprehensible-input
Globalizing Your Content Area
·
Culture Kits – Free to borrow! UCPS has begun creating Culture Kits. Those
created thus far can be checked out and are listed at http://destiny.ucps.k12.nc.us/cataloging/servlet/handlebasicsearchform.do Of
interest might be the kits labeled Caribbean, China, Costa Rica, France, Mexico
and South America. These kits have been begun by the UCPS Global Teacher
Leaders similar to those by Carolina Navigators http://cgi.unc.edu/navigators/resources/culture-kits Carolina Navigators has kits on Argentina,
China (4 kits), Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, France,
Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico (2 kits), Germany (2 kits), Panama, Spain,
Switzerland, Taiwan.
Globalizing Your
School
·
Tell Your Students: Hosting
an exchange student
not only changes a student's life in a meaningful way, but also has a great
impact on the host family and school. Almost 2,000 high school
students representing over 50 countries are awarded highly competitive
merit-based State Department scholarships to study in the United States each
academic year. These promising young leaders live with American host families
across the county, attend high school, participate in extracurricular and
community service activities, and give back to their host communities.
When you host an exchange student, you welcome a new culture, a new language,
and all the richness that comes with it into your home and school.
Interested host families can learn more at http://hosting.state.gov. They can also for more info to youthprograms@state.gov.
Instructional Tools
Audio Recording Tools
Presentation Writing
Tools
Presentation Tools
with Audio
·
Brainshark http://www.brainshark.com/ (Laura Nicholson shared this with me and shared some impressive presentations
with audio that her students have created).
·
Knovio http://www.knovio.com (I learned about this at the NCTIES tech conference. Upload a
Power Point, then talk about it. Your face appears next to the PPT in the movie
that is created.)
·
Prezi for Education http://prezi.com/prezi-for-education/ (Sometimes described as Power Point on
steroids. Going from one slide to the next is a journey up, around, in or out.
The wonder of Prezi is that you can add audio to each slide.)
·
Educreations works on ipads as a whiteboard to capture voice and handwriting
(like the SmartBoard Notebook 11 videorecording tool). Create your own videos.
Student Summer Immersion
·
Immersion Island offers
day and overnight camps in both Spanish and French. Chapel Hill, NC http://immersionisland.org/ (919) 259 – 2843
Spanish Resources
·
Top 15 Apps (for
cellphones) for Spanish Class
o
Language: Wordreference dictionary; Duolingo
game for learning Spanish at word, sentence, written and audio level; Univisión apps for iphone and ipad
(Univision, Univision Deportes, Univision Novelas, Univisión Música, Noticias,
Videos); Que Rica Vida Recetario Mobile
and website https://www.quericavida.com/
o
Production: Tellagami- create a 30 sec video w talking avatar, Snapguide – create how-to-tutorial, Doodle Buddy – draw what your partner
describes with this app, PuppetPals2
– create a mini-skit by narrating puppet voices; Pic Collage – create vocab list with pics and texts;
o
Culture:
Currency (converter); Liga de Fútbol Profesional; Weather+:
