Author Archives: Josiah Nilsen

Reflections on the Needs Assessment and Curriculum Design Project

Leave a reply

The Needs Assessment process is something I had not considered prior to taking this course. I knew that some courses were better than others, that some textbooks were better than others, and that some exercises and topics were more relevant than others, but I had never stopped to think about what made them that way. The first half of this course was therefore very eye-opening for me, in terms of what it is necessary to do in order to find out what students really need.

In hindsight, I don’t feel that my needs assessment was very good. During the second half of the semester my thoughts on it changed a lot. I was very focused at the beginning of the semester on trying to incorporate trips into the local community into my BUILD class. However, over the course of teaching an actual BUILD class at the same time, I discovered that students didn’t actually want to take the time and effort to do this, despite having said on the survey that they were very interested in doing it. It made me realize first-hand that what students say they want on a survey and what they actually want may be two very different things. Also, I did scouting trips to each of the places I had hoped to take my class, and I realized that they did not really present very language-rich environments. For example, I went to three different Arab or Middle Eastern restaurants, and not one of them actually had a menu written in Arabic. In hindsight, I have realized that the whole idea of frequent trips into the community was not something which arose naturally out of my needs assessment, but something I artificially tried to shoehorn in. It was not the students’ priority but something they said yes to on the survey because I prompted them to say it.

During the second half of the semester I was also a student in a Chinese BUILD class, which gave me fresh eyes on the BUILD experience from a student’s perspective, as well as close observation of another classroom. From that experience, I learned that what students are primarily interested in in BUILD is the language itself. This helped my to refocus my last several classes in constructive directions.

So, if I was going to do it again, I would try to design a better and more thorough survey for my students that delved more into their opinions and learning styles without leaving room for  my predetermined directions.

 

Reflections on Roy Lyster’s talk: Proactive and reactive approaches to integrating language and content

1 Reply

By Josiah Nilsen

Roy Lyster’s presentation really helped me to understand the difference between Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and Content Based Instruction (CBI). CBI is a good way to teach content, but the students’ language acquisition can suffer as attention is directed solely towards content. CLIL, on the other hand, balances out this deficiency by turning some of the attention back onto language. Thus, the language is used to teach content, but at the same time, content is specifically used to focus on language.

In Content Based Instruction there is a risk that students will fail to be achieve grammatical accuracy, lexical variety, and sociolinguistic appropriateness, despite learning the content well and despite achieving native-like comprehension and high communicative ability. It is possible for students to understand and follow discourse without actually understanding the forms being used. Although such a situation is better than the reverse, where someone knows the forms but cannot communicate or understand, it is still not the ideal situation. As language teachers we should strive to enable our students not only to communicate and understand but also to properly use the right grammatical forms in a sociolinguistically correct way.

Dr. Lyster proposed four practical steps for integrating language and content in a proactive way. In his proposal, a teacher should include a noticing activity, an awareness activity, guided practice, and autonomous practice. It was really cool to see his concrete examples of what these activities could look like in the classroom. I look forward to being able to implement this approach in my teaching.

Part of his talk that also really stood out to me was when he talked about a reactive approach to integrating language and content. He did a great job of highlighting the different kinds of feedback and their relative effectiveness. It’s interesting that although recasts are used as much as all other kinds of feedback combined, they are less effective for most age groups and ability groups. This will be very useful for me as a teacher, and will be one of the things that I will take away from this presentation and remember well.

Another thing he mentioned was to show students the underlying patterns that govern language, and not scare them up front with the exceptions. Arabic has a lot of underlying patterns, which can grow huge families of related words out of a single root. Helping students to understand these patterns is really important, especially in Arabic.

It was very interesting to hear Dr. Lyster’s take on whether foreign language texts should be altered for learner use. Dr. Lyster took the position that altering authentic texts is not only permissible, but often desirable or necessary. In my classes here at MIIS, I have often heard “Change the task, not the text.” This has been so ingrained in me that I have begun to take it for granted. That’s why I didn’t expect to hear a prominent voice in the field take a diametrically opposed view. This is a helpful reminder to me that not all the experts agree, and that the conversation on these issues is ongoing. This is a issue which I need to look into more in order to determine my own position.

Josiah – Pedagogical Repertoire

Leave a reply

Josiah Nilsen’s Pedagogical Repertoire

Envelope grouping game high beginner to advanced Students, in groups of four, are given an envelope with words or concepts in it. Each group categorizes the words or concepts into the categories given. An alternative way to do this would be to have the students come up with their own categories for classification. A good way to review concepts, as well as to engage students in analyzing and evaluating.
Foursquare voting any level Four large squares are designated on the ground, and students are given a choice with four options, one for each square. Students vote for their favorite choice by standing in the appropriate square. Once in the square, students discuss with the other students who chose their option about why they chose it. Then, a person or two from each group explains to the other groups why they chose it. This is good for getting the students to give reasons and defend opinions. No one is speaking in front of the whole class unless they want to, so no one feels singled out or too nervous to speak.

 

This game can be tailored for higher and lower levels.
Jigsaw reading (with expert groups) any level Each student is assigned one of three or four different readings as homework (or short readings, as an in-class activity). Then students meet with others who read the same reading to discuss it. After that, students form groups of three or four with people who did other readings and explain their reading to their group. This activity integrates reading with speaking. It will help the students to pick out the main ideas of a text, since they will have to explain it to others. Discussing with the expert groups first will help students clarify what they got out of the text.
Think-Pair-Share any level Each student thinks on their own about the question before them, then, they share their thoughts with a partner in pairs. Finally, each person shares with the class, or with a small group of four, what their partner said. This is a very versatile activity and could be used in many different ways. It promotes personal reflection, dialog, and sharing another’s opinions.
The animal shape game beginner Students get into groups of three and form an animal with their bodies. The rest of the class tries to guess which animal they are. This is useful for practicing animal vocabulary with beginner students.
Moon/Island survival exercise advanced Students receive a list of items needed to survive on the moon / on a desert island. Each student reads through the list on their own and rates the items from most useful to least useful. Then, in groups of four, students discuss with one another and rate the items from most useful to least useful, trying to come to a consensus. Then each group shares their answers with the class. This is a good way to have students engage some of the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, such as analyzing and evaluating. Students will also present and defend opinions.
Tell a story where each person adds a sentence any level This is best done in groups of three or four. While one person says a sentence, the next person writes it down. After three or four rounds, stop, and read the stories aloud to the class. This can be a fun way to have students create a story together. Students engage in listening, speaking, and writing.
Team debates intermediate to advanced Version 1: No Preparation Divide students into pro and con teams. Each team meets for five or ten minutes to discuss their talking points. Then come back together and have debate.
Version 2: Structured Preparation Same as before, except that students are given ten or twenty short texts or videos beforehand, and must construct their argument solely from these.
Version 3: Free preparation Same as before, except that each team is given 20 minutes to research online before meeting with their team to discuss talking points. Only use this one with mature dependable students. And possibly avoid topics that are really controversial.
Geography Game any level For beginners: Countries Good way to learn geography of the region you are learning about. Could be adapted to parts of your city or parts of your county.
For intermediate: Add Capitals, Seas, Rivers
For advanced: Add Major Cities, Provinces
Jeopardy Trivia any level Students get into teams of three and then play jeopardy. One person from each team is the speaker, and the others provide ideas to the speaker. This is a fun way to review concepts from a unit or from a whole class.
Matching or Memory with a word and its definition any level Students are in groups of four. Each group is given an envelope with a series of small strips of paper containing vocabulary words or terms from the lesson, and another with the definitions. Students try to match the word with its definition. This can be cooperative or competitive. And the cards can be face down (memory) or faceup. This is a good way to review concepts from a unit or class. It helps students to define L2 words and concepts in the L2, rather than mentally resorting to their L1.
Alligator River advanced Show the students the alligator river scenario. Each person rates the characters on their own, then students in groups of four try to come to a consensus on the ratings. Good for analyzing and evaluating. Can get students debating passionately. Do not try with students whose language level is not fairly advanced, unless you have adapted it somehow to accommodate their level of ability.
Trade Fair high beginner to advanced Students in small groups choose some aspect of the L2 history, culture, language, sports, food, music, etc, and create a display and presentation on that thing. This will take a long time to prepare, two weeks at least. Make sure to invite This is a very good way for students to engage in Bloom’s level 6, creating. It will also help develop their presentation skills and sense of self-confidence.
Headbands any Students have a word on a card held up to their head in such a way that the student cannot see their own, but everyone else can. Students circulate around the room and ask questions to try to figure out what their card says. This is a good way to get students to ask questions for information in a communicative way.

This is a good way to review.

 

Geography game (Pedagogical trade fair)

Leave a reply

I made a geography game for the pedagogical trade fair. It was designed to help familiarize participants with the countries of the Arab world and to raise awareness about some Arab geographers who have made important contributions, all while having fun.

My game consisted of a blank map of the Middle East with a stack of small cards with the names of the countries written on them. On the backs of the cards were clues to help the students if they weren’t sure of where to place a country.

There were three stacks of cards with the map. The first stack had the country names written in English, the second had them written in Arabic transliterated into English letters, and the third stack had the country names written in Arabic.

I would use this activity with adult students or in a college class near the start of a beginning class in Arabic, both in order to teach the geography of the Arab countries and to familiarize the students with the Arabic alphabet.

I think it was a success overall, both in the learning part and in the having fun part. The participants had more fun and did better when they used the hints written on the backs of the cards, so if I did it again, I would present the hints as the primary option, rather than as a backup plan to use only if needed. This is because some participants seemed intimidated by the large number of unknown countries and were too embarrassed to use the hints. This led some people not to try to complete the activity. However, people who used the hints stuck with it and enjoyed it.

 

This post was written by Josiah

Short Observation #2 (Holidays and Seasons classroom clip)

Leave a reply

Ms. Haberlen is teaching a unit about months and holidays. She uses only German in the classroom.

The first activity she did with the students was a greeting song, which the students sing to a partner every day, then switch around, and sing to another partner.

Next, Frau Haberlen handed twelve of the students a piece of paper with a month written on it in German. The students’ job was to sort those months into the four seasons.

After that, the teacher had the students sing a song about the months of the year. During this song, the students turn the hands of their “year clocks” to the appropriate month. The students had made their year clocks in class a few days before.

The next activity which the class does is a guessing game, tying the months of the year to the holidays that take place during them. The teacher provided an example, “I am a month in Spring, Mother’s Day is in me,” and the students guessed. Afterwards, the students took turns following that model and posing new riddles to each other.

Frau Haberlen handed out to a group of children the first halves of sentences about the months and holidays, while another group received the second halves. The children read their halves of the sentence and then mingled until they found the person with the other half. After that, each pair read their sentence out loud to the class, who said whether it was right or wrong.

Then the class played a game similar to 20 questions, where one student came up to the front of the room, and was given a card with a holiday on it, which they looked at and put behind their back. The rest of the students took turns asking five yes and no questions in order to narrow down what the holiday was. Frau Haberlen said that this activity practices listening skills and helps the children practice producing questions in a communicate way. The teacher provided a list of possible questions on a chart which the children could use as a reference.

Next, Frau Haberlen asked the children to compare a German holiday (Faschig) with an American holiday (Halloween). The students suggested comparisons, which the teacher then used to fill out a Venn diagram with the differences and similarities between the two holidays.

Finally, the teacher led the students in a farewell song which incorporated themes and vocabulary from the unit on months, seasons, weather, and holidays. The song is a traditional German song which German children learn.

Frau Haberlen stated in the video, “I think it’s very important that the students experience some kind of positive emotion while they are involved in their language learning.” I believe she accomplished that effectively during her class, through games and songs and a positive up-building atmosphere. The children all seemed to be excited, comfortable, and having fun. I want that to be the case in my classroom too.

By starting off the class with a song the students are familiar with, the teacher puts the students at ease, helps them to focus their minds on German, and gets them up and moving around, which will help reduce the effects of their shorter attention spans.

Games, fun, and interaction are critical, especially at young ages like third grade, in order to maintain students’ attention and motivation. It was interesting to see how Frau Haberlen bookended her class with music, and sprinkled it with games throughout. Even in grad school, students still enjoy an appropriate game.

On the topic of whether teachers should communicate with young students exclusively in the target language, I would say no. I think that using the L2 exclusively is not necessary or even desirable until more advanced levels. However, Frau Haberlen seemed to pull it off exceptionally well, and I think that, used the way she used it, L2 exclusivity is not bad. She made sure that what she meant was always obvious from context, and she spoke in a way that was understandable, bringing her German speech to her students into Krashen’s category of comprehensible input.

Some other topics I would put in a syllabus for third graders are pets, food, and around the house.

Short Observation (Hearing Authentic Voices Classroom Clip)

Leave a reply

During this lesson, the teacher (Davita Alston) asked two native Spanish speakers of around the same age as her students to come and speak to her class about their leisure activities and hobbies.

She scaffolded the conversation with the two guest Spanish speakers through a series of activities which her students did before the guest speakers came in:

  • First of all, the teacher handed out conversation cards to the students with instructions for a two-part conversation which the students carried out in pairs. One student (A) would ask the other student (B) whether they would like to do some activity together. Then B would answer “Yes”, “No, sorry, I don’t like…” or “I would prefer…”. Once the students had agreed on an activity, they would negotiate a time for it. The teacher said that this was to get them thinking about the things that they normally do, as a stepping stone to the rest of the lesson.
  • Once the students had completed the dialogue in pairs, the teacher asked for a volunteer to model a conversation with her for the rest of the class. After that, she asked for a pair of volunteers to have the conversation in front of the class.
  • Third, the teacher asked the students to do a three minute brainstorming activity in groups of four. She designated roles for each group, which the students could assign among themselves. Each group had a writer, a clock-watcher, and two talkers. The objective was to write down a list of activities that American kids do to have fun in their free time. Each group wrote their list on half of a large piece of paper. Meanwhile, the teacher circulated among the groups, encouraging them to come up with more detail when necessary.
  • After the brainstorming activity, the teacher asked each group to share two things from their list, with no repeats allowed. This allowed each group the opportunity to listen and hear what the other groups had come up with.
  • Fifth, the teacher showed the students a video of young people from Spanish-speaking countries talking about the things they like to do in their free time. She asked the students to be thinking about questions they could ask. After the video was over, she asked the students for a few things which they had understood that youth from Spanish-speaking countries like to do.
  • Finally, the students got into groups of four again, and brainstormed questions they could ask Spanish-speaking youth.

After each of these scaffolding steps was completed, the teacher brought in the two guest speakers and introduced them.

The two guest speakers spoke about their daily activities, and the teacher asked clarifying questions, sometimes explaining things so that her class would understand it.

One difference in the experience of Ms. Alston’s students and that of the guest speakers was that the two guest speakers had lived in a very rural area and had helped out a lot with chores and harvesting.

After a while, the students asked the guest speakers some questions, for example, about shopping and sports.

Once the guest speakers had left, the teacher had the students talk about the differences and similarities in the leisure activities of youth in America and in Mexico (where the guest speakers were from). As a visual aid to the discussion, the teacher created a Venn diagram. This helped the students think about cultural connections and diversity between different cultures.

I think that bringing in guest speakers who are fluent in the target language is a very good activity for language learners. It can make the language and culture seem more real and personable, and provide another source of comprehensible input who is not the teacher. It can provide excitement through varying routine.

Ms. Alston provided very effective scaffolding for her class in order to allow them to gain the maximum benefit from interaction with the guest speakers. The class was well prepared to ask and understand good questions about leisure activities and their answers.

One thing I noticed was that the two kids who came in as guest speakers seemed quite nervous most of the time. They were likely nervous because they didn’t know the kids in the class, and because they were the center of attention and the object of questioning. They may have also felt that they might be judged for how they spoke or what they said. A final reason why they might have been nervous is that this activity singles them out as different, whereas it can be very important to kids of that age to fit in. As the conversation progressed, both kids became visibly calmer.

Because of this, it is very important for a teacher to look out for the affective needs, not only of their students, but also of their guest speakers, especially if those guest speakers are children or youth.

In praise of Slow Teaching; an ode to my wife

1 Reply

My five year old son Joseph is still in his pajamas at 9:53 on a school day, playing with his two year old sister Elaina back in their bedroom, pretending that they are taking care of baby eagles.

He and his sister were able to sleep in, and when they woke up, we celebrated a morning ritual we call “snuggle buggle”, wherein Laryssa or I sit curled up with them on the couch, under a blanket, and read aloud three library books which they choose.

Joseph is really really into animals and how to classify them right now. This morning he was classifying raptors, of which he believes there are seven kinds: eagles, hawks, falcons, vultures, owls, condors, and a mysterious bird called “the long legged”. Before breakfast he drew a picture of each of these creatures, which he proudly showed to me, and then he asked me how to write each of their names, which I told him how to spell as he carefully wrote each bird’s name next to its picture.

This morning I am really impacted by how much learner autonomy and integration of different subjects there is here. He is learning biology, classification, art, and spelling all at the same time. He decided to do this activity and when to do it. He decided which animals to classify as raptors. He did research, such as when he asked me last night whether a condor is a raptor or not (I checked Wikipedia). He integrated a trip we did last week to Pinnacles National Park, which is where we learned about Condors, along with his current favorite TV show, Wild Kratts, which is a kids show about animals. It was in Wild Kratts that he learned about “the long legged” (not having seen the episode, Laryssa and I can’t help him with what the long legged’s real name might actually be). And now he and his sister are integrating raptors into their play.

Joseph is homeschooled. We have a curriculum for learning to read and another for math, as well as one called Five in a Row, which uses a different children’s book each week. In Five in a Row, the same children’s book is read each day of the school week, and lessons in geography, art, science, or history are drawn from it each day. For example, in a book about a duck which lives on the Yangtze river, we learned where China is on Monday, learned a new art technique for drawing ducks on Tuesday, and conducted experiments with buoyancy on Friday.

Joey (I miss calling him that. He decided on his fifth birthday that he wants to be called Joseph now) is able work his way through each of these curricula in only an hour and a half each day. This leaves the rest of the day free for whatever he wants to do, and it is incredible how much learning occurs during that time.

While I am writing this, Joseph just came over to me and asked if we would start school now. How awesome is that?

Last night I read the article about Slow Teaching on the class Moodle, and I realized this morning that I am watching it happen right before my eyes with our son.

I have my wife to thank for this. She is an incredible friend and spouse, and a wonderful mother and teacher. She is the brains and the brawn behind our homeschooling. Laryssa is a certified elementary ed teacher, and has a Master’s degree as a reading specialist. Today, while I am home with the kids, she is substitute teaching in a second grade classroom in Seaside. However, most days she stays home and teaches our kids.

Thank you, Laryssa. Thank you for investing in our children and giving them this comfort and autonomy. Thank you for the love and attention you pour into them. I see them happy and flourishing, learning what they want at their own pace, as well as learning what they “need to” for their grade level.

For this, and a myriad of other reasons, I am unbelievably blessed to be your husband. You are amazing. I love you.

Sana Hilwa Ya Gamil

Leave a reply

Last Friday our P+P class went to Bay View Academy, a local charter school, and taught language lessons in pairs to kids between 2nd and 8th grade.

It was a lot of fun. My teaching partner was Danna, and we taught two different classes, 4a and 5a. We had made name tags in Arabic for each kid in both classes. I think they really enjoyed seeing their names written in Arabic, and each card also had a list on the back of all the vocabulary we gave them.

Danna and I started off by demonstrating a short dialogue in Arabic using phrases such as “Hello”, “How are you?”, “Good, thanks”, “My name is…”, and “Goodbye”. After that, we taught the students how to say each phrase. We wrote each phrase on the board the way it sounds in English, and then had the students repeat after us. Finally we repeated the whole dialogue again, and then had the students turn to one another in pairs and practice the dialogue with each other.

Our second activity was to sing “Happy Birthday” in Arabic. We gave each student a sheet with the words to “Happy Birthday” written in Arabic, and transliterated into romanized script. We asked the kids who had a birthday in November, to which the students responded enthusiastically, waving their hands and telling us their birthdays and their family members’ birthdays. Then we sang “Happy Birthday” in Arabic to all the kids with November birthdays, and the whole class happily sang along. Happy birthday in Arabic is “sana hilwa ya gamil”, hence the name of this post.

Next we taught the kids the Arabic alphabet. We gave each kid a little card with one of the 28 letters of the alphabet written on it, and they each came up to the board, wrote their letter, and went back to their seats. I think each kid really enjoyed writing their letter on the board. The letters in Arabic are very beautiful and flowing, and each kid took special pride in forming their letter just the way it was on their card. As the kids wrote the letters, Danna and I explained the sound made by each letter. Some of the letters have sounds very different from English, and the students had a good time repeating the sounds after us. Some of their favorite ones were غ, which makes a kind of gargling sound, and the emphatic letters, such as ص (say an ‘s’ sound, like you really mean it).

After teaching the alphabet, Danna and I taught the kids some colors and animals in Arabic. We taught red, green, orange, yellow, and blue, along with a little song to remember them by, to the tune of “Frere Jacques”. The animals we taught were dog, cat, lion, bear, and elephant.

Our final activity was a game in which two students came to the front of the classroom and one of them impersonated one of the animals we had learned. The job of the other student was to guess in Arabic which animal was being impersonated, with the added challenge that they were unable to see the student who was impersonating the animal. After each guess, the class was supposed to call out “Yes!”, or “No!”, in Arabic.

The students had fun playing the game, but it presented some interesting challenges to classroom management, because only a few students could actively participate at a time. Another factor to take into consideration was that all the kids wanted a chance, and that there was not really enough time for this. Eventually, in 5a, in order to accommodate all the students who wanted a turn, we began to have them come first two at a time, and finally four at a time. Otherwise we would have run out of class-time without all the kids getting a chance. If we had a chance to do it again, I think we would need a different game, or we would have to change this one somehow to allow more of the kids to participate at once.

 

We enjoyed both 4a and 5a very much. However, there was a noticeable difference in class culture between the two classes. The students in 5a were far more inquisitive. They asked a lot of good questions, and would probably have done so happily for the whole class period had time allowed. They were also somewhat more bold and more engaged than the students in 4a. In 4a we had good participation, but no one asked us any questions. Some of this may be due to a year’s difference in age, but some of it is also probably due to the classroom culture established by their teachers and by the group of students themselves. This points to the importance of establishing a positive environment where students are encouraged to ask questions and feel comfortable doing so.

The three parts of the class which the students enjoyed most were singing happy birthday, writing the letters on the board, and receiving their name tags. It is interesting that each of these activities are also the same ones which most recognized their individuality and engaged their creative skills. One of the boys even colored his name-tag in the shape of a cat. It came out very well, and he was very proud to show it to us. Unbeknownst to him, caligraphy such as he engaged in an important part of Arabic culture.

This was an awesome experience, and I would love to do it again. Thanks, Peter.

Josiah

Foxy Madame

Leave a reply

By Gerri (Madame DeFarge), Kelly (The Malevolent Fairy), Josiah (Chubdaddy), and Kendall (Squirtle)

What happened: Pre, mid, and post exercises. The pre-practices were done in groups of four. In the presets we got background info about France and prefaced vocab in  the story with a memory game. French pronunciation of difficult words in the story was also practiced. Students were asked to discuss polemic moral questions with respect to the story were as part of the preset.

During the actual reading, pairs chose a role in the story (male or female) and read aloud their respective dialogue and descriptive paragraphs. After completing the first two pages of reading, the team was asked to answer reading comprehension and predictive questions about the story. This was discussed as a group.The teacher then handed out the final two pages, which could be read aloud as before, or silently. During the post reading, students were asked to reflect on the predictions and reflect on their previous responses to the polemic moral questions. Alternate follow-up activities included drawing, role playing, personal writing, and reflection.

Observations:

1st activity (putting dates in order): If we were to use the background framing activity, background discussion would possibly be needed. If learning was content based, the events could have been shuffled. If previous history knowledge is unknown, or not  the goal, leave it alone and keep events in order.

2nd activity (vocabulary memory game): The game masked learning vocabulary, and got students to memorize vocab. Instructions for the game need to be clear and explained beforehand, as any discrepancies in game play can distract from learning (and fun).

3rd activity (pronunciation review): While we found this useful as native speakers of English, in a classroom where French is not the target language we thought that reviewing the pronunciation of a third language could be confusing.

4th activity (discussion questions): This activity supports opinion based discussion. People are more likely to take more risks and speak when a topic is controversial.

5th activity (mid reading predictions): Reading out loud allowed from pronunciation practice, reading, speaking, and allowed students to critique and support each other. Prediction questions were useful in checking group comprehension and facilitating discussion.

6th activity (post reading comprehension): Reading comprehension was checked through reflections and predictions. The question brought to light the Figurative speech and irony in the text, which is not easily recognizable with language learners.

TPR Spanish

1 Reply

Observers: Kelly and Kendall, participants: Gerri and Josiah.

What happened:

Ten students sat in a semi-circle in front of the teacher, who was in the middle, facing the students.  Using only Spanish, he taught us the words for see, hear, stand up, sit down, men, and women, using pointing and gestures.  We physically responded to his cues, and he gradually introduced more commands.  He did the movements with us until he felt that we understood the cues, which were always verbally given. Once he thought we had a solid grasp of a command, he stopped doing the movement himself.

He taught us body parts and the words for walk and dance, which he then incorporated into a song, called “Juanito cuando baila…” We danced along with a video of Juanito cuando baila and then sat back down.

The next thing the teacher introduced was the word for blocks, numbers one though four, and four colors, green, red, yellow, and blue. He put each one underneath a numbered cup, and we had to say aloud the number we thought a particular block was under. Then he wrote the phrase for “Put the yellow block on top of the green block,” on the board and read the words aloud to us. A volunteer would come forward and stack the blocks according to the instructions. Then that volunteer would change the colors and another volunteer would stack the blocks again.

Next he handed out various shapes in the four colors we had learned, and he had us describe the name of each shape and whether it was big or small, via yes or no questions. He handed each student a shape.  Then he would describe a particular shape, and the student who had the shape would lift it.  He also had a student pick a shape and he would guess it, using yes or no questions, which we answered.

Lastly, he handed out five pictures and described in Spanish what was going on in each.  Then he asked who was holding a particular picture, and we called out that students’ name.

Our affective filter was lowered because we could participate at will, and weren’t called out alone to try to produce the language. We only had to respond with our classmates’ names, or with numbers, or through movement, such as touching body parts or standing up. Participants felt that it was easier to recognize information rather than recall it.

We noticed that participants who did not know Spanish were nervous at first because they didn’t know what to expect. As they grew acclimated to the expectations and requirements of the activity they became more relaxed. However, with the addition of new information, anxiety rose again because the more information was added, the harder it became to recall the words.

We think this is a very useful activity for learning simple, basic vocabulary words such as numbers, colors, and body parts.  We also think it would be useful for breaking up monotony during class-time because it gets students out of their desks, physically interacting in a direct way.

There are certain topics that don’t lend themselves well to this method of teaching. One of the things that could not be taught in this way is writing. Another examples is grammar concepts, such as the subjunctive, which, for example, even if it could be acted out, sounds the same as the present in French.