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PEDAGOGICAL EXPERTISE ///
Directed by VINCE MALC & EMILIA COLE
Edited and Filmed by NICOLAS TROY
Produced by NIKI HEART,
Wix Films LTD.
A little novelty goes a long way towards dialing up student engagement. Here, students are getting to practice their verb conjugations by writing on the windows.
MULTI MODAL
ACTIVITIES
When learning a foreign language, having as many opportunities to speak is essential for students to develop a comfort with trying on new grammar and vocabulary. Adding in movement provides for variety in class activities.
Adding actions or gestures to vocabulary makes it "stickier", aiding in long term retention. Here, students race to see who can act out a Spanish sentence the fastest.
Here, students engage in an "information gap" activity. Each student has information the other one needs to be able to complete their task.
Drawings are excellent at helping students comprehend and internalize a story using another mode other than reading or listening. Here, students have illustrated the most important parts of a novel and will take turns with a partner retelling the story.
Acting adds an element of fun to a memorization homework assignment.
Taking a traditional camp-type activity involving remembering what others have said before you, and adding on, makes speaking more fun by adding a level of challenge.
CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELD
It is important to stay up to date on developments in the field. I am working towards learning more about the methodology of teaching to "proficiency", a model that is aimed at helping students understand where they are on their overall path to fluency in Spanish. The first step in this journey for me will be gaining a better understanding of how to evaluate the proficiency levels of a given sample of student work. We are working as a department towards better understanding how to employ this model.
This diagram shows the progression through the levels of proficiency, as determined by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
The rubric to the left helps explain in descriptive terms to learners what they are expected to be responsible for at the different levels of proficiency. Students will be able to understand what their strengths and weakness are and how they can work to improve their proficiency in specific terms.
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