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¡Hola!  Check out this video I posted today with one of my favorite ways to study vocabulary.  It works!

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You asked for it! Every Spanish teacher needs some (MORE) papel picado! Here is a collection of PNGs of my new papel picado font. Includes the entire English and Spanish alphabets (including accented vowels, ñ, and the upside-down punctuation marks!) These make beautiful bulletin boards as well as hallway displays for Open House or Hispanic Heritage Month! They also look great on worksheets and handouts.

I have put the PNGs together in a Power Point file for easier manipulation if you would like to make different background colors for the letters. Since they are PNGs, they are able to be transparent, resizabe, etc.

Find it HERE!

                                                                                                                             

During the first week of school, we do our best as teachers to make sure our lesson plans are complete from bell to bell.  It really is important to establish this during the first few days so students know that we will use class time to be productive and then they will not expect “free time.”  However, even best laid plans fall short at times.  Then we are left with an awkward 5 to 10 minutes with nothing left to do except allow the students to talk or work on other homework…this is not a good way to start the year.  Furthermore, I don’t know about you, but my heart would always sink when the principal would do a walk-through and my students were off-task with seemingly “nothing to do” all because the lesson plan ended early. 

Here is a great game (with minimal preparation!) to fill in left over minutes!  (We play these games in Spanish class, but they could be easily adapted to any language class!)

¡Vocabulary Hot Potato! (¡Papa caliente!)  This works especially well for Spanish II and up (once students have learned enough vocabulary.)  Use an alphabet die from the game Scattergories (or you can purchase your own online at Ebay, etc.)  Have students get into groups of 4 to 6.  The teacher rolls the die and lets the students know the letter.  As soon as you announce the letter, use a timer for 1 minute.  Students have to go around the circle within their group saying words that begin with that letter of the alphabet.  When the timer goes off, the student who was up to say the next word is “out.”  (So, this encourages the students to try to keep it going quickly and stay in the game.)  The student that is “out” is eliminated for the remainder of rounds until there is finally a “winner” (last one standing.)  With groups of 4 to 6, you will be able to play several times (so those who get “out” will get to play again in a few minutes.)  This game is exciting and students are surprised at how many words they do remember.  What a great way to review vocabulary!  (Reward the “winners” with candy or your own reward system of bonus points, etc. to keep them motivated to play.)

Variations of this Game: 

(1)If you don’t have an alphabet die, then just print out aset of cards with every letter of the alphabet and randomly draw a card before each round. 

(2)  To make this less teacher-directed, purchase enough dice for each group to have one, then students could roll their own die and keep a timer within the group for each round.  (Or, print a stack of cards, as mentioned in number 1 above, for each group.) This makes it more challenging as well as students may not hear other groups shouting out words within the same category (letter).

(3)   Play without a die…

You will find a lot more ideas like these in my 125 Koosh Ball Activities and my Arrebato Games in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

My Spanish 2 Go Tpt Store

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What will you do for Open House?

Your school has scheduled an Open House night where the parents get to attend each class on their student’s schedule! You, the teacher, get to talk to them for 10 minutes! However, you are so swamped with all of the meetings, lesson planning, and paper administration for the first few weeks that you don’t even know HOW you will prepare for Open House! Well, here is your salvation! 

This is a Power Point template to help you prepare a professional and personal presentation to help the parents get a good understanding about the class(es) you will be teaching and what they should expect. It is created for Spanish class, but could easily be adapted for other World Language classes.

This presentation includes 43 editable slides including an explanation of how to use the presentation, an outline of topics to discuss (Welcome, About Me, Course Descriptions, Course Expectations, Materials Needed, Philosophy Statement, The 5 C’s of Language Learning (with a link to a handout or poster on this), Homework Policy, Units to Study, Upcoming Projects, Other Opportunities for Language Learning, and even a fun pop quiz for the parents if you have time left over!

Also included with this product’s zip file are:

(1) an editable handout for the parents to take with them as well as (or instead of) using the Power Point (especially for those times when technology decides not to work!) I have also included with this handout a copy of my list of “Language Learning Strategies” that I give to the students so the parents can help them to be successful.

(2) editable sign-up sheets. Copy these (if you have to turn them in to the school office) and file them in a folder marked “Open House” to refer to later when contacting parents. It helps to know who has heard your expectations and who has not.

These "papel picado" letters welcoming students back to school are a very popular product in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! For teachers that are decorating their classroom, bulletin board, etc. with these letters...I have a special offer for you!  Please email me a picture of your display (to myspanish2go@gmail.com) that I may use on Facebook, my blog, etc. and I will send you my product, 125 Koosh Ball Activities for Middle or High School Spanish for FREE! This promotion ends at midnight on Wednesday, August 16, 2016. ¡Muchas gracias! I can't wait to see the pics!

FREE for a limited time! 

This idea/product is free for a limited time in my TpT store! This is a great assignment for the students to do to stay productive while you take care of first-week-of-school administrations! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/VOCABULARY-Great-idea-to-get-students-to-illustrate-vocabulary-2060729