Nine Ways to Improve Classroom Discussion

Nine Ways to Improve Classroom Discussion 1. More focus/less time 2. Prethink the Hook 3. Pause 4. Have note takers 5. Talk less or not at all 6. End with something definitive 7. Refer back to the discussion at times 8. Invite students to introduce a topic 9. Discuss the discussion with what worked and what didn't

Learn Something

What a cool list of websites to help you learn!

More Apps

Nine Free Apps to Teach You German

Digital Tools for Building Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the key to language, so some of these tools may come in useful for the FL classroom. Digital Tools for Building Vocabulary.

Smarter German

I've been impressed with this podcast so far. It is available on YouTube. Check it out. Smarter German The first segment has a great song for learning the case articles. Here is a good starting point: Udemy.

Quizz

Quizz is a game, similar to Kahoot but the best difference is that it shows both the questions and answers on the student's personal device.

Online Learning Games

Here is a list of the best Online Learning Games.

Five-Minute Film Festival

If you need some lifting of the spirits at this time of year, click HERE.

Testing Season is Upon Us

17 things to do while monitoring a test. You're Welcome.

Zaption

Use videos in conjunction with questions, pictures, group projects. Looks very interesting - Zaption

German Club Event Ad

Maybe something a little more eyecatching than Publisher - Poster My Wall

Brock it!

Seen on the #tlap twitter feed. Motivational Coaching is as much work as the work itself.

The 4 Properties of Powerful Teachers

Great article reminding us of the basics of good teaching!

AudioPal Widget

AudioPal Widget: Come and create your very own AudioPal widget.

Effective Speaking

How often do I think about my speaking craft?  It really makes a difference!  If I want students to listen, I need to think about my speaking. http://youtu.be/eIho2S0ZahI

Präsentation 'Kann ich bitte meine Wasserflasche auffüllen ?. Kann ich bitte auf die Toilette gehen?'

Präsentation 'Kann ich bitte meine Wasserflasche auffüllen ?. Kann ich bitte auf die Toilette gehen?'

German Competitions

ACTFL Convention 2014

German Competitions

                Nella Spurlin, Temple, TX; Jennifer Christianson, Boerne, TX; Kit Belgium, UT Austin

1-5 places advance to state. Regional is always held the first Saturday in February, State is always held the last Saturday in February.  There may be a possibility of a national contest in the future.

www.texasstategermancontest.org  look at examples of past winners in the gallery as well as get results from the competitions.

Pass Auf – Geography (questions are in German), Music, Art, History – “This week in Germany” is a good resource for current events. There is a list of helpful vocabulary on the website. Amsco books are helpful.

Culture Test should be the Pass Auf team members

nspurlin@hot.rr.com

Making Cultural Connections in German Class

ACTFL Convention 2014

Cultural Connections in German

                Using Art and Music – Sandra Dieckmann

+ Der Räuber Hotzenplotz – Level 2, 1^st semester – adj endings

·         Gesucht Poster machen – zeichne ein Bild von Räuber; beschreib wer er ist und was er gemacht hat; Wie sieht er aus – Augenfarbe, Haarfarbe, Haarlänge, Kleidung, Merkmale, Eigenschaften; Kopfgeld?; Bei welcher Telefonnummer muss man anrufen?

+ Berühmte Bilder posten – beschreibt mit korrektive Adj Endungen!

·         Kahoot – Kunst und Adjektivendungen (check out the Kahoots from sdieckman)

+ Tiere – in Bilder

·         Mythologie und Tiere

·         Wolpertinger – WOW (aus dem HB Bier Zelt)

·         Aufgabe – Macht ein Tier, daβ eine Mischung von zwei ist; Es muss eine offizielle Name haben; Es muss ein Bild haben; Was macht es besonders gut?

+ Lernstationen: Die Stadt

·         Schilder aus der Stadt

·         Autokennziechnen

+ Weiberfastnacht – Donnerstag vor Rosenmontag – Die Frauen schnitten den Schlipps des Mannes und küsst ihn.

+ Passiv – PP mit deutschen Erfindungen... ____ wurde von ____ erfinden.

+ Relative Pronungen – Lückentexte mit Bilder aufs PP – Relativpronomen in der deutschen Werbung

Using Voice Threads for the Foreign Language Classroom

ACTFL Convention 2014

Note: This software costs $80 for a year licence.  It's very cool but unless someone pays for it, I don't know if I'll be using it. Seems to be useful for affluent districts or private schools.

Using Voice Threads

Vidya Nahar, Balodyan vidya@balodyan.com

·         Presentation is loaded to the ACTFL page

www.voicethread.com  Collaboration tool for text, image, video and audio

·         Voice Thread tutorials on YouTube

Use .pdf or .jpg files when uploading. You can also use YouTube links.  You cannot use a .doc file.

When describing your VT, you can put a prompt for the students in the description. Ex – Name the different states of Germany (there are 16 and they are looking at the map).

Check the Playback Settings (icon in upper right).

Use Copy feature to modify for future activities or copy into a presentation PP.

Teacher makes video comments on the VT to get it started.  It is helpful to show your face, so that students can see how you say the words. This is used as a modeling tool. When you are recording yourself, be mindful of your background. It’s useful to give prompts in the target language and text in the language of instruction.

You can underline something on the slide while you are talking.

You give students a link.  You can publish it on the browser page.

Students can email documents or photos to you and you can upload to the VT, in order to control content on your page.

+ Uncle Potato – upload a picture of a potato, add body parts and talk about it. Select fade or no fade options based on whether or not you want the lines to disappear. On this activity, use different colored pencils.

Students need a VT account to comment (email and pwd).

On the left side is a photo of the people commenting. You can move comment order, if you want to make a comment later, you can move it to the top to keep all of the teacher comments together.

To hide a comment, close the eye, it will hide it from the public, teacher can still hear and student can still hear, but not others.  You can delete a comment.

Teacher can make an audio file. Ex: Draw a monster with 3 heads, 2 eyes, 5 legs; each student would draw this monster and repeat the instructions.

Ideas:

·         Map Games

·         Open-ended questions – ex: here is a fridge, what’s inside?

·         Riddles – describe an object and let the students guess what it is.

·         Video Clip – what is happening, comments?

·         Brainstorming

·         Describe a picture

·         Geography – where is this? What is it? Would you like to go there?

·         Informational presentation

·         Creating an ad

·         Collecting statistics – what do you eat for breakfast? What is your favorite type of music?

·         I Spy – upload a busy picture and play the I spy game, let the students guess what you are talking about.

·         Comparison – upload two similar pictures and ask students to compare them and pick their favorite. Fruits and vegetables – what do you like or not like.  What about your friends, family.

You can upload activity sheets and give the students the choice of using the VT or traditional activity sheets.

60 Tricks for Your Bag of Tricks

ACTFL Convention 2014

60 Treats For Your Bag of Tricks

http://goo.gl/0JmHwP

Mercedes Koch mkoch@dist113.org  @Profe_Koch  Deerfield High School, Deerfield, IL

·         Community Building : What’s in a name? Students should also use each others name, repeat the name of the student who finished talking.  Smile if you don’t have a question! What is on our computer wallpaper? Classdojo.com (you can also make an icon for a group… group work) the class gets a reward when all get x pts.

·         Grouping: Intentional grouping – seating chart with A and B rows. Cut apart postcards and students should find the others who match their cards.  Speed dating – all students in groups have a number and those numbers get together and then go back to their groups.

·         Everyday Treats: Word Wall – set aside a space for words that students want to know, leave it up all year because those are the words students want to know. Make a clear signal for no English. Exit Slips- use plus (I get it), check (yeah, OK), minus (not a bad answer, just check in with them during the next class). Plastic sheet protectors – copy a picture and they can put it in their Psp and mark or draw on it.  Parent Guardian Emails for students who don’t do home work – keep it positive, emphasize practice.

·         Flashcard Treats: Hand out flashcards – a different one to each student, they go around and ‘teach’ other students. They can also switch cards after this activity and do it again.  Line up in order of smallest to largest, most to least useful. Competition: sit in pairs, set out flashcards, pictures up, teacher says the word and student picks it up, you can play multiple round.  Switch up the competition by having the word up and teacher projects the picture.  Information Gap – one student sits with their back to the screen and show a picture, students tell their partner the word in the target language. From Me,to You- write a message to someone that you need revenge on, if they can write a command correctly, the other student has to do it and then switch (the teacher says that the person who wrote the command has to do it themselves). Flyswatter – at the end of class (so wild).  Mensch! – the counting game Buzz, count omitting the number 7, any number with 7 or any multiple of 7, keep score on the board for other class to compete. Four in a Row- make a Scattergories card with different sentence in English, a group works to translate or think about how to say these in the target language, use StikPik to select students and if a group gets 4 in a row, they win. 

·         Review and Flashback Treats: Vocabulary Circle- ‘it’ stands in the middle with a picture and has to touch the desk of the person who has that word. Snowball Fight – give a topic, students write words pertaining to that topic and throw it, the next student adds to it. Sandwich Board – students wear a speaking target the whole class (ask for volunteers). Jigsaw. Hand Signals – check in quickly. 

·         Speaking Treats: One Picture Three Tenses – show a picture, students make a statement in different tenses. Study in the Bathroom – put your words in a category (verbs in the bathroom, fem nouns in the kitchen…).  Quick Key App – Scantron (check this out!) .  Poker Chips – collect for speaking. Situations – on the board in English with A and B partners, pairs practice and perform. 4 Fish in the Pan – read a story, students listen and write notes, pair to write a summary, compare to a reading in the book.  AudioBoom.com – a free place to record student speaking.

·         Template Treats: Postcard – create a postcard with a picture and verbage of a cultural topic. Newspaper – work in groups, read an article, write a summary (with leading questions). Writing Corrections – so that students can reflect on mistakes that they made. Conversation – standard questions in both languages with appropriate modifications. 3 Second Rule – when speaking, they must keep speaking and not leave a pause of more than 3 seconds, if there is a pause, they lose a poker chip.

·         News Treats: newseum.org – shows front pages of newspapers from around the world, good for comparing a specific event around the world. Music Charts from all over the world.

·         Internet Treats: www.language-exchanges.org – The Mixxer – it’s like Match.com to find someone who wants to learn the language that you want to connect to.  Viewpure.com put the YouTube like there and it erases the commercials.  Quizlet.com – students should make their own pages and put them on a www.padlet.com . Infograph.