Insights+&+Issues

Just don't want to lose your original comments when I played with the agenda, so I'm posting them here temporarily. user:chericem1 Back to Dec. 7

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT - user:dawnmarie

GRAMMAR BOOSTER SHOT - (Nominate which grammar items you want help with here.) I need help understanding grammar explicitly, because I do not explain it well user:cartierm user:dawnmarie user:AmyBas

Ser vs. Estar and Preterite vs. Imperfect at the same time. Fue, Estuve, Era, and Estaba...user:burgeramy AMEN! user:amandabainbridge

Gustar like verbs! and caerle! user:cartierm

This is semi-grammar... but I would like to practice Oral proficiency, I feel like my head is a jumble of structures! user:amandabainbridge I second that motion! user:kristynd user:AmandaGSpanish user:AmyBas

building up random spanish vocabulary/grammar: ie: not getting stumped when students ask me how do you say headband, cheerleader, etc user:AmandaGSpanish Me too, please!! user:kristynduser:leonar77 user:AmyBas

Using stories or other contexts to teach grammar. user:decortem user:emilylewis user:blitzsar user:richa521

ORAL PROFICIENCY (OPI, Staying in the Target Language) - user:dawnmarie user:leonar77

STORY-BASED INSTRUCTION I would love this, they seem like so much fun!user:cartierm user:richa521 user:dawnmarie user:fraucote1 I have an example of this (per an idea from Cherice) that I used in class already Froggy se viste user:blitzsar (does anyone want to translate this into English for non-Spanish teachers??)

Maybe we should do small groups. I agree with Cherice that we never seem to get through everything because we always stay on clasroom management. The only problems I could see with groups is the fact that not everyone in the group is an expert on the topic and that's what we look to Cherice for. If there's way we can work this out and everyone can get the booster shot they need I think we can not only get in what we want but also do it in a timely fashion. user:sherm118

It seems like grammar is a common thread that we all want to learn more about. How about we start as a big group and talk about different ways to teach grammar (like story based instruction) and see where it goes from there. I know that personally, the only way I know to teach grammar is explicitly and I am not even very good at that. I am trying a new thing with Direct Object Pronouns…making a worksheet with data and the students have to figure out the rules, but I am not sure if that is going to work yet because I have not done it, but maybe those of us who have tried different ways to teach grammar can bring them in and we can share. user:dawnmarie Dawn- I did this a little while ago, and the way I taught it actually worked out well! Let me know if you want more info, I can send it to you! user:AmyBas

I agree with Dawn...teaching grammar is always a challenge for me. I don't feel like I understand grammar explicitly, so I have trouble explaining it well. I'm not sure how much students benefit from learning explicit grammar, so I try to think of creative things to do and this helps sometimes :) I think a big group discussion about this would be best, then maybe we could split into groups to brainstorm ideas for specific (grammar) topics that we're having toruble with? Just a thought. user:AmyBas