Our last discussion on Thursday led us into an exciting chat about reading in novice language classes. With so much focus on listening and speaking, novice learners might feel overwhelmed when presented with a block of foreign text. How do we ease them into recognition and understanding?

All of our participants were eager to share innovative ideas about strategies, resources and material, assessments, and more. Thanks to Erica Fischer (@CalicoTeach) and Kristy Placido (@placido) for moderating the chat for the night!

Strategies for Success

Our educators proved there are countless classroom strategies to help your learners reach their best potential in reading. Feel free to use these helpful ideas below for a reference!

• @placido and @klafrench start the brainstorming by suggesting cognates. Using “the power of cognates” and root words are excellent tools for novices trying to read. @klafrench even states: Cognates hold the key to reading for novices.
• @alenord teaches their students to not read sentences in order. Students in this class first look for familiarity and then build around that knowledge.
• @placido helps students build skills and strategies for great reading such as re-reading, underlining unknown words, guessing in context, and using cognates.
• @CoLeeSensei utilizes a strategy called “2 & talk”, where students work in pairs to read and decode two sentences at a time. This educator says the students love the support!
• @senoralopez gave a popular statement: It’s very important to make students understand it is not necessary to know every single word. This approach takes a lot of pressure off the students, who become free to focus on words they know.
• Reading for information or having guided notes can also help direct students while reading, says @klafrench.
• @Marishawkins has students predict what they think will happen in a story, which can greatly help with comprehension as well as interest.
• Students in @CoLeeSensei’s class will sometimes draw visuals as they read, which helps this educator check for understanding.
• @fereydoon1975 believes text should provoke learners’ curiosity. This educator rewrites the text using celebrities to motivate the students.
• Several of our participants also agreed that pre-teaching and reviewing vocabulary included in the reading material, so students have a better chance at comprehension.

Resources for Reading

Our participants offered up some terrific resources as well, which can make reading for your students more interesting and easier to understanding. Some of these resources can be found below.

• @tresclumnae is the founder of an online Latin learning system found here.
• @Marishawkins and @dlfulton love to use infographics to encourage novice learners to read in their classes. You can find examples here and here.
• @tmsaue1 uses this source to have students color code each category and then use their reading as spring board to short writing.
• @GlblCanuck suggests using blogs to encourage reading and comprehension. The students read each other’s blogs and comment for excellent reading and writing practice.

Reading Assessments for Novice Students

There are different ways to assess reading and check for your students’ comprehension ranging from translation to pop quizzes. Many of our educators take an approach that places less pressure on the students by simply asking questions during reading or having the students answer worksheets together, although some educators refute the usefulness of worksheets, saying students will not have to fill out worksheets in real life.

The idea of translation is also debated. @placido has her novice students translate for meaning, which allows this educator to hear what the students comprehend. However, @dr dmd avoids translation for novice learners, stating the text is not contingent on L1 for meaning.

Rubric and Graphic Organizers

@senoralopez suggested Facebook rubric made with @Lauren_Scheller and encouraged participants to take a look. Looking at various rubrics can help you decide what the proper level of expectations and requirements for novice learners should be.

Graphic organizers were also suggested to help students classify information and communicate more effectively. @CalicoTeach points out that graphic organizers can help students to predict, re-tell, find key ideas, and more. This tool also works well to structure activity. Examples of graphic organizers can be found here.

Thank you!

A big thank you to all who participated in Thursday’s chat! We had a fun, fast-paced discussion that led to many great tips and ideas that just might make your students more interested in reading.

For the full archived chat and a further look into the discussion, visit our Google Docs page. Stop by and join us next Thursday at 8 p.m. EST for the next exciting discussion! If you have a topic you’re especially interested in, just propose your idea at our suggestion page.

Keep coming back to #langchat, and please join us for next week’s discussion!

Thanks to all of our participants of the discussion, and a special thanks to Kristy Placido (@placido) and Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell (@SECottrell), who moderated the chat.

Input Vs. Output

One question stands prominent when teaching novice learners—how important is output compared to input? Beginners require time to soak up new information as well as repetition in order to ingrain the knowledge, so how involved should their oral participation be?

@dwphotoski said input is more important than output in beginning levels, and while several others agreed, many of our participants voiced that some output is needed as well.

Letting Learners Speak

Many educators require output ranging from Yes/No answers to short conversations involving target language. Below, you can find some of the inspiring strategies and practices of our participants.

• @klafrench expects some output in speaking in her classroom with plenty of scaffolding, including mostly reactions to simple questions.
• @SECottrell introduced the “silent period,” a stage in language learning in which learners do not speak yet actively listen and process the language.
• In response to @SECottrell, @placido states: I believe the “silent period” is important in lowering the affective filter. But if they are ready to speak, let them.
• Use it or lose it, says @esantacruz13, suggesting that secondary languages will be forgotten if not practiced in output.
• @pamweseley prefers short responses to indicate comprehension of the language and subject matter.
• Another participant, @profesorM, likes to teach language and skills that lead to simple conversations. For example, the students will discuss shopping, classes, and family, and each conversation requires students to practice five utterances.
• In @Sra Hildinger’s classroom, the students begin with Yes/No responses and move to one-word answers. Once that is mastered, students craft short sentences for various topics.
• @klafrench suggests starting the year with proficiency goals, so students know what is required to reach the goals and have something to work toward.
• @pamweseley takes a fun approach to output, encouraging the learners to write silly skits and play with the language. This educator believes letting students play with language is underrated, and such activities can stir up interest and better participation.
• @profesorM suggests teaching topically. For example, after teaching house vocabulary, students should be able to speak about their houses.

Assessing and Grading Oral Participation

Although some curriculum might require oral assessments and grades to be given, many educators have the choice of whether or not to assess oral skills. Take a look at the different types of situations below.

A Classroom Free of Oral Assessments

@dwphotoski does not pressure early learners with speaking assessments but encourages them through communication activities and other practices such as reading stories. This educator also assures students that mistakes are part of learning a language.

This approach allows students to relax, encouraging them to speak freely without pressure. Students may also be more likely to play with the language and become comfortable with the second language.

A Classroom with Oral Assessments

At the other end of the spectrum, @msfrenchteach tests learners’ speaking abilities in many ways. During one assessment, this educator gives mini quizzes, where the students pull scenarios out of a bucket and speak on the fly with a random partner.

While students may feel more pressure with this strategy, they are forced to speak and use the knowledge they have gained. Shy learners especially may need this little nudge toward practice and more confidence.

Somewhere in the Middle

@julieeldb00 challenges her students to one oral summative assessment at the end of every unit. Although it takes a few days, this educator says the time is definitely worth it.

Reviewing the unit’s material with an oral assessment is also a good way to check your students’ comprehension.

Oral Expectations

With so many different ideas on proper output and assessment for beginning learners, is there a set expectation on oral participation? After @placido asked our educators what each of them expects, we received a variety of answers.

@esantacruz13 requires students to use the concepts taught in class through forming sentences and being able to communicate at a basic level. Concepts can easily include easy grammar structures, forming answers to simple questions, and vocabulary words for topics such as family and school.

Meanwhile, @msfrenchteach expects students to speak the target language from day one. This educator has also turned their classroom into a French-only zone, creating a rewarding environment.

In the end, we all have different expectations of our students and their speaking skills. Clearly novice learners are capable of output. It is up to each teacher to determine the best strategies, motivators and opportunities to allow students to produce output in the target language at the appropriate time in the language learning process.

Thank You!

Once again, thank you to all of our participants who took part in this enlightening discussion. We touched on many useful strategies and ideas that could be useful during your next class.

For the full archived chat and a further look into the discussion, visit our Google Docs page. Stop by and join us next Thursday at 8 p.m. EST for the next exciting discussion! If you have a topic you’re especially interested in, just propose your idea at our suggestion page.

See you next Thursday on #langchat!

#LangChat is an independent group of world-language education professionals who come together every week via Twitter to share ideas and discuss pressing issues in the world of education. Check out the #LangChat wiki for more information about our goals and the team behind it all here. These weekly discussion summaries are sponsored by Calico Spanish as a service to the world-language community.

Designing Your Own Curriculum

Why do we design our own curriculums? While some teachers may just not like the textbook, a better reason is to empower your students through a directed curriculum that spans more than just your class. @DiegoOjeda66 put it clearly: The textbook allows teachers to work in isolation. Your own curriculum makes you work with your peers toward a common goal.

Many participants have to follow a certain course or plan, but they have the flexibility to bring in their own elements. The amount of flexibility with your curriculum varies. Some participants have to follow the textbook consistently, others only have to follow certain areas and others use it only as a guideline.

When there is flexibility to create one’s own content, participants like to bring in lots of authentic materials and design a curriculum that appeals to students’ levels and interests. As much scaffolding as possible is included.

Total flexibility

What do you do when you have total freedom in your curriculum decisions? Most participants do not — they must follow some guidelines or a textbook, or perhaps they have proficiency targets decided for them. @MartinaBex has complete flexibility, however. With this flexibility she scaffolds students to help them comprehend authentic materials.

She takes the most common words in a language and focuses on these. In one year, students learn 100 words, or 25 words a quarter. Students learn other words, of course, but the focus of the units are on this core vocabulary.

1. Setting Proficiency Targets

Setting proficiency targets for your students’ target language ability is a key step when designing your own curriculum.

When @tmsaue1 and his colleagues designed their last curriculums, they set proficiency targets before deciding how to help students meet the targets. @suarez712002 agrees: when designing a curriculum, we need to first answer what we want students to be able to do with the target language. @MartinaBex adds that once proficiency targets are set, you can manipulate any content to match. Many participants mentioned using the ACTFL guidelines for proficiency targets.

Student proficiency targets

While it involves more planning in a shorter timeframe, @klafrench enjoys letting her students set their own proficiency goals. This allows her to direct her curriculum to what students most want to do. This might be best for high levels, and you could pose the question as a survey to students at the end of one school year.

2. Designing Assessments

Many participants prefer to create assessments after setting proficiency targets and before choosing how to teach. In this way they are sure that students will be taught what is assessed, and the assessments are also closely related to the proficiency goals. Some teachers prefer to wait for assessments, however. They feel that sometimes, better and more tailored ideas will come to them later once the students have begun the learning process.

@suarez712002 believes in creating assessments as the second step, but she also stresses the importance of reflection and flexibility when it comes to modifying the assessments later on. When designing, sometimes a simple general outline of the assessment is enough. Will it be a debate, maybe a report?

For designing assessments, participants lamented that teachers are sometimes pushed toward standardized tests and the like rather than proficiency-based assessments that do a better job of measuring students’ abilities. Language is an art, and perhaps we can learn from other arts-based subjects. @klafrench went to the theatre/fine arts department of her school to get ideas for her rubrics and assessments. For more ideas on assessments, check out these past #langchats: Individual Assessments, Formative Assessments and Authentic Assessments.

Self-evaluation

Providing opportunities for students to evaluate themselves is also important in any curriculum (@DiegoOjeda66). Self-evaluation aids students in understanding their own strengths and weaknesses, and it also shows them where they are in relation to the class goals. For some information on @dr_dmd’s recent experience with self-evaluation and reflection in the classroom, check out this Edutopia article. When students self-evaluate using a rubric, @dr_dmd likes to have students check off where they are and describe why.

3. Selecting Authentic Materials

Several participants believe that choosing authentic materials can at times be switched with planning for assessments. Occasionally, choosing an authentic material leads to an idea for a proficiency target as well.

But generally, after deciding on assessments, work backward to plan the necessary steps using authentic materials such as texts, videos, documents, etc. @suarez712002 suggests that your learning objectives and assessments will determine the authentic materials you’re going to use.

Rather than search out authentic materials to match the situation, @dr_dmd always has an eye out for them and sets them aside for the moment when they’ll work best. In this way, sometimes excellent authentic materials lead to a great idea for an assessment or learning objective.

For more resources on authentic materials, check out the past #langchats on Authentic Materials for Novice Learners and Increasing Relevancy with Authentic Media.

4. Planning Activities

The fourth and last step of the curriculum-writing process is to plan the activities and language acquisition strategies that will get your students to the targets. We choose authentic materials before activities so that we know where and how to fit them in (@Sra_Hildinger)

Scaffold activities as much as possible to gradually raise students up. @dr_dmd likes to keep a list of communication structures at hand when planning activities to ensure scaffolding.

Activity tips

Differentiation is important in order to engage all students. @Sra_Hildinger runs through a mental checklist for each unit to make sure she has varied activities for all learners.

@SraSpanglish keeps in mind the students who have the most trouble when planning assignments, as she wants to get them to the objective.

@DiegoOjeda66 advises keeping students’ experiences in mind when deciding on activities. This both increases student engagement, but also improves students’ learning opportunities. A bonus is that  when we decide on a curriculum with the students in mind, we are challenged to not repeat it year after year.

Curriculum-Writing Tips

@cadamsf1 asked participants how long they might take to write a curriculum from start to finish. Answers varied, but most teachers mentioned they like to take their time and revise as they go. @tmsaue1 likes to build one year at a time, then reflect, revise and move on. Reflection and self-evaluation is key to growing as a teacher as well.

@DiegoOjeda66 also cautioned that it is important to design a curriculum that inspires or promotes autonomy and choice in the student. If your designed curriculum is too restrictive or imposing, there is little difference between your creation and the textbook.

For those of us struggling with creating a curriculum for a large number of classes, participants suggested starting with one or two levels, finishing and then moving to the next. It can be overwhelming at first, but stick to the pattern and inertia will build.

Overall, the steps given above are what most participants use. The system can be more fluid, and some participants mentioned that they often swap the final three steps. However, step one, on proficiency targets, should always be first in our minds.

Resources

@tmsaue1 shared the JCPS World Languages’ approach to curriculum building.

@SrtaLisa shared a digital “techbook” — a great way to collaborate digitally with colleagues to create a digital textbook. The previous textbook was outdated and didn’t work for their learning goals, so they created the “techbook.”

Similarly, @trescolumnae shared a language-learning resource that is being created across multiple continents.

Thank You!

Thank you once more to everyone for participating in our chat — it was a fast-paced and very useful discussion. If you weren’t able to make it on Thursday, we hope that you enjoyed the summary. If you’d like to read the entire archived chat, please go to our Google Docs page. If you have any comments or suggestions on the thoughts expressed during the chat, please feel free to share them on Twitter using the #langchat hashtag, or by leaving a comment below.

Thank you, and see you next week on #langchat!

#LangChat is an independent group of world-language education professionals who come together every week via Twitter to share ideas and discuss pressing issues in the world of education. Check out the #LangChat wiki for more information about our goals and the team behind it all here. These weekly discussion summaries are sponsored by Calico Spanish as a service to the world-language community.

Uses for Visuals and Manipulatives

We use visuals and manipulatives in class to provide opportunities to diversify students’ learning and expose them to the target language in new and entertaining ways. Visuals cause the language to come alive for students by attaching a sense, touch and feel to vocabulary. For our discussion purposes, we considered manipulatives to be anything that students can hold, touch, feel and use for communicative purposes.

Manipulatives can aid students, especially shy students, by giving them something concrete to talk about or work with (@HJGiffin). They also aid the teacher to stay in the target language more often since students have something in their hands or something to see to connect the new language with the known visual.

Setting the Tone

Several participants stressed the importance of using certain visuals to create a comfortable atmosphere in class that encourages students to speak more in the target language.

For example, @HJGiffin keeps many stuffed animals and blankets around her classroom to ensure students feel relaxed and comfortable. This isn’t just for young kids, either — her 11th-grade boys are really into the pillow pets. Some participants mentioned difficulty preventing younger kids from touching and fighting over the animals, and @jklopp solved this by hanging them from the ceiling.

Several participants use word walls with commonly used verbs or some new vocabulary. When students are caught on a word, they’re often able to glance at the wall to help them along.

@Sra_Hildinger uses class agendas as a fun visual in class. She only uses the target language and authentic images in the agenda.

Activities

Participants shared many great ideas for activities to do in class using visuals and other resources. We collected their suggestions below.

• @HJGiffin uses personal photographs as conversation starters, then she sends students out with cameras. Afterward, students discuss their own pictures.
• Many participants like to do activities with class whiteboards, such as Pictionary, build a story, draw vocabulary to prove comprehension, and conjugation practice. Some teachers also like to use personal-sized whiteboards for solo or group work.
• @Sra_Hildinger also uses a felt board in class for students to manipulate when creating a story, or she can add materials to the board and let students write a story to describe the scene.
• @Sra_Hildinger posted many QR codes throughout the school to practice directions in the target language. She uses Kaywa to print the QR codes.
• @sylviaduckworth uses puppets to act out scenes and to create stories. Lots of participants use other prompts for their stories to aid student comprehension and make the story more engaging. @mr_sshaw keeps a random box of ridiculous clothing and other prompts for students to use during their stories. @SraSpanglish has a large box of random hats bought from Goodwill.
• Several participants use puppets of all sizes to let kids speak with each other.
• @klafrench prefers “concept” cards to flashcards. Concept cards have the image of the vocabulary word on one side with the text on the other.
• @sylviaduckworth shared the 5-Card Flickr game as a possible fun and visual way for students to create stories or conversations.
• @robinroja gives students a map and a Hot Wheels car to practice directions. One student gives directions and the other follows using the car.
• Several participants mentioned using a lot of what @klafrench calls “Draw and Talk” activities, where students draw an item and then must explain it. For example, @jas347 wrapped up a discussion on the Cote d’Ivoire by asking students to draw or create an item they will take there, then explain why. To finish the activity, she had a real suitcase and students had to put their items inside.
• @YasmineAllen uses a show-and-tell box in the last five minutes of class; students must describe an item. Several other participants mentioned having students bring items for show and tell, and that this activity is great for engaging students and practicing adjectives.
• @klafrench does a “concept attainment” activity where students group items together and then discuss the commonality together.
• For cooking units, @SraSpanglish likes to bring baggies of ingredients to class. In partners, one kid is blindfolded and must guess the ingredient.
• @mr_sshaw writes verbs or questions on a beach ball and lets students toss to classmates after creating a sentence or answering a question. Students enjoy throwing things, so this activity is always popular.
• Practicing prepositions is a lot more enjoyable with visuals than through the textbook. Use a fun prompt such as a toy hamburger and ask students to place it in different locations (or on different students).
• For clothing, @mweelin uses multicultural Barbie dolls in pairs.
• With a large enough screen, VoiceThread can allow you to create personalized visuals for your class needs. @SraSpanglish uses this tool to create and display weather maps for weather units.
• Students can be the ultimate manipulative! @jklopp uses teams of kids to spell out target-language words. Or she calls out a famous painting or scene and students rush to reenact it.
• @mweelin likes to cut up written sentences and allow students to put them back into order as writing practice, but a break from writing. @RonieWebster has a baggie of cut-up letters and lets students create sentences in teams. @SrtaLisa uses alphabet pasta.
• @mweelin uses modeling clay as a fun manipulative for all ages. Kids have to model the vocabulary word or spelling. Similarly, @Sra_Hildinger lets students practice spelling with shaving cream when the desks start getting dirty.

Authentic Visuals

Many visuals and manipulatives can easily be culturally authentic. When possible, this should be done to increase students’ appreciation and ties to the target language and culture. For more information about authentic materials in the classroom, check out the past #langchat summaries here and here.

Videos are popular visuals to use, and they can be easily made to be culturally authentic. They are great engaging tools for students, and participants use them to support their teaching, to inspire conversation and just to practice listening and comprehension. Several participants mentioned using short films by Pixar for creative activities such as conversations or writing a script, as these films have lots of interesting actions but little dialogue. Mr. Bean is good for these activities as well.

• @AudreyMisiano uses videos of her lower-level classes to refresh her older students’ memories. This student-to-student visual really grabs kids’ attentions.
• Music videos can be fascinating visual aids. As the images in a music video are not always readily correlated with the lyrics, using videos to discuss the story and lyrics is a fun activity to engage in.

Photo prompts are also popular visuals with students, and you can use them to create stories, inspire conversation, practice vocabulary and many other activities. Use authentic images for the best effect. Several participants use screenshots from movies, TV shows or music videos.

• @mr_sshaw puts pictures on students’ desks and then has the class walk around and write about the pictures, like a gallery walk.
• @SECottrell uses Google Images as a “picture dictionary” instead of looking up unfamiliar words in a true dictionary.

Resources

Participants shared a few resources for further exploration.

The #ACTFL teacher of the year video is a great example of using visuals and manipulatives in class.

@sylviaduckworth shared her YouTube playlist of wordless animations.

@AudreyMisiano shared her YouTube playlist for secondary Spanish videos.

@alenord enjoys an activity called Mix and Mingle, and she shared a short write-up on the activity. She also shared a write-up on an activity called Boot Camp that teaches a lot of vocabulary very quickly.

@mr_sshaw shared this video for some partner activities.

@sylviaduckworth shared a list of wordless books written by Barbara Lehman, and @SECottrell shared another list of various wordless books for children.

Thank You!

Once again, a big thank you to all our participants for sharing such a fantastic list of ideas and activities for using manipulatives and visuals in the classroom! We’re sure that with such generosity, you’ll surely find something you can use above.

If you’d like to read the entire Twitter chat, please check out the archived chat. And be sure to join us next Thursday at 8 p.m. EST for our next discussion! If you’d like to suggest a topic for a future #langchat, please go to our topic suggestion page.

#LangChat is an independent group of world-language education professionals who come together every week via Twitter to share ideas and discuss pressing issues in the world of education. Check out the #LangChat wiki for more information about our goals and the team behind it all here. These weekly discussion summaries are sponsored by Calico Spanish as a service to the world-language community.

Thanks to everyone for joining us this week. Our topic was centered on how to create student groups to support communication skills. We had an excellent turnout and a fast-paced discussion, and participants shared a wealth of useful tips, activity ideas and resources. Thanks especially to our moderators for the evening, Don Doehla (@dr_dmd), Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell (@SECottrell) and Kristy Placido (@placido).

If you missed the discussion, check out the summary below and feel free to join us in the comments section. Your colleagues would love to hear from you!

Grouping Strategies

We group students in class to allow communicative opportunities in a friendly, team atmosphere. Especially in large classes, it’s difficult for every student to get an opportunity to speak. Groups are great chances to get kids speaking with each other. @dr_dmd has classes of 36 students, and he finds that a well-designed group takes away a lot of the pressure. Without groups, it’s challenging to get around to all the students.

Participants’ preferred methods of grouping students for activities vary. Some participants mostly prefer to group students randomly, while others prefer to be more deliberate in their group compositions. @dr_dmd believes the most important aspect of forming a group is fostering a sense of community and showing students that everyone belongs, is important and has a right to learn. @SECottrell believes that an important consideration for groups is frequent group composition changes in order to maximize acquisition.

@placido usually randomizes groups, but she mentioned that sometimes grouping students of similar ability levels can lower their anxiety about speaking. She’ll also sometimes put her quickest students together so they don’t get tired of being “the tutor.” @MmeLayman also groups by similar ability, but she likes to mix in other students of varying ability who are willing to help others.

@SECottrell asked when participants might consider grouping students of low ability levels together. Several participants mentioned they would do so when they have the time to give them focused attention. Other participants mentioned putting lower-level students together with average students, but that lower-level students with advanced students might result in the advanced students doing all the work to make sure it’s correct. Low levels together is probably only best when reteaching or when other groups can work well on their own.

@profesorM usually groups randomly, but he sometimes lets students pick their partners. He sits student by ability levels, high-ability students next to low-ability students, to encourage mixing. @MmeLayman also allows students some choice so students can talk about similar interests. Several participants mentioned that they find that friends working together can do highly motivated work. Other participants mentioned that students will always pick the same groups if given the choice, so they like to avoid this strategy. As @mmebrady mentions, however, letting students choose from time to time can also be a nice gesture of goodwill to students.

To help her decide which students to put together, @MmeLayman gives all students a survey asking questions about their comfort in the target language, using technology, etc. Check out her Google Forms survey on her blog.

Group Durations

How long do you keep groups organized? Many participants only group students by the activity, but @RonieWebster runs the same groups for four weeks at a time. She does quite a bit of team building during that time to encourage strong groups and grow the class as a whole. All @dr_dmd’s units incorporate projects, so he keeps students together for the length of a unit and then switches with the next project, about every 6 weeks.

When changing groups, @RonieWebster also switches students’ locations in the room around. This is like starting a new school year, and keeps the atmosphere fresh and exciting.

Seating Tips

Several participants mentioned configuring students’ seating to encourage mixing for groups and other activities. For example, @profesorM often allows students to pick their partner or group, but he mixes students of different ability levels when plotting a seating chart to encourage mixing. He changes seating every quarter.

@placido likes to give students some choice in seating while still maintaining control on the group composition. She assigns students to tables but allows them to pick their seat at the table.

On the other end of the spectrum, @SECottrell switches student seats every day. She uses name tents and mixes them up before class. This is effective because if students don’t like their seating arrangement, they know that they will move the next day and so don’t fret about it too much.

When it comes to rows vs. tables or other grouped seating, many participants seem to prefer not using rows when possible. If using rows, several participants like to have students sit across from each other, not looking at the teacher. @dwphotoski likes a horseshoe shape to allow plenty of room for acting in the center.

Several participants praised Kagan’s 4-desk table groups as being a great group size and way of organizing the classroom.

Controlling Groups

Controlling students once they’re in groups can be a challenge, especially in large and communicative classes. Groups are by nature communicative, which is great, but teachers need to make sure that all communication is in the target language!

Many participants handle this by walking around and listening in on groups as often as possible. Some participants like to do activities with quickly shifting questions or topics and spend one question with each unit.

To keep kids accountable, @SECottrell gives students a deliverable that they must come up with at the conclusion.

Group Activities

What activities do you like to use in groups? As @placido mentioned, groups are better tailored to communicative, reading and output activities more than input activities. @SECottrell likes that groups are good practice with a small audience before trying something with the whole class.

Some great participant-suggested group activities:

• @Sra_Hildinger’s students enjoy creating dialogues and presenting to the class.
• Another favorite of @Sra_Hildinger’s students is Sentence Relay. In this game, there are 12 total sentences, and students get a new sentence by getting the previous one correct. The first team to finish all 12 sentences wins.
• @placido enjoys using the Think-Pair-Share activity for pair discussion.
• @Sra_Hildinger recently gave advanced students sentences from a story they are going to read and asked them to put them in correct order.
• @dr_dmd likes to use cloze speeches with early students.
• @RonieWebster presents vocabulary from an upcoming reading and asks groups to discuss and predict the topic or ideas.
• @Sra_Hildinger also assigns a communicative drawing activity where students describe their houses, a monster, their families, etc. to the group or partner, and the other students must draw it.
• For rapidly changing pair work, @dr_dmd likes Inside-Outside Circle. At the buzzer, each circle shifts in the opposite direction and the question changes.
• @profesorM has success with a dice activity groups of six. Groups had to come up with 10 sentences for top marks.
• @dr_dmd uses paired question-and-answer activities based off the story from a TPRS lesson. One student has odd questions, his or her partner has even answers.
• @Sra_Hildinger recently saw a vocabulary activity where students are given three to four vocabulary cards and are asked to draw/write a story using them in groups. Then present to the class.
• A fun group activity from @placido: cut up lines from a song, then kids put in order while listening to the song.
• For an intra-group activity, @dr_dmd asks groups to create their own comics using pictures only, then they present to another group by telling the story.
• @Sra_Hildinger’s students really enjoy flashcard races right after a vocabulary introduction. One student flashes to several others, and the fastest student to respond keeps the card.
• @placido also enjoys showing students a scene from a movie in PowerPoint (while watching a movie on your computer, “Print Screen” and save the image). Students discuss the scene in groups or pairs.
• @Sra_Hildinger is eager to try putting students in groups to dub a small portion of a movie using Voice Thread.
• An easy Google Voice pair work activity from @placido: have two students call your Google Voice number and have a conversation using the cellphone as the mic. You can listen to the conversation later.
• For a digital communicative activity, @dr_dmd likes to use TodaysMeet, a closed Twitter-like chatroom.
• @dr_dmd recommends creating a Pinterest with pictures of many related things and embed the Pinterest on a wiki. Students then discuss the items in groups.
• @PalmertonGerman uses the Random Reporter activity to keep kids on their toes and encourage team-building. In the activity, the teacher assigns a number to every member of a group, then asks a question of the group. Students discuss and prepare answers together, then the teacher selects a random number. That student must present the group’s answer.
• @mmesidle used Twitter for group vocabulary exercises. One kid per team tweets responses to visual cues the teacher provides, and then the tweetroll is displayed to the class and discussed.
• @dr_dmd suggests holding a digital group chat using Edmodo. Create a group discussion on Edmodo and students discuss at home or in class. You have a record of everything said and can give feedback through the group.

Further Reading

Check out this blog post from @SECottrell on her communicative seating arrangements.

Throughout our discussion Thursday, participants praised Kagan’s seating and group-structure ideas. For the monthly Kagan e-magazine as well as lots of other useful information, check out Kagan Online.

PBL in WL and #langchat News is out through @dr_dmd’s Paper.li. Check it out here.

Thank You!

Once more, thank you to all our participants this past Thursday. We had an amazing #langchat with many great resources shared, and your contributions are very much appreciated!

If you missed the chat and would like to read the full archive, please check out our Google Docs page. And be sure to join us next week as we continue to discuss pressing issues in world language education.

#LangChat is an independent group of world-language education professionals who come together every week via Twitter to share ideas and discuss pressing issues in the world of education. Check out the #LangChat wiki for more information about our goals and the team behind it all here. These weekly discussion summaries are sponsored by Calico Spanish as a service to the world-language community.

Thank you to all our participants for the evening, and a special thanks to our moderators, Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell (@SECottrell) and Don Doehla (@dr_dmd). If you weren’t able to participate but wanted to, please feel free to comment below.

What’s So Bad About Grades?

@SECottrell posed the question: what is so bad about grades? What do participants think about grades in today’s classroom?

Several participants expressed their beliefs that grades are nothing more than artificial constructions to replace real, constructive feedback. @jas347 lamented that often grading feels more like pointing out what students don’t know than what they do.

@SECottrell dislikes the typical grading system because many grades are just arbitrary numbers that don’t represent anything students have learned, such as participation grades or exit tickets.

Why Are Grades Essential?

Many scholarships and other tuition aids are based on student grades, which causes students and parents to stress about receiving high marks. Several participants expressed regret that grades are tied to such awards.

Because the system is such, students are now motivated by grades and try to achieve the As that they need to satisfy parents and get scholarships. This leads to students who don’t pay attention to their proficiency levels or improving abilities. Instead, students look for the letter grade. Some students also shy away from more advanced courses for fear of damaging their grade point average.

Working with Students Motivated by Grades

Many students are motivated by the current grading system. They quest for the A at all times, and get involved in the class when the grading system is clear and easy to understand. How do we support these students?

Several participants mentioned that they try to motivate students with other strategies in order to take the focus off the grade and encourage students to continue their studies into advanced courses. @placido believes that relationships motivate students better than grades ever will. @dr_dmd adds that engaging kids is very important. This will cause students to be less motivated by grades and more by creative opportunities.

Providing students with choices in which assignments to work on goes a long way toward increasing student motivation. Several participants mentioned that they’ve seen remarkable increases in student motivation when students are permitted to choose from several different projects.

• Participants cautioned that care should be taken when offering students choices, though. Try not to offer any “cop out” choices that students might choose. Focus on varying activities based on complexity, not on difficulty (@trescolumnae).

Students who are motivated by grades might get frustrated by assignments and projects with a minimal focus on grades. If they can’t see that the activity will impact their grade, they’re not motivated to work on it. To get around this, @placido has a lot of honest talks with her students. She’ll explain why they’re working on a project, what they hope to achieve and how it will impact their future language skills.

Students also occasionally complain about grades that they receive. This is especially prevalent when teachers change the system and attempt grading systems different from the norm. Many participants expressed that they avoid complaints by ensuring that they have good rubrics and tie the grades securely to the rubrics. This makes it very clear how a grade is obtained and linked to performance.

• When designing your rubric, steer clear of discussion of grades. Instead, focus on proficiency descriptions (@SECottrell). Using “I Can” statements is also very helpful (@dr_dmd).

What Can Replace Grades?

The grading system is often dictated by administrators, so ditching it completely is probably not an option for most teachers. However, @SraCasey believes that if the system decides the options, it’s up to teachers to adapt everything at their end. If you prefer to use other, possibly more constructive, mechanisms to rate students, what is out there?

Several participants expressed that they find a good rubric useful. @dr_dmd says that when students ask him about grades, he’ll ask them to look at the rubric with him and rate themselves.

@dr_dmd gives students “reflection guides” to accompany project presentations. Students then fill out the rubric for themselves and their teammates.

@SraCasey believes that test grades should not be final: a temporary assessment of progress rather than a firm grade. She suggests allowing retakes. @SraSpanglish says to use caution with retakes, however. Some students will abuse the retake ability by not worrying about the test the first time.

@nnaditz allows late homework for full credit, but students have to perform the work in the room. This encourages them to ask for help from the teacher, and prevents simply copying.

@nnaditz divides her grade books into language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing in the target language) rather than the traditional divisions of homework, tests, participation, etc. @placido uses the categories of presentational, interpersonal and interpretive.

@SECottrell took a small step this year by removing grades from student copies of their assessments, in order to reduce student reliance on grades. Students now have to look online to see their grade.

Thanks!

Thank you to all our participants for so freely sharing your tips and thoughts on working with grades in the classroom. If you weren’t able to make it on Thursday, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below — we’d love to hear from you.

If you’re interested to see the entire archive, please go to our Google Docs page. Please also feel free to join us on Thursday for our next #langchat discussion.

#LangChat is an independent group of world-language education professionals who come together every week via Twitter to share ideas and discuss pressing issues in the world of education. Check out the #LangChat wiki for more information about our goals and the team behind it all here. These weekly discussion summaries are sponsored by Calico Spanish as a service to the world-language community.

Thank you to all our participants and colleagues who joined us to share their ideas and experiences, and a special thank you to our moderators for the night, Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell (@SECottrell) and Diego Ojeda (@DiegoOjeda66).

Why Use Songs in World Language Class

Using songs in class is a fantastic way to get kids excited and engaged in the target language. Target-language songs are perfect authentic texts, combining language, culture and often students’ interests together into a highly motivating and memorable language experience. We’ve discussed the use of music in world language classes in the past on #langchat, so be sure to check out our previous summary.

Engaging

Many students enjoy listening to music in class, and they willingly practice the target language at the same time.

Memorable

Students enjoy listening to music outside of class, too. Often, they’re already exploring different music styles and artists. Exposing students to music in the target language may cause them to begin following the artists independently — several participants mentioned loving it when a student tells them they added a song from class to their iPod.

This regular exposure does wonders for pronunciation, especially if students are tempted to sing along (@karacjacobs).

Authentic Materials

Authentic materials expose students to culture, accents, pronunciation and patterns of speech. Authentic materials are language resources directed toward target-language speakers, in contrast with materials directed toward target-language learners. These materials don’t necessarily need to be originally written in the target language, as any translation is also aimed at the target-language audience.

Songs are great authentic resources, and using them in your class brings a lot of advantages. @SECottrell mentions that using songs always brings up phrases and words that she’d never think to teach normally.

Integrating Songs into a World Language Unit

Songs make good supporting resources, and they fit easily into a thematic unit. Try making songs and videos into the “text” of a unit, the central thread of the unit that binds the rest of the instruction together (@karacjacobs). Connect the songs to other authentic materials for more variety and opportunities. Songs used in this way are great “hooks” for students, grabbing their attention and focusing it throughout the unit.

Songs can also be used as an introduction or warm-up to the class. Several teachers have spent 5-10 minutes of the beginning of a class to explore a song, every day for a week (@pamwesely). These teachers might do a series of scaffolded activities on the song itself, musicians, era, style, etc. of the song.

@klafrench likes to take a three-step approach to using songs in class: observation, lyrics and message. The steps scaffold and build on each other to grow students’ familiarity with the language and allow them to discuss the song with increasing knowledge and confidence.

Extending the Song

Many teachers work with a song over an extended period of time, rather than just one lesson. When doing so, make sure to have several activities to give students multiple exposures. Participants shared a wealth of activities they like to use to branch out with the language.

• Have students read authentic texts about the singers (@karacjacobs).
• Study the history or geography discussed in the song (@karacjacobs).
• For a unit based on a song or video, have students listen to or watch the media, then come up with their own vocabulary lists (@karacjacobs).
• Try having students compare and contrast two songs or videos and how they reflect a certain theme for a great interpretive assignment (@karacjacobs).
• Try asking students to create a word cloud using the song lyrics (@spanishplans).
• Students can read the lyrics to a song as if a poem for pronunciation (@spanishplans).
• If you have some musically inclined kids, try having them create a song with lyrics at the end of a project. There are many free song-creation websites to choose from (@Joepark20).
• Try contacting the author of the song directly and set up a mini-dialogue with the students (@ZJonesSpanish). Alternatively, have students create a fictional interview dialogue with the singer after researching his or her past (@DiegoOjeda66).
• Have students draw different scenes from the song and place in chronological order throughout the classroom (@DiegoOjeda66).

Problems Using Songs in Class

As our question wording illustrates, one of the common problems of using songs in class is using them haphazardly. Songs have many advantages and can increase students’ engagement easily, so it’s tempting to just throw them into a class without much thought for how they complement your other instruction.

Another common issue regards the figurative aspect of much music. Songs are similar to poetry, and it’s sometimes difficult to translate them. How do we deal with student requests for literal translations? @ZJonesSpanish mentions stressing the difficulties translating and explaining the difference between translation and communication. @karacjacobs recommends relating songs to poetry and perhaps giving an example of a difficult-to-translate song.

Some participants asked what to do when students don’t want to sing along. In these instances, try to encourage them to participate in other ways. @SECottrell’s rule is students can watch and listen or watch and sing, but they can’t not watch.

Finally, while songs are generally welcomed by students, they may from time to time not understand why you’re listening to music in class. Be sure to let them see the teaching reason behind every song in class (@DiegoOjeda66). Also, be sure not to overwhelm students with lyrics or phrases that are too challenging. If you think this is likely, pre-teach the required vocabulary or grammar (@DiegoOjeda66).

Tips on Using Songs in Class

@esantacruz13 lets students decide which song they’d like to analyze and focus on — a great way to let students take ownership in the lesson. This also helps for classes of different tastes, as the song that appeals to the most students will be chosen.

If you are picking the songs, many participants suggest including songs that you may not personally like, as music hits everyone differently. Try different genres from time to time to give kids different experiences. On the other hand, show your enthusiasm at all times. @DiegoOjeda66 suggests using songs that you like, no matter the genre, so long as students can see that you love the music. He suggests compiling your favorite songs, letting students make a “Top 10″ list and then working with that list throughout the year.

It’s also important to include more than just contemporary music. Traditional songs are an important element of culture and we should strive to find areas where we can include these songs as well.

For instrumental sections and with advanced students, try asking students for their emotions and thoughts when listening without words (@muranava). Also, if you have karaoke versions of a song with lyrics, try playing the music without the vocals before kids get to hear the lyrics.

Finding Songs

It can be a challenge to find songs and artists to use in class. Often the musicians you may know about or have studied in the past are a little dated in the target country. While your students might still love the experience, maybe you want to show them a more contemporary music scene. Where do you find new artists and songs?

• @SECottrell recommends Pandora. This Internet radio app and website can be tailored to create a target-language radio station and will automatically suggest new artists and songs. You can’t limit Pandora by language, but you can choose an artist that you know that you like and Pandora will automatically suggest similar artists or genres. Use the “Dislike” button for any English songs that crop up.
• @pamweseley suggests checking the “Top 50″ list of artists in a target-language country. For French, check this site out. Also, try recording companies’ websites in the target language. For example, Universal Music France. For your own sites, try searching in target-language search engines.
• @muranava suggests LyricsTraining for some lyrics and artist ideas.
• @cadamsf1 recommends this Spanish site for a compilation of lessons on grammar using a song as its basis.
• This is a useful resource compiled by @sraslb with over 600 songs searchable by topic, grammar, etc.
• @klafrench likes using songs that have been translated into the target language for native speakers, for example Disney songs. It’s fun to compare and contrast with the original English.

Don’t forget music videos! These can really get kids motivated and interested in class, and the videos often have a theme that fits with the musicians’ message and voice.

Thanks!

Again, a big thank you to all our participants! We had an amazing #langchat and the summary couldn’t begin to do it justice. In particular, we had many specific song suggestions based on different units, for songs that participants have used successfully in the past. Please visit the archive of the chat if you’re trying to remember the link to one of the songs or videos referenced during the chat.

Take care, and we hope to see you next Thursday at 20:00 EST for our next #LangChat!

#LangChat is an independent group of world-language education professionals who come together every week via Twitter to share ideas and discuss pressing issues in the world of education. Check out the #LangChat wiki for more information about our goals and the team behind it all here. These weekly discussion summaries are sponsored by Calico Spanish as a service to the world-language community.

We had an interesting discussion this past Thursday on a very challenging topic in language education. How do you deal with widening ability gaps in upper levels?

Participants shared many fantastic ideas that you can begin implementing in your classroom right away. Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful contributions! Thanks especially to Erica Fischer (@CalicoTeach) for moderating the night’s chat.

If you didn’t catch the chat, please find the summary below for your convenience. If you have some additional ideas to share, we’d love to hear from you in the comments or through Twitter.

High-Level Ability Gaps

In upper levels, especially with large classes, it’s not uncommon for the differences in student abilities to widen. Participants lamented that in high school classes, this is one of their principal challenges.

Many participants believe this is a result of motivation more than anything else. @klafrench says that her students who really want higher fluency definitely “get their hands dirty” more than others, which results in higher skills.

Last week we discussed how to combat apathy and a lack of motivation in students, and many of the suggestions from participants may be useful in high levels as well.

Common Challenges

An issue with students who lag behind in higher classes is that they often have trouble with early-level skills that prevent fully learning the new material. High-level classes focus on more advanced grammatical material and speaking exercises that are challenging for students who have never truly mastered the past tense.

On the opposite side of the coin, students who are ready for more advanced material might get frustrated in a class that moves at the speed of the slowest learner. Or they might seize every opportunity to answer questions or participate, robbing less assertive students of their chances to improve.

Close the Gap, or Embrace It?

As world-language teachers, we’re lucky to be able to work with students regardless of level and find ways to ensure comprehension. By providing comprehensible input and engaging all students, we should be able to move everyone forward (@CalicoTeach).

So, as long as we are moving all students forward, is it important to close the ability gap? Most participants believe that it’s not — the important outcome is growth. Are students improving their efficiency?

It’s also not wise to pretend gaps don’t exist by teaching to the lowest-level student. Students are aware of different ability levels, and trying to hide this will get us nowhere.

Dealing with Ability Gaps

What strategies do you pursue with high-level classes where the ability levels differ? Participants shared several ideas useful for both bringing students’ abilities closer together as well as taking advantage of gaps in student levels.

@CalicoTeach believes that it’s important to focus on changing the task, not the content. Keep it challenging and scaffold the material. Design tasks with scalability in mind — make it easy to bump the level up or down as necessary (@tbcaudill). @klafrench keeps the material at the same higher level for all students, especially with reading material.

• @tmsaue1 recommends keeping the theme the same in mixed classes to allow all students to be learning the same general content. Include lots of open discussions so that students can contribute what they’re able to contribute.

@jas347 suggests keeping questions and activities open-ended. This gives students an opportunity to show what they know, and they aren’t punished for what they don’t. Having specific expectations for answers is impossible when student levels differ, so let students answer in their best way. Expand this to all class activities.

• @SraCasey recommends technology projects with a set goal but flexible options. These allow students of higher levels to take a more challenging approach to the goal.
• Flexible, open-ended questions and activities might take more planning, but as @CalicoTeach points out, it’s less work than planning specific activities and questions for different levels.

Extra credit for extra work could encourage more students to get involved at a higher level or could satisfy the needs of quick, motivated learners. When @jas347 taught grades 6-8, 8th-grade students could come early to class for more advanced instruction and received extra credit for including their instruction in their regular work. If students wanted more knowledge, they could come and find a way to apply it in a way that was relevant to them.

• The extra instruction doesn’t have to be for extra credit, either. @klafrench found that conferencing on writing with her 2nd-year students really helped to close the gap all around and brought writing skills up in the entire class.

@SenoritaClark has tried mixing students of different levels in activities to encourage the less active students to participate. However, for an upcoming novel project, she’s considering assigning groups by level. She’s expecting this to cause higher output for student-created material. For example, if creating questions on a chapter, higher-level questions should come from the groups of more advanced students.

Mixed Classes

Some high-level classes of world-languages have mixed grade levels as well. @SraCasey teaches classes of Spanish 3 and 4 students together. In classes like this, extra instruction for the higher-level students is sometimes necessary.

These classes also provide unique opportunities for student teaching. @SraCasey will often put students of different years together so that during pair work, higher-level students can reteach the material to their younger classmates.

Centers, separate areas for group work that students rotate to throughout class, have great potential in mixed classes. Rather than combine all students together to teach at once, split groups so that you can personalize their instruction. Focus on “input centers” rather than “output” ones — this will give students plenty of opportunity to discover the necessary vocabulary.

In all classes, personalizing the classroom is important. Check out the recent #langchat summary on personalizing instruction for some great ideas from your colleagues.

Thanks!

Our #langchat discussion this week was less active than most due to the busy month of March, but we’ll be back next week on Thursday at 8:00 EST. If you haven’t in the past, please be sure to check out our wiki and suggest or vote on a new topic.

Thanks again to everyone for participating! If you’d like to read the full archive of the chat, please go to our Google Docs page. See you next week!

#LangChat is an independent group of world-language education professionals who come together every week via Twitter to share ideas and discuss pressing issues in the world of education. Check out the #LangChat wiki for more information about our goals and the team behind it all here. These weekly discussion summaries are sponsored by Calico Spanish as a service to the world-language community.

Participants shared lots of ideas on what causes apathy in the classroom and how to motivate and engage your students to beat it. We had a fantastic discussion, and we’ve included the summary below for your convenience.

Thanks to everyone for such wonderful participation and ideas. Thanks especially to Diego Ojeda (@DiegoOjeda66), Don Doehla (@dr_dmd) and Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell (@SECottrell) for volunteering their time as moderators for the chat.

Apathy Defined

Participants had many different ways to describe apathy in world language classes, all related. Do any of the below sound familiar?

• Not following due dates.
• Quitting after required language classes.
• Don’t understand importance of learning the language.
• Just don’t care.
• Overwhelmed with the subject.
• Overwhelmed with home life.
• Overwhelmed with other commitments in and out of school.
• Parents chose the language for the student.
• Parents not being involved enough.

Where to Start?

Apathy in the classroom is a tough opponent. It’s not easy to turn a class of half-asleep students into active and energetic language users. But your colleagues get together every week on #langchat to share their ideas to help you get there.

Building relationships

@tbcaudill thinks some students’ apathy results from not feeling connected to the class or the teacher. One way to increase engagement is to make a personal connection with the students outside of class. Support them at their concerts, games and other activities and get excited about their passions.

• When students share information, ask them about it. Whether their passion is sports, pets or video games, show an interest — students like to be asked about what they care about (@Sra_Hildinger).
• When possible, try to interact with younger students before they graduate to your level and class (@louvre2012).
• Several teachers mentioned never coming to class with a preconceived notion of a student. Don’t review their past history (@DiegoOjeda66) or listen to negative colleagues (@RonieWebster).

As teachers, it’s difficult to have an impact on students suffering from out-of-school issues, but we can have empathy and show them support (@dr_dmd). Inside the classroom is our realm, and we need to provide students with a nurturing and safe learning environment. Caring relationships , trust and mutual respect go a long way toward conquering apathy (@adsamples).

Setting the Example

Teacher enthusiasm is contagious (@ZJonesSpanish). While focus should always be on the learner, don’t forget to check that you’re demonstrating your own excitement for the language at all times.

While we shouldn’t expect that simply being motivated and passionate about the language is enough to rouse students from apathy, it goes a long way.

Finding the cause

If your students are apathetic in class, don’t blame them. Instead, seek to engage them with some of the activities in the next section (@dr_dmd). It’s easy to blame students for not being interested in learning a language or for being preoccupied with other subjects or activities, but it won’t solve the problem.

Also, bear in mind that the best motivation is intrinsic, not extrinsic. Focus your efforts on engaging students by making the language meaningful, personal or useful. Show students what others have done with their language skills. Don’t rely on extrinsic rewards such as grades or bonus systems. As @DiegoOjeda66 says, students tend to start losing their natural motivation when they enter the school system as cookies and stickers replace passion.

Beating Indifference

Apathy often manifests itself in students who just go through the motions and who are satisfied with the minimum amount of work necessary (@mmebrady). Beating that apathy requires different approaches depending on the root cause.

Demonstrating the importance of language

It’s important to show students (and sometimes parents) that learning a foreign language is valuable. For ideas on this, check out the summary from our previous chat on motivating students to start and stay in world languages. It’s a constant battle to illustrate this to students, but participants shared some of their tips for getting the message across.

• @cadamsf1 built a Facebook page of her student alumni discussing how language changed them and what they are doing with the language now.
• @ITeachHola uses Skype and other mediums such as FaceTime to allow her students to connect with students from other countries and cultures and to see one reason they need language.

Often, showing students the importance of the language starts with showing them how it’s applicable to their lives. Don’t ask questions or give exams to test random knowledge — keep it focused on students’ lives. If the answer to any of your questions to students is “Who cares?”, you’re asking for apathy (@SECottrell).

Sometimes, despite your best efforts at demonstrating the use of the language, students still just don’t care. Maybe they don’t expect to ever go overseas or speak with a foreigner. Maybe they expect that English is so widely spoken that it’s all they need. When students answer with “Who cares?”, try turning the question around (@ZJonesSpanish). “Ok, so you might not be interested in this — why do you think that is? What communities might be interested?”

Personalizing instruction

Personalizing the language and instruction for students is a fantastic way to beat student apathy. When students feel ownership of their instruction, they’re excited and engaged. We discussed this on #langchat recently; check out this summary on personalization.

• Pick topics that appeal to students. @karacjacobs finds that thematic units with pop culture engages her students. Video games or sports might engage yours.
• Give students options in everything (@SECottrell). When students can choose their own topics for discussion or approach of the class, they feel a stronger ownership in the language. It’s also hard for a student to justify being apathetic when he’s chosen the topic himself.
• @SraCasey finds that technology projects incorporating choices does a great job of combining the two above points — a medium that is interesting to students, with choices to make it their own.
• Flexibility is important in a personalized classroom. If students seize on a topic that you’ve brought up, it’s great to be able to go with the flow and allow them to continue the discussion (@sonrisadelcampo).
• Ask kids for their input after an activity so you can further personalize future lessons (@cadamsf1). @tmsaue1 often asks students for the most challenging part of the day’s class to judge what students are taking away.

Personalization is also about getting to know the students and incorporating them in your stories and projects. If you want to see a student actually smile when taking a test, @spanishplans recommends using their name on the sheet!

Making connections

Related to the above, making connections between the language and students’ lives, and the language and the outside world, is essential to engaging students. Make it relevant so that students can see the point. Students need to know why the language is important to their lives.

• Where in the real world will students write worksheets, endless verb conjugations or notes for 45 minutes straight? (@SenoritaClark)
• Connecting with other subjects helps students learn to see the relevance of the language (@karacjacobs).
• @mmebrady’s school hosts an interdisciplinary Festival of Nations to engage students and cross the subject morders.

Keeping it novel

Keeping instruction novel and creative goes a long way toward engaging students. Repeated topics, assignments or expectations can quickly get stale for students who have a hundred conflicting commitments.

• Teacher collaboration and professional development is an excellent way to keep your instruction novel. @cadamsf1 reminds us that discussing ideas with your colleagues is a strong benefit for new and old teachers alike. (What better way to do so than through #langchat!)
• When @SECottrell asked her AP students what motivates them the most, she heard that anything out of the ordinary — novel — gets their attention and motivates them to participate.
• @Sra_Hildinger was always instructed to change activities every 10 minutes or so. Pick a time that works for you and your classes, and go with it. A variety of activities covers a variety of interests, and keeps students focused on what they’re doing.
• Try adding interesting cultural notes into your instruction to engage students (@Sra_Hildinger). Kids are often interested to learn about how people live in other countries and cultures.

Providing support

Apathy can also stem from a sense of hopelessness (@nnaditz). When you don’t feel that you can handle the material, or the level is too high for your ability, an easy escape mechanism is to lower your engagement.

• Build in support systems for your students (@nnaditz).
• Take away the fear of making mistakes (@Sra_Hildinger). It’s important to have patience and provide students with time to produce. Especially in the beginning, but always important: stress communication and output over correctness (@tbcaudill).
• A true comfort zone free of ridicule or sarcasm will go a long way to motivating students (@Sra_Hildinger).

Lessons need to be geared so that students experience success and achievement (@louvre2012), while also including enough challenge to keep them interested. It’s a delicate balance. Too challenging of material with no visible achievements, and students will seek apathy as an escape. Too easy of material, and students will succumb to apathy out of boredom.

• Build series of successes to increase students’ confidence. Prove to the students that they can use the language, and they often will, rather than hide behind the protection of apathy (@mweelin).
• Provide opportunities for students to do real-life activities using the language so they can see what they can do. This does more than just build confidence; it also excites students and engages them when they see that they can now interact with such a new, wide world.

These points relate very closely to past #langchat topics on providing the best environment for language production. For some more ideas, check out this SUMMARY.

Further Reading

Participants shared a wealth of ideas above, but they also recommended some further reading for your bookmarks tab!

• Check out @cybraryman1′s page on motivating students.
• @tmsaue1 shared this graphic displaying student engagement.
• Several participants recommended Daniel Pink’s “Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us” for information on how to motivate kids in class.
• @dr_dmd provided this list of resources on engagement, an article on engaging learning strategies, an article on ensuring engagement and an article on connecting school to the real world — also, check out the Edutopia groups page.
• @SECottrell recommends Alfie Kohn’s “Punished by Rewards” for a discussion on the value of intrinsic motivation over extrinsic.
• Check out these videos by Sir Ken Robinson on whether schools are killing creativity.

Thanks!

You’ll run into many obstacles in your quest to defeat student apathy, but don’t fret — your colleagues are here on #langchat for support!

If you missed the #langchat discussion on Thursday and want to make your voice heard, please feel free to do so in the comments — we’d love to continue our topic! Otherwise, we’ll see you next week on #langchat!

#LangChat is an independent group of world-language education professionals who come together every week via Twitter to share ideas and discuss pressing issues in the world of education. Check out the #LangChat wiki for more information about our goals and the team behind it all here. These weekly discussion summaries are sponsored by Calico Spanish as a service to the world-language community.

What is Formative Assessment?

We assess students to understand what they have acquired from our instruction. The purpose of formative assessment is to adapt and accommodate our instruction based on student needs and readiness, to determine if we have achieved our goals and whether we can continue or should reteach the language (@Lauren_Scheller, @NinaTanti1, @cadamsf1).

Formative assessment guides us in many ways. It helps us to appropriately scaffold (@Lauren_Scheller) and provides feedback to us and to the students (@NinaTanti1). Use formative assessment to check for understanding and adjust your instruction based on what you’ve found.

Do we grade formative assessments?

Often, formative assessments are not graded. We focus on qualitative rather than quantitative feedback. @docseiler usually doesn’t grade her student assessments; she chooses instead to focus on building a dialogue with students.

While we won’t usually grade formative assessments, we might want to consider tracking them to see trends and improvements (@placido).

How does formative assessment differ from summative (traditional) assessment?

At base, we use formative assessment to alter our instruction and guide us toward discovering what students need more of, as compared to traditional quizzes that often serve to see what students don’t know (@Lauren_Scheller). Formative assessment transforms thinking about grades or points to thinking about progress or acquisition of the language (@placido).

Often, summative assessment, which is used to summarize or assess the development of learners at a specific time, can be used to identify weaknesses that formative assessment can then build on. A handy contrast is to think of summative assessment as assessment of learning, while formative assessment is assessment for learning (Wikipedia).

Formative Assessment Examples

If you’re looking for some specific examples of what you can do in class, check out these participant-suggested activities. We shared lots of great ideas and discussion on how to implement them in class.

Many participants like quick comprehension checks that are easy to implement in class, and students often enjoy them as well. Some examples we discussed are below. For more, see the Further Reading section below for some resources from @placido, or this #langchat summary on making kids comfortable with the immersion classroom.

• @sraoconnor likes methods such as Traffic Lighting, where students hold up a colored traffic light to represent how much they understand, and 10 (or 5) Fingers Up, where students hold up a number of fingers to represent how much they get it.
• @NinaTanti1 likes Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down to communicate whether students are comprehending.
• @Lauren_Scheller uses temperature checks, where students describe their understanding in terms of temperature, from cold (don’t get it) to hot (no problem!).
• @cadamsf1 uses mini whiteboards to assess students’ understanding by asking quick questions. Students hold up their whiteboards with names, and she can usually tell how much the class is following by the speed of responses. A cheap alternative to whiteboards: white plastic Dixie plates, plastic binder covers, splash boards from a home-improvement store or white paper between sheet protectors.

Some checks are a bit more detailed. Above, we focused on quickly checking comprehension. The below ideas can be used to assess what students need more of or are excelling at.

• Try quick Google Voice calls recorded by students. Send a short text to the student afterward for feedback (@Lauren_Scheller). If students make the call during class, it’s often less prepared and more authentic (@NinaTanti1). You can still text feedback at home.
• Try exit checks at the end of class: a small, written student assessment or question on the topic. It can be as simple as a short self-assessment checklist (@suarez712002).
• Digital exit checks are great, too. Try Poll Everywhere, Socrative or Google Forms to get and discuss student responses quickly (@nnaditz). Wallwisher is another good medium for students to post notes, questions or portfolio comments (@cadamsf1).
• @nnaditz likes to take exit checks further by collecting student responses and creating an activity modeling good responses, followed by responses that need some correction — mostly for common errors. Or pick a few and give to small groups at the beginning of next class to check (@Lauren_Scheller).
  • Quick tip: When collecting exit tickets, try checking them after class. Otherwise class can get bogged down. Also, skim through and look for understanding or common errors. You’re not grading these, and they’re meant to be a quick check (@placido).
• @senorjordan has students write quizzes for him to take at the end of class. This helps him to see what he really drove home to the students during class.

For some suggestions of quick topics that work for the above-mentioned exit checks or fast Google Voice calls, try some of these:

• Describe the purpose of (holiday) using seven of these ten words (@Lauren_Scheller).
• Here’s a comic/image/video, call Google Voice and describe it in less than one minute (@placido).
• My screen went black (or other simple scenario), what do I do? (@Lauren_Scheller).
• Call Google Voice and describe two things that X character did in the story this week (@placido).

Formative assessment doesn’t have to be a specific activity or tool. Many participants prefer to assess their students while doing ordinary class activities, or to design activities that quickly assess student comprehension.

• @Lauren_Scheller uses speed-dating activities and assesses students while they communicate interpersonally. She also uses quick Q and As and “whip arounds,” where students share and develop comments on a subject rapidly through the classroom.
• When playing language games, @jas347 has each student’s opponent be the “miniprofesseur” who decides if the person is correct. This helps students to evaluate and teach each other.

Another effective formative assessment is to review past work to go over common mistakes. This is best when students can be guided to identify and correct the mistakes themselves.

• @placido suggests taking examples of past student work (from a different class or year is best) and talking about it as a class.
• Several participants like to take incorrect examples from students’ recent homework or quizzes and discuss and edit them as a class. When doing so, try telling students how many are wrong, but not which are wrong (@placido).
• When testing students through summative assessment, @placido might encourage students to try the test again. This turns the summative assessment into a formative one. @nnaditz allows the same, after a tutoring session or otherwise demonstrating that they understand.

For online teachers or teachers using online resources, try some of these ideas:

• @docseiler says that ongoing dialogue is very important when face-to-fact time is limited. Use Twitter, Skype, texts or email so students are comfortable enough to write or speak the language.
• If teaching 1:1, try letting the student screenshare with you and explain what they are doing (@SrtaLisa). You can see and hear misconceptions and reteach the problem areas.

The above are great suggestions for formative assessments and quick comprehension checks, but keep in mind that any activity can shift to a formative assessment. Formative assessment is about the intent, not the activity (@placido). Try circling the room during any activity and listening for common mistakes. After the activity, feedback with the whole class (@Traciepod).

• Take notes while circling; students will think you’re grading (@placido).
• @Lauren_Scheller uses a seating chart with dry-erase names, and she tries to spend time assessing every student at least once a week.

If you’re interested in additional assessment ideas, check out this past #langchat summary on assessing individual students in class.

Formative Assessment Tips

When implementing formative assessment in class, always remember that it’s about the students first (@tmsaue1). No matter the medium, the intent is to understand what students need so you can best adapt instruction to their requirements. You’re also aiming to get students to understand themselves what they need — i.e., what they know and don’t know (@NinaTanti1).

• “I can” statements work wonderfully here.

Some students might not grasp the value of practice without points, which formative assessment is focused on. For such students, try giving them other tokens of achievement, such as Edmodo badges.

When assessing students, random selection is critical. Avoid volunteers as you’ll often get the same students. For some picking tips, try popsicle sticks with students’ names (@placido), index cards or ClassCards (for iPad), or the fruit machine random name picker from ClassTools.net.

Further Reading

@placido presented on formative assessments at the Michigan World Language Association last fall, and she shared this link for her handouts.

@placido recommends “A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades” if you’re interested in learning more about formative assessment.

@CalicoTeach recommends ACTFL’s new book, “Keys to Assessing Language Performance” by Paul Sandrock. There are many sample rubrics and tasks included.

Check out this page recommended by @placido on some activities to use to assess students formatively in the classroom.

Thanks!

Thanks again to everyone who participated this past Thursday! We had an insightful #langchat that was full of both great discussion and plenty of actionable ideas. If you missed the chat and want to read the full archive, check out our Google Doc.

As always, the discussion isn’t over. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter through the #langchat hashtag. If you have a suggestion for a future topic, please visit our wiki or use this form.

#LangChat is an independent group of world-language education professionals who come together every week via Twitter to share ideas and discuss pressing issues in the world of education. Check out the #LangChat wiki for more information about our goals and the team behind it all here. These weekly discussion summaries are sponsored by Calico Spanish as a service to the world-language community.