Teaching Culture to Novice Language Learners

 Teaching culture to novice learners is hard. They just don't have the language background to go very deep at all into a topic in the target language. It is normal then to want to not use the target language. It happens to me too too. But just as often I teach culture in the target language.  Here are some ideas for how...    (Want to skip right to the freebie? Grab it here.)

1. Use video. All the visuals you can see in a video help students understand the language. Or maybe you don't even need the video sound. Turn the sound off and talk along with the video using language your students do understand. Use your own videos or videos filmed by family and colleagues. Or search for videos on sites like youtube or teacher tube. I usually use a site like safeshare to choose a small section of the video for viewing and to stop students from seeing ads.

2. Do a short and easy cooking project. You can demonstrate how to make something using language your students understand and holding up the ingredients to help make it comprehensible. Depending on the recipe, you can also have your students participate in making the food. You can make salsa, arepas, crêpes, European sipping hot chocolate (the kind served with churros in Spain, at Angelina's in France & at Artefact in Quebec) or ask families to bring in cheeses from France, Spain... for cheese tasting.

3. Have a mini holiday celebration. It doesn't even HAVE to be at the correct time of year. Decorate the classroom as if it were Bastille Day in May (or whenever). Bring in typical foods or photos. Show them to the class while talking about them in simple comprehensible language they can understand. Sure, you can dig deeper into talking more about the celebration and what it is all about in English - but you can do that another day. Today is all about actually celebrating and using the target language.

4. Use a lot of pictures, images, drawings, etc. of the target culture. The picture gives a context and makes language comprehensible. Use small chunks of language to talk about what you can see in this country (or city), what you can eat and what you can visit. I like to compile the pictures and small chunks of language into a comprehensible reader. Make them yourself, or grab a few I've made & have in my TpT store. I have them for many French-speaking countries and cities and all Spanish-speaking countries. 

I've also created a free printable for you to use as you teach culture in the target language in your French or Spanish class. Grab the freebie here!

Hispanic Heritage Month Activity Freebie & Bulletin Board Idea!

I'm excited to share this fun Hispanic Heritage Month activity with you! It is super fun and will get your students talking about important Hispanic Americans. You can download the activity here.

Print pages 1 and 2 front to back. You'll need one for each student. Have the students fold along the solid line (see #1 below). Next, have them open the page back up & cut along the dotted lines (see #2 below). Now have the students choose a famous Hispanic American and complete the clue sentences inside the paper (see #3 below).

Now provide each student with a copy of page 3 of the download. Have them glue, tape, or staple their clues to the right side of the ¿Quién soy yo? page. (See #4 below)

Print pages 4 & 5 of the download front to back. Fold the page down the middle & cut down the dotted line. You will give one "Me llamo" slip to each student. They will open the slip and write the name of the famous Hispanic American they chose to describe inside (See #5 below).

Have the students glue or staple their "Me llamo" slips on the inside of the last clue. They will want to attach it to the left side, without covering up the text of that last clue (see #6 below).

And now you are ready to play! You can have one student come up to the front of the class and begin to open and read each clue while the class tries to guess who it is. Or you can have the students pair up & work together to try to figure out who is being described. 

After everyone has finished the activity, they can draw on and color the person outline to illustrate who it is they used for their ¿Quién soy yo? page. The completed products make a great Hispanic Heritage month bulletin board!

French Class Back to School Freebie Treasures

The new school year is just around the corner and I'm starting to think about lesson planning. I've spent some time treasure hunting for the start of the school year freebie resources and I want to share the treasures I've found!

Today I will be sharing the goodies I've found for my French classes. Stay tuned for some Spanish class treasures! Coming soon!!

Let's start with one of my freebies. It is an All About Me Build-A-Book! Novice learners can cut and paste. Students ready to write on their own can just write on the pages of the book. The students will end up with a story book all about them that they can present to the class or read with a partner/in small groups. Find it here.

I love playing Find Someone Who at the start of a school year. It is another great way to learn about our classmates. I like this freebie from Dans la classe de Mme Sandra.
Mme Sandra also has another Find Someone Who for older learners & I spied an "I have/who has" game with a back to school theme too. Check out her store!

I just adore these get-to-know-you dice by for French Immersion. The students write questions on the dice and then they work in pairs, rolling the dice and answering questions. For novice learners, the teacher can write the questions and just have the students roll & ask/answer questions.

Students love to share what they did over the summer. And it is yet another way to get to know one another a little better. Check out this back to school writing activity from Mme McIntosh. I know my students will love sharing about their summer adventures!

Moving away from learning about each other and on to working with the French language and school related vocabulary, this Back to School Puzzle by Les petits singes de Mlle W looks like so much fun! Grab it here.

And I have one more of my freebies to share. My days of the week reader will get your students reading and talking all about what they do each day of the week. Find it here!

I hope these treasure help you get off to a great new school year!

FREEBIE included! ~ Teaching Grammar in Context to Language Learners

Teaching Grammar in Context to Language Learners

Teaching students grammar rules isn't the only way to increase proficiency in the target language. The students can't just learn ABOUT the language. They also need to develop skills with USING the language. We need to make good decisions when choosing materials and classroom activities ... to first bombard our students with comprehensible input using a particular grammar focus, and then pushing our students to use the language.

1. Choose appropriate comprehensible materials for students to read, listen & watch the language being used in context. 

2. Play games using the new grammar structures. Here are some game ideas and I like these a lot too.

3. Provide students the opportunity to write in a controlled manner. I like using build-a-books ... and I want to share a build-a-book freebie with you! {including directions for how to use them}. Find the Spanish build-a-book freebie here, and the French build-a-book freebie here.

If you like the build-a-book concept and would like more, find all of my French build-a-books here and my Spanish build-a-books here.

Is there a build-a-book you need and don't see available? Comment below and I'll add it to my to do list!