#LangChat is dedicated to the discussion of topics associated with issues and trends in world language instruction and learning. Educators, administrators, learners, and aficionados of world languages are encouraged to participate and share their experiences and input on various topics such as new ways to teach vocabulary, using music in the language classroom, and making standards-based grading valid. This chat is also unique in that it brings together language educators worldwide and from different contexts (elementary, secondary, higher education, etc.) and languages.
Good evening everybody and welcome to #langchat! Tonight, we're doing a quick-snapper chat - no theme, just five different questions in one hour! Try to keep up!
If there are any CI French teachers, I'd love to know what you use for curriculum. I'm asking for a new colleague who's interested in the switch! #langchat
Hey #langchat! Wendy, French 1 and AP in Ohio! It’s my last week of grad school for the semester so if I stop replying, it’s because I fell asleeeeeeeeep.
A1 Ooooh... my motivation fairly died in the past 2 weeks so this is a good Q. I'd say kids (the ones who have done their semester project, a country trip itinerary) are excited to show them off. #langchat
#langchat A1: What keeps me going at the end of the year is more autonomy. Allows high flyers to go, me to work with lower comprehending students, and it spices things up!
Q1 - I am receiving graduation party invites and thank you letters that are really reminding me of why I do this. Students from the past are visiting and energizing my current students. Content-wise, I'm taking it day by day. #langchat
A1 Ooooh... my motivation fairly died in the past 2 weeks so this is a good Q. I'd say kids (the ones who have done their semester project, a country trip itinerary) are excited to show them off. #langchat
A1 Since I was on maternity leave all first quarter, mentally this is third quarter for me.
I’m not as exhausted as normal (well maybe it’s just a different exhaustion 👶🏼), so my energy is sky high 😆#langchat
A1 I also like to keep a few surprises (cough, bribes) in my back pocket...snacks, short TL film days, pétanque out on the front lawn, things like that. #langchat
A1: That end of the year race to the finish line can be brutal. Movement & less time at desks has been the key for us - scavenger hunts, crazy commands game, musical chairs with questions, centers, extreme rock-paper-scissors - LOTS of storytelling with manipulatives #langchat
A1 many things get accomplished with candy and frequent brain breaks. I always talk about having a killer “May unit” but haven’t followed through. #langchat
A1 Since I was on maternity leave all first quarter, mentally this is third quarter for me.
I’m not as exhausted as normal (well maybe it’s just a different exhaustion 👶🏼), so my energy is sky high 😆#langchat
A1 Doing a Latin poetry writing project while wrapping up our reading (and conjugating verbs). Ss are going to produce collections of Latin poetry for future Latin students. #langchat
A1. Today I spoke with my kids about finishing our semester project with passion and purpose. They have done great so far, and it is great to see them do so well. #langchat
A1: Name That Tune with all the songs from the year (& past years), https://t.co/KfwFWN8SFY with specific grammar to review, EdPuzzle with videos of them performing all year long- input high, spiral back, lots of reflection on year-long growth, keep it fun! #langchat
My 3s finished the year with "How do I decide if study abroad is for me?" which was one of my personal favorites. Great opportunity to do a "Mystery Skype"! #langchat
A1: Reflecting during this time of year also helps...I own areas in which I want to be better and try and cram some improvement into the final throws #langchat
I was actually due on the last day of school last year, so I’m just surprising myself daily with how prepared I left my classroom for myself while 9 months pregnant #langchat
A1. I got ahead of the schedule for my curriculum so I am letting some classes choose the curriculum and skills for the end of the semester. Great so far! #langchat
A1 Keeping expectations high. Students are doing great things right now. Lots of speaking, reading, listening. German Day at UW-Madison was fun and great motivator as well. #langchat
A1 @mmeshep 's political cartoon activities are keeping my students' attention. The hook in was allowing them to caricature their French teacher 😊 Classic fun - they clearly understood all the elements! Merci!! #langchat
A1: My 1s are amazing and keep me going through most of the day. My 2s have #senioritis & it's taking every ounce of energy, courage and determination to keep going the last part of the day #langchat
A2 I specifically save my 4th grade sports unit for the end of the year so we can go outside & play playground games, jai alai, & practice sports vocab like throw, catch, run, score #langchat
Love that! I have been trying to record myself at least once a week so that I can reflect. What process or format do you use for your reflection? #langchat
A2- depending on the heat level (no a/c on the third floor 😅😅😅), we actually don’t move at all. But if it’s a cool day, relays, scavenger hunts, tangible sentences at the board #langchat
A2 and hybrid deskless (gracias @profeashley) - means we're moving from reading circle to story dice table to #authres station, always moving! #langchat
I can't force movement on my fishies, they're way too cool for school... we do partner projects and next week we'll do some running dicatation
#langchat
I just did a variation of pictionary/charades. Kids had a sentence from story, groups searched novel & copied phrase on own. 1 pt per correct phrase. Went well! #langchat A2
A2: I do lots of brain breaks and games to get the Ss up and moving. @quizlet Live just added music and my Ss were actually dancing to it as they were moving around to their teams. #langchat
A2 brain BREAKS, conversation practice, “cherchez un partenaire différent ... un autre partenaire ... encore un partenaire différent” is my current mantra. I’ve been letting kiddos choose the brain breaks, too! #langchat
A2 No-prep Taboo in pairs. Post words/pictures on board, Ss sit with 1 facing board and 1 facing away; switch spots every time they guess a word correctly. #langchat
Y'all are killing me with all the @quizlet & @gimkit - in the past 6 months our wifi availability has gone from bad to impossible. Now I make sure I need zero connectivity for every lesson plan. :( #langchat
A2 Change the activity about every 10 minutes or so. Students work with multiple partners, small groups as well as independently within class period. #langchat
A2 I became sort of famous for catching my students in a sleepy moment and making everyone get up and do "head, shoulders, knees and toes" or some other TPR-style movement. #langchat#theysecretlyloveit
A2. Today and tomorrow we are simulating a restaurant experience. Learning simple communication tactics and changing the room setup. Great time! #langchat
A2 We have flexible seating, so sometimes we push everything off to the side and have a dance party, one of the students learns / teaches an exercise to the rest, we play salade de fruits and there's always yoga! #langchat
A2: My #earlylang learners will participate @OutdoorClassDay and I will create centers rotations where the students will play traditional Hispanic playground games. #langchat
A2 I’ve got to pack everything to move to a new building. Maybe it’s time to review commands- put the book in the box. Put the papers in the box. My room will be packed in no time! #langchat
you give one student ALL the devices. They sit on one side, all other team members across the table. You get ONE CLICK and you run around the table, next person’s turn. See more here: https://t.co/862Yjg6JAz#langchat
My students are loving our "Catch Phrase" tournaments. I print out the vocab cards from @quizlet and we use the Catch Phrase timer from YouTube. Their circumlocution is really improving and the competition (particularly in my Level 5 class) is fierce! #langchat
A3 I will forever love ClassDojo, and have recently discovered the joys of VoiceThread, thanks to a fancypants subscription through my university! #langchat
A3 my 2nd graders LOVE @nearpod!! They've gotten so comfortable with it that I've been using it to introduce new vocab & structures!! "Maestra, I could figure out the new one!" #langchat
A3 I'm also super surprised that my 5th graders are EATING up @textivate despite a completely different UI than any other app they use & being so text-heavy #langchat
A3: My Ss are creating their own stories using @BookCreatorApp. I can even combine all their stories into one class book. We also love @Flipgrid!!! It’s totally taken our partnership to another level. #FlipgridFever#langchat
A2 I haven’t been doing this purposefully, other than that I give students freedom of movement around the class/pod area to complete tasks at their own pace in their own space. “You are free to move about the cabin”. #langchat
I am really looking forward to (hopefully) trying out some fun tech with my native French students in the fall! I hope Kahoot is available in France...#langchat
A2: When I feel like my Ss need to move, we play freeze dance & then when the music stops they race to the board closest to answer a question. Just did it with a KWL around the room & it brought the whole class to life! #langchat
A3, feeling in the minority here, but I've been encouraging my students and myself to DISCONNECT from technology and actually engage with face to face communication #langchat
Yes we love these too! Quizizz always gets lots of laughs because of the Memes. We like to pair Ss up for it so the pressure of the leader board doesn't feel personal. #langchat
A3 Google Drive has been running my life this year re: grad school. Also the Google Plugin Kami - allows me to annotate all my PDF readings and save the annotations to my Drive. #langchat
It’s just the best. I can’t even explain why, but their customer service is definitely one of the reasons we go back (multiple times a week now) #langchat
I love this as a counterpoint - to what extent are we (myself included) seeking cheap thrills by parking Ss in front of screens during the last weeks of class? #langchat
A3, feeling in the minority here, but I've been encouraging my students and myself to DISCONNECT from technology and actually engage with face to face communication #langchat
A3 Call me late to the party, but AppSmash @googleslides and @YouTube to better organize videos to flip my AP classroom and bring the discussion back into class. #langchat
A3 I also had kids ask if they could create a StoryBird (which was our last semester's project) for their Choose Your Homework activity. Win! #langchat
A3. DuoLingo is my go-to site. Neat to see Spanish students doing stuff planned for next year. But I haven't found a way to keep kids accountable for their progress. Any thoughts? #langchat
Q3 I've revived my use of Nearpod drawing slides. I put a whole sentence and each new slide continues the story, then the students illustrate it. It shows comprehension and if they make a mistake, it's hilarious for us all, rather than shameful. #langchat
A4 Because I have such limited time w/ my students (3x/week for 50 minutes) and they come from a WIDE variety of backgrounds (no placement test!), the PACE method has been my go-to this year! #langchat
A4 I'm still experimenting with truly comprehensible, contextual, & compelling input. Five years later & I still can't quite put my finger on these kids' intellectual sweet spots. #langchat
Don't. I saw a @childrensplace shirt that said "I don't need you. I have wifi" (FOR CHILDREN) and said so long, @childrensplace. This week. We're ripping our society apart one hashtag at a time. #langchat
In reply to
@senorawells, @childrensplace, @childrensplace
A4 I have been making video tutorials of the stories on the online textbook platform. Much more efficient than a one time performance to all students at once. #langchat
A4: I am a mega fan of https://t.co/WRUv0sbyEH keeps my kids engaged, the stories are usually fun, and I can milk them for a while if needed. #langchat
A4 Wrapping up our novels that were the basis of our semester units. It was great for my sanity and lesson planning, but it felt less... dynamic than story creating. #langchat
A4 Writing my Latin I class novella “Itinera Liviae et Amicorum” with ideas sourced from the students themselves! And Latin 2 kids writing stories with vocabulary words, a great source of student-made CI! #langchat
Good question. I'm inconsistent so depending on the day reflection could be Keep note, gdoc, voxer, physical notebook or, most commonly, Medium blog that never gets posted publicly #langchat
A4 I'm enjoying BVP-style Tasks & true/false statements where Ss have to correct the false ones. Lots of healthy repetition and focus on meaning. #langchat
I'll be a counterpoint and say @lovemysummer won my over. After last year's experiment with letting my summer really be summer, I think I'm just about done with summer PD. #DisconnectJune#DisconnectJuly#langchat
In reply to
@Marishawkins, @MmeFarab, @gimkit, @goformative, @weteachlang, @profeashley, @PRHSspanish, @lovemysummer
I'll be a counterpoint and say @lovemysummer won me over. After last year's experiment with letting my summer really be summer, I think I'm just about done with summer PD. #DisconnectJune#DisconnectJuly#langchat
In reply to
@Marishawkins, @MmeFarab, @gimkit, @goformative, @weteachlang, @profeashley, @PRHSspanish, @lovemysummer
A4 In our passé composé unit, I emailed all of my colleagues and asked them to share one little known truth about a thing they have done and one lie about something thhey have done. Made it into a kahoot in French. #langchat
A5 By using "and" instead of "but." Breathing & thinking before we post. Saying, "I used to think...but now I know..." And still making sure we challenge one another & don't create an echo chamber. #langchat
A5 by asking questions instead of making statements. There's very little black and white no matter how many times someone comes at you with "But the research says..." #langchat
A4: my colleagues & I can’t.stop.won’t.stop writing stories. Just this week, 5th grade provided the CI for 3rd grade inspired by @senorwooly “No Lo Tengo”- Check out the beauty when you let the children teach each other! #langchat
A5 By using "and" instead of "but." Breathing & thinking before we post. Saying, "I used to think...but now I know..." And still making sure we challenge one another & don't create an echo chamber. #langchat
A5: Please #helpme here. I have asked for a meeting with all Level 1 Ts in district so we can discuss 'things.' I work with a lot of old school Ts... #langchat
One of my PD goals for the course that I took this semester was to be actively involved with my virtual colleagues on social media and....I missed #langchat this week. La prochaine fois!
A5: Keeping an open mind and be willing to try new things even if it may be out of your comfort zone. Share ideas and resources with others and offer to help those who may need it. #langchat
A5 Give people grace. Small steps are progress and things don’t change overnight. Celebrate the wins and encourage others to keep taking those small steps. #langchat
#langchat A5: It's SO important to not put other teachers down! Celebrate their victories, the things they're trying, and realize it's all a journey and we're all human.
A5 Y'all, if you want to know how long we've been asking this question, check out the post I wrote on difficult conversations in #langchat... six and a half years ago. https://t.co/6tI2armfCH
A5: it's important to remember that you can't control what others say, you can only control your reactions to what others saying. so don't take things personally even if they appear to be. #langchat
A5 And if you ever feel down about your message not being heard or received well, remember that sometimes "nobody is a prophet in their own land" #langchat
My colleagues are fairly resistant to trainings. They aren't open minded, though they claim to be. Things are shifting, SLOWLY. But, I'll take it as a win. I'm hoping this meeting for Level 1 will continue the shift..some Ts are curious. #langchat
This is the first year (in 6 of teaching!) that I’m *only* teaching 3 levels, and only have a couple non-honors students mixed into my classes. It’s amazing how much more “in control” I feel w/this course load #langchat
oh man. It's so exhausting. And, when you have kids that keep asking when they can work on verb drills, or vocabulary lists. I just try to keep smiling at them and let them do it for their weekly homework! #langchat
TA: Stay connected, keep reflecting, keep asking questions, keep my students' hearts & minds in mine as I plan our last few weeks & our next year together #langchat
I went from five preps, including a 4/AP split, to ONE prep that meets 3 days a week! I don't know what to do with all my time (haha, yeah right, it's grad school...) #langchat
The year I had seven preps (five at any time) was the first year I taught Spanish. No curriculum, just an old textbook. I barely slept and needed those movie days sometimes. #langchat
TA: This community is amazing. I learn something new from you every time I make it here! I love the crazy amount of passion that is pouring out even as we are getting ready to end our year. #langchat
By thinking of it as a way to share, not showcase. I just got into Twitter recently but I've learned so much and have gotten so many great ideas from teachers out there! The more we share, the more students across the world get access to exciting & innovative teaching. #langchat
TA: We need to be here and support each other. What we do is different than other subject areas, so it’s great we have a place where we can learn, share, grow, and reflect. Love my #langchat PLN!!!
