This is my 200th blog post!! I have been thinking for a while about how to celebrate this milestone, but can not seem to find the time to do anything as awesome as I did for my 100th post back in February. So instead, I am going to re share 100 resources for world language educators. Please share other great resources in the comments!
Top 10 Music Resources
- Billboard Latino – Check out top 100 for new songs for class
- Pandora – Stream music based on genre, artist or song
- Batanga – Free Spanish music streaming
- Latin Grammy Awards – listen to nominated music by genre
- Lyrics Training – Free online cloze activities to practice listening skills for songs in many languages with varying levels of difficulty
- Clozeline – Zachary Jones – Cloze activities & questions based on grammar focus
- Cancionero – Zachary Jones – Song activities centered around a theme
- Entrevista – Zachary Jones – Interview with musicians (the resources are so awesome it deserved 3 separate mentions!)
- Sharon Birch’s Music Pinterest Board & Music Database – she has all the best new music & the database can be sorted to find a song for any need
- Baile viernes – my most popular post to date shows you how to incorporate dance in class
- Teaching Spanish Thematic & Authentic – Kara Jacobs has entire upper level cultural units full of wonderful authentic resources.
- Teachers Pay Teachers – Buy lessons or whole units while supporting fellow teachers.
- TPRS Publishing – The amazing teachers guides provide a well rounded cultural unit.
- Amy Lenord’s Pinterest Boards – Every authentic resource you could ever want is neatly categorized on her boards by theme or topic
- The Comprehensible Classroom By Martina Bex – The storytelling units are amazing, complete and an affordable way to use comprehensible input lessons.
- Film in the Spanish Classroom – Resources to teach authentic Spanish films.
- Film Arobics – This site provides full movie units for purchase.
- Units for Spanish Class – Zachary Jones is the first place I go for ready to go activities using authentic sources.
- Jefferson County Public Schools – Here are great examples of planning WL curriculum outside of the framework of a textbook.
- Curriculum planning outside the textbook – Before you make the no textbook leap, check out great posts by Musicuentos on the topic.
- #langchat – WL teachers unite in my favorite PD – Thursday 7-8pm & Saturday 9-10am CST
- #spanstuchat – a great opportunity for Spanish students & teacher to practice – 1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month 8-9pm CST
- #iaedchat – Iowa (& other!) educators discuss issues important to us – Sunday 8-9pm CST
- #tlap – a super fast paced & lively chat about Dave Burgess’Teach Like a Pirate – Monday 8-9pm CST
- #ReflectiveTeacher – reflect with other teachers – Tuesday 6-7pm CST
World Language Blogs & Websites
- Amy Lenord – Amy the language coach inspires me to be a better teacher & person
- Aventuras Nuevas – Bethanie shares amazing and beautiful resources, including El Internado.
- Bryce Hedstrom – A website chock full of resources for TPRS
- El Mundo del Birch – Sharon has wonderful resources for music and teaching with novels.
- Embedded Reading – Resources and ideas of how to incorporate comprehensible reading in class.
- En français, SVP! – Wendy shares her honest struggles & journey as a young French teacher.
- Hearts for Teaching – Laurie shares CI resources like an old friend.
- Kristy Placido – Kristy shares TPRS resources as an expert author.
- La Clase de la Senora Dentlinger – I have had the great pleasure to meet this awesome fellow Iowan teacher with inspiring ideas for new units.
- Language Sensei – Even though Colleen teaches Japanese her ideas for communicating in class can easily be applied to any language class.
- Lugar Para Pensar – Andrea has fresh ideas for how to spice up a language class.
- Maris Hawkins – The most frequent WL blog poster always has a great tidbit or idea to share.
- Martina Bex – Martina has all the resources to become a Ci teacher
- MJ TPRS – Great resources for a CI teacher
- Musicuentos – The archives are like a treasure chest of great ideas that will challenge the way you think & teach.
- My generation of Polyglots – Here is the El Internado holy grail of resources
- señorita barragán – Crystal’s post about free reading in class convinced me to start my own class library.
- Somewhere to Share – Carrie Toth has a never ending supply of fun activities to complete with novels.
- Spanish Plans – Lots of resources and ideas for teaching Spanish
- Sra Spanglish – Laura is the expert on genius hour and project based learning in WL
- Teaching Spanish WIth Comprehensible Input – Cynthia has wonderful reading resources, especially with novels.
- Teaching Spanish Thematic & Authentic – Kara’s resources for her Culture & Civilization class are so great they deserve two spots on this list!
- The Creative Language Class – This is the first language blog I ever followed and my class uses so many of their routines including “La Bienvenida,” “Viernes Chant,” & “Friday Feedback.”
- Williamson CI & TPRS – Dustin is another one of my favorite sharers of resources for El Internado.
10 Must Have Apps/Websites
- Blog Lovin – This app is the game changer for becoming a regular blog reader.
- Twitter – The PD and resources shared on Twitter is something I wish I would have found sooner.
- Pinterest – Finding authentic resources and new blogs becomes an addiction on Pinterest.
- Google Classroom – The organization of classroom has made transitioning to a 1:1 school a breeze.
- YouTube – I use videos on a daily basis and love my baile viernes playlist.
- Kahoot – Create fun online quizzes or search from those that are public
- Duolingo – Free online/app practice of many languages.
- Trivia Crack – Play this fun game in many languages for Choice Homework
- Twitter Trends Map – Search through the trends in the country you are studying.
- Word Reference – The anti translator, with options and forums.
10 Great Authentic Websites
- Es Mas Cine – Videos, news, and photos about movies.
- ESPN Deportes – The perfect #authres to start a sports unit.
- El Corte Inglés – The Target of Spain is perfect for any kids of shopping unit.
- Meme Martes – Authentic memes with accompanying questions, perfect for Choice Real World Homework
- Immigrant Archive Project – short videos of real immigrants sharing their story
- University of Austin Spanish Proficiency Exercises – Native speaker clips are sorted by theme and task.
- Veinte Mundos – The online articles are on a variety of topics, with activities & videos.
- Univisión – The news videos and articles are always changing and current.
- The Bible in Spanish – For those who teach at a private school like me, this is a great Choice Homework option.
- Tú en línea – Teen magazine with celebrities, gossip, fashion and beauty.
Where to buy books for a WL classroom library
- Books for all Children
- Better World Books
- Ebay – Here is how I got 240 books for $500
- Amazon.es
- Reading A-Z
Movies & TV Shows for Spanish Class
- El Internado – This is hands down the best engaging authentic listening for Spanish class.
- Go! Vive a tu manera– cute teen show from Argentina
- The Book of Life – A new animated film about the Day of the Dead.
- Canela – A cute story of a girl & her grandma in Mexico, perfect for a unit on food.
- Vivo – Cute animated film set in Cuba and Florida
- Coco – everyone’s favorite Day of the Dead themes movie
- Which Way Home – A documentary about children traveling to the US on cargo trains. See how I used it here as a part of immigration unit.
- Sugar – A story of a Dominican baseball player who tries to make it big in the US, that goes great with a baseball unit.
- Under the Same Moon – Another great film for an immigration unit.
- Selena – A fun movie about Chicano culture.
Videos & Youtube Channels
- Sr. Jordan – great videos for students to watch out of class to explicitly teach & practice grammatical concepts
- Video Ele – tons of videos from Spain sorted by topic
- Baile viernes – because it is not Friday unless you dance
- Había una vez… Youtube channel full of classic stories read in Spanish
- Disney ¡Ajá! – Disney video clips in Spanish
- Videos – Spanish Class – a collection of my favorite videos for class
- No lo tengo – a ridiculous song that for some reason my students adore even two years later
- CGI Student Academy Award Gold Medal Winner Short Film HD: “Dia De Los Muertos” – perfect video to Movie talk Day of the Dead
- Waka Waka (Esto es Africa) – The favorite song in Spanish of almost every class is the ultimate video for a sports or World Cup unit.
- Trailers del Super Bowl en español – A great collection of current ads in Spanish
5 Human Resources that Make Me a Better Teacher
- Students – It would be pretty boring to teach in an empty room, and my students’ feedback helps to make me a better teacher.
- Face to Face Colleagues – Even as a #deptof1 in regards to world languages, these seasoned teachers at lunch can teach you SO much about classroom management by knowing each student individually at school.
- #langchat Online Colleagues – Thank you for allowing me to beg, borrow & steal all of your great ideas, as well as challenge me as a teacher.
- Blog Readers – Thank you for every comment, share, suggestion, or critique. I have come so far in these first 200 posts, and I can not wait to see what is to come!
- Family & Friends – Having someone outside of the school bubble helps to keep things in perspective and allows a break away to recharge and come back ready to go for the students.
Allison Wienhold of Mis Clases Locas has a decade of experience as a #deptof1 secondary Spanish teacher in Iowa. She enjoys creating curricula using novels, films, and music. Allison provides professional development to World Language teachers, including being the keynote speaker at MALT and Comprehensible Iowa, and workshop presenter at dozens of state & regional organizations, school districts, AEAs, and virtual conferences.