¡Bienvenidos! After spending the last two years immersed in wonderful Spanish teacher blogs, I have finally decided that it is time to contribute. I can honestly say I have no idea how I would have gotten through my first two years of teaching without all of the resources, advice, tips, and tricks that many have (unknowingly) and graciously shared with the public. I am forever grateful for the routines and lessons that I have acquired from others blogs and more recently from the #langchat community on Twitter.
I am the foreign language department in my tiny private district. I am the only foreign language teacher, teaching all levels of the only language (Spanish). Two years ago I was also the only new teacher, with no new teacher orientation or mentor program. When I asked what the curriculum was, I was handed the teachers editions of En Español 1 and En Español 2 and told Spanish I and II use book 1 and Spanish III and IV use book 2. (Not to mention the teacher’s editions did not match up with the page numbers of the student editions and there were not enough books for all students).
So as a desperate first year teacher, I went exploring on my new favorite website at the time Pinterest and started to build my own curriculum. It was here that I found links to the wonderful blogs and websites that literally saved my teaching career. At first these included: The Creative Language Class, Zambombazo, Musicuentos, Teaching Spanish: Thematic & AuthenticThe Comprehensible Classroom & Teachers Pay Teachers. But this list has expanded exponentially thanks to the blogs I have discovered through #langchat including some of my recent favorites: Somewhere to Share, Aventuras Nuevas, & La Clase de Sra. Dentlinger.
So as a desperate first year teacher, I went exploring on my new favorite website at the time Pinterest and started to build my own curriculum. It was here that I found links to the wonderful blogs and websites that literally saved my teaching career. At first these included: The Creative Language Class, Zambombazo, Musicuentos, Teaching Spanish: Thematic & AuthenticThe Comprehensible Classroom & Teachers Pay Teachers. But this list has expanded exponentially thanks to the blogs I have discovered through #langchat including some of my recent favorites: Somewhere to Share, Aventuras Nuevas, & La Clase de Sra. Dentlinger.
I was very hesitant to start my own blog, as I did not feel that I had anything nearly as wonderful to contribute. But, I realized how much I have learned from my mistakes, and hope that someone else can learn from them as well. So welcome and I hope I can give back a tiny bit to the community that has helped me so much.