I blogged at the beginning of the school year about having HS students teach elementary Spanish and wanted to reflect on how the lessons this year went.
- Spanish IV planed and taught all lessons, with my guidance and support
- They taught 30 minute lessons in groups of 2 or 3 high school students
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- 2nd & 3rd grade – 1st & 3rd Wednesday of the month
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- 4th & 5th grade – 3rd Wednesday of the month (due to scheduling)
- Students had class time to plan and all classes generally covered the same basic topics each week, with variation based on age. This way everyone could plan together and there was more accountability to make sure that all groups were prepared to teach.
Lesson Planning
In the past we tried to cover way too much content and vocabulary in a single class period. For example our topic may have been “food” and we gave them a huge list of Spanish food vocabulary words, and then did some kind of little exercise to practice these words out of context. Could they communicate? NO. Were they retaining it? NO.
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| one on one buddy time |
So as with my classes this year I tried to teach the high schoolers how to incorporate more comprehensible input methods, using just a couple target structures in the elementary lessons. I think it went much better and the elementary students were actually starting to communicate! Since I wanted the high schoolers to succeed, I provided them tried and true resources from experienced teachers (*Martina Bex). I had to remember that these were HIGH SCHOOL students with no formal teaching training, so they need guidance as to how to facilitate a successful lesson. Also, these particular classes LOVES songs, so many week’s lesson was centered around a song. Below are some of the resources that we used.
Lesson Topics & Resources
I can say how old I am
I can say my birthday
I can talk about Christmas
I can talk about Valentine’s Day
Kindergarten Style Reading with Spanish class library books
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| cabeza, hombro, rodilla y pie |
Have you tried a program like this? How did it work?
