Yes, another day without green and without full classes. I used that title because it dates back to a student trip to Mexico. We spent the week with the same bus driver who repeatedly played the Jon Secada song - Otro día más sin verte. Poor Larry thought it was the Desert Vacation Song because he always heard Otro día más sin verde . . . Another Day without Green. This comment certainly made me realize what a language learner might be hearing when they are not advanced in the language.
Well we had shortened classes again. It is really hard to get into the swing of things with all of these "snow days." My Spanish 5 class surprised me with the start of their project - illustrating Latinoamérica by Calle 13. I cannot wait to see the finished version. Spanish III is moving along and finally into some new materials. Spanish II should be getting into new materials tomorrow . . . I hope.
El joven and I are getting really excited about our SAP activities. I suggested to him that we develop something about stereotypes and, as usual, he already had some activities that he has used. We brainstormed more and hope that we can have two SAP sessions to carry these out.
We had a department meeting after school and talked about the 21st century learner. It is sad to see that we have so little technology and we have so many resources blocked here at MHS. The video we watched talked about "how to engage" the students of today. We cannot even approach this. We can only hope to engage the students of the 80s at best. We also discussed performance vs. proficiency. A performance is based on instruction and familiar content. Proficiency is what language learners can do when they are using language unrehearsed, in less predictable situations, outside the classroom, with people who do not know what topics the learner is currently studying.
Well off to bed!
La Vieja (who needs her sleep)
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