4th Period 8th Grade

¡Hola estudiantes, padres y familias! 

I would like to send out a few words about the progress of the 4rd period Spanish class.

At the beginning of the school year, it took 3 weeks for the poor 8th grade class to finally get a set schedule.  It took a couple of weeks to get used to the schedule, and a few more to get used to me, a new teacher.  Then, just as progress reports were coming out, I attended a workshop on a new way of teaching foreign language that I have heard great things about.  So just as students finally started getting used to Spanish class, I started changing it up for them again!

Well,  I appreciate the willingness of the class to play along as I play with new techniques to become a better Spanish teacher.  

Students have been turning in homework, focused and participating with stories, including coming up to the front of the class to be actors in our stories!

Still, there is a lot of work to do with regards to eliminating classroom chatter and focusing on speaking Spanish only.  Many of the students began the class with a lot of trepidation about whether they would be able to learn Spanish or even wanted to.  If they focus on listening, actively participating (eyes on the teacher), and speaking Spanish only, I believe we will be able to achieve some level of fluency in the class by the end of the year, while having fun.

There will be a variety of methods we will be using to learn, including incorporating computers, doing cultural projects, analyzing music, reading and writing poetry, reading Spanish books, playing games, and doing lots of creative storytelling, acting and creative writing.  

Recently, I attended a workshop on a language teaching technique called, Total Physical Response, Storytelling, or TPRS.  This technique is supported by a wide range of research on classroom language acquisition and the top linguists, including Stephen Krashen.  Following the philosophy and techniques of TPRS, I will be focusing on speaking as much understandable Spanish as possible, in order for students to acquire a "feel" for the language.  

TPRS has extensive years of research to back its efficacy at teaching language in the classroom.  After all, it is the method that most closely mirrors natural language acquisition! It works because it is repetitive yet fun, and does not create a lot of anxiety for the students. 

The workshop I attended was taught by Blaine Ray, the man who initially developed the concept of Total Physical Response through Storytelling. 

This is what he has said in support of TPRS:

"Language acquisition is not a consious process.  It is something that happens to a person.  It happens when one understands messages.  If a person understands a message in the target language, s/he cannot prevent the acquisition of that language.  Learning to speak a language comes from hearing it.  Reading helps a person advance in learning the language and structures, but generally fluency comes from hearing.  Since we only learn to speak by listening and comprehension, we can assume there are no gains from listening unless there is comprehension."

Although each class has varying degrees of language ability, my goal is for every single student to understand the language structure before we move on.  That is why we use silly stories so that all students remain focused on the details of the story, and acquire the language automatically.  When at least 80% of the students understand at least 80% of the material, then we move on.  

I hope that this engaging method for teaching, and 80/80 ground rule, will ensure that students feel confident and comfortable, develop a sense of pride and interest in continuing to learn languages, and of course, get a good grade!

If your student is talking to you at home about Spanish class, please stay in touch with me so that we can continue to improve the class, their experience and their Spanish abilities.

Hopefully you will all be hearing more about Spanish class, as it will soon be a part of their assignment to come home and tell you in Spanish about the class, and teach you what we are learning.