TPRS

I will be teaching Spanish I to one section of 8th graders this year.  Most of these 8th graders had Spanish in 6th and 7th grades as a required class that met every other day for the entire year.  These kids also are electing to take Spanish (it's not a required class in 8th grade).  Spanish I at the middle school is basically the same Spanish I class that is offered at the high school.   We have common assessments, share flipcharts (for the Promethean board), worksheets, games and activities.

I am backing up about 4 years ago -so bear with me.  In 2008, I was able to attend different 2 workshops that presented a method for teaching second languages called "Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling" or TPRS.  The lessons use a mixture of reading and storytelling to teach the language.  The focus is fluency rather than grammatical accuracy and error correction.  The method is similar to the way we acquire our first languages.  

Back to 2012.  After attending the two workshops, I continued teaching Spanish the way I always have with an emphasis on grammar accuracy and correcting errors.  I finally have had enough and I am going to pilot TPRS with my Spanish I students.  I am nervous.  It's hard to break a teaching habit.  I am meeting with a local, experienced TPRS guru this week and hoping that she will have some insight for me.  I have my administration's approval, and she wants to see evidence that this is a better method.  My middle school students' exam scores will be compared to the students' scores from the high school.  I don't doubt that my students will be more fluent, but I am afraid that the exam is too grammar based and doesn't focus enough on fluency.

I am open to any suggestions and advice!  Thanks.

Jambo from Africa

We spent two days doing community service at the Mwereni School. It is a government-run school with 74 kids that live there and an additional 520 who attend the school and go home to their families each night. While in the orphanage, we replaced all 74 mattresses and all the kids received new sheets, pillows, pillow cases and mosquito netting. The orphans at the school are blind, albinos, or suffer from Xeroderma pigmentosum. These children are viewed as disposable by some Tanzanians. When a child is born with albinism, many times they are thrown out to die or kidnapped from their families and sold to witch doctors.  The school/orphanage has a guard, but I know that many of the albino kids still live in fear because I found pieces of rebar under their mattresses for self defense.  As a teacher, I loved visiting the classrooms. The students were very respectful and quick to show off their English.  I even tried to learn some Swahili!  Spending time at Mwereni is an experience I will never forget.

The climb was a-ma-zing. The mountain is very beautiful with many different vegetation changes as we gained elevation. As we ascended on summit day, we had a full moon to one side and the sun rising on the other side. We were above the clouds for most of the days, and I have never been so close to the moon. This was my first time camping and I really enjoyed it. We set a record – a member of our team was the first Tanzanian albino (partially blind) to summit Mount Kilimanjaro.  Deo is a 17 year old that lives at the Mwereni school. I am so proud of our whole team!  I hope to return!!!

Bienvenidos

¡HOLA! 

Here I am, learning to blog.  I am taking a class about Blogs, Wikis and podacsts, so I don't really have a choice in the matter.  However, I think this is something I might get used to.  So, enough of small talk. Let's get down to business. 

Adiós

Sra. Weske