Each story and activity has many levels which make the language accessible to every student on their own level. Students who are able to process the material more quickly are now able to fully participate in the creation of the story as well as work on higher-order thinking skills such as prediction, and summarization. Students who need more time to process the information can focus their efforts on smaller more discrete pieces of information in the same class.

However, there are times when students are asked to sit quietly and look like they are paying attention, I use these times to assess student learning and comprehension.

My classes are designed to meet each child’s individual needs while teaching the class as a whole. There is no need for anybody to do extra work outside of class to catch up, unless they have missed a number of classes in a row.

Sadly, there is no way to make up for missed time in class. Your child can make up the points he lost while he was out by reading outside of class, writing an essay which includes the words and grammar that were taught while he was out, sight-translating a story to you, or speaking to me about other ideas he has. The information which was presented in class during your child’s absence will most likely be recycled at another point in the year, so there will be opportunity for him to learn the material, but he will lose the most important element of the class which is time interacting with the language in a comprehensible manner.

• The dish must be made with a recipe
• The dish cannot be TexMex or be found on the menu of Taco Bell. (I would prefer if all typical Mexican dishes were avoided as one of the purposes of this project is to try new foods.)
• The student must make the dish themselves although adult assistance and supervision is allowed.
• Please bring serving utensils. I will provide cups, plates, bowls, napkins, eating utensils, refrigeration and a microwave. Anything else is the students’ responsibility
• Students may make up to two dishes each trimester. They may not repeat the same dish they have made previously, although it is possible for other students to make that dish later.

Please be mindful that this project is for school – no margaritas or anything inappropriate

Although I do not conduct class in English, I do translate unfamiliar words into English and leave these translations on the board throughout the lesson. I also employ a method of repetitive questioning which practices each vocabulary and grammar structure in various contexts until students are able to truly acquire that structure. In addition, we use a lot of props, gestures and acting to assist with comprehension. I am constantly asking questions throughout each class to check for comprehension and use these checks as self-pacing guides. I will slow down and repeat information if I see that even one student does not understand something.

Págame means “pay me” in Spanish. This is a system where students can “buy back” their lost participation points by doing various assignments.

TPRS is an acronym for Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling. It is a method of teaching a foreign language which seeks to model classes on the way children learn their first language. In a TPRS classroom there is a lot of listening, telling silly stories, acting and play with the language. TPRS is a research based method; it was developed by Blaine Ray. If you are more interested in some of the underlying research, you may want to read Stephen Krashen and Lev Vygotsky.