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Ms. Burchill's Blog Electives Meet the Teacher FAQs
Aug
18
Written by:
Jennifer Burchill
8/18/2008
A new school year is starting, and I am excited to have your child in my Spanish class!
During the course of this year your child will:
- Listen to stories, songs and movies in Spanish
- Read stories, novels, and newspaper articles in Spanish
- Write paragraphs, stories, and short essays in Spanish
- Tell stories, answer questions, and role-play in Spanish
I never give students an assignment which we have not already covered in class. They will never be asked to do something on their own which they do not have the skills to do. They should not need extensive help with their homework. Parents can help by listening to their child retelling stories in Spanish, and reviewing vocabulary with them. If anybody is truly struggling with an assignment, please do not work for more than 15-20 minutes. Turn in the work you have completed with a note explaining the difficulties and make arrangements to work with me one-on-one for help.
I keep my website up to date. My class policies, current homework assignments, and assignment instructions are all on this page as is my weekly blog which talks about what is going on in class.
I teach using a method called Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS). This is a well researched method for foreign language instruction which uses a variety of learning styles to help all students truly acquire a foreign language. My class may not look like the foreign language classes you remember. We will not be memorizing verb conjugation charts (although I will explain them later in the year), I will not be lecturing, students will not have fill-in-the-blank worksheet activities or scripted dialogues. And, although I will briefly give translations of words which are not familiar to students, neither I nor the students will speak in English. In the place of these activities, we will be asking many questions, telling and retelling outrageous stories, reading children’s books, acting stories out, and getting silly (for instance we have a stuffed squirrel that danced with students last year.)
This class is extremely interactive and participation is vital. Students earn points in class daily. Because of this, absences are perhaps more detrimental in this class than in others. I would ask that you try to make it to class every day. However, sometimes things happen which make it impossible to come to school. Should that happen, students will have several opportunities to make up the missed class points including extra Free Voluntary Reading at home or writing a story with the vocabulary and structures the class learned while they were out.
I am looking forward to this school year and to working with your child. Please feel free to call me at school or to email me at any time. I will always try to return your phone calls or emails as soon as possible.
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| How will students' varied abilities be accommodated in this class? |
| This class is taught in much the same way that a child learns his/her first language. The language is presented very slowly and in manageable chunks. Students do not have to memorize any facts, nor do they have to speak until they feel comfortable doing so.
Students are given the English definition of all new words, and the text to many of the stories so that they can follow along. I ask constant comprehension questions to make sure that no child is being left behind. I will also provide a list of vocabulary words after each story has been taught as a future reference sheet.
Traditional classes are often difficult for many students because they rely heavily on memorization, spelling and pronunciation rather than on natural conversations.
Your child can succeed in this class; the proof is that he/she has already mastered one language! |
| How will you accommodate the needs of students who have already mastered the material being presented? |
| 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. |
| My child is very kinesthetic and has difficulties sitting still for long periods of time. How will this be addressed in class? |
| There are plenty of opportunities for movement in class. Studies show that students actually retain information longer when they are able to move as they are learning. Perhaps your child would like to be one of my actors who act out each of my stories.
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. |
| How will you accommodate the varying levels of Spanish in your classroom? |
| I have students who have never had Spanish before up to native speakers in my classes. Research shows that students who are in multi-level classes (first year through fourth year students in the same class) show more fluency gains than students in traditional leveled classes.
Each student has different needs, no matter how long they have been studying Spanish.
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. |
| My child is going to/has missed several classes in a row. How can he catch back up? |
| 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. |
| My child is very excited about a “food project.” What is that and what are the expectations? |
| The “Food Project” is an extra credit project students may bring to class on the last two days of class in any trimester. Students are to find a recipe which is from a Spanish speaking country (Brazil does not count), to prepare the food or beverage themselves, and to bring enough in to class that everybody who would like some may sample the product.
The student must make a brief presentation in front of the class. The following items must be mentioned: 1) the name of the dish, 2) the country or region that the dish is from, and 3) a list of ALL the ingredients (I don’t require measurements, this is mostly to allow students the opportunity to not eat a dish if they are allergic to any item in the dish, or if they have any other reasons not to eat it such as being a vegetarian.)
There are some other rules which must be adhered to:
- 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 |
| What is “Free Voluntary Reading”? |
Most likely your child has been doing Free Voluntary Reading for a long time. Sometimes Language Arts teachers refer to this as D.E.A.R (Drop Everything And Read) time. This is a designated time each week when the entire class is reading silently.
Reading in the foreign language is the single most effective way to learn that language. My classroom library ranges in levels from picture dictionaries, which have a direct correlation of word to picture, to complex novels written for young adults. Students are free to select whichever book or level of book they feel most comfortable reading and they may read it as often as they like.
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| How can students understand what is going on in class if the teacher never speaks in English? |
| 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. |
| Can you explain your rule that students must “look like they are paying attention”? |
| Students need to “look like they are paying attention” in class. This means that they are not talking, writing, or doing any activity other than the one the class is currently occupied with. It also means that students will be giving me eye contact at all times, letting me know when they do not understand what is being said, and answering all of my questions with a choral response.
I want to ensure that every student learns, but I cannot do that if I don’t know there is a problem. I use the choral responses and the eye contact as an assessment to gauge how fast to pace my presentation. If I don’t get any response I will assume that nobody understands me, and I will repeat myself until I see comprehension. |
| What is a págame and how does that work? |
| Págame means “pay me” in Spanish. This is a system where students can “buy back” their lost participation points by doing various assignments. |
| My child has been studying Spanish since Kindergarten. When will he be able to have a conversation in Spanish? |
| Languages take time to learn. The average baby is surrounded by language for over ten hours a day, seven days a week. And, even then it takes several years before they are fluent enough to speak on a variety of topics and to be understood by a complete stranger.
It may seem like your child has been in Spanish classes for a long time, but if you look in terms of hours, your child has not even had one year of language input from a baby’s standpoint. Much like a baby, your child has been absorbing Spanish all this time, and is well on the way to acquiring proficiency in Spanish, but it may take a little more time. |
| What is TPRS? |
| 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. |
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