Real-World Practice

It’s always a good idea to get students practicing using language for practical purposes. I found a site by Harry G. Tuttle that includes links to different menus from various Spanish speaking countries to help students practice conversation. The teacher could use this site in the classroom (as long as she has access to a computer and a projector because most of the links are to photographs) to have the students practice ordering food. The class could be put in groups and given an imaginary budget and take turns being clients or waiter. One link has a menu with a pretty bad English translation and could be used to promote some funny discussions about the risk of directly translating (check out the trout section).The teacher could check for comprehension of food words by asking the students about why they chose to order the dish they did and get them to talk about where the food might come from (beef comes from a cow, tortillas are made with corn, wheat, etc.) or how someone might go about preparing it. 

Teachers can arrange to have sets of the Ahora Sí publication sent to their classrooms in Austin. Current, local events are always a great motivator for discussions. Check out the website:

http://nieonline.com/ahorasi/order.cfm

The source (in case the link above doesn't work) is "Newspapers in Education- Ahora Sí"

http://orlandokelm.wordpress.com/spanish-language/
Orlando Kelm's website, contains some good links and lots of good advice on language teaching.

 http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/clozeline/
Zachary Jones' Zambombazo: contains worksheets and activities that utilize TONS of real-world, authentic materials (current events, popular culture, etc.)

Using Technology

     This website, maintained by RosettaStone, offers free language exchange for language learners, putting them in contact with native speakers and learners alike.  The site is easy and secure and once you have created a profile, you can choose from various language exchange options from e-mail and chat exchanges to video chat. I like that the site is monitored so that the users are really only allowed to share ideas in the target language, as opposed to using the site for help with homework or using it as a personal dating site. 

     Although most of these resources are best used by students individually, for classroom use, a teacher could assign the students to document one or two hours of chatting per week or even have them present to the class about some topics they discussed in chatting with native speakers and other learners.

     Students could also keep audio journals that document their progress. This website  offers good advice on recording your voice to make podcasts. They provide a list of free software that can be easily downloaded to record your voice on your computer. Using voice recordings could really be fun in the classroom, as students could make blogs  to keep up with over the course of the semester or year in which they can express what they have learned and present their podcasts to share with others. Voice recordings could also be used to involve students more in the classroom. The teacher could have the students create their own listening activities in groups for the rest of the class. If doing this, it’s probably a good idea to work with the students individually during office hours to make sure what they have chosen is appropriate and presented coherently. The possibilities of incorporating this sort of technology in the classroom are limitless.