Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Thinking on your feet-Carol Gaab and Kristy Placido

I love watching these two together!  They are a laugh a minute!  Here's what I got:

  • Circling is like salt: great for seasoning, but it shouldn't be the whole meal.
  • Introduce each vocabulary item as excited as if you were bringing a favorite item to show and tell.  If you have to fake it, do it!  You are just trying to one-up the others.
  • Use emotions to engage your students
  • Look at twitter feeds of current events with your students (Carol's example was tweets about the winner of the Home Run Derby who was being criticized for not speaking English)
  • Do things when they are timely-doesn't have to be the day they happen, but don't wait a week!
  • Search "Just for Laughs" on youtube to get some great wordless videos to teach structures.
  • Some structures don't lend themselves to PQA, so don't try to force it if it's not happening!
  • Have kids ask questions about a story if you already have it planned.
  • Use Poll Everywhere in your class (Carol's example was "If you found a wallet, would you return it?" and students texted in Yes, definitely!, Maybe, No way!)
  • Use videos with different goals to increase novelty
    • If the video has an utterance of the target structure, pause it and ask "What did s/he just say?"  You can also then rewind and hear it again.
    • Count the number of (girls, times he misses something, objects she picks up, etc)
    • Create a narrative to go with a silent film (you can also record the dialogue and put it with the movie using Movie Maker or Garage Band)
    • Come up with one line of dialogue for the next 30 seconds of film
    • Ask me a question about what you just saw and it can't be an "is" question.
  • I need to find French mimes to bring some comedy to my class
  • Use lingro.com to support students with authentic texts on websites
  • If you have a musician in a story, don't just use Justin Bieber: ask your students at the door to give you the name of their favorite musicians.
  • Respect your students and listen to them.  Even if it takes 5 minutes away from the TL...it validates them and your relationship with them.
  • Use pictures of your students as visuals to support your stories (this reminds me of Betsy's visual story...)

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