Christa's Cuentos

Recently I participated in an AATSP event about creativity and joy in our courses, and it was such a fun evening to learn from others (lots of great games, which I loved!) and also share a few ideas. When I was thinking about what idea I might share for the event to spark a bit of joy in the classroom, I immediately thought of the Twitter account @LolaAventuras for Lola from  Sésamo . Lola's Twitter is full of color, smiles, nostalgia, and novice-friendly topics. Lots of joy and opportunities to be creative! One of the ideas I shared at that event was using Lola's tweets for cultural investigation. This week, we talked about pets in the first-semester course I teach--another topic that brings me joy!  My family's Mini Schnauzer, Gracie! We did a little cultural exploration about pets using a few of Lola's tweets and the responses she received from her followers. In the tweets, Lola asks about her follower's favorite pets and for them to share photos with their fav...

Hi, there! I haven't used this blog in quite some time, but I wanted to share this lesson that I used with novice-level Spanish students in my first-semester class this semester in our unit on family and friends.  I was really happy with how this lesson came together! Students were able to process language while learning about Carmen Lomas Garza, a well known artist who creates art that challenges negative stereotypes about Hispanic communities in the U.S.  Check out Carmen Lomas Garza's paintings here on her website  and in her books Family Pictures / Cuadros de familia and In My Family / En mi familia . As you might notice, her artwork is perfect for discussing topics that we often cover in novice-level Spanish, such as family, hobbies, places, food, and celebrations. I knew I wanted to incorporate her work in my class this semester, and then this video from Florencia Henshaw's YouTube channel Unpacking Language Pedagogy gave me the idea to do a dictogloss activity! ...

The National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland held a free virtual conference on July 21-23 with a variety of sessions about 30 minutes in length. The sessions are available on YouTube until August 31, so I have been taking advantage of some amazing PD in my PJs over the past couple weeks. There are still many sessions I want to check out in the coming weeks, but I share my reflections here on a few that I especially enjoyed. (They happen to all be presentations by middle school teachers! Middle school teachers for the win! 😀) " Let's Talk Tech " by Melissa Sarracino and Hannah Gallagher Session summary: In this session, the presenters discuss innovative ways for using three different tech tools with their middle school students. They focus on unique ideas for using Padlet, Screencastify, and Flipgrid to engage students and build their language proficiency.  Ideas I love: Create a Padlet board for students to share their recent highs, lows, and somet...

Lesson ideas for El chile en nogada The food unit is part of our second-semester Spanish course, and I use the Essential Question "How  does food bring us together?" to guide the unit. (I believe this idea came from my Twitter friend, Michelle Walpole .) El chile en nogada provides an example of the foods that unite us around our cultural or national heritage. This is especially evident in the colors of el chile en nogada, which are the same as those of the Mexican flag. Also, Mexican cuisine has been recognized by UNESCO on their list of Intangible Cultural Heritage , and el chile en nogada is a great example of the richness of Mexican gastronomy. While I have taught this unit before, this lesson on el chile en nogada is new and mostly inspired by a few authentic resources I found, including an article and a TikTok video (see resources and activities below). Additionally, I am thinking through the steps of this lesson using the IMAGE model , which provides a systematic way t...

What is H5P?  H5P is a program to create interactive content for websites or your learning management system (LMS). There are many kinds of content to choose from, including interactive videos and presentations, games, quizzes, questionnaires, dictation activities, flashcards, and more. Check out the full list of content possibilities with examples here at H5P.org . How to use H5P Because my university's LMS is Moodle, I am able to create content on H5P directly in Moodle. I can also see how students performed on the activity with results for each question or prompt in the LMS. In addition to Moodle, H5P integrates with other common learning management systems, including Canvas, Blackboard, and Brightspace.  Here the yellow arrow is pointing at the option I select in Moodle to create an H5P activity. If you want to use H5P and do not have access to it via your LMS, there are a few other options. You can create an account on H5P.com , but there is a cost after the 30-day free t...

Getting Started with my PLN My first full-time gig teaching was at a rural high school where I taught all levels of Spanish, and my only language colleague was part-time. I taught that year on an alternative license because I did not complete an education degree (I had studied journalism and Spanish), and my prior teaching experience was primarily with undergraduate students when I was a graduate teaching associate. Suffice it to say, I was a bit in over my head and without a mentor in my content area. By the second week of classes, it was evident--I needed some help. That's when I started building my PLN (Personal Learning Network). Of course, I didn't know that's what I was doing at the time, but I started following the blogs of other high school Spanish teachers to see what they were doing to engage and connect with their students. I especially loved the Creative Language Class , by Kara Parker and Megan Smith , and Musicuentos , by Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell . These teache...