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About Me

Welcome to my blog, Christa's Cuentos! I teach beginning and intermediate Spanish to undergraduate students in Massachusetts, and I have about 10 years of experience. Learning from other teachers who generously share their ideas and experiences on their blogs has had a huge impact on my teaching practices, so I am excited to use this blog to reflect on my teaching and contribute to the conversation!


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Novice-level dictogloss activity with art by Carmen Lomas Garza

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! ...
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Flipgrid for inclusive instruction in the language classroom

As I prepare for fall semester, I know that a significant part of my beginning and intermediate Spanish courses will take place online. One of my top priorities is to choose web applications that foster communication in the target language (TL) and are accessible to the diverse range of learners in my classes. After recently reading Disability and World Language Learning: Inclusive Teaching for Diverse Learners (2019) by Sally Scott and Wade Edwards, I have been reflecting on the instructional choices I make to best meet the needs of all my students.  One step I am taking this summer is to evaluate some of the web applications I use in terms of their capacity to help create an inclusive learning environment. The principles of Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) provide a helpful framework for such a task. The nine principles include: equitable use, flexibility in use, simple and intuitive, perceptible information, tolerance for error, low physical effort, size and space fo...
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Lola y las mascotas: novice-level cultural exploration about pets

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...
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