How To Create Self-Grading Speaking Assignments Your Students Will Love ❤️️ 🎙️✨

Are you tired of spending countless hours creating and grading speaking assignments for your students? Do you wish there was a way to streamline this process while still ensuring that your students are meeting language proficiency standards? Look no further – Speakable.io is here to revolutionize the way you teach languages.

Recently, I had the pleasure of hosting a video training session with Austin Meusch, the co-founder of Speakable.io, a platform designed to make language teaching more efficient and effective. In this training, we delved into the benefits of using Speakable.io to create self-grading speaking activities that are aligned with the ACTFL Proficiency Language Standards.

Are you ready to stop spending hours grading speaking assignments? 

👉 Click here to watch the video training.

And don't forget to subscribe to the Tech for World Language Teachers YouTube Channel to stay updated on future content. 📹🔔

👉 You can set up a Speakable.io account here. 

But that's not all – if you're interested in learning more about how AI technology can help you save time planning, grading, and teaching, be sure to sign up for my free workshop, Must-Have AI Tech Tools for World Language Teachers. 

Together, let's embrace technology to create more efficient, effective, and engaging language learning experiences for our students.

Happy teaching! 🎉🌍

Rachel

This blog post may contain affiliate links or a sponsored post. All opinions are always 100% mine and I don't partner with any product or company that I don't use and love. ❤️


Must-Have Returning From Winter Break Activities

When returning from winter break, it is essential to ease students back into the school routine. Here are a few ideas of things you can do with your students when returning from winter break:

Have them share what they did over break. This is a great way to get them engaged and talking in the target language right away.

A great tool to use for this is Flip (formerly Flipgrid). Flip has a lot of fantastic new features that are perfect for language teachers to use with their students. You can check out the Getting Started with Flip to learn how to use it with your students. 

After a break, many students may need to remember previous material taught. As a result, I don’t recommend jumping into teaching new material. Instead, do a quick review of material they may have forgotten over the break. This will help get them up to speed and ready for new material.

Some great ways to review material are games like Gimkit.

Gimkit is an excellent tool for language teachers. It allows you to create custom games to help your students learn vocabulary and grammar. 

You can also use it to create quizzes and tests. Gimkit is a great way to help your students learn a new language.

Find out How to Skyrocket Student Engagement With Gimkit Here.

Another fun way to review and reinforce vocabulary is using a Digital Vocabulary Choice Board. Like Gimkit, this is an easy No-Prep activity your students will love!

Check out this No-Prep Digital Vocabulary Choice Board.

Do you want your language students to have a global experience without leaving the classroom?

The Amazing Race Cultual Activites can give them just that! These activities are designed to have your students experience different cultural locations and customs through these interactive WebQuests. 

You can check out the Amazing Race Activities here.

After about a day or two of review, now is a great time to introduce any new material or topics you will cover in the coming weeks. This will allow them to start getting excited about what's to come.

Get them brainstorming ideas for projects or papers you may assign later in the semester. This will help get their creative juices flowing and get them thinking ahead.

Lastly, remember to take some time just to relax and have some fun! After a long break, it is necessary to take a breath and enjoy being back in the classroom with your students.

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day of the dead must-have resources for Spanish teachers

The day of the dead is just around the corner! Doing a lesson about the Mexican holiday celebration can be a great way to integrate culture into your World Language classroom. I have put together a list of resources to help you get some ideas.

Día de los muertos interactive websites

Interactive Day of the Dead Altar

A few other websites for lessons and information about Día de los muertos are: National Geographic Kids

Google Arts and Culture-Day of the dead

These sites includes information along with pictures to show students cultural examples about the holiday celebration.

Looking for crafty projects for Día de los muertos?  Below are a few sites with lots of projects and craft ideas.

Digital Papel Picado Google Slides Project by Google

In this lesson, you'll learn how to create your own traditional Mexican folk art using a papel picado template and patterns in Google Slides.

This no-prep project contains a lesson plan, sample rubric, step-by-step vide instructions/tutorials and even a certificate of completion.

You can access the Create Papel Picado in Google Slides project here.

Hello Kids Has numerous pages giving students an option to color online or print and color.

Scrumdilly-do Make paper plate calavera masks.

Growing up bilingual 25 Day of the dead DIY projects.

The Crafty Chica Has over 100 Día de los muertos projects.

The Crafty Cow Has lots of fun project ideas to choose from.

AzCentral Día de los muertos Teacher Packet get the teacher packet here.

Looking for some great videos to help tie everything together. Below are a some great options.

Dia De Los Muertos (Day Of The Dead) – A Brief Explainer

(SCHOOL FRIENDLY) What is El Dia De Los Muertos? by Eddie G!

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Day of the Dead

Dia de Los Muertos (Lesson)

Dia de los Muertos | Film School Shorts

Día de Muertos (movietalk) TeachVid activity

Un altar de muertos TeachVid activity

La Llorona (Carmen Goett) TeachVid activity

Learn about Day of the Dead: Symbols and Ofrendas (in English) Edpuzzle

Free No-Prep Día de los muertos Google Slides Resources

Below are some wonderful ready-made resources shared by the AWESOME members of the Tech for World Language Teachers Facebook group community.

Most of these are Google Slides resources. Be sure to make a copy so add it to your Google Drive.

Día de los muertos board by Joy McKenzie

Frida Kahlo/Day of the Dead - By Tracey Devers

Coloring Calaveritas Pear Deck activity by Eunice Kullick.

Las Partes del Cuerpo y Cara by Rachel Johnson

Day of the Dead Coco Google Slides presentation by Priscilla Quezada

Dia de los Muertos Vocabulario by Viv Stokes

Discover the Day of the Dead Choice Board

Breakout EDU Digital Escape Game

El Secreto de la Catrina Digital Escape game created by Julie Ogden Thompson.

You can access the digital escape game here.

Want to make a cool day-of-the-dead presentation for your students? Download this free Day of the Dead presentation template from Slides Carnival. The template is available in Google Slides and Powerpoint.

There are some more really great looking Day of the Dead Presentation Slides by Slidesgo you can check out the Dia de Muertos Presentation Slides here.

Slides Mania Dia de los Muertos Free template for Google Slides or PowerPoint

Interactive Games

Day of the dead Kahoot!

Día de los Muertos Gimkit

Be sure to check my Day of the Dead Play list on The Tech for World Language Teachers YouTube Channel.

Hope you find these resources helpful! Let me know below which ones you plan on using with your students?

Joins us inside our FREE Facebook groups Tech for Spanish Teachers and Tech for World Language Teachers.

 

Boosting Language Proficiency With Choice Boards

🎓 As a World Language Teacher, vocabulary acquisition is a critical aspect of your students' language learning. One way to make vocabulary practice more engaging and effective is by using vocabulary choice boards. Here are five tips to help you make the most out of using vocabulary choice boards in your class:

1️⃣ Be intentional with the vocabulary choices on the choice board. Choose words that are relevant to your students' proficiency level and that they will find useful in their daily lives.

2️⃣ Encourage students to select words that they find challenging or particularly interesting. This will help them to take ownership of their learning and stay engaged in the activity.

3️⃣ Use a variety of activities on the choice board to appeal to different learning styles. For example, include activities that involve writing, speaking, listening, and drawing.

Check out this no-prep Digital Vocabulary Choice Board.

4️⃣ Allow students to work at their own pace and choose their own level of difficulty. This will help to build their confidence and promote a growth mindset.

5️⃣ Provide feedback and support to students as they work through the activities. This will help them to develop their language skills and feel supported in their learning journey.

By following these tips, you can make vocabulary choice boards a valuable tool in your World Language classroom. Good luck! 🍀

Want to learn more about how to use Digital Vocabulary Choice Boards?

Watch the video below.

Unleashing the Fun of Learning World Languages with Emoji Scavenger Hunt

Have you heard of the Emoji Scavenger Hunt game?

🕵 The Emoji Scavenger Hunt game is a fun and interactive way to engage your World Language students and help them practice their language skills. This online game, created by Google, challenges players to find and identify real-world objects using only their smartphone camera and a set of emojis as clues. 

It's a great way to get students moving, thinking creatively, and using their language skills in a real-world context.

To use Emoji Scavenger Hunt with your students, you'll need a set of devices (smartphones or tablets) for each student or group of students. You'll also need a way to project the game's website (https://emojiscavengerhunt.withgoogle.com/) onto a screen or board so that the whole class can participate.

To get started, visit the website and click on the "Play" button. The game will automatically generate a set of emojis as clues. Each emoji represents a different object the students will need to find in their environment. For example, the 🚪 emoji might represent a door, while the 🍎 emoji might represent an apple.

Once the game begins, students will have a set amount of time to find and photograph each object. As they find each object, they can show the class and practice describing it in the target language.

The game can be used for a variety of language skills, such as vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and oral fluency.

Another way to use this game is to assign the students in groups and have them compete against each other. The group that finds the most objects in the time limit wins.

You can watch a quick demo about how to use it below. 👇👇

Emoji Scavenger Hunt is a fun and engaging way to get students moving and using their language skills in a real-world context.

It's a great way to break up the monotony of traditional classroom activities and give students a chance to practice their skills in a fun and interactive way.

My students and I love this game, so give it a try with your World Language students and see how much they enjoy it!

Looking for more ideas? Check out the Tech for World Language Teachers Facebook group community. You can also check out our online professional development community.

Free Classroom Management Workshop

How World Language Teachers Can Avoid Burn Out

Every year, thousands of World Language teachers worldwide reach a point of burnout. This is often caused by a combination of factors, including large class sizes, low pay, and a lack of administrative support.

Teacher burnout can seriously impact both the teacher and their students. When a teacher is burned out, they are less likely to be able to give their students the attention they need and deserve. This can lead to lower grades and a higher rate of discipline problems.

There are a few things that teachers can do to prevent burnout.

*First, making time for yourself outside of the classroom is essential. This can be difficult, but it is important to find a balance between work and personal life.

*Secondly, staying organized and having a positive attitude is important.

Third, take an assessment of your teaching practice. Where can you make changes to save time? For example, make time to review tech tools and no-prep lessons you can use to help you save time planning and grading.

The Tech for World Language Teacher Community and The World Language Teacher Tech Academy offer many resources and ideas for saving time in planning, grading, and teaching.

Finally, be sure to reach out to your support network, whether that is other teachers, family, or friends.

You can connect with other World Language Teachers inside of the Tech for World Language Teachers community on Facebook. It is a great place to get ideas, ask questions and get support.

If you are a teacher who is struggling with burnout, know that you are not alone. There are many resources available to help you through this difficult time.

Check out the Tech for World Language Teachers blog, the Facebook group, and the online professional development community.

Free Classroom Management Workshop


The Amazing Race Activities for Language Class

It can be a challenge to keep students engaged throughout the school year. That is why coming up with meaningful language and cultural activities is crucial to keeping your language students excited and engaged.

I recently hosted a live workshop about The Amazing Race Activities for Language Class.

In the workshop, my special guest Gerardo Gancz, a Spanish teacher with over 17 years of experience, shared about some super fun and interactive activities and how he is successfully using them with his students.

You can view the workshop here.

We are going to host The Amazing Race Activities for Language Class Workshop 2 on June 9th at 7:00 PM.

Workshop 2 will show you step-step- how you can create your own amazing interactive activities.

Below is a sneak peek at what's included when you sign up.

Enroll in the workshop here.

As you can see the resources are available in Spanish and French but can be easily adapted to any language or subject.

You can access the two workshops and the No-Prep resources here.

Hope you enjoy!

-Rachel

Free Classroom Management Workshop

Free Student Awards Certificate Templates

It’s official, the end of the school year is upon us and summer is just around the corner.

This is the perfect time to celebrate the achievement of our students. A great way to do that is by hosting a class/school awards ceremony.

Below are some really nice free Student Awards Templates you can use.

Virtual Graduation and End of Year Awards slides by Slides Mania

Fun free certificate template. EOY Awards by Slides Mania

Class Awards Certificates by Slidesgo

Student Awards Templates by Canva

As you can see there are so many beautiful designs to choose from, your awards ceremony is surely to be a success!

Hope you enjoy! 

-Rachel

Free Classroom Management Workshop

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