Story Prompt Generator for Your World Language Classroom

As a Spanish teacher, I am always looking for creative ways to get my students writing and talking more in the target language. I have found that if I let my students tap into their creativity, they are usually more excited about the writing assignments and they end up producing better results.

A while back I came across that has a random picture prompt generator. You spin and it randomly selects 3 picture prompts. I created a quick video walkthrough for you to see how you can use it with your World Language students to get them writing and talking more.

I want to hear from you, how do you plan on using the picture prompt generator with your world language students. let us know inside our free facebook group Tech for World Language Teachers. Join the conversation here>>

Fun Scrabble Game for Your World Language Students

So I normally blog about how to use technology with your World Language students. However, today's tip is too good not to share even though it is not a tech tip. 

I am always looking for new engaging ways to have my students practice their Spanish vocabulary. A few months back I came across a post about Table/Desk Scrabble for French classes.  I liked the idea so much I decided to use it with my Spanish students. However, I found that some of the necessary letters needed for Spanish were missing due to it being designed for french teachers. As a result, I decided to make my own letter tiles to include the missing Spanish letters. You can view the Spanish Scrabble Tiles here>>

I tried the Floor Scrabble game with my students and it was a BIG HIT! 😍

I divided my students into two groups and I had them compete. Whichever group was able to work together to come up with the most Spanish words won. Well, as I stated before they had a great time doing the activity. It was such a great way for them to collaborate and work together. If you are looking for a FUN way to get your students to practice their vocabulary I highly recommend this activity. 

You can download the French and Spanish scrabble tiles below.

French Scrabble Tiles

Spanish Scrabble Tiles

Would you like more tips and support?

Joins us inside our Free Facebook group Tech for World Language Teachers.

Spanish Speaking Countries Fun Interactive Resources

While teaching my students about Spanish speaking countries, I noticed that some students struggled with the geography part of the lesson. Some needed help remembering the names of the countries. I wanted to find a fun way to help, so I set out to find fun interactive resources I could use with my students.

I found some really neat resources.

Resource 1: Spanish Speaking Countries Setera Online Map Quiz Game.

My students had a ball playing this game and trying to beat each other's time score.

Resource 2: Spanish Speaking Countries Mapas Interactivos.

This interactive map allows students two options study or quiz mode.

Resource 3: Purpose Games Spanish Speaking Countries Online Interactive Map. Students are be able to see their score and keep track of remaining attempts.

I also wanted a fun way for students to remember and practice saying the names of the countries in Spanish. I found two catchy videos on YouTube.

Video 1: Rock The Countries-Central America. The Video includes the countries and capitals of Central America and the Caribbean.

Video 2: Rock The Countries-South America. The Video includes the countries and capitals of South America.

Video 3: The Central America Geography Song by Rocking the World. They also have some free activities to go with the video. The activities include maps, song lyrics, and a cloze activity. You can download the free activities here>>

Mapa Musical by Natalia Hernadez. It is a collaborative map on Padlet. You can add music videos, to illustrate the musical style of regions around the world.

Google Drive resources this was created by Melanie Borges Labendeira and shared by Claudia Shiell inside of the Tech for World Language Teachers Facebook group. It contains several no-prep resources you can use with your students. Some of the resources included are virtual field trips.

Bonus resource: The Taste Atlas website, is a world atlas of food and drinks, an encyclopedia of flavors. You can select a country and see what foods are popular in that region. This is great for cultural enrichment and research projects.

I want to hear from you which resource did you find the most useful?

Let us know your favorite inside our Free Facebook group Tech for World Language Teachers.

Save Time Grading with the Easy Grade Calculator

The Easy Grade Calculator has helped me to Save so much Time grading. I made a quick tutorial to show you how easy it is to use.

Want more tips and support? Join our Free Facebook group Tech for World Language Teachers.

Music Database for World Language Classes

A while back I shared an AWESOME online music database inside the Tech for World Language Teachers Facebook group. The database is a live spreadsheet document created by Sharon Birch from El Mundo de Birch. The database has songs divided by subject, tense, theme and country of origin. It is a wonderful resource for Spanish teachers.

Since the Tech for World Language Teacher community has a variety of language teachers. I suggested we start a music database spreadsheet to include all of the languages in our community. One of our awesome members Joe McCright started the new Music for World Language Classes spreadsheet and it is now an awesome Live growing document for all World Language teachers.

You can view and add songs to the music database here>>

There is also a Música miércoles Google Drive folder created by Susie Kersemeier-Gronwick she shared it inside the Tech for World Language Teachers Facebook group. She has given me permission to share it with everyone. The activities are a great way to integrate culture and CI.

You can access the Música miércole activities here>>

Do you want more useful resources like this? Head on over to the Tech for World Language Teachers Facebook group and request access now.

How to Create Digital Student Portfolios with Adobe Spark

Digital student portfolios are a great way to showcase student work and show progress over time. There are an number of free and paid options available to choose from. One of my favorite tools is Adobe Spark, because it allows you to easily create beautiful looking portfolios for free.

I did a Live training to illustrate how easy it is to create stunning portfolios to showcase student work.

Wan more? check out my full training on How to Create Digital Student Portfolios. .

in the training I cover the following:

• The benefits of using Digital Student Portfolios.

• The different types of Student Portfolios.

• The best Tech Tools for Creating Digital Student Portfolios.

• The one Tool that will have your students excited and engaged and wanting to show off their work.

Ready get your students excited and sharing their work? Enroll in How to Create Digital Student Portfolios Now>>

Movie Talk Strategies

Are you looking for ways to spend more class time using the target language?

Then you need MovieTalk!

Comprehensible Input expert Martina Bex and I did a Facebook Live where we discussed what Movie Talk is and how to implement this simple strategy to get students to speak in the target language.  You can view the Movie Talk training session below. 

As promised, Martina put together some notes and resources to help you use MovieTalk with confidence. 
You can view the Movie Talk resources here>>
 

For more Comprehensible Input resources visit Martina's blog The Comprehensible Classroom at Martinabex.com

Would you like more Professional Development resources?

 

HOW TO CREATE DIGITAL INTERACTIVE WORKSHEETS

Paper worksheets are a popular way to reinforce and practice content covered in class. While paper worksheets are very useful, they often lack an interactive component. In addition, they leave very little room for differentiation. 

If you are looking for a more engaging and interactive way to help your students practice concepts, then digital worksheets are a MUST HAVE! 
Digital worksheets allow you to take things to the next level. For instance, a simple matching worksheet, in digital form can become more interactive by having students drag and place items instead of just drawing a line. 
Digital worksheets also allow you to add multi-media elements such as gifs, video, and links to other web resources. 

Watch the video training to learn how to create your own digital interactive worksheets. 

Get the FREE Editable Temple Here:  Digital Interactive Worksheet Template

Watch this quick video to learn how to add clickable links to your digital interactive worksheets.