Communicative pair activities are a sticky wicket in the TCI community. Some teachers love them while others eschew them as carryovers from their days as textbook teachers. Common complaints include (a), students obtaining the information they need in L1 instead of the target language and (b), boring topics that kids do not want to talk about. In my experience, the problem … [Read more...] about Intermediate First Day Icebreaker
no prep
Spanish Future Tense Predictions Activity
This is a fun, no-prep activity your students can do to make predictions about their classmates for the future and to sneak in reps on Spanish future tense verbs. I encourage them to think of someone in our block, but I allow them to put down someone who is not in our class if a certain statement is more applicable. These statements should elicit plenty of discussion, … [Read more...] about Spanish Future Tense Predictions Activity
TGIF! Personalize Learning with Weekend Chat
Are you looking for ways to build community within your classroom every Monday and Friday to get to know your students better? Do you want structures such as "I went", "I saw", and "I played" to flow effortlessly from their mouths? You need Weekend Chat! This is my go-to activity on Monday and Friday once we finish FVR (Free Voluntary Reading). Here is why Weekend Chat needs a … [Read more...] about TGIF! Personalize Learning with Weekend Chat
Desert Island Survival Scenario to Teach the Conditional Tense
I love using hypothetical scenarios to teach the conditional tense. The very nature of activities like these encourage endless "what if" questions from the teacher and the class. In this scenario, the student can only bring four items from the list. The catch is that there is an opportunity cost associated with each choice. If the student only chooses items used to procure and … [Read more...] about Desert Island Survival Scenario to Teach the Conditional Tense