Teach Them What You Want to Hear...

So it would be a foreign language teacher's dream to hear the beauty of the classroom target language flowing from the students mouth every time they attempted to speak, right? But let's be honest. We may start strong but how many of us ACTUALLY have a classroom that is achieving 80% target language coming from the STUDENTS' mouths? IF you do have this, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell us all your dirty little secret because we're dying to know! In reality, we may start off strong at the beginning of the year but we get a little "too nice" allowing our kids to speak English just a little too much! I'm guilty...what's my punishment? A nap...BRUTAL *but I'll take it* 

So I decided to examine this problem a little more deeply and I realized you know what...what if we started small? Giving the kids the EXACT words we MUST hear (FREQUENTLY USED WORDS), giving them activities to practice, and then ENFORCING (BIG OL' MEAN TEACHER) them to use them. When the kids master this set, I'll pass on some more words. 

I created this special packet I plan on giving ALL my levels (1, 2, and 3). The packet can be done all in one class period OR you can do a page a day spreading it out over a week's time. Your choice. 

I start off with giving them the words, we'll repeat and word on pronunciation. This 1st page is for me to be able to teach the kids. The 2nd page is a "Find Someone Who" where the kids will get to get up and interact with one another. Of course, I will play too. My favorite is probably the charades activity where they must act out the phrases and the other person has to guess the world. Other activities include unscramble, matching, and a scenario/riddles games. 

I think that kids hear so much Spanish that to them is seems like a billion words. I think we have to put it back on them that we want THEM to be able to give it back to us. This year I'm starting off small in little chunks with highly frequent used words and then expanding.

What do you guys do to get the kids speaking Spanish in your classroom?

I have included the link to my "Lucky 13" Packet if you are interested in using mine, or you can make your own with special words for your classroom. 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Lucky-13-Spanish-Survivor-Words-Phrases-1355704

God Bless,
Brittany B.