Citas en el Cafe by Kerryn Frazier

Arrange the desks in an inside-outside circle set-up. My students know the "citas" routine, so they are able to quickly move the desks into these groups at the start of the activity, and quickly move them back into their original setting when the activity has finished.

There are various possible setups for this activity. You could tape pre-written questions in the target language to each desk. The student at that desk asks her partner the question. That student answers, and then asks his partner the question that he has taped to his desk. The teacher rings a bell or gives another signal and students shift one seat to the left. Now they have a new partner and a new set of questions.

Another way to do this would be to read the questions aloud to students. In this variation, all students are answering the same question at the same time with their partners. The teacher would then ring a bell or give another signal and students would shift one seat to the left. In larger classes, I find that this method makes it easier to formatively assess students and give feedback in the moment.

I usually center the questions around the theme we are studying in class. For example, if we are studying daily routines, sample questions might be:
                                                 1) Do you spend a lot of time getting ready in the morning?
                                                 2) On the weekends do you prefer to wake up early or sleep in?
                                                 3) On school nights, do you go to bed early or stay up late?
                                                 Etc.

Questions should be asked and answered in the target language. Students should be encouraged to explain their answers to their partners, continuing to speak in the target language until the signal is given to change partners.

Kerryn Frazier teaches Spanish at Foxborough High School. Ms. Frazier will continue to post activities for use in the world language classroom. Many of these activities were created by Ms. Frazier and her colleagues in Foxborough, and others are adaptations of activities found at MaFLA and other professional development.

Pecha Kucha by Kerryn Frazier

The Japanese Pecha Kucha is a presentation of 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each. A variation of this could be used as a great warm-up or closing exercise in a world language classroom. Prepared in advance, the presentation would include 20 slides centered around a common theme that students are studying or have just studied in class. This could be modified to include fewer slides. I like to use 15 slides so that the activity takes only 5 minutes. With a partner, students describe what they see in the slides. Each partner alternates turns with each change of the slide. In a level 1 or level 2 class, the teacher might provide students with key words and phrases that might be helpful in the discussion.

If the presentation is formatted so that the slides are timed and changed automatically, students can work on this activity while the teacher is checking homework and/or formatively assessing students and giving feedback.

Below is part of a sample Pecha Kucha presentation that I have used in class. Students are prompted to identify the environmental problems and their consequences, and to propose possible solutions.



 

Pechakucha environment from Kerryn Frazier

Kerryn Frazier teaches Spanish at Foxborough High School. Ms. Frazier will continue to post activities for use in the world language classroom. Many of these activities were created by Ms. Frazier and her colleagues in Foxborough, and others are adaptations of activities found at MaFLA and other professional development.