Tom Alsop’s Creative Teaching Materials and Workshops for Teachers of World Languages

January 2007 Teaching Strategies Newsletter

Risk-taking and Creativity

Are you going to risk-take and try something different to break up the routine?
Here are some steps and project ideas to help you get started. Have students present
their work to the class when finished.

Have Project Week once each month to add a creative touch to the classroom experience!

Step 1
Plan to risk-take. Be daring and proud of your ability to be creative! Make a detailed lesson plan of what you are going to do.

Step 2
Make this learning experience a project driven one. Give the project a fun name.

Step 3
Provide the students an opportunity to select from a variety of projects. Let them choose which project they want to do. Allow them to work in pairs.

Step 4
Set a timeline for students to finish the project. A weeklong project is perfect.

Step 5
Have a set of rubrics for the students to follow. Make the rubrics easy to follow.

Step 6
Have materials ready for the students to use.

Step 7
Let the students talk to one another while working on the project. Play music in the background while they are working.

Step 8
Talk to the school newspaper and school administrators about the projects. Use the projects to promote the study of your world language.

Some project ideas-Students can select one of the following.
Vocabulary
1. Let students make their own personal dictionary of practical words.
2. Have students do a video in which they pantomime a list of vocabulary words.
3. Students create a vocabulary T-shirt design.

Grammar
1. Students create a unique grammar T-shirt design based on a grammar rule or verb conjugation.
2. Have students do TV commercials emphasizing specific grammar points in their presentations of useful products.

Reading
1. Students write their own short story and present the story in PowerPoint.
2. Have students do a report on a newspaper or magazine article and videotape the presentation.
3. Students do a pod cast of a poem they read in their world language.
4. Have students find a blog from another country and present the blog in PowerPoint.

Writing
1. Students write their own poem and present it in the form of a hip-hop/rap song.
2. Have students write a short play.
3. Students write a letter to a famous person of the past.

Speaking
1. Students act out a short play. Videotape the play and post it on Youtube.com, if you dare.
2. Have students create a set of conversation cards and have the class use the cards in pairs. The cards should be practical everyday situations.
3. Have the students create their own speaking game where all who play must speak in
their world language.

Culture
1. Students are to present a PowerPoint on the holiday of their choice.
2. Have students do a pod cast on holidays in other lands.
3. Students do a video presentation on customs in other lands.
4. Students do an Internet project on famous writers, singers, or sports figures.

March, 2007 Online Newsletter-Skits

Skits are fun for students. They can actively participate and use language in context.
Let the students videotape and edit the skits. Award Oscars for the best performance and the best written skits. Allow students to write the skits or use skits from supplemental materials. Be sure that each student has a part. Allow each group of four or six to create and participate in the skit. Put the best skits on the school website. Use the skits to promote world language study!

Skit Ideas

Talent Show
American Idol
Dancing with the stars
Restaurante
Doctor’s office
Hospital
Hotel
Airport
Video rental
Shopping
Movie theater
Concert
Train
Bus
Airplane
Debate
TV commercial
Radio broadcast
Podcast
Celebrity interviews
Fairy tales
Foootball game
Soccer game
Basketball game
Dance
Party

Award points to the student for their work. Use the skit for an oral test grade.
46-50 A
42-45 B
36-41 C
30-35 D
Below 30 F

Have students make props and dress-up.

April 2007 Teaching Strategies Newsletter

Students evaluating teachers

As we prepare to wind down the school year, how can we learn from our students how
well we taught them? Here is an idea. Let your students complete a short questionnaire.
This allows them to give comments on how you taught them and what they learned. While they complete the questionnaire, why not answer a teaching strategies questionnaire made especially for you, the world language teacher. Here are the two questionnaires. Collect your students completed questionnaires and compare those responses with those you gave while completing your questionnaire. Use the results to help plan your teaching strategies for the coming school year! Change when you need to!

A word of caution! There will always be those who do not agree with you but alas what
you are looking for is a trend, a pattern to help you see things as they are in class. It takes
courage to do this. Most students will give an honest response. Some may not. Remind
students that this rating is for your use so that you can get feedback to help improve your
teaching strategies for next school year. They are not to sign their names to the ratings.
They only need to circle the correct number!

Bottom line, learn from the ratings. Improve where you need to and enjoy the positive
comments. You may find that the ratings you gave yourself are not as fair and positive as those given by your students. Those will keep you going forever. Remember, your influence on your students is eternal!

If you do not want to give the questionnaire to your students, take the teacher questionnaire. Enjoy!

Student questionnaire
Please rate the following statements as they pertain to your class. Use this rating system. Circle the number you select in the space to the right of the statement.
5 Totally agree
4 Usually agree
3 Agree
2 Agree some
1 Do not agree

1. My teacher was well organized. 5 4 3 2 1
2. My teacher used a variety of activities. 5 4 3 2 1
3. I understood the grammar explanations. 5 4 3 2 1
4. We spoke the language a lot in class. 5 4 3 2 1
5. We learned a lot about the culture of other countries. 5 4 3 2 1
6. I tried a lot in this class. 5 4 3 2 1
7. I would recommend this class to another student. 5 4 3 2 1
8. My teacher was enthusiastic. 5 4 3 2 1
9. The homework assignments were helpful. 5 4 3 2 1
10. The written tests were fair. 5 4 3 2 1
11. The teacher often tested our speaking skills. 5 4 3 2 1
12. We were able to demonstrate our creativity in various projects. 5 4 3 2 1
13. I learned a lot in this class. 5 4 3 2 1
14. My teacher maintained good discipline in this class. 5 4 3 2 1

Teacher questionnaire
Please rate the following statements as they pertain to your class. Use this rating system. Circle the number you select in the space to the right of the statement.
5 Totally agree
4 Usually agree
3 Agree
2 Agree some
1 Do not agree

1. I was well-organized. 5 4 3 2 1
2. I taught using a variety of teaching strategies. 5 4 3 2 1
3. I taught grammar well. 5 4 3 2 1
4. We spoke the language a lot in class. 5 4 3 2 1
5. I taught my students a lot about culture. 5 4 3 2 1
6. I tried hard to teach this class a lot. 5 4 3 2 1
7. I would recommend these students for further study in the language. 5 4 3 2 1
8. I was enthusiastic. 5 4 3 2 1
9. The homework assignments I gave were helpful. 5 4 3 2 1
10. My written tests were fair. 5 4 3 2 1
11. I often tested the students’ speaking skills. 5 4 3 2 1
12. My students were able to do lots of culture projects and showcase their creativity.
5 4 3 2 1
13. I learned a lot teaching this class. 5 4 3 2 1
14. I maintained good discipline in this class. 5 4 3 2 1

May-June Teaching Strategies Newsletter

Why participate in an immersion program?

It was for me, and still is, the most exciting
and rewarding of experiences. Let’s think of
some of the benefits that come to us from
visiting another country and using our
world language in a live, real environment.

1. We can practice language in a real context.
Ordering food, taking a bus or cab, talking
with people in stores and the markets, all
of these take on a reality experience that only
being there provides.
2. We learn new vocabulary and process and review
passive vocabulary while we speak in daily situations.
3. We stretch our language abilities and expand
grammatical structures while listening and speaking.
4. We learn to circumlocute to get points across.
5. We expand our knowledge of real culture while
interacting with native speakers in real life situations.
6. We become observers of culture, culture detectives
if you will.
7. We become ambassadors of our own culture, spreading
good will whenevre possible.
8. We observe life in its truest sense because we are there,
in real life. We abandon our text books as we walk through
the pages of real culture.
9. We take our language and culture experiences back to our
students, sharing story after story of our world adventure.
10. We will have enriched our world language experience
beyond expectations. Our use and knowledge of the
world language and culture will have improved and flourished.
Our students will have reaped the benefits of our
summer language adventure!

Mark summer immersion down on your calendar. Travel
in the summer to a country where you can use your
world language 24 hours a day!

The next online newsletter will appear in August. Have
a wonderful summer vacation!!!

Using Technology to Promote World Language Study

Power Point
1. Let students make a PowerPoint on a vocabulary, grammar or culture theme.

2. Have students do a PowerPoint on the importance of studying a world language. Present the PowerPoints at a school open house or PTO meeting.

Video
1. Have students do a skit on culture or reasons to study world languages. Let them videotape and edit the skits. Post the videos on the school world language website. Show the video to the parents at open house or in a PTO meeting.

Website
1. Make a world language website that is only used to promote the study of world languages. Include links to sites that discuss reasons to study a world language.

2. Highlight a student activity in each world language at your school. Include digital pictures of the students doing the activity.

3. Send a flyer to all the parents of world language students at your school. Include the world language website and web addresses that include promotion of world language study. Google “reasons to study a world language” to get websites.

4. Make a world language honor roll list of outstanding world language students and post it on the world language website.

Podcast
1. Students can do a radio show to promote the study of world languages. Put the podcast at the world language website.

An Interview With Michael Edelstein, NETC Travel Consultant

Tom: Michael, tell us a little about your job history and your
hobbies.

 

Michael: My college summer jobs were on a produce farm, a landscaping crew, and helping with research on elderly housing alternatives. I got my MA at Stanford University in Curriculum Development and Teacher Education, when far too young, then went to UMass Amherst for a year to get certified to do the ultimate job, teach. Eleven years later, after teaching 6th grade three years, then a year of 6th to 8th grade math, then 7 years in a wonderful school in a self-contained 7th and 8th grade classroom, I took a break. I took a year away and got a job with NETC, a student travel organization. Well, one year is now over twelve years.

 

I rarely have time for hobbies, unless I list travel as one of them. But add to that list running, hiking, scuba diving and snorkeling, photography, and video filmmaking.

 

Tom: What is your favorite city in the world? Why?

 

Michael: Egads, the list is long. Rio and San Francisco are high up, but I think Madrid is an under-rated city, and Barcelona, Rome, and Paris all deserve their stellar reputations. A city is a favorite of mine if it drips in history and culture, has more to see and do than is easily covered, and is vibrant and alive.

 

Tom: What do you like most about your job with NETC?

 

Michael: I like that we are often the gateway to a first trip abroad. My first trip opened my eyes, and reopened by textbooks and study books. I was inspired to read more, study more, research more, and wished I could go and redo much of high school and college with my profound new inspiration. We see that all the time as the result of our trips, and the better the trip is, we feel, the more likely it is to be influential. Any way I can help those extra human beings join and travel, those wonderful students exploring their own world, well I enjoy that.

 

Tom: What is your favorite trip of all time? Why

 

Michael: My favorite trip is to a destination not offered by NETC. I went to Nepal during an 11 month wander-the-world adventure that started in Europe and took me across Russia to Asia, back around to Nepal and India, and on to East Africa and Egypt and Israel. I learned so much, so the whole trip was a favorite, despite the wear and tear (and intestinal issues). But the stop in Nepal made me more fully aware of how great people can be, how well we have it in the developed world, and how hardship sometimes brings out amazing strengths in people.

 

Tom: Do you miss teaching?

 

Michael: Daily! Teaching is a very hard job that no non-teacher understands, but it is also challenging, creative, and fulfilling unlike most any other job. The interaction, for an academic year or more, with students, is something deep and special. There are bumps, but the process as a whole is quite uplifting, quite inspiring.

 

Tom: What reasons would you give for teachers to take
students on an NETC trip?

 

Michael: Okay, well I am biased. NETC is the company I work for, but I do so in part because, as a former middle school teacher who believes in student-centered active learning, I know NETC aims to have that type of learning take place on the road. And, as a teacher spy working inside a travel organization, I see the huge and sincere—and creative—efforts that go into trying to bring the best possible experience to each and every student. There are real world and financial limits to face, mind you, but the heart is in the right place, and the results are strikingly good!

 

Tom: What reasons would you give teachers to participate in the Aventura Cultural program?

 

Michael: Tom Alsop is one big reason. Tom (indeed, you) adds value in his effort to make all learning situations fun yet involving and educational. How else could he write a book about the many ways of using a rubber chicken in a classroom, for instance?! He has created a program where teachers live with families, have a rotating one-on-one instructor, learn new ways themselves to teach, and have cultural outings. The mix is an inspiring one that improves Spanish skills, improves teaching methods, improves cultural understanding, and is darned
fun and inspiring in the meantime. Plus a good photo album was had by all (last year).

 

Tom: Why do you like to travel so much?

 

Michael: I got addicted on my first trip. I love seeing the vast world we l live in, the differences in geography and in lifestyle, in culture, and yet the overlaps. I still leap off a plane ready to go investigate places (and recently ones below as well as above water, as with a trip to Tahiti in December), meet people, and try foods.

 

Tom: What is the funniest experience you ever had while traveling abroad?

 

Michael: Well, many come to mind. But one stands out in my mind today (remember I have traveled a lot, but still have that aging male forgetful mind). I bought yoghurt in a small city in the far west of China, Muslim China, from a large man with a neat basket of yoghurt bowls. He had little stools set there, so I went to sit down on one, caught the edge instead and…up went the yoghurt, over, and down down down—all over me! That would have been funny enough, maybe, with some 20 people in a rural area who had never seen a foreigner, let alone see one eat yoghurt, watching—and this time they got to see him wear the yoghurt! But then my kind (and huge) food salesperson reenacted it over and over, tipping back the stool, while the crowd grew to some 40-60 people, having heard of this amazing spill event! At least I knew I was unlikely to see them again.

 

Tom: What is your favorite NFL football team?

 

Michael: Well, as an honorary Hoosier, you know it’s the Bears…I mean the Colts!! ☺

 

Tom: What is your favorite world language teachers conference? Why?

 

Michael: There are two I attend regularly, the Oregon COFLT, and the Indiana IFLTA, and I have been to at least a dozen IFLTA events. I love the way they are organized, the energy put into the mutual benefits for teachers and exhibitors, so I have to choose the IFLTA.

 

Tom: What is your favorite place in San Francisco?

 

Michael: Well, besides the NETC West Coast office?? Or my bedroowindow, with a nice angled view of the Pacific Ocean on non-foggy days? Well, the place I most love to take people who visit me in San Francisco is a park called Lands End, which is right near Sutro Park, and has great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and down cliffs to huge waves crashing on rocky beaches, and then across the “Golden Gate” is the Marin Headlands, a protected area beautiful to see from there. Add in remnants of an old trolley line, a huge old indoor pool that became a skating rink before it became ruins, and an old WWII lookout fort.