The Countdown As the school year quickly winds down, I can’t help but look forward to the next one with much anticipation and excitement. Yeah, it sounds crazy I know, because so many of us are beyond exhausted, expending our energy to motivate apathetic students who have been bitten by the Spring Fever bug and the Senior Slide virus. While I … [Read more...] about Taking The Dive Into CI
5 Great Reasons Why You Should Use Bell-Ringer Activities
During my twenty-four years of teaching, I had heard the term "bell-ringer" tossed around from time-to-time, but I had never really been compelled to learn more about it until last year, when I took a new job teaching at a public high school where bell-ringer activities were strongly encouraged, especially for those over achiever type teachers seeking a high … [Read more...] about 5 Great Reasons Why You Should Use Bell-Ringer Activities
Thirteen Noteworthy World Language Quotes
Several weeks ago, the headmaster of my school charged teachers with choosing subject-specific quotes that would be inscribed above the classroom doors of our new middle school building. What a great idea, I thought, until the moment arrived when I had to locate those inspirational words that would embody the essence of what it means to learn and know other … [Read more...] about Thirteen Noteworthy World Language Quotes
Origin of Puerto Ricans
Here is a neat graphic organizer that I received in one of my graduate classes sometime during the 1990s. It illustrates the ancestry of the three major blood lines which form the Puerto Rican race : Taino Indian, Spanish and Black. Origin of Puerto Ricans When Christopher Columbus reached Puerto Rico in 1493, he encountered and enslaved the Taino … [Read more...] about Origin of Puerto Ricans
Viewpoint: Choosing The Right Foreign Language Program
Last month, the public schools in Macon, Georgia made national headlines when their Superintendent, Romain Dallemand made a radical move and mandated that all students, Pre-K through 12th grade, take Mandarin Chinese. He could have chosen a heritage language like Spanish, since the Latino population in Georgia has experienced a significant growth spurt over … [Read more...] about Viewpoint: Choosing The Right Foreign Language Program
Book Review: Babel No More: The Search For The World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners
If you are a world language educator, a language aficionado or if you simply enjoy dabbling in neurolinguistics, then Michael Erard's latest book will definitely satisfy your hunger for the latest approaches to foreign language acquisition. In his quest to find the world's most extraordinary language-learners, Erard unfolds the strange and yet fascinating … [Read more...] about Book Review: Babel No More: The Search For The World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners