Strategies+and+Activites-Getting+from+Words+to+Tasks

=GET FROM WORDS TO TASKS!=


 * === Do something drastic - kick the vocab quiz [] ===

Ah, the vocab quiz, I remember them well. I used to have all my students do what I had to do in college- put all the new vocab on spiral-bound 3x5 cards, English on front, Spanish on back. I would drill myself and drill myself for that dreaded weekly (or whenever) vocab quiz, the one where you had to match the right words, or fill in the translation.

Why? Because I'm motivated (read: driven) by grades.

I remember the first time I had a B on my midterm report in college. I cried. (Here you go, more insight into me.) Intro to Spanish Literature. I was so annoyed at it that I worked hard enough to get a 100 on the final and bring the grade to a solid A. I never saw the letter B again.

My point is that vocab quizzes are a colossal failure. They are based on several false assumptions: 1) Quizzes produce long-term memory. 2) Short-term memory is desirable in any way in the language class. 3) Motivation by grades will draw the language learners to acquire more words.

When you give a vocab quiz, you're asking students to cram discrete words into their short-term memory for a grade. Think: what could be more useless? What about the students who aren't motivated by grades? I've heard this rant so many times by vocab-quizzing teachers. "So-and-so just won't study the vocab and fails every quiz! Doesn't he care?" No, no he doesn't. Because grades aren't motivating to him and so you have to find something that is.

And short-term memory? Why not reach for ways that actually create long-term memory of vocab--motivating popular music? reading for pleasure? Articles that use recent vocab? Finding them just takes a quick search on [|Google News]. I just came across [|an article through a Tweet from a Mexican news source] that uses a rich variety of vocab from Spanish 3--you can bet we will be looking at it soon.

Need more reasoning? Here is a list of words and phrases my fourth-year students identified yesterday as we previewed their next chapter in Ciudad de las Bestias:

ardiendo de fiebre vena veneno se arrodilló se despidieron al amanecer apenas cansancio tejer fogata asar cueva/gruta la suya lanzarse no quedaba más remedio que zorros angosto fósforos navaja chillidos hermosura mezcla tamaño alcanzó cascadas ardillas

They haven't had a vocab quiz or test in two years.


 * The real test of language instruction/learning is what students can do with language.



The key to climbing the ladder of language profiiciency is getting past lists of isolated vocabulary words/lists and grammar concepts and to the meaningul use of langauge in context. (This also greatly increases student motivation.)

Here are a few strategies that help. Add your own ideas in the discussion tab.


 * T/P/S (Think/Pair/Share) - Ask a question and give students time to think. Pair with a neighbor and exchange ideas/opinions/etc. Pair them again with a different partner or pair the pairs in a group of four. This activity is helpful when practicing new structure or vocabulary since it promotes repetition.
 * Using telephone/texting - If you have voice mail/email, etc. you have a valuable tool to help students use language. Have students phone/text on a vaiety of subjects. If using voice mail, students can identify themselves, tell you/ask you something and then say good-bye. (Students can tell you 3 things they say and want to buy at a store or mall/ Pretend they are calling you from a restaurant in the target county and share what they are eating, where they are, etc./ Call/tesxt a repsonse to a note they recieved.
 * Circumlocution- The ability to circumlocute is critical to move up the proficiency continuum. For a listening/speaking activity, use pictures to describe items without using the name of the item. This would make a good game!

Check out these ideas for increasing use of target language: []