I want to commend each one of you of this blog of the work well done on not only this class, but also aspiring to teach students the importance of Spanish. As a future teacher who does not have a strong background in it, I look forward to the day where I do. I want my students to know more than what I did. And I stongly believe that your students will walk away from your classrooms with both knowledge in the cirrculum, but also in the Spanish language. Did you have a teacher through school doing that for you?

Hola Muchachos! CLASSROOM ACTIVIY

I agree with you Casey it is not easy to learn a second language. I am very glad that you being so young you are aware of some of the struggles that ESOL students face while learning a foreign language and living in a “strange” country- and not their own.
As far as your classroom activity, I think it is a good strategy to use music to enhance and to better understand the target language (English). Music is something that kids tend to like and appreciate because they find it fun.

I have a some comments and suggestions for your classroom activities:
For a classroom activity to be fructiferous the objective need to be stated and very clear:

1-What do you want your ESOL students to learn during this activity?

2-What previous knowledge and skills do you ESOL students need to have to complete this activity? (e.g., some of them might not know how to use the computer. Is class time going to be devoted to this? A great percentage of ESOL students come from low income household-these students might not ever been exposed to computers in their home countries.)

3-What exactly are you going to have your students do? Do a PowerPoint presentation or a music video? (you need to specify).

4-What are the step-by-step procedures to do the activity?

5-What is the length of this activity?

6-What materials are you going to use for your ESOL students to make the song more comprehensible? (Dictionaries…)

Overall, I find the activity very interesting. I hope that my suggestions help you in developing the activity. I’ll be checking your blog. Ask me any question that can help you.

Adios y Buena Suerte!!!!


Tania

To Ismael Galacia, I don't know how you do it! I work two jobs and am taking 15 hours and I feel like I can hardly find enough hours in my days. You do so much more! But it's good though that you learned not to be lazy at an early age, that probably helped you out a lot to learn that type of responsibility.
Aside from that, I realize more and more everyday how important it is to know Spanish. In fact, just this evening I was playing around with my phone and found a translator and verb conjugator solely dedicated to Spanish. It had everything you need as far as the main phrases for normal function, and it even told me how to ask for a different size in a clothing store. I took three years of Spanish in high school but a lot of it I have forgotten. But I learned very quickly since moving to Fort Myers a year ago that I have to brush up my skills in order to function effectively. Since Spanish and English are the two main languages in the world right now, it would be very possible for Spanish to end up being the only language we speak. I see English becoming a foreign language our grandchildren could be studying in school in stead of Spanish.

Hola a todos!

If you don't speak Spanish and want to know why it's muy importante to learn, check this out!

Never, never be lazy” was the advice from Mrs. Beights, my high school algebra teacher, during my high school graduation. For a long time I had the idea that she was referring to responsibility; however, the experiences that I have being gaining as an undergraduate student had helped me learn that Mrs. Beigths was alerting me of the vigorous college life. My past two years as an undergraduate student had being a constant cycle. Firs, during the fall semester, because of the big amount of time that my cross country practices take from my schedule, I only take a minimum amount of classes. During this semester, I wake up at five in the morning every day except on Saturdays, which is race day. In addition with practice, a three day part time job, in order to pay rent, and classes, my fall semester becomes really busy.
Second, during the spring, my stress from the numerous classes I take, rises to the ceiling.
During this semester, in order to maintain thirty credits per school year without attending summer school, I take eighteen credit hours, which make me spend most of my days in the library trying to cutch up with assignments. In addition with assignment, projects, study group and a part time job, the spring semester becomes one of the busiest parts of the year for me.
Finally, during the summer, I work in order to save money for the following school year. For the past three summers, I had work in a country club in order to save money. This is yet one of my biggest challenges because no matter how much money I save, I end up spending most of it before the beginning of the school year.

NO TENGO TIME!!!!






School, Work, School, Work... This is exactly how I can sum up a typical life as an undergraduate student.

I am currently a sophmore majoring in Special Education and Spanish at FGCU. I stay busy with my 24-7 job as a Resident Assistant with on-campus housing. When I am not working or attending classes, you will find me involved with either club de espanol, La Alianza, or Student Government. Homework also takes up a majority of my time on the weekends because it is difficult to find the time during the weekdays.

I'm lucky to get more than four hours of sleep a night. It's hard to find time to have more than two meals a day. Family and friends are far and my 75 dollars every two weeks (job) gets more demanding day by day.

But, I'm not going to complain. Attending this university has opened doors to places and opportunities that I would have never have imagined if I would have kept on working and done nothing after highschool. Honestly, college is tough but I would have never had the chance to join Spanish Club, go to the Dominican Republic, become Public Relations for Spanish Club, SG's Director of Multicultural Affairs, Resident Assistant of Cypress, or meet so many amazing people! I am now planning to be an international student next fall to continue working, learning, and volunteering in Santiago, Republica Dominicana.

Life as an undergraduate is stressful yet incredible. I have realistic goals, strong passions to succeed, 'smarts', and an open-mind. What more could you ask for?


The foto has been provided by BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk

Hola Casey! Hola Ismael! I am very intersting in seeing how are you developing classroom activity. I would like to provide you some feedback.

How difficult is it to learn a second language? From my personal experience, it hasn't been a piece of cake. According to a survey, 69.23 percent of the ESOL students have Spanish as their native language. This number is difficult to ignore as a future ESOL/Spanish language educator. Naturally, I've decided to try to learn a second language myself so I too could understand the stuggles that ESOL students encounter in school daily.

Research indicates that bilingual programs seem to be the most effective for second language learning. Everybody loves music, including non-English speakers. I would like to share a classroom activity that would motivate your ESOL students to love to learn the English language. One word: MUSIC! Music is a great way to catch and stimulate this learning process. You can have your students pick a song in English from the style of music they enjoy and have them research on the Internet for the lyrics. This can be either a group or individual project. Since this activity needs to be technology-based, the students would have a choice to create a powerpoint using the lyrics or making a music video. I feel after they accomplish the project, they would have built up a sense of confidence in learning an entire song in the English language. This will also help bring out the creative skills that any and all backgrounds have. Before the students present their project, I would reccomend having the students read the chorus outloud to the rest of the class. Overall, I feel that the students will have confidence to speak clearly, perform/present in front of others, and express their creative side. For more information or ideas, you can contact me at clmoorma@eagle.fgcu.edu.

Colorful Aztec Calender provided by: www.calender.com

Casey, Ismael

I forgot to add the website that provides effective teaching strategies for LEP students. I posted information on my last posting. Lo siento, but here it is.
http://www.escort.org/products/secondaryhelpkit.html

tania

Hello again Casey and Ismael,

As I said before, I find your Blogger very interested because at one point I was an LEP (Limited English Proficient) student and now I am a teacher with LEP student. I am always finding out/researching to find more and more effective strategies that can assist not only my LEP students but also my non-LEP students. Last semester I took my TSL course, and there was this website that we used a lot of the time to help write our papers in regards toe LEP students.

This is a website that I currently access to get current information and tips to assist all my students. This website is called :The secondary Help! Kit is designed to:

-Provide mainstream teachers with instructional strategies and resources that will benefit all LEP migrant students, but can also assist them with other students who have varying levels of English proficiency and learning styles;
-Introduce research-based teaching strategies that focus on the key content areas of language arts, social studies, mathematics, and science;
-Provide cultural information to help teachers better understand and appreciate migrant students and their families;
-Offer suggestions on how to encourage migrant parents, extended family members, peers, mentors and other significant individuals to play an active role in promoting educational excellence;
-Identify fundamental as well as alternative methods to monitor the progress of and evaluate migrant LEP students;
-Provide a wealth of current resources and references teachers can use to pursue more fully areas of interest covered in the Help! Kit;
-Highlight approaches and types of programming that have proven successful in helping migrant students to graduate;
-Feature creative uses of technology that help maintain instructional and curricular continuity;

Check this website out. It will be really useful that you can add it on your site. It is very helpful for teachers.

Hola Casey y Hola Ismael,

I found some excelent websites that can be very useful for teachers to promote diversity in the classroom. Also, some of these websites give teachers ideas and examples of lesson plans and projects that relate to the Spanish language and the Spanish/Hispanic. Check them out and let me know what you think of them- maybe you can add them as link of your blog.

Tania

Axteca
http://www.azteca.net/aztec/
This website contains information gathered especially for Mexicans, Chicanos, and/or Mexican-Americans. But anyone else interested is welcome too!
Not To-Be-Missed Section:
2) Are Chicanos the Same as Mexicans? http://www.azteca.net/aztec/chicano.html

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage from Scholastic
http://teacher.scholastic.com/hispanic/
This beautiful website informs about the people, places, and events of our Hispanic heritage.
Related Website:
2) Celebrating Hispanic Heritage http://www.galegroup.com/freresrc/chh/

Hispanic Heritage in the U.S.A.
http://coloquio.com/
This site contains information about famous Hispanics in the world and history, bullfighting, and much more.

Latino.Com
http://www.latino.com/index.php3
This is a comprehensive website for the Latino news, information, and resources.
Other Mega-Websites:
2) Hispanic Online http://www.hispaniconline.com/
3) Hispanic Vista http://www.hispanicvista.com/index.asp
3) LaRed Latina (Latin Network) by R. Vazquez http://www.lared-latina.com
4) TodoLatino! (Everything Latino) http://www.todolatino.com/

Mexico has a different school level arrangement than the United States does. Different from the United States, Mexico combines Elementary school and Middle school in one school. Because of the long time the students spend in this institution, it’s a special occasion when the students graduate; therefore, they usually are rewarded with a gift. When my older brother graduated from this institution, my mother gave him a Walkman. I was eight years old at that time, and this item became my first experience with technology. When my brother first let me use his Walkman, I was unfamiliar with the function of each push button, mostly because the instructions of each push button such as play, stop, and fast forward, etc where not translated into Spanish. I first became frustrated and very irritated not knowing how to operate the Walkman. The Walkman was about the size of both of my hands, black with golden letters that spelled SONY, which at that time I did not what they mean. My brother gradually taught me the function of each key. I rapidly became amazed by its function.

I recently bought a mini IPod; it holds 4 GB of memory. In order to download music into my mini IPod, I first insert a music CD into the CD room of my computer. Second, once the software had downloaded all the songs from the music CD, I then select the song I want to be downloaded into the IPod. Finally, I select the update key on my I Pod, and then the songs download in to the mini Ipod.

Through out the years I have experience a numerous of technology changes. In the first part of my posting, I provided part of my “Technology Autobiography”, which describes my first experience with technology. On the other hand, in the second part of my posting, I provided one of my latest experiences with technology. In order to read more about my Technology Autography click here.

Hello,
I am PJ, and I'm an English Teacher in El Paso. I have been working with ESL students for about 7 years now (ever since I began teaching). In my mainstream classroom, I work with a number of students who are exited from the ESL program. Here in Texas, that now means only two years of sheltered instruction. That's not much for learning a new language. Here in El Paso there is also the unique situation whereby students don't really have to speak or practice English. Between the very high number of bilingual speakers in the retail industries, parents not speaking any English at home, and friends who are all too willing to speak to students in Spanish, the imputus to learn English is not highly valued in the city.

You can imagine the results in terms of passing standardized exams after only 2 years with exposure and classroom only exposure to the language.

In my own experience in teaching writing, there have been many, many times when I have encouraged students to write their drafts in Spanish, English, or full code-switching Spanglish if they are so inclined... Anything to get them to begin writing!

There are so many facets to this inquiry: Is Code-Switching a legitimate language? Should it be encouraged as a way to get students into the core of language acquisition? When do you need to step in to encourage standard English in order to ensure the success of the student?

From where I sit, the connection of failure to fully learn English to the success of a student in school is overwhelming. That further connection, too often, is the sub-cultures of failure and poverty. All too often it's a cycle that can only be broken by the commitment (and sometimes the linguistic briliance) of the student to succeed.

Ablemos de “Spanglish”

My Blogger partner, Casey Moorman, and I, Ismael Galicia, had created Spanglish, as a way to help ESOL students with their enhancement on the English language. Our idea is that when an ESSOL student combines English words or phrases with his/hers native language, he or she will gradually become more involved with the English language and also with the American culture.
The purpose of this Blogger is also to help ESOL maestros (teachers) by providing activities that can be used in their classrooms. Because of the combination of languages, spanglish can also be useful for non Spanish speaking instructors. With Spanglish, non Spanish speaking teachers will also be able to learn Spanish words and phrases, which will be useful whit their communication with their ESOL students.

I have always assumed technology was easier for the elderly since they have been surrounded by it for a number of years. With years of experience, I thought the elderly would be the first to explain how technology worked for me. I would think they would be the first to pull me aside and request an interview about technology. My assumptions were incorrect. Many of my questions were clearly false. Then, just recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Sandra Taylor of sunny Tampa, Florida. Mrs. Taylor was visiting her granddaughter, Amber, for the weekend in North Lake Village. She instantly gave me a hug and said, “You must be Amber’s roommate, Casey! I’ve heard a lot about you! Please call me Nana!” From there, I decided to take this opportunity to learn how different technology was forty years ago. She kindly agreed to an interview that would help me understand more about technology from our past generations. For more about my interview with Nana, click here

Above is an excerpt from my Technology Autobiography of Sandra Taylor. Mrs. Sandra "Nana" Taylor is a very charming and intellctual woman. Honestly, I learned more from a few questions than I would have from hands on experience in the classroom. I realized how many differences and technigocical gaps the young and old had between them. Interviewing Nana helped me recognize how much we depend on the convenience of technology. It has also opened my eyes to the importance of this new way to communicate and educate.

Hello Ismael,

My name is Tania Campusano and I am going to be your mentor during the creation of you blog- Spanglish. Firs of all, Iwould like to tell you that the name of your blog really caught my attention because I speak spanglish myself. I was born in the Dominican Republic, and I have bee living in the United States for more than a decade.

I am currently a high school Spanish teacher, and I am a graduate student at FGCU. I am pursuing a Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction. One of my biggest pasion is language. I love everything that has to do with the Spanish and English language especially the combination of these two - SPANGLISH-

I look very forward working with you in this project. I know that I am going to do my best as being your mentor. I also know that I am going to learn lot from this blog experience.

VIVA EL SPANGLISH!!!

Tania

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