Former student comments

A former student visited me today while seeing my door open as I was getting to leave. She came in with a friend who hasn't taken Spanish yet.

I remember how last year, she did great in class but she one of those faces that looks angry at all times. While I wouldn't have known from her facial expressions last year, we never butted heads or anything. Regardless I wasn't always completely sure how she felt about class. She told me how much she loved class last year and she remembered her seats and various parts of class. Also, she was jealous of another student in the classroom that had my class this year and told him how lucky he is. She went on to tell him that I am the best Spanish 1 teacher that he could have.

Of course I responded that she hasn't had any of the other Spanish 1 teachers so there's no way she could know that. Still, it's nice to hear such high praise from a former student.

She also told me her reaction when she got home from  meet-the-parent night before school had started last year when I had told her that we would be speaking in Spanish 90% of the time in class. She was incredibly excited about it then, during the year while we used it in class and says she misses that this year.

It was a nice visit!

Reflection - Former students

So this is my third year in school (year 10 teaching) and I have definitely come a long way since I started teaching Spanish.  I used to use textbooks that were slightly older than me. Then I tried a year with a newer textbook.  Then I tried a year or two without a textbook.  Then, I found storytelling and haven't looked back!

But in my third year, I have had a lot of students now and many of them have had exposure to my teaching and another Spanish teacher as well.  I taught Spanish 1-2 the past two years and I'm only teaching Spanish 1 this year.

I know that what I do in my classes can be slightly unorthodox for other teachers, even teachers in my department. And they teach their classes differently from me (I'm not saying people have to teach like me).  But there are times I tell my wife that I feel like I am crazy.  Here's what I believe:

1. I believe that TPRS is a really awesome way to deliver instruction
2. I believe that TPRS is great for my classroom management
3. I believe that TPR is a great tool to get the kids up and moving in class
4. I believe that incorporating music whenever possible (in a comprehensible way) is huge for my students
5. I believe that talking about my students in Spanish through stories, PQA, etc sets the tone for my classes that they will be about my students
6. I believe that going slow and looking for my students' eyes to check for their understanding is crucial to their learning
7. I believe that shaking my students' hands as they walk in and saying "buenos días", "hola" or whatever else, and slowly adding more conversational vocab as they walk in establishes the tone that you're entering the Spanish zone!
8. I believe that other activities under the umbrella of Comprehensible Input (CI) are also wonderful additions to the classroom.
9. I believe that I should do my best to speak 90% of class in Spanish in a repetitive, comprehensible and interesting way to ensure my students will acquire the language 
10. I believe that explicit grammar instruction has a smaller place in my classroom than it used to so I can teach them through using the language correctly
11. I believe that what I do is making a difference in their lives

These aren't all popular opinions in a foreign language classroom.  I've been called a maverick by an administrator at one point.  I've gotten myself into trouble with my fellow department members because I strongly believe the aforementioned items are crucial to my class for students' success (regardless of level).

But I digress.  Recently, I have had a lot of former students visit me and tell me how much my class meant to them and how much they miss it.  It's meant a lot because I give so much of myself in the school year to ensure class is a positive place where we can laugh and learn in a low stress way.  And it further affirms that all of the hard work I (and the students) put into class is worthwhile.

TPRS Year 3 - Am I preparing students for success in future Spanish classes?

This is something I have struggled with since switching to TPRS and one of my major insecurities for the coming year.

I ran across some of my former students in Walmart the other day who were taking some Spanish classes in Upward Bound.  Evidently the teacher shows my Chistes series to them in class but teaches more traditionally.  My students were struggling. One of these was a student who had me for Spanish 1 last year and soared with the language.  While she was quieter, I could tell by her warm-ups and writing samples how much of the language she was absorbing.

But she couldn't get the paradigm in this new class with the conjugation and probably being "taught" Spanish out of context.

I guess her grade isn't doing very well.  I apologized for not doing a better job preparing her for this experience but told her that the fun part is she is better at communicating in Spanish than many Spanish 1 students taught through traditional methods.  Although this still won't change her grade in her class.

This has brought up my own feelings of apprehension about the coming year with teaching in a department of more than ONE.  Yikes!  I can prepare my students for speaking Spanish and reading Spanish, but can I prepare them for GRAMMAR?

[sigh]

How do others do it without wasting too much time on grammar?