FLAM encore presentation - Stay on Target

Here are my presentation slides for my encore presentation from FLAM with links to what I mentioned!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_jfUujjoeDHUEx1ZnVwNE1QaTg

FLAM / KSWLA presentation: Stay on Target!

So I asked awhile back about people's thoughts on what I should present at FLAM this year. And here is my title, blurb.

Stay on Target! Ten Target Teaching Techniques & Tips

Presenter: Jeremy Jordan, Lee's Summit High School, Lee's Summit, MO

Jeremy Jordan of Lee’s Summit High School explains various techniques that he uses in his classroom to push TL usage to 90% or higher, while still helping class be a fun, positive yet rigorous place to be. Examples will be straight from Spanish class, but will be relevant to any classroom.

Audience: All Language: Presented in English Theme: Best Practices

And I came up with quite a loaded presentation.

If you want to see it, here it is!  I tried to include a lot of activities I use or have used in the past to help push my students to using more TL in the classroom.

Of course, there are so many other things I have found success with, but these are some of the most powerful that I have used that have resonated with my students.

And here are my presentation notes in a convenient PDF for you!

FLAM Presentation - Stay on Target!

Siri and foreign languages

Last week on Friday I was feeling goofy (wait ME?).  So as I talked about the days of the week as part of the class warm-up I told them that it was actually Wednesday and they were insisting that it was Friday, and we had PAT (Preferred Activity Time).

I moved on and as I asked them how they were doing, some of them talked about how they were good because it was Friday and I would argue how it was Wednesday (in the TL). But finally since they insisted so much, I threw my hands up in the air (to practice a phrase from our story) and yelled "Necesito ayuda" (I need help!).

I went over and picked up my iPhone and asked Siri if she spoke Spanish. Magically it let me change it right there to Spanish. And I asked her in Spanish, "What day is today?"

She responded in the TL "Today is Friday,...".  My favorite part was the expression on my kids' faces as they saw that Siri (something many of them use) can speak Spanish!

So now I have another voice in the target language whenever I forget silly things like math to ask my kids, "What is 3 + 3 again?" (in TL).

If you haven't tried it yet, you should! It's pretty fun.

*I tried it again today (in my other classes due to Block scheduling) and they were also amazed at her ability to speak Spanish, and it just made for a fun random moment. In one class I had to ask her a match question because I couldn't figure out if there were 6 or 10 squares on a paper. Turns out Siri is good at math! :-)