Bryan Kandel TPRS

Below is the video from Tuesday’s webinar on teaching remotely with CI.  In the video, I present some principals and a few specific programs that have been useful for me.  In short . . .

• Do what you normally do:
  • For me it’s jokes, trivia questions, songs, stories, videos, personal questions and cultural readings.
• Reduce the amount:
  • For me it’s 10-20 minutes each day.
• Record it:
  • I use Screencast-o-matic.
• Make sure students watch it:
  • I try to get students to buy in.
  • I use Google Forms, EdPuzzle and Flipgrid.
• Trust the input

Teaching remotely is not ideal, but many of us find ourselves quickly learning to become online instructors.  Join us today at 1:00 pm EST as I share principles and specific programs I use to teach Comprehensible Input in a remote setting.

Register here:  Teaching World Languages Remotely with CI

Comprehensible Input classes are built on exposure to natural language use and interaction between students and teachers. How do exposure and interaction fit in a remote learning situation? Is it even possible to provide input while not in the same room with your students? Yes. It is not an ideal situation, but we can help our students grow in proficiency even when we are separated. We will discuss principles that apply to most remote learning classes, such as providing compelling content, keeping students accountable, personalizing content, and creating practical assessments. We will also examine a few specific resources that can be used to increase the amount of input we provide and improve the experience. The strategies and resources we discuss will be useful for any future out-of-classroom learning.

El Carterista de Pamlona, my latest Spanish novel, is now available from Voces Digital.

For Arturo Lopez, the greatest pickpocket in all of Pamplona, the San Fermín festival is the best time of year. Thousands of tourists invade his hometown every July to run with the bulls, watch bullfights, dine in Hemingway’s favorite cafes, dance in the streets, and leave behind ordinary life for eight days of celebration. Much to Arturo’s delight, they come with their passports, their cell phones, and their wallets full of cash.

An unexpected run-in with the police leads Arturo to the opportunity of a lifetime—a job so rewarding it could change his future. As he seeks to gain incredible wealth, he learns even more about his city and the festival that has made it famous. He quickly finds himself in over his head, running for his life, and learning lessons he never knew he needed to learn.

This action-packed story—with color illustrations, multiple tenses, 625 unique words, and a glossary—is comprehensible for intermediate-level students in late Spanish 3 and above.

To read the first chapter, purchase copies of the book and find more information, visit this page.

Thanks!

Bryan

On October 11, I’ll be presenting an OFLA sponsored workshop in Avon Lake, Ohio.  We’ll discuss and try out several strategies to make reading compelling, comprehensible and varied.  See the information below.  I’d love to see you there.

Reading is an essential source of input in all world language classes.  Students who read well quickly improve their proficiency. However, engaging students in the reading process can be a challenge for teachers.  How do we provide compelling texts that our students will want to read? How do we make the texts comprehensible? How do we know if the students have understood?  How do we expand a text into cultural discussion in the target language? How do we create a classroom culture in which reading is accepted and enjoyed? In this workshop, we will explore strategies and techniques for increasing reading engagement in the world language classroom.  

• Special NEOEA Day Pricing
• Bring your own device
• Continental breakfast included, please bring a lunch (refrigerator/microwave available)
• 5 contact hours
• Enter through south parking lot doors
• Register here
• Registration is non-refundable
• More info: holly.haputa@gmail.com

Here is the video of the webinar I presented for Voces Digital earlier this week.  As I mention several times in the webinar, I believe a healthy classroom culture is essential for CI success.  If you’d like to see the slides that I used and be able to check out all the links, you can find them here.

Slides: Cultivating Classroom Culture

Enjoy!

For those who attended one of the sessions at Mitten CI, you can access the slideshow from the following link.  Thank you for a great day!.

Mitten CI – Seamless CI Classroom 

Here is a lesson based on a story I wrote for Nuestra Historia 3.

La Llegada de María is one of several short stories that make up Nuestra historia Level 3.  Nuestra historia Level 3 is a collection of culturally relevant stories with accompanying activities, authentic resources, assessments, and opportunities for further investigation. All units of Nuestra historia are based on AP themes, set in Spanish-speaking countries, and completely customizable.

La Llegada de María is set in Puerto Rico in 2017. It begins with preparations for the
coming of Hurricane María. While most Puerto Ricans are evacuating to seek safety,
Natalia, who is eight months pregnant, must remain. Her boyfriend, Enrique, refuses
to leave her on the island. He stays to protect Natalia and their unborn son from the
coming storm. When the baby decides to arrive a few weeks early, Natalia and Enrique must make their way through the flooded streets to the hospital, risking their own lives to save their child.

This action-packed story highlights the importance of loyalty and generosity, and
ends with a message of hope. The target structures, which are based on compelling,
high-frequency language that is useful for communication beyond the story itself,
are repeated several times to aid in comprehension and to help internalize the
vocabulary. The accompanying activities require students to engage with the story
and think critically about its themes and language use. The audio files can be used to
enhance the presentation of the text or activities.

You can find the lesson here:

La Llegada de María

Enjoy!

I love to write stories in Spanish and create compelling content for Spanish students.  So far in 2018, I’ve had an incredible opportunity to do both.  It has been my privilege to serve as the lead author for Nuestra Historia 3 and Nuestra Historia 4.  Both titles are part of the Comprehensible Input based curriculum produced by Voces Digital.  If you teach Spanish, I highly recommend these materials.  I was contracted to write stories by Voces Digital.  I am not otherwise employed by Voces Digital and DO NOT receive more or less of a payment  based on sales.  Thus, these comments and recommendations are my own and do not represent any sponsorship or promotion.

The entire Nuestra Historia program includes levels 1 – 4 of Spanish.  One of the foundations of the program is specialized contributions from several different CI teachers.  My role was to write nearly 70 short stories for levels 3 and 4.  Other teachers and experts contributed other components, such as story scripts (Jim Tripp), activities and Movie Talk scripts (Rachel Emery, Kara Jacobs, Beth Gregones and Stacia Ford), communicative tasks (Diane Aretz), biographies (Dirk Esterline and Arianne Dowd), articles (Minerva Hurtado Requejo) and consultation for all materials (Allysen Clancy).

Nuestra Historia is NOT a textbook with a few CI components included in an effort to sell more copies.  It IS a collection of culturally relevant stories with accompanying activities, authentic resources, assessments and opportunities for further investigation.  It is created for and by CI teachers.  It is especially useful for teachers who are new to CI and need a structure as a starting point and for experienced CI teachers who want to include more cultural relevance in their lessons.

All units of Nuestra Historia are based on AP themes, set in Spanish speaking countries, digital and customizable.  Teachers can edit and adapt as they need.  The materials are available for student devices or to be projected and printed.

Here is a video tutorial I created for the first unit of Nuestra Historia 3.  The first four minutes are an introduction to the curriculum.   The rest is a quick demonstration of many of the components in a unit.

Want to try it out?  How about a full access free trial?

Nuestra Historia Free Trial 

Nuestra Historia 3 is available now, and Nuestra Historia 4 will be released soon.

If you have questions, you can contact Erin at erina@vocesdigital.com

Enjoy!