I was out of class on Friday for a professional day, and I decided to use screencast-o-matic in my place.  It was a nice way to include some input on a day without the usual source of input (me).  Based on the reaction from students today, it worked very well.  Here’s what I did:

1. I choose three structures that I could teach to various levels.  I knew I didn’t have time to create multiple videos, so I came up with structures that were not difficult but had not been a focus before.  The structures were:

es un placer conocerte – it’s a pleasure to meet you

igualmente  – likewise

Se portó mal – behaved badly

Se portaba mal – used to behave badly

¿Qué tal si . . .? – What if . . .

**5 is more structures than we would normally have, but there are really three sets of structures here.

2. I wrote a short story using the structures.

3. I created a Power Point presentation that included examples of the structures, personal questions and the story with images.   I included some silliness – Dora and Boots as guest teachers and some simple animation (multiple slides showing movement).

4. I narrated the Power Point, using my own voice in a microphone and screencast-o-matic.  It recorded every slide and everything I said.

5. I also left a slide with comprehension and extension questions.

6. Today, I was back in class.  We reviewed the structures with some personalized questions (Who behaved badly during the weekend . . . etc.)  We went over the question slide from Friday.

7. We did some practice activities with the structures and a couple short readings.  I spent time with the structures today because I knew it would be needed.  The video was effective, but not near as thorough as if I had been in class.

Here’s the video.  *Warning: It is a bit silly.  You could probably do better, but you get the idea.