Author Archives: bryankandel

Entrevista con Dr. Phil

Posted on October 28, 2013 by bryankandel

After reading the story about the woman who was in love with a duck (last post), we completed this activity.  Students work in pairs to complete two interviews.  In the first, one student is Dr. Phil and the other is … Continue reading →

Posted in Classroom activities, Communicative Activities, Reading, Speaking | Leave a comment

The magic doll and the woman who was in love with a duck

Posted on October 23, 2013 by bryankandel

Here’s a recent reading that was received well.  It’s a rather tragic story about the power of love. We read this a couple weeks after watching Alma.  You may see the connection and use of shared vocabulary. Link to Google … Continue reading →

Posted in Reading | 4 Comments

Murder Mystery – An interactive embedded reading

Posted on October 22, 2013 by bryankandel

Not long ago, we completed a short murder mystery unit.  I developed the unit because I wanted a good setting to expose students to the use of preterite and imperfect in Spanish.  The unit was based around an embedded reading. … Continue reading →

Posted in Embedded Reading | 7 Comments

The power of context

Posted on September 30, 2013 by bryankandel

We were working with giving and following directions today (turn right, turn left, go straight . . . etc.).  I had students pretend to drive cars while I showed them projected road signs and told them to turn or go … Continue reading →

Posted in Movie Talk, Reflections | 2 Comments

When it falls apart

Posted on September 22, 2013 by bryankandel

Unfortunately, not all TPRS stories work in class as they do in my head.  Yesterday, we were working with these structures: Soy el rey – I am the king La gente grita – the people yell Tiene miedo – he/she … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections, Stories/Storytelling | Leave a comment

Phone message retells

Posted on September 13, 2013 by bryankandel

Here’s another way I’ve used Google Voice to evaluate speaking.  I’ll briefly detail the four days from presentation of vocabulary to student retells. We were using the unit, “un accidente de autobus”.  Vocabulary and text here. Day 1: Presentation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Story activities, Technology | Leave a comment

El hombre rico no sabe la verdad

Posted on September 9, 2013 by bryankandel

Here’s an easy story script that I used recently.  It’s simple, but it’s a good example of how I approach grammar concepts.  Among other things, my school’s pacing guide states that I should cover “saber/conocer”, “stem-changing verbs” and “superlatives” early … Continue reading →

Posted in Stories/Storytelling | Leave a comment

Los chistes

Posted on September 5, 2013 by bryankandel

About 6 years ago, I was teaching English in Costa Rica.  One day, something came up in class that made me think of a joke.  I think we were talking about animal paws, and it reminded me of the joke … Continue reading →

Posted in Classroom activities | 5 Comments

Freeze Frame

Posted on September 3, 2013 by bryankandel

The following activity was used today as a transition between two main vocabulary sets.  Last week, we watched and discussed the paperman video.  During the discussion, I focused on three terms: estaba enojado – was angry no quería trabajar – … Continue reading →

Posted in Classroom activities | 1 Comment

Google voice for participation makeup

Posted on September 2, 2013 by bryankandel

After a couple weeks of getting settled into the school year, we are ready to begin tracking participation points.  Again this year, I will be using class dojo.  I am at a new school now, so the process will be … Continue reading →

Posted in Participation, Technology | Leave a comment