Category Archives: Reading

Readings database

Posted on January 22, 2014 by bryankandel

Another site update is complete . . . ish.  I cleaned up and organized many of my past reading texts and created a database.  Each story is accompanied by a list of the emphasized structures and grammar focus.  Each title … Continue reading →

Posted in Reading | Leave a comment

The magical toad that changed my life

Posted on January 19, 2014 by bryankandel

Here are a couple of activities for comparing tenses with students.  We started with the following story script to be asked in class.  The emphasized structures were: tocaba la batería – used to play the drums era perezoso(a) – was … Continue reading →

Posted in Reading, Story activities, Story Scripts | Leave a comment

Keeping in touch

Posted on December 26, 2013 by bryankandel

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Google Voice.  Here’s a way I’m using it to keep in touch with students during a break. I created a Google Voice activity and used twitter to notify students about it. … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Communicative Activities, Reading, Speaking, Technology | Leave a comment

Reminded of the power of personalized reading

Posted on December 23, 2013 by bryankandel

Here are two readings that we used in different levels recently: La entrevista  Leonardo llegó tarde Both readings were received well, led to retention of terms and reiterate the idea that personalized reading is most effective.  As you read them, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reading, Reflections | Leave a comment

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

Embedded Reading – Hay que aprender idiomas

Posted on May 9, 2013 by bryankandel

Here is an embedded reading we completed recently in level 2.  It is not a typical embedded reading because there are only two versions and the base version is longer than it should be.  The focus structures were: Me cuesta … Continue reading →

Posted in Embedded Reading, Reading | Leave a comment

Inklewriter

Posted on April 17, 2013 by bryankandel

I tried inklewriter for the first time (here).  Inklewriter allows you to create interactive writings.  The result is similar to the old “choose your own adventure” books.  Readers select from different options to direct the path of the story.  It … Continue reading →

Posted in Reading, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

El abrigo anaranjado – an embedded reading

Posted on April 3, 2013 by bryankandel

In Spanish 2, we’ve been working with an embedded reading that I created entitled, “El abrigo anaranjado” (The orange coat).  I created this reading because I wanted to work on some structures that would be important for viewing the “Alma” … Continue reading →

Posted in Embedded Reading, Reading | 2 Comments

Future from past POV

Posted on April 1, 2013 by bryankandel

Here’s a fun way to work on future tense.  Show students your plans for the future from when you were their age.  Of course, your future plans were a bit wild and just happened to contain a lot of useful … Continue reading →

Posted in Reading | 1 Comment