Heading to Assessment
We are in a nice little routine nowadays in French 1 and Spanish 1, doing aural input followed by writing and selected activities from Ben Slavic’s Reading Options. It is getting close to the end of the term and we will soon start to do some reviewing, some reading of all the texts we have created, and some summarizing in English to put in our reading portfolios. We will also do some listening assessments, most likely Listen and Sketch, in which we will hear a story and sketch four boxes to indicate our comprehension.
For now, we are humming along with the Aural/Written input cycle. After all, we need to provide input before assessment. Right now the only assessments have been on Interpersonal Communication. And the listening and reading assessments will only be for informational purposes only. I do not expect that every student will be at the same place because we all acquire the language on our own timeline.
In French Two, we wrote up one of the three stories written by students that I have told the class. We did have a couple of interesting moments in this class, one with the continued misuse of the hall pass and the other with a long debate as to the clarity of the way I was writing the story. But, though the class was not the world’s smoothest, I am committed to sharing in the hopes that it will help someone else. People comment all the time on my management, so I want to show that it is not smooth all the time…
In my French class, I was observed today so it looks like in the excitement I did not film.
In two out of three Spanish classes, Rhea taught them. Rhea is extremely knowledgeable about language acquisition and a firm believer in comprehensible input. Having taught college-level Spanish, she is one of the few postsecondary language teachers who actually have a background in SLA and not simply literature. She is making a big transition from an “immersion” (AKA by some people as “submersion” because it is often not comprehensible to the learner) background in postsecondary, to a more comprehension-based approach in middle school. And doing it quickly and well, and with great panache and style!
In this Spanish class, we are reviewing artists’ work and writing the story for an adorable story we created about a cloud named Phillip who is obsessed with his facial hair until one day his dear moustache (this class loves moustaches!) blows off in a big storm in the Bermuda Triangle.
Part One (review artwork)
Part Two (very short, 2:30 min, just an oral quiz)
Part Three (writing)