Regardless of where you teach, what age student you teach, or what subject you teach - you have likely been asked to demonstrate how you use "research-based strategies" in your teaching.  The most popular and widely studied of those strategies were developed by Dr. Marzano.  He identified 9 strategies that have been proven to be effective (in varying degrees) by research.  Even if you know these strategies though, it is not always clear how they should or could be put to use in your classroom.  So, I thought I would take some time to go through each one and give some ideas as to how they can be used specifically in the instruction of foreign language.

We will start with the most effective strategy; Identifying Similarities & Differences

Falling under this strategy include activities that ask students to compare, classify, and create metaphors & analogies.

1) Comparison

-Have students compare cultural celebration and practices from the target culture to their own using a venn diagram or comparison matrix

-Have students compare the meaning of a series of vocabulary words (cocinar, cocina, cocinero) and then another that includes at least one of the same words (cocinero, bombero, enfermero)

2)  Classifying

 -Have students take a list of vocabulary to be learned and break it into their own categories.  For example, upon receiving a list of words related to the house, students might classify words for items based on what room of the house they would commonly be found in.

-Have students look closely at verbs used in sentences and classify them according to the subject

3)  Creating Analogies

-Give students two words and ask them to think about the relationship between those two things, then give them a third word and have them come up with a word that relates in the same way.  For example, comer is to pollo as beber is to _______?

Looking for activities that fit this strategy?  Here are a few of my favorites...click to learn more!

Each year I choose a mode of communication that I, as a teacher, really want to work on improving my instruction.  I read a lot of articles and do research, and then I try different approaches in my classroom to see what works and what doesn't.  This year I have focused on how I can improve the way I teach listening and wanted to share what I have learned.

1) Listening is not as easy as it sounds

If you break down this concept of interpretive listening into smaller parts, you will find that in order to get students to that goal of being able to actually INTERPRET what they are hearing, they first have to develop some more basic skills.  

2) Assume nothing

Regardless of the level of student you teach, never assume that their skills are at a certain place just because they "should be" at that place.  Unfortunately, "should be's" don't matter and will actually railroad your plans when you get down to the reality of what listening looks like in the classroom. 

3) Differentiation does not have to be difficult

I admit, there are still times when I cringe at the sound of the word "differentiation" because to me it is just code for "more work".  However, small differentiations can make goals reachable for a larger number of your students and assure that students at the bottom and the top are not getting left out.

So, let's start by breaking down interpretive listening and all the little parts and pieces that students need to be able to do.

The most basic of listening skills is aural recognition, or the ability for students to recognize a word by the sound it makes when spoken.  Aural recognition involves understanding phonics.  Activities that target aural recognition include any kind of cloze activity in which students are to write what they hear.  This could be filling in lyrics to a song, blanks in an audio script, or taking dictations.  Easier aural recognition activities will involve known words while more challenging ones will involve unknown words.

​​Vocabulary knowledge is another key skill.  After all, just because you can correctly reproduce a word you hear due to the phonetic patterns of Spanish doesn't mean you know what the word means.  Listening is not just about individual word meanings either, it's about how those words function within a context.  Activities that target vocabulary knowledge might come in the form of a checklist where students must check off the meanings of the words they hear.  These activities might also draw students attention to unknown words and ask them to specifically consider the context.

​Comprehension is one of the most important real life listening skills.  At the root of communication is being able to pass information on to others, but if the other person does not understand the information you are trying to communicate, the exchange is useless.  Comprehension requires students to not only know the meanings of a good portion of the words in the communication, but also to have strategies for dealing with the words they do not know.  Activities that target comprehension should really be done in the students' native language.  Sure, we are supposed to stay in the target language the majority of the time, but if you are really trying to get an accurate picture of comprehension, you need to let students express it in a way that is more than just repetition of what they heard.  Having to explain things in their native language prevents them from being able to parrot what they heard in Spanish.

​Communication of information involves students being able to take information they learn and pass that information on to someone else.  You have all played the game "telephone" where a message is passed around the room orally and when you get to the last person the message has turned into something quite different than the original.  This game demonstrates how complicated the process of communication truly is.  Activities that focus on communication of information will ask students to recall details, summarize, and search for main ideas.

Making inferences is a high level skill that would be difficult to accomplish for any student if they had not spent time focusing on the skills before.  When you ask students to make inferences and interpret, you are asking them to read between the lines.  It's not just about what is said, but how it is said, and what may not have been said at all.  Activities targeting the skill of inferring will ask students to generalize, make assumptions, and synthesize information they have heard.  

​Finally, the idea of culture should not be ignored even in listening.  Giving students authentic materials to listen to means the culture is already embedded in that material and it is up to you to pull that culture out and put it in front of your students for consideration.  For example, listening to a student describe their school schedule in the United States would be inherently different than listening to a student describe their school schedule in Mexico.  It's not just the language that is different, but the way a school schedule is structured.  Helping students to take note of and think about these differences will open their eyes to similarities and differences across cultures.

Looking for listening samples and activities that have already been created to address and target all of the skills mentioned in this article?  I've got you covered!

This month is all about exposing students to Spanish Language music.  I know many of you use music when you teach, but there are always some great songs out there that just don't fit into the themes or mechanics that you teach throughout the year.  "Marzo de Música" is a chance to let students hear what teenagers in Latin America (and right here in the U.S.) are listening to.  

So, each day this month, my students will be listening to two Spanish Language songs from a variety of genres including rock, alternative, pop, bachata, regional, and urbana.  After hearing both songs we do a vote on which one they like better and the winning song moves onto the next round.  By the end of the month, one song will earn the coveted title of "Mejor Canción del Año".

This activity takes no more than 10 minutes per day and is well worth it.  You will see your students making connections to the music, learning the choruses, and adding these songs to their own playlists.  Not to mention, once the songs are planned out, this is a stress-free activity for teachers.  I have had tons of students come back from years past and tell me "I still listen to X song all the time".  It's the perfect combination of fun and learning.

So, without further ado, here are the results from Week 1 of "Marzo de Música":