The Low-Stress Finale: Wrapping up the School Year with Graphic Novels There are a lot of ways to bring the school year to a close and not every way works for everyone. This year I personally feel like a soldier marching back from war and don't have the mental bandwidth for much at this point. As…

The Low-Stress Finale: Wrapping up the School Year with Graphic Novels

There are a lot of ways to bring the school year to a close and not every way works for everyone. This year I personally feel like a soldier marching back from war and don't have the mental bandwidth for much at this point. As you can see, I haven't blogged for a minute and I really don't have time now either.

srajensen.com

Do you teach upper level Spanish in high school or college? I am taking my classes to Film Streams, an educational theater screening El espíritu de la colmena / The Spirit of the Beehive, set in Spain during Franco's dictatorship. Read on for free, high quality resources by yours truly!

A Ready-to-Use Guide for Spain’s Most Symbolic Film

Preparing to teach Víctor Erice’s 1973 masterpiece, El espíritu de la colmena, can be as daunting as it is rewarding. I'm taking my students to see it thanks to Film Streams' School to Screen program and want to make sure they get the most out of the experience. I honestly hadn't heard of it before, but have been blown away by the reviews.

srajensen.com

Unlock Peace and Joy with Reading Picture this: your most energetic class is quiet, engaged, and acquiring language at a level you didn't think was possible. And with a little front end set up, you have zero prep for it the rest of the year. Yeah right, you think. Not MY freshmen. And how much…

Pitufar: an upper level low/no prep game This is a huge flashback for me. I remember smurfs (los pitufos en español) were all the rage when in was in 3rd grade. I used to draw them all the time for my friends and even made a poster that won 1st place at the prestigious Smurf Pancake Feed 😂. Well…

Pitufar: an upper level low/no prep game

This is a huge flashback for me. I remember smurfs (los pitufos en español) were all the rage when in was in 3rd grade. I used to draw them all the time for my friends and even made a poster that won 1st place at the prestigious Smurf Pancake Feed 😂. Well 40+ years later I found myself at a summer scholarship program at the University of Salamanca only to have the professor talking about smurfs!

srajensen.com

Tea for 2s In case you missed my previous post on tea parties, I suggest you check that out first. I had only done a tea party with my upper level students before. I wondered, "How does a tea party go with novice learners?" Well today I found out first hand! And as you can tell by the looks on my…

Let’s have a tea party! A tea party is an interactive experience and the perfect way to hook your students on any novel, show or story that has several characters before beginning to read (or watch) it. I first learned about doing a tea party from Rita Barrett at AATSP and was charmed off the bat,…

Let’s have a tea party!

A tea party is an interactive experience and the perfect way to hook your students on any novel, show or story that has several characters before beginning to read (or watch) it. I first learned about doing a tea party from Rita Barrett at AATSP and was charmed off the bat, as I'm sure you will be too! I would be much better letting you read about it from Rita herself in this guest appearance on Sra.

srajensen.com

¡AI-yúdame! Snorkl – (for feedback on speaking and thinking) If you're like me, you do informal assessing all the time, but the formal not so much. Students respond chorally in Spanish, interact in pairs and small groups, but seldom get that one on one attention and feedback in a large class…

¡AI-yúdame! Snorkl – (for feedback on speaking and thinking)

If you're like me, you do informal assessing all the time, but the formal not so much. Students respond chorally in Spanish, interact in pairs and small groups, but seldom get that one on one attention and feedback in a large class setting. My Spanish 2 classes are usually 30 kids, and even one of my IB Spanish classes had 30 last year.

srajensen.com

¡AI-yúdame! Brisk – (for feedback on writing) This is the second post I'm making about an AI tool for writing proficiency feedback. If you didn't get a chance to read my post on Class Companion yet, you can read it here. Brisk teaching is a Google Chrome extension that requires that you give it…

¡AI-yúdame! Brisk – (for feedback on writing)

This is the second post I'm making about an AI tool for writing proficiency feedback. If you didn't get a chance to read my post on Class Companion yet, you can read it here. Brisk teaching is a Google Chrome extension that requires that you give it permission to access your Google Drive. Once you have installed it, a little icon will appear on your screen any time you have a document open that you can use it with.

srajensen.com

Day one: success! I feel like I had a very successful first day of school today and would like to give you a glimpse of my Spanish 2 and IB classes on day 1. Spanish 2 I began with some Latin pop/reggaetón music playing as they students entered. I greeted them at the door with a nonthreatening…

Day one: success!

I feel like I had a very successful first day of school today and would like to give you a glimpse of my Spanish 2 and IB classes on day 1. Spanish 2 I began with some Latin pop/reggaetón music playing as they students entered. I greeted them at the door with a nonthreatening "hola" and a smile Using slide 1…

srajensen.com

Start the Year Right: Tools to Help Explain Your Acquisition-Driven Approach Whether you’ve dipped your toes in or jumped all the way into teaching with a focus on comprehensible input, you’ve surely realized that it is a decisive paradigm shift for students. They are not learning about the…

Start the Year Right: Tools to Help Explain Your Acquisition-Driven Approach

Whether you’ve dipped your toes in or jumped all the way into teaching with a focus on comprehensible input, you’ve surely realized that it is a decisive paradigm shift for students. They are not learning about the language you’re teaching, rather they’re learning about other things using the language. Focusing on the messages themselves as a means to learning that language, instead of the language itself, can be counterintuitive.

srajensen.com

The future of ACTFL is bright!! Thank you for your service, LJ. Welcome, Milton and next Queen Krishauna!! @proferandolph.bsky.social #actfl

Choosing a CI reader #actfl @doriec.bsky.social

Whether or not our students continue to study language past year one, they will live in a diverse society. Why are we waiting to teach everything except language comprehension until years 2+? #actfl @doriec.bsky.social

12% say it’s of no importance that comprehensible readers include 🏳️‍🌈 characters. We have a little ways to go, folks. @doriec.bsky.social #actfl

This checks - I only ever get push back when I’m teaching anything besides strictly communication in Spanish #actfl @doriec.bsky.social

Come find out what all the hype is about @senorwooly.com Booth 1313 #ACTFL Bonus if you find Jim!

IB language teachers: Let's build a community at #actfl24 as @srajensen.bsky.social & I talk about CAS connections at our roundtable. Tomorrow morning at 10am in the roundtables area of the exhibit hall.

I'm excited to collaborate with reps from AATG & AATF to present about the benefits of world language honor societies Saturday at 2:30. #actfl24

Language learning and education should not be limited to capitalists pursuits. @proferandolph.bsky.social #actfl24

Hot place to shop! Check out Command Performance Books! #1324 #actfl

“Perfection is not the goal. Connection is the goal.” #actfl

ACTFL president @proferandolph.bsky.social emphasizes that creating learning environments that use language as liberation can happen at EVERY language at EVERY level. #actfl24

“Self care is not selfish. Self care is necessary.” #sherylleeralph #actfl

“Diversity matters. One of the greatest things that has ever happened to me is that I got to meet a whole lot of different people.” #actfl #sherylleeralph

Joy is inextricably linked to a commitment to liberation which is the central theme of this year’s convention. @proferandolph.bsky.social #actfl24

This opening session is resonating with me and making me teary-eyed. I learned Spanish as a way to reclaim a language that was stolen from my family through racism and assimilation. I am proud to be Puerto Rican and proud to be resisting oppression through my language! 🇵🇷 #actfl24

Congratulations!!

Ben Fisher-Rodriguez@mrfishersays.bsky.social · 2y ago

SCREAMING. Kei is such an inspirational educator, this is so well-deserved. 😭😭😭

Language as liberation. Periodt #actfl

“Your well-being is the foundation of everything you do… if you don’t take care of yourselves, you cannot hold onto your joy” #ACTFL

The energy and inspiration going on rn is bonkers #actfl #actfl25