TCI Maine Takeaway: La estrella del día

Update - 1/30/17 - Here is a sheet for Spanish 2. Many of the questions are similar to the ones that I share below. Feel free to make  a copy and use it.

Update - 1/8/16 - Using "La Estrella de Día" in Spanish 1 was a great success! I am going to use it second semester with my Spanish 3 and Cultura y Civilización classes and I have adapted the questions. Click here to see the question sheet and here to see the slideshow template. Feel free to make a copy and use and/or adapt.

Also, here is a doc with some possible questions in French! Thanks Alice Ayel!

Just back from my first TCI Maine conference and it was fantastic! Skip Crosby and his wife do an excellent job of organizing this small, but very valuable conference. As always, it is really invigorating to be around like-minded professionals who are on the same path.

Sr. Wooly, Eric Herman, Sabrina Janczak, Laurie Clarcq, and Anne Matava were all engaging, kind, passionate, highly skilled TCI teachers who shared a ton. My biggest takeaways are: go slow, repeat, and personalize.

There is also one thing that I am definitely going to start using. It is Sabrina's "La Estrella del Día" idea. Sabrina said that she adapted the idea from Bryce Hedstrom's "La Persona Especial" idea. The idea is this:

• Students fill out a form with interview questions on it (with the help from the teacher). 
• Here is a document that I created (very similar to what Sabrina shared). Feel free to make a copy and add or subtract questions.
• The teacher collects the sheets and then "interviews" 2-4 students a week. The rest of the class listens respectfully. The question slideshow, with images to help comprehension (this one is for Spanish 1), is projected during the interview so that everyone understands.
• During the interview, the teacher asks follow up questions to the star of the day and/or asks related questions to the class.
• The teacher also takes a picture of them the day of the interview.
• The day after the interview, the teacher shares the slideshow (with pictures that illustrate the answers and the picture of the student) to review the information shared the day before. See examples here.
• Here is template for the presentación. It has the same questions as the doc above.
• At the end of the week, there is a quiz (more personalized CI!) like this. I think towards the end of Spanish 1 and/or in higher levels, I will ask them to write 3-5 facts about each person.
• This is an ongoing activity that could take many weeks.

Here are the reasons WHY Sabrina suggested this activity:

• Repetition that never gets boring
• Compelling: it's always about them, their favorite topic
• Students feel important and special --- a picture (selfie or not)
• Make students shine
• Authentic conversation
• Supported output (students use notes)
• after 4 or 5, students start to write notes
• speaking
• writing
• A chance to practice 1st, 2nd, 3rd person forms
• Higher order thinking
• I also think this will be a way to create a positive class culture.