*Otra* leyenda ecuatorian: El Kuychi

Yup, another Ecuadorean legend here! (See here and here for two others.) This one could be used as part of a legends unit or with a health unit because two of the main characters are curanderos. 

The name of it is "El Kuychi," which according to the video below, is "el arcoiris blanco que aparece en el invierno." That mean looking guy below is el diablo Supay. 

Click here to get the free resources. Feel free to make a copy and make changes, but if you enhance activities and/or create new ones, please share back! 

Included in the folder are links to the following:

• a doc with two embedded readings, the final transcript of the audio from the video, and suggested activities to do with each version
• A link to Textivate activities for the first version
• A link to play Quizlet Live after the first version
• A link to a doc for students to read the second version aloud with a partner and choose the correct word
• A link to play Quizlet Live with comprehension questions for the second version
• A doc with a match the picture to text activity for the second version, including pics to make predictions for final version of story
• Listen to audio from video and do cloze activity
• Quizlet Diagram (new feature!) for the final version

I am sharing all of this for FREE, but if you think it is useful and has saved you some time, feel free to give back here in Radiohead style (click here to see what I mean by Radiohead style). 

And if you want another legend with very similar resources, click here for Las Guacamayas or click here for a more in depth unit about El Kichwa en el Ecuador.

Otra leyenda ecuatoriana: El nacimiento del Río Amazonas

I traveled to Ecuador this summer through ICTFL with EF Tours and it was amazing! I am very excited to teach about Ecuador this year. So, recently in my quest for engaging Ecuador resources, I discovered this YouTube Channel Zonacuariotv and I love it! It is from Ecuador and geared towards children. I found it when I was creating this unit: El Kichwa en el Ecuador. I love the wawa kichwa videos series to learn kichwa and I incorporated some of those videos into that unit. 

From there, I stumbled upon a whole bunch of leyendas ecuatorianas that I am really excited to use. They are engaging, authentic, pretty, and diverse. Within Ecuador, there is a wide variety of geography and people and these legends seem to show some of that diversity. Each of the legends is from a different place and has different indigenous roots. These are some of my favorites that I plan to develop:

• "Las guacamayas," una leyenda puruhá is from Chimborazo 
• "El nacimiento del Río Amazonas," una leyenda waoraní is from Pastaza
• "Como aparecieron los mosquitos," una leyenda cofán is from Sucumbíos
• "El Kuychi," una leyenda kañari is from Azuay
• "El origen del arcoiris," una leyenda waranka is from Bolívar 
• "Ñañe se casa," una leyenda siona-secoya is from Napo
• "El gallo y el zorro," una leyenda afroecuatoriana is from Valle del Chota
• "Nunkui," una leyenda achuar is from Morona Santiago

Arianne Dowd and I have already created some resources to go along with "Las Guacamayas," (sold on TPT and some free stuff here), but I am sharing (for free) resources to go along with "El nacimiento del Río Amazonas." I love this legend. It could be used for a lot of different units. It could definitely be a part of an environmental unit. Check it out here:

Click here to get free access to the resources. The resources includes:

• a short reading about the waoraní (indigenous people from Ecuador) 
• a slideshow (see below) that walks through the embedded readings and has other activities
• a sequencing activity for after the second embedded reading (with answer key)
• a matching text to picture for after the embedded reading (with answer key)
• a ¿Quién lo dijo?/¿Quién lo hizo? activity for after the second embedded reading (with answer key)
• a cloze activity for the final audio of the authentic video
• a doc with the final transcript and two embedded readings (that leave out the certain parts of the ending) that lead to that final, authentic transcript

I am offering all of this for FREE, but if you think it is useful and has saved you some time, feel free to give back here in Radiohead style (click here to see what I mean by Radiohead style). 

And if you want another legend with very similar resources, click here for Las Guacamayas or click here for a more in depth unit about El Kichwa en el Ecuador.

Embedded readings that lead to text with AUDIO and VIDEO

I love embedded readings that lead to an authentic text, especially when it has authentic AUDIO and VIDEO! If you want to learn more about embedded readings, click here to go Laurie Clarcq's blog.

I recently created two embedded readings that will lead students to understand the audio in this video below. You can see the second version linked here in Arianne Dowd's post (free). You can see the first version and other activities for  the whole thing here (or here in this bigger unit about kichwa in Ecuador).

When creating a embedded readings, here is what I have done (which may not be the exact, correct method, but I am sharing in case it helps anyone):

• Find an authentic text or an authentic video/audio.
• If it is a video or audio, transcribe it so that I have a text.
• I make a table with three (or four) columns. 
• Put the authentic, final version in the last column.
• Work backwards and take pieces out to simplify.
• I make two (or three) other versions in the other two columns. Column one is the simplest version.
• Simplify the language, but also include some of the authentic langue too.
• Important: Leave out some of the important details and leave room for predictions! That will help build the anticipation.
• There are several activities that could be done with each version, depending on the text. Some of the activities could be:
• basic comprehension questions in English
• listen and draw
• listen, write, exchange papers, and draw
• put in order
• who said it?
• cierto/falso
• matching pics to text
• read and circle the correct word
• textivate
• Quizlet Live with sentences (leave out certain words)
• retell story with pics
• cloze activity with final version

These are some of the (free) embedded readings that I have made and used in the past.

• El Niagara en bicicleta (a song by Juan Luis Guerra) - This was one of my first ones that I made. It is not in column form and there aren't many activities developed. But after we do this, students are able to understand the song. It is part of this unit.
• El sombrerón (a Guatemalan legend) - I LOVE this one and the final version is authentic audio. This is part of my fear and legend unit.
• Echar pa'lante (a song with a great video and message) - I love this one because it also has the final version is authentic audio.
• No voy a levantarme (a Sr. Wooly song, so not authentic, but still a good one, espcially if you like "Smells like teen spirit." He has given me permission to share.) - It is part of this unit.

Kristy Placido has made some embedded readings for a couple of short stories too:

• Chac Mool
• La Noche Boca Arriba

El Kichwa en el Ecuador

A bilingual (español y kichwa) school in Shuid, Ecuador -
This school visit inspired me to learn more about kichwa.

I traveled to Ecuador this summer on an EF Tours trip with ICTFL (even though I am from New Hampshire). I was fortunate to travel with the wonderful Carrie Toth and we knew that we would have to create something Ecuador-related to use in our classrooms. So, we have been working on a unit based on the video/song "Si tú la ves" and I can't wait to share that soon! 

But, as I have been creating that, I went down a rabbit whole of kichwa (yup "kichwa," not quechua) related resources and I created a unit that could go along with the "Si tú la ves" unit or it could be a stand-alone unit. It is called "El kichwa en el Ecuador" and I am so excited to teach this unit!!

(Or if you just want a new legend to use with a legends unit, click here.)

These are the resources included in the unit:

• These Essential Questions:
• ¿Es importante mantener vivos los idiomas y las culturas? ¿Por qué sí o no?
• ¿Qué es la interculturalidad y cómo y dónde está presente en el mundo?
• Discussion questions to get students to think about other languages and the concept of interculturality (without really explaining it) 
• A reading about el kichwa in Ecuador
• Some short activities to do with Wawa Kichwa videos/activities every day to start class for four days
• A interpretive reading activity about bilingual (kichwa/español) schools (based on a simplified version of this article). Students could do this alone, in groups or as an entire class.
• Two embedded readings related to legend "Las guacamayas" with possible assessment ideas
• A presentation that will lead teachers through the two easier versions and finally to the full audio of the video below
• A cloze activity with the audio from the video below
• A short reading about a hip hop band that sings in kichwa
• Suggestions for a final evaluation on the unit
• Update: Arianne Dowd created some free resources to go along with the second version of the embedded reading

Ingredients in the soup

During the last four days, I have been thinking a lot about all the "ingredients" that we teachers use in our classes. As teachers, we all have our own "soup" that we serve to students. (I'm pretty sure that I read this metaphor on someone else's blog.) Every teacher's "soup" is unique and there is no exact, correct recipe for language teaching. (But yes, some soups definitely "taste" better and are more nourishing!) My soup ingredients have changed a lot and my soup has gotten much better in the six years that I have been sharing on this blog, partially because it is a place of reflection, but just as much, it has helped me to create an amazing PLN that I learn so much from!

I have spent the last four days at the Express Fluency Teacher Training in Brattleboro, VT. During this time, I observed some amazing teachers (Tina Hargaden, Grant Boulanger, Dustin Williamson, Annabelle Allen -AKA la maestra loca, Elissa McClean, and Justin Slocum Bailey) in classes and learned a ton from them at sessions too. One of the best parts of this conference was observing CI classes (if you can find a conference where you can do that, go!). I spent two days acquiring some French in Tina Hargaden's class. She is an amazingly skilled CI teacher. She made it so easy that at times that I didn't even realize I was sitting in a French class. I feel like I can really implement some of these CI strategies much better now.

Another highlight was that my sons (9 & 12) were able to be in class for four days with Annabelle Allen and Grant Boulanger. They really enjoyed the classes and acquired a lot. My boys even made comments about how this way of learning (really acquiring) Spanish is so easy and fun.

So, as I was at the conference, I got to thinking about what some of the main "ingredients" in my "soup" are, and I came up with these:

• Essential Questions for each unit (my school uses UbD for all curriculum)
• I can statements for most units (work in progress)
• A variety of assessments
• Unit packets (might do less of this this year)
• A focus and understanding on proficiency levels and what students can do at each level
• Culture!
• CI (Comprehensible Input)
• Fluency Matters Novelas (for whole class novels and FVR)
• Authentic resources (commercials, infographics, articles, podcasts, etc.)
• Cortometrajes (made into Movie Talk style slideshows: Ferdinando el toro, Carmina, Tres Segundos (and others), la ciudad coloreada, tech related, amor related, and many others... )
• Music and music videos (made into Movie Talk style slideshows: Soy yo, Echar pa'lante, Un besito más, Robarte un beso,  Calaverita, El mole, Chau, Sicario, and many others...)
• Movies (made comprehensible: Canela, La misma luna, Ladrón que roba a ladrón, Diamantes Negros, 3 Bellezas, También la lluvia, In the time of the butterflies, Los colores de la montaña, Voces inocentes, Machucha, El libro de la vida, Blancanieves... and probably some others too!)
• Telenovelas (Gran Hotel y El Internado)
• Sr. Wooly songs and nuggets
• Tarea Semanal
• Breakout EDU
• Pop up grammar
• Target Structures
• TPR
• PQA
• Resources and ideas from so many awesome teachers/bloggers/sharers/publishers: Arianne Dowd, Carrie Toth, Nelly Hughes, Mike Peto, Dustin Williamson, Kristy Placido, Carol Gaab, Elena López, Amy Zimmer, Cristina Zimmerman, Martina Bex, Sharon Birch, Bethanie Drew, Zachary Jones, Cynthia Hitz, and others too!

After these last four days, I have a some new "ingredients" to add to my soup.

• More CI
• Post basic rules in classroom (a version of Grant's, Tina's, Dustin's and Tina's)
• More listening first, then reading (I frequently do these at the same time)
• Story Listening (check out Dreaming Spanish, Mike Peto, Tina Hargaden, or Señor Mississippi videos for examples)
• More Flipgrid
• OWI - I had read about One Word Images in Tina and Ben's book, but I got to see it in action from Tina. If you want to learn more, here is Ben Slavic's poster that describes One Word Images. (check out Mike Peto or Tina Hargaden for examples)
• More untargeted words
• Writing and drawing more as I talk (instead of guided notes on slideshows)
• More personalization and using students as curriculum
• Three Ring Circus
• Circling
• Some of Tina's "CI in the upper level" ideas (this would take a lot of explaining, but this is what she based her presentation off of)

I hope to share more about these new ingredients during the school year!

How to assess the "Communities: Lifelong Learning" standard?

I love the Communities: Lifelong Learning standard, but how to assess it has always been tricky for me.

I (and many others, like Laura Sexton most recently) have blogged about "choice homework". In my classes, I call it "Tarea Semanal" it has gone through many variations, particularly in how I grade it and what percentage of my students' overall grade it counts for. First semester of this year I will be teaching Cultura y Civilización (Spanish 4/5/+) and Spanish 3, and both of those classes will do Tarea Semanal.

For my Cultura y Civilización class, I am thinking about using a Standards Based Grading approach. In my district, we have true Standard Based Grading in grades K-8. The report cards show each standard and they get a 1-4 for each. There are about 20+ standards on the report card. At the high school, students still get the traditional number grades, but we might be moving towards a more Standards Based System. So, (I think) I am going to use these percentages in my grade book this year:

• 50% Communication (broken down into the three modes of communication)
• 30% Cultures/Comparisons/Connections
• 10% Communities
• 10% Work Habits (not a WL standard, but this is where students will be assessed with school wide rubrics on a variety of things, including: collaboration, time on task, creativity, etc.)

I know that this is not a true standard based grading approach, because if it were, there wouldn't be one grade, but rather several (possibly 11 for the standards and sub-standards)... but this is the best I can do under the system that I am working. There is so much overlap with these standards, but having these categories will make me focus on making sure that I am assessing all of them.

So, anyways, how to does Tarea Semanal fit into all of this? Tarea Semanal will be the way that I am assessing the Communities: Lifelong Learning standard and I have come up with this rubric (click here to see it) to help me assess my students. The rubric (like all rubrics!) will help in several ways: explain my expectations to my students so they can meet "exemplary" in this standard, give them more targeted feedback, and help me to give them a fair grade.

Do you use Standards Based Grading? How do you assess the Communities: Lifelong Standard?

Robarte un beso

Have you seen the video for "Robarte un beso" by Carlos Vives and Sebastián Yatra? The song is catchy, easy to understand, and appropriate! And the video is sweet and appropriate too!

Arianne Dowd and I spent some serious hours with this video (therefore we are selling the majority of these things on TPT, but there are two freebies at the bottom of this post)! We have created a whole bunch of activities (best for Spanish 3+) to go along with the song including:

• "I can" statements aligned to the ACTFL Standards to share with students at the beginning of the unit
• A suggested order of activities for the unit
• A list of possible assessments aligned to the ACTFL Standards
• A Movie Talk Slideshow that shows images of the video with the story 
• A cultural reading about the tradition of serenades with a follow up comprehension activity 
• A cultural reading about el vallenato with a follow up comprehension activity 
• A reading about relationships with related PQA for before and discussion questions for after 
• A prediction activity with some pictures from the video 
• A reading called "Problemas con el amor" that tells the stories of the four couple in the video with a follow up comprehension activity 
• A matching activity with pictures from the video and descriptions 
• An "advertisement" for "los Doctores de Amor" (Carlos Vives y Sebastián Yatra) with a follow up comprehension activity 
• A sequence of events activity to go along with the video 
• A ¿Quién lo hizo? activity that goes along with the video Short biographical readings about Carlos Vives y Sebastián Yatra with follow up comprehension activities 
• A put the song in order activity to do while listening to the song 
• A classic, basic, cloze activity to do while listening to the song An Instagram activity relating to the story of the characters in the video 
• A "Grítalo" activity 
• A "Blind Retell" activity of story gesture reading

You can find them all on Teachers Pay Teachers in Arianne's store.

We are sharing this slideshow (click here for PDF) that tells the story of the video. And here is a basic cloze activity and a "put in order" activity for the song lyrics.