A grammar workbook!?! Yup.

I am writing this post because I have shared this with a few teachers and thought it might be helpful for other teachers  (especially if you are tied to teaching grammar).

My Cultura y Civilización class is a Spanish 4 for some students, a Spanish 5 for others, and, this year, a Spanish 6 for four students took AP Spanish last year. Only the students who took the "regular" Spanish 4 Honors class, can take Cultura y Civilización for Honors credit... so how to differentiate (besides adapting assessments and grading according to their level)???

For the past five years, I have been using a grammar workbook (gasp!). (Almost) every week the Honors students do a chapter in Breaking the Barrier Intermediate workbook. They do it totally outside of class and on their own. We do not discuss it in class, but they are free to come to me for help during our TASC block (but very few ever do). They get an answer key for the practice activities and then take the "prueba" at the end of each chapter. It is an open book "prueba" and I grade it. It is 10% of their overall grade.

I should note, these are not your "typical" students; these are the high-fliers, the high achievers, the thinkers, and (for the most part) the hard-workers. I have found that this has helped some students with their accuracy and it has helped them review old vocabulary and learn new words as well. Many students have also told me that it helped them as they made the transition to university, where there is still a lot of focus on grammar.

Again, if you are tied to teaching grammar, this is a great way to do it too ----> outside of the classroom!! John Conner's explanations are easy to understand and practical. There are also a lot of comical sentences and pop culture reference in his workbooks. If you have seen him present (he is usually at ACTFL and some other regional and state conferences), he is a great presenter too!