Spanish Websites Post #3

Univision: http://www.univision.com/portal.jhtml - Univision: Entretenimiento, Música, Deportes, Noticias, y Comunidad

Univision is actually a Spanish television network in the United States, and this is its website. It has a plethora of Spanish articles on multiple topics. The website functions similarly to a newspaper website, such as the New York Times. There are news articles, videos, healthy and beauty articles, recipes, sports, etc. This would be a great website to show videos from in the classroom, whether on a specific topic or just to hear the language. I could also create question and answer guides to go with the videos. For homework, the students could look for related articles on the site, and attempt to read them and give a short summary. During my food unit, we could translate recipes and possibly cook some of them in class or outside.

Notes in Spanish: http://www.notesinspanish.com/ - Learn Spanish with Notes in Spanish Podcasts!

Notes in Spanish is a fantastic grammar tool to change things up a bit in class. There are three sections: beginner, intermediate, advanced. There are podcasts and worksheets. The worksheets have to be purchased, but there are free podcasts. They come on a variety of useful topics and can be streamed from the website or downloaded. The speakers go over information, provide audio exercises, and sample conversations. Some topics include schedules, por and para, shopping, music, and ser vs estar. I would like to play these podcasts for my students so they hear other Spanish accents AND a different way of explaining some of these concepts. As with Univision, I could make up my own guides for students to fill in while they listen.

Inquiry Group Presentation

During our 15 minute presentation, this is what I have planned:

A) Focus area: Factors influencing ELL literacy

B) How this area relates to the overall topic: These are the challenges that ELL students face in literacy

C) How I will transition smoothly to next speaker: Since ELLs struggle with limited background knowledge, building that knowledge is crucial, as Anna is going to show us next.

Inquiry Topic #3

Just to review, I am looking to answer the following questions this semester:

• What are some factors that influence ELL literacy development?
• How is English language literacy challenging for ELL students?

Today I'm looking at sociocultural factors. L. Helman says, "Teachers who wish to support the literacy development of their English-learning students cannot ignore the role of sociocultural aspects of teaching and learning, such as the extent to which students' backgrounds are valued in the classroom" (7). She also notes that ELL students are bringing different mores and values, shared languages, and interpersonal interactions to the classroom. Both teachers and students bring expectations into the classroom, and Helman believes the majority of elementary school teachers are female, white, and have a middle-class background. It can be hard for them to see that they are not embracing other cultures in the classroom.

Students' different backgrounds should be seen as "funds of knowledge". When teachers work to utilize students' multi-cultural background experiences, languages, heritages, etc, the students feel more empowered to learn. There are three attitudes that will influence what occurs in the classroom: the social atmosphere of the classroom, the attitude of the school or school system, and the ideologies of language, culture, and politics. While teachers may not have much control over the latter two, he or she does impact the atmosphere of the classroom. It is up to the teacher to establish an open learning environment in which different views are encouraged and sought out. As a Spanish teacher, I frequently teach vocabulary sections, and I try to engage our many Korean exchange students by asking them how to say one of our new words in Spanish. One of the middle school math teachers does something similar by asking her Korean students if they know a different method of completing a math problem. She then has the Korean student show the whole class and openly compliments them. This creates an atmosphere of interest and admiration for other ways of doing things. Empowering our ELL students to show off their backgrounds, communication, and languages will encourage them in their English literacy.

Source: Helman, L. (Ed.). (2009). Literacy development with English learners: Research-based instruction in grades K-6. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Spanish Websites Post #2

Spanish Poems: http://sonnets.spanish.sbc.edu/- Golden Age Sonnets

The first website I want to look at today is Golden Age Sonnets. This is a great site with poems from the Golden Age of Spanish literature. It claims to have 110 sonnets with English translations. I could do a lot with this depending on the skill level of my students. For beginner students, we could read the sonnet out loud just to practice reading and listening, and then look at the meaning. Intermediate students could be given both translations and have to find familiar words. For advanced students I would assign a sonnet and have them translate parts, then compare what they came up with to the actual translation.

Spanish Vocabulary and Verbs: http://www.vocabulix.com/- Learn Spanish Free Online

The next site is a Spanish and German Vocabulary website. I especially love the Verb Drills section of this because I can select different tenses of the verb that I want to drill. There are also so many options. This is another site that I can use either in the class or have my students do at home either as a homework assignment or if they want/need more practice. The Vocabulary section is great because it has pre-arranged lists of different vocabulary words. I can also create my own lesson that students can access from home.

Inquiry Question # 2

As I noted a few weeks ago, I will be looking at factors that influence literacy development in ELL students. This week I read a journal article looking at the relationship between oral language proficiency and literacy. There is a definite link between oral English language proficiency and English language literacy. Despite this fact, there are differences in the skills that each requires; oral language involves vocabulary, syntax, phonology, and morphology. Reading centers are decoding and comprehension. Altogether, though, listening, speaking, reading, and writing share many of the same features of acquiring English. A study of ELL students who spoke either Spanish only or English and Spanish at home showed that the students who spoke both languages in their homes did better on literacy tests.

Raising literacy levels for ELL students is difficult for many reasons. First, the student is working in their second (or sometimes third or fourth) language. They already have cultural and syntactical knowledge of their own language, as well as vocabulary. Although they may have never had direct instruction about their native language, they instinctively understand the rules. English has many of its own anachronisms and language structures. Students have to learn new sounds and phonemes in English. For example, many languages do not include the /th/ sound, and ELL students will often mispronounce it as a /f/ sound or /s/ sound. As English speakers, we do not realize how much we rely on context clues to help us comprehend a reading. An ELL student has little to no background to help him or her decode in this way. Additionally, once the amount of unknown vocabulary words rises too high, comprehension is upset.

Source:

August, D. (2003). Supporting the development of english literacy in english language learners: key issues and promising practices . Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk, 61, 1-57.

Web Sites for Teaching Spanish, # 1

Grammar Basics: www.SenorJordan.com - Senor Jordan's Spanish Videos

This website was created by a fellow Spanish teacher for his students and other teachers. He has a great supply of videos demonstrating different Spanish grammar concepts. I love this videos because he explains the material clearly with pictures and words on the screen. I think my students sometimes need both a break from my voice and a different perspective on what we're learning. He has a video for just about every basic Spanish lesson.

I love showing these videos in my class as a way to take a break from lecture and worksheets. When I stop to turn on the projector and turn off the lights, my students ask, 'Are we going to watch Senor Jordan?' They know where they can find the videos, so if they want to go back and refresh their memories on some of the videos, they can do that from home. He also has some other resources on his website that are easy for the students to find.

Spanish Vocabulary and Grammar: www.Quia.com - Quia

Quia.com is another resource website for students and teachers. I have only visited the Spanish portion, but there are also other resources available for other content areas. Teachers can create a variety of Internet activities and games and link them to their specific curriculum. Anything posted by teachers as public activities can be accessed and use by Internet users.

I use the specific search function on Quia to find the vocabulary and grammar topics I'm covering in my class. I have occasionally found activities created for my textbook. I would love an interactive whiteboard in my classroom, but for now I can use the overhead projector. I load the website and call on students to participate and I use the computer to select their responses. Students that enjoy an activity can do it at home on their computers.