The World Together, One Student at a Time

When I looked into the classroom, I witnessed our students of all different ages, different backgrounds and different walks of life laughing and playing and learning Spanish, all at the same time. That’s magical. - Holy Angels Principal, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Muir

This past summer I ran a program for Title I students at a local private school. Most were students from the school, but some were not. Most spoke English as their first language, but some did not. And most were under 5th grade, but some were not. So there it was. My program, myself, on the line - Engage, teach and play with these students for a half hour’s time, Monday through Thursday, for four weeks straight, one of which you will also train and prep your replacement teacher for the following two weeks. You are considered their “fun class” and “break” from the day. Now go!  Spanish as the “break.” What a concept! Well, the program is called, “Spanish through FUN.” And fortunately, it ended up being more than a break. As I heard time and time again, it was their “favorite part of their day.” 

Looking back, I’m somewhat surprised I wasn’t more structured with a “Plan B: If this Blows up in my Face” option, but then again, I’m not. I feel that this year has very much allowed me to test my program with various constraining factors and age ranges and the formula always seems to be the same: connecting with the kids + making kids smile = helping kids learn. The only tricky aspects to this situation was that I’ve worked with all of these ages and backgrounds, but not together and I’ve worked with Spanish natives on ESL, but not in the same class as my students who had never taken Spanish. So how did it go?

They soared. My Spanish natives became leaders for my debutants, even when some of those Spanish natives were in 1st grade, 3 ft. tall, and wearing pigtails. This is the magic of teaching students to work together, but to have fun doing it. The pressure comes off and the lessons resonate. On day one, I couldn’t have told you what would happen, but I could not have been more happy to see that by the end of the summer, this class relied on one another’s efforts to win games, play together, and use their Spanish. And just like Dr. Muir said, to see all of those faces looking toward you and laughing with you, and calling out new Spanish vocabulary together to reach new heights, “That’s magical.”

Teach through the Senses!

We are headed back to the classroom! And we once again have the opportunity to engage our students in ways digital couldn’t.  Now that we get to shake the rust off, we might be asking ourselves the age-old question, “How do we keep students engaged?”

For me, I teach through the senses whenever possible.  I’ve found that the learning experience is far richer when my students feel like they are part of the lesson. I know that not every day can be a trip to the zoo, but transitioning your lessons to include more hands-on learning is the key to success. 

For instance, when teaching likes and dislikes in Mandarin, I place foods with strong smells (coffee, orange, vanilla, mint, etc.) into film canisters and have my students (ages 2 - 6) guess the smell and repeat in Mandarin whether they liked it or not (“Wǒ xǐhuān.” “I like it.”) or not (“Wǒ bù xǐhuān.” “I don’t like it.”). That lesson appears in September, and throughout the rest of the year, teachers and parents regularly tell me that their children still express their likes and dislikes in Mandarin.  My classes are 20 minutes long and I can only review so much. So I believe there is a specific reason that these expressions especially resonate with them. This lesson masterfully interweaves the senses, adventure and repetition. Let me show you.

The activity is 15 minutes long and it’s made up of  5-7 rounds. Each round offers students a new food vocabulary word and the opportunity to guess what that food is. Then, students express in Mandarin whether they like the scent or not. Right away, you can see how I engage the senses. Focusing on the sense of smell is not a common sense we use in the classroom, and to deprive them of their sense of sight, which they always have, is exciting in itself. The adventure is the journey through the rounds and seeing who can uncover what each scent is.  Their smiles of surprise and their squints of displeasure (no one ever likes vinegar, haha!) when it comes to the scents are rewarding as it is, but then you hear them confidently relaying what they like and dislike in Mandarin and it’s simply the best.  From a teaching standpoint, you can see the repetition of vocabulary.  Children, and people in general, need consistency when they learn. So although the scent changes with the round, the process through each round is the same. This grounds the students while the adventure of the unknown activates their curiosity and their senses. This makes the learning process seamless, even if it’s in Mandarin!

So next time you’re lesson planning, start to ask yourself what senses you will be implementing. Will you teach farm animals by listening to the sounds they make, or will you teach through touch and have students guess what objects (aka target vocabulary!) you’ve placed in paper bags. The choices are endless and it will leave you and your students senseless with joy!

Keeping the Magic in and Outside of the Classroom

We were all shocked that day we didn’t show up to the classroom. It felt incredibly personal and yet it was the same for most educators. For me, I drove to school on Friday the 13th (too ironic) to teach my weekly class, only to find the parking lot void of cars, students or anyone. That’s the start of a horror story. And in ways, it has been a nightmare for many of us teachers. While this shift in our lives has come a long way, it still isn’t over. Yet as the heroes of this story, we’ve learned how to recreate our curriculums and ourselves to fit our schools’ and our students’ needs. In order to keep our sanity and our classrooms running, we need to continue learning from one another in order to adapt and conquer. Even if “conquering” means completing the day. 

With the one year anniversary of digital learning approaching, I’ve reflected on this year’s hacs and I’ve compiled a short list of tools that I will continue to use, no matter my classroom’s location.

1. Engage the Senses

Digitally: Don’t underestimate the power of a green screen and lighting. It keeps the kids (and you!) feeling positive and professional.  Teaching from your kitchen is real life, but you can still spark creativity and imagination from wherever you are. Include colorful visuals and catchy audio clips, whenever possible, since you are heavily relying on their sense of sight and hearing to keep their attention. 

Transition for in-person: Keep your environment visuals bright in the classroom. Adding color is important, but more than that, consider time in the classroom as an opportunity to engage students by further appealing to their senses. Whereas digitally, you relied heavily on their sense of sight, now you have an opportunity to reintroduce learning using their other senses. Students love smelling, tasting, and feeling their way through a new topic (and so do I!).

2. Share Technology (correctly!)

Digitally: It seems like it took me ages to figure out the timing and the tech when it came to sharing music. After much trial and error, I know that if you share music from your computer (like with iTunes), you will stay in time with your music. Start your songs on full volume, sing and play instruments, without worry. Have your students muted though, or else the music becomes stilted.  When I mute them, I tell the kids I’m creating their “own personal dance party,” and they seem happy with that. 

When sharing music videos from a website, your timing will be off, so you don’t sing along. I usually do some light dancing, with no specific steps to the beat because it’s impossible to tell how delayed everyone’s computers are. Again, mute your students, as you play, and don’t forget to select the two check boxes when you share videos on Zoom. One says, “Share Sound'' and the other says, “Optimize for video clip.” Doing so will keep the sound clarity of the videos, and you won’t have to share the volume on high, since it’s taking the sound from the internet. It seems simple enough to grasp now, but it took me months to implement all of this correctly and without sweaty knuckles. 

Transition for in-person: Being back in the classroom doesn’t mean you have to put away all of the music tech. Dance parties, music videos, and music while playing and working are beautiful ways to keep children calm, happy and positive. Being digital has made me realize how important music is to us on a human level and how it connects us to one another. Take advantage of cherishing music in person.

3. Appreciate the effort

Whether we are working digitally or in person, it’s always a process to connect with our students. Yet it seems like nothing makes students smile quicker, like appreciating them where they are. Whether they answer questions correctly or not, finding a way to boost their confidence with something kind is always one of my main goals. Even finding reasons to use their names in examples or in positive statements is sure to make them feel important.  It sounds obvious, but it’s something we need to be more mindful of in the moment, when we may overlook it with everything else going on around us.

And lastly, appreciate yourself and where you are today. It’s easy to say and difficult to manage, but it’s truly important for us as educators to accept that we can’t be everywhere and do everything. There are things that we are going to have to let go of, even if it means lessons are not up to your usual standards.  Whether you are teaching from your home or in the classroom, teaching our students is where we want to be. Hybrid is going to test us, so we as a group need to remain as collected and confident as we can to keep our classrooms unified. Be sure to advocate for yourself and your students and keep in mind that even though it seems like we are bearing off into uncharted territory again, this experience as a whole has proven that there is nothing that we can’t adapt to and conquer. Even if “conquering” means completing the day.

The Best Superpower You Can Give Your Child

Language U Teacher: (pretends to shake in the pretend cold) Brrrr! Oh no!!  Il fait froid! It’s cold!! Je porte mon écharpe? Am I wearing my scarf?
5-year-old Student: No, you’re not wearing your écharpe. And not your manteau (coat). That must make you sad and cold. 
Teacher: Oh, should I put them on?
Student: Yes. If you're sad and cold, I’m cold and sad.

Empathy is the ability to recognize and understand another’s feelings.  As humans, empathy is the super power that builds compassion for others. In a way, empathy is like x-ray vision. Empathy exposes the true meanings of conversations, allowing us to read between the lines, and to hear and to understand beyond what was said. This super power also helps us at work to relate to others, as the ultimate team member, and it also helps us to rise and become a strong leader. In times of crisis, empathy compels us to help others and to make a difference. It is the one attribute that all heroes, and world-changers have in common.  Knowing that, it makes sense that more and more parents want to bestow empathy unto their children.

“[Infants and children] learn this vital skill from parents, caregivers, friends, and role models. If [kids] lose that opportunity to learn emotional literacy during childhood, it has negative, long term impacts,” says Mary Gordon, founder and president of Roots of Empathy.  Yet in an increasingly-digital world, children are less and less likely to be out and about honing in on their empathy skills.  So what is one way children can learn empathy from anywhere? 

Researchers now believe that learning a second language can increase our capacity for empathy and understanding. Being that language is the ultimate connection between humans, it is no wonder that speaking another’s language helps us become more compassionate beings.  Learning a language is a humbling and difficult process that exemplifies determination and a strong will to communicate and to be heard.  The art of learning a second language symbolizes respect and equality.  And even just practicing a second language from a young age can build a foundation of confidence, problem-solving skills, and an increased IQ and EQ, which is everything your little superhero needs.  So next time you find your child in a selfish situation, we recommend a conversation about empathy and a free-trial language class-- on us!

References:

Empathy: The Language of Emotion

How Learning a Language Makes You More Empathetic

Empathy: What is is, Why it matters and How you can Improve

Can Learning Another Language Boost Empathy?

If you're Happy and you know it, you can Learn!

Recently I had a trial Zoom class with a group of students, and I thought that I had nailed it. Every child was engaged, smiling, running around, and confidently rattling off their new French vocabulary in silly voices with me.  We all had so much fun, I didn’t even realize how quickly the class had come to an end, which was a surprise to me, because I am usually very structured when it comes to my lesson overview and goals. After the class ended, my fiancé high fived me and told me he had felt the class’ energy from our outside patio. I felt proud to have done right by them, despite the group’s large age ranges and varying backgrounds with French. 

Yet to my surprise, none of the families signed up.  So what went wrong? A parent emailed feedback from the parents as a whole, and some found me to be too jovial and boisterous. In my 12 years of teaching, I had never heard that before. That stopped me in my tracks. Engaging my students is like air to me. I need to see them concentrated and happy to help me breathe properly. It’s like a comedian needing to hear laughter or a performer aching for applause. What’s the point of teaching, if my students aren’t enthusiastic about what they are learning? 

After all, this is one of the reasons I created my own program. I have no red tape from school districts and I myself have imagined and crafted each language’s lesson and curriculum over a number of years. I don’t teach French. I teach “French through FUN!” Exclamation point included! This is because I know that if my students are excited to come to class, then they will naturally learn French, even if French isn’t their life’s passion. And I know that my students learn the most when they are smiling.  This methodology of fun isn’t just a theory of mine. It’s proven that humans learn and retain information when they are happy and stress-free.

Take this 2015 study from Harvard Graduate School of Education lecturer Christina Hinton. She found that happiness is “positively associated with intrinsic motivation (a personal drive to learn) for all students.” In essence, happiness drives learning. And this goes for all students.  She also found that students are more motivated to learn when they are rewarded and praised. Thus, implementing dry learning tactics or having more astringent practices seems very well opposite of what they need. Especially as kids.  And finally, Hinton noted that “happiness is predicted by students’ satisfaction with [their] teachers and peers.” Therefore, my personal connection with my students is crucial for their learning process.  My engaging them and making them feel happy and silly and confident is what will then motivate them to learn a language. 

I know this may not sound groundbreaking, and that’s because it isn’t. When it comes down to it, if an educator can create a safe, positive and engaging class for their students, the students will learn, no matter the subject matter. Because when students are smiling, they are more determined to learn. And that makes us all happy!

Read Christina Hinton’s study for yourself! 

Looking to add more fun and engagement into your lessons? See our quick videos and blog posts!

1. Using Silly Voices and Repetition in the classroom [1 minute video]
2. Using Art in the Classroom [1 minute video]
3. How to teach a foreign language using crafts (blog post)
4. Adding music to foreign language education (blog post)
5. A guide to teaching F.L through games (blog post)

Art from the Start: Teaching a Foreign Language using Crafts

(For an even quicker “art in the classroom” run down, see our 1-minute Tidbit for Teachers!)

Teacher: “Perro. Perro. The word for dog is ‘perro’! What’s the word for dog in Spanish? 

Students: …  

For teachers and parents alike, one of the most frustrating things we experience as educators is telling our students and children something over and over again only to have them tell us that we never told them, or that they forgot. It’s a tale as old as time. If they can’t even remember some of our simplest lessons, how will they remember a foreign language!? We (Language University!) find that in order to build a foreign language foundation for our students (generally 3 years to fifth grade) students need to stay engaged and enthusiastic. To do this, we incorporate a number of tools, especially art, to help our students get the most out of each lesson. 

Why art? 

Students who color and draw during the learning process are doing so much more than doodling. They are subconsciously creating a lasting and memorable learning experience through their own creativity. 

How is this happening?

Even more basic than art, colors themselves connect with all of us on a human level.  According to Senior Psychologist Ayben Ertem, colors influence our emotions, productivity and learning. When we are stress-free and using our creativity, we are better able to process material and retain it.  There is also a clear connection between color and the brain development of children. When our students create a craft or a scene that focuses on a targeted theme, it helps them internalize the vocabulary and add that information into their long term memory versus their short term.  

Are you sure this connection occurs in the language classroom?

Of course! In our languages classes, our students cut, color, paste and design all of the time! Crafting also incorporates our students’ senses: touch, sight and hearing (we play our songs during craft), which also stimulates their learning.  For example, when we introduce the word “astronave” (the Spanish word for spaceship); it’s not just another word to memorize. It’s part of a space adventure that our students can play out on paper and it’s a great way for them to start using their new vocabulary as they explain what is happening with their crafts. Now instead of being intimidated by a new language, they are thrilled to discuss! And when our students feel safe, creative and engaged, we are setting them up to be the best language learners they can be! 

Great! But the learning stops after we put the crayons down, right?

Nope! In fact, the craft is just the beginning! When students bring their masterpieces home to show mom and dad, or when they hang their projects up in their room, they are not only visualizing the picture with its labeled vocabulary words, they are also gaining a natural opportunity to talk and think about it.  Their crafts works as a “study guide” at home, and this helps the target language become more natural to them. And the more our students and our children see and hear their target vocabulary and phrases, the more likely they are to use it in everyday life! So bring on the crafts and coloring! We are ready to learn!

To see how we incorporate games in the classroom, click here!

Color Me Creative: A Guide to Teaching A Second Language Through Games

“This is BORING!” has to be one of the most feared declarations for any teacher.  As educators (and I mean parents, tutors and teachers alike!), we constantly have to juggle entertainment and academics in our lessons as a means of encouraging our children to want to learn.  We understand that many times, in order to motivate them, they need to view our lesson through a lens of fun rather than having us fatigue them with endless facts.  This “Mary Poppins concept” is nothing new. But how do you introduce something so intimidating as a second language through fun?! Well, my program (Language University!) introduces a target language through three different pillars of fun: music, arts-and-crafts and games. And in this blog, I’m going to walk you through how we incorporate games into our learning process and leave you with a few tips to help you create your own activities!

Just to give you some context, I mainly work with students ages 2.5 to 11 years old, and my programs are integrated into school curricula; private and home school lessons; extracurricular activities and summer camps. The goal of each session is for students to have fun and to confidently leave having learned something new in terms of their target language.  And one of the easiest ways for students to find their own fun while learning is to have them get out of their seats and move about the room. It’s such a simple idea, but it’s not utilized as often as you think. For our games, we prefer to play in large, open areas like a gymnasium or a cafeteria (the children deserve it!). When we have to be in a classroom or a living room, we aren’t afraid to move the desks and furniture aside-- which also sends a message to students that we are mixing it up! 

When do we bring in the games? Most likely, the game is going to help solidify the lesson you’ve just introduced. And don’t worry: even if your lesson wasn’t the most thrilling, the children will still be enticed to learn the material, because they want to successfully participate in the game.  Here are a couple things to keep in mind:

• The activity you select or create should be easy and repetitive, at least at first. Simplistic directions help students become more at ease with the second language, while highlighting the material’s target phrases and words. For instance, when I teach colors, students learn them by jumping on color dots that I previously laid out. In the beginning, I tell them what color to find and I incorporate as much or as little of the target language as I’d like.  I can choose to say, “Trouvez le couleur bleu” (Find the color blue), or I can say, “Find bleu.” Either way, my students can easily figure out what I want from them after a round or two and they will be happy to play along with you!

• Stress hinders the learning process. Studies have proven time and time again that stress hinders critical thinking, learning and memory to name a few. Essentially, learning can be quite impossible when stress plays a part. So once students feel comfortable with an activity’s core (for instance, they will be looking for colors), I introduce another layer to the game. Continuing with my colors game example, in our game, “The Floor is Laaava!” students walk/dance around the room as music plays (we play our program’s colors song; you can download our Spanish colors song for free here!) and when the music stops, students have a certain amount of time to find and jump on top of the correct color dot before time runs out and the floor “turns into lava.”  This type of game is great for a second language because it takes the spotlight off of students who may feel pressured when it comes to learning a second language. Students entering puberty and older will feel the MOST pressure. Yet through this game and others like it, students gain familiarity with the sounds, the pronunciation of the words and the phrases because they are hearing them over and over again, without fear. And be assured that most times you will hear your students repeatedly say the color aloud as they search, which encourages organic word replacement.  So in this way, students end up learning their second language without memorizing a list from a book, and it gets them motivated to play and to win! (If you like my example game idea, you can find our full lesson here)!

So, before you write off incorporating games as being more of a headache than a teaching resource at home or in the classroom, think about how you can shift your lessons into something more engaging, light-hearted and all around fun! Learning doesn’t have to stop when the games begin! For tips on how to create games for your classroom, click on our game tricks blog here!