They say that you can’t buy happiness but you can buy a plane ticket… and that is pretty much the same thing! Brandon has discovered that he is really, REALLY happy as a traveler and adventurer. He has experienced education in a lot of different...
A father and his children in Colombia Four weeks into his journey, Brandon is frankly feeling a little homesick. What sounded like a great adventure at first has led him to discover just how important his family and friendships really are. Compounding the homesickness is the...
The novel Vector by Carrie Toth is set during the construction of the Panama Canal Brandon has been on the road for three weeks now and he always thought language classes were just about nouns and verbs! Boy was he wrong! He has been digging...
Two weeks after departing on his journey, Brandon Brown has been popping up, not only in a lot of classrooms, but all over social media as well. Seeing so many different classrooms and cultures has him thinking a lot about his own identity, both his...
Brandon Brown has been on the road for a whole week already! As he has travels from classroom to classroom, Brandon is learning a lot about the lives of students around the world. When he began this journey, he assumed that everyone grew up the same...
A summer without language class has left Brandon Brown feeling deflated and now he is on a mission! Brandon heard that planning for proficiency and preparing students for exit exams like the AP starts in level one! Could it be true? Are there seeds of...
WHAT IS FLIPGRID ONE? FlipGrid One is the basic, free FlipGrid service. “With Flipgrid One, you now have access to a free version of Flipgrid that never expires. You are allowed one grid with limited features. Add as many topics and record as many responses as...
If you are seriously committed to using Comprehensible Input every day in your classroom, you already know the basics. Speak the language, make sure students understand most of it, provide level-appropriate reading materials, shelter vocabulary for a more narrow focus, create a language-rich environment. All...
Who creates readers? Pernille Ripp, an ELA teacher says that WE do, their educators. Her latest post connects beautifully to what I learned at iFLT. She even includes Krashen’s research to support that WE as teachers must plan for reading enjoyment. Students need to read...
Modifying authentic resources which has received a lot of attention on Twitter over the past year in the #langchat community. The #TCI community taught me that modifying authentic resources or “semi authentic resources” are very useful to our students because it can then become comprehensible...
This session was wonderful! We got to be students in Kristy Placido’s classroom. She is one of my favorite Spanish teachers so it was wonderful to experience. I posted a few videos to Twitter if you want to check out her session. One of my...
I love Nelly Hughes! I have been getting to know her on social media for the past few months and I finally got to meet her in person at iFLT17! She is so enthusiastic and easy to talk to! Her presentation today was as awesome...
Readers Theater with Karen Rowan was exciting! She opened the session with this song. She divided the class into two teams. Half of the class sang a line of the song as Don Quijote. We sang, “Yo soy yo Don Quijote”. She had it posted...
I have been so excited about this session since the iFLT schedule came out. This session is something that is dear to my heart. I teach students who are on the path to AP and I want to make sure that I am...
What an amazing experience being at iFLT has been! I have met so many of my favorite Spanish teachers! I am completely star struck! Today I got to attend the powerhouse session of Kristy Placido, “The Wonderful World of Intermediates”....
I am so happy I was able to be a part of Carrie Toth’s “Becoming Proficient in Proficiency”. She is extremely knowledgeable about this topic and I am confident that all the session participants left today feeling much more informed as I do. ...
Señor Wooly (aka Jim Wooldridge) kicked off iFLT 17 with an amazing keynote! He spoke about the role of authenticity versus inauthenticity in his life. He used his story as a musician to explain that he felt as if his musical career was...
Darcy’s Intermediate session was all about adapting novels to our classroom. She teaches levels 3, 4 and 5AP without a textbook and ENTIRELY WITH comprehensible input. She reiterated that using novels as the foundation of your curriculum gives compelling input and for that...
Today marks my first workshop at iFLT 17 and it was wonderful First, I spent some time with Jason Fritze. He has great energy! We learned many techniques that he used with his elementary students that would work really well in middle...
Hi everyone, and happy Independence Day to our US readers! We hope that most of you are enjoying well-earned time with friends and family today! We are enjoying our day today, but will be back at work tomorrow preparing to bring you a fabulous week...
What’s up with Intermediate? In a classroom focused on comprehensible input, proficiency levels might seem to be difficult to define. They might not fit the mold set out for us by ACTFL. Many teachers who focus on proficiency and comprehensible input may feel that their students...
The other day I was catching up with an ex student of mine from Ohio, when he mentioned he was going to spend 3 weeks in Costa Rica, taking part in a biology course. Before I had time to think about what I was saying,...
Noches misteriosas en Granada is a novel that is particularly dear to my heart. It was the second novel I wrote for Fluency Matters. It was based heavily on an awesome student of mine whom I had taken on a student trip to Spain in...
Vida y muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha is a compelling read for students in levels 3 and up. Written by an anonymous author, it provides a glimpse into the life of a young man entrenched in the ranks of the world's most dangerous gang, the...
Several months ago, I was fortunate enough to sit in on Dr. Beniko Mason’s demo of her Story-listening (SL) approach to teaching language. I was immediately struck by the similarity between her approach and how we often “read” fairytales / legends to small children. When reading...
La hija del sastre by Carrie Toth and Carol Gaab is a great read for level 3 and 4 students! I personally really love teaching this novel as the anchor text for a large unit about the Spanish Civil War in Spanish 4. Fluency Matters...
One Teacher’s Suggestions for Surviving the Last Few Weeks of School If you are an educator, or know someone who is an educator, you know that the last few months of school, especially after spring break, can be brutal. The weather gets nicer, attention spans are even shorter,...
Felipe Alou: Desde los valles a las montañas, written by Carol Gaab is one of my favorite novels to teach in my Spanish 2 classes for several reasons. I like that it is a biography which tells the true story of a young man from the...
Have you tried MovieTalk? I'd like to share some tips on what I feel is one of the most important steps of MovieTalk: choosing the video! MovieTalk was developed by Dr. Ashley Hastings as part of the FOCAL SKILLS approach to language instruction and was targeted...
As authors at Fluency Matters, we are SO excited about all of the breakouts we have seen online! Teachers are the most generous group of people in the world! Considering doing a breakout for one of our (or any) novels? Already have a breakout ready?...