Today was a good day in our Spanish Classes. After spending the morning digging holes and planting Coffee (No joke! We worked hard!), we were worn out and I was afraid I'd be worthless in class. But our Profesora was just what we needed. We were faced with an entire page of vocabulary about parts of the body. To tackle this she came up with 4 different drawings which we used to label with our new vocabulary. We drew these ourselves and she'd ask us to try and identify each part in spanish before giving us the vocabulary. It was such a great idea. It makes me think about something we mentioned in our group discussion earlier today with Dr. Powell. We came up with a few other good technique which I can take with me.
What this Spanish class reminded me of was a tactic we saw while at the Cloud Forest School yesterday. One of the other students in our group noticed the students had written their own definitions for vocabulary words which were then posted on a wall. This active participation in formulating a representation for a word was, i'm sure, beneficial to these students. Just as in our Spanish class, we were drawing these pictures and labeling them as we knew, with help from our Profesora. I see many classes which have bilingual labels for items around the room but it would be even more helpful if students took part in the labeling. If labels were made by students. I know that these pictures, drawn in my own style, will help me more than a "fill-in-the-blank" page from a workbook.
Another idea which leads from this is that of Artifacts. For all learners it is more meaningful to see an object which is being discussed. I established in earlier blogs how important authentic or meaningful experiences are to learning. But for our ELL students, these artifacts are even more important. They provide a context for discussion and help with the placement, categorizing and general schematic development. Artifacts are popular in Social Studies but could be used for all areas of study. These artifacts can become similar to Props in other areas such as Language Arts and may assist in better understanding of a book or passage.
One more technique I really see being used in CPI is the idea of Word Walls. Now, their word walls are more generic. On the walls of most classroom are helpful vocabulary words. Word Walls can be a great addition to every classroom. In a class with ESL students, It would help helpful if this wall was created by the class. I think for a new language learner, and also for other students, a version of the word wall idea which would assist best is a concept web. This could be based around the current theme of study in any subject and students would work together to add new vocabulary. Also important to this type of word wall is the connectors. Because one those are clearly on the concept web, students can review how they and their classmates understand this topic.
I believe this week is my best week for reflection. After two and a half weeks of Spanish language instruction I am able to really look back and see what worked for me, what didn't and how I could translate those ideas into an elementary classroom. As I see the way it could work, I get more and more excited about what I can do when I get back to 'the States.'
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