Final Visit

I did the voice thread with Ryan. We met with his brother Royce and mother. The place was the Coffee Waves. We enjoyed a tasty drinking. We practiced some phrases, sentences and the vowel sounds: "¿De dónde eres?", "Soy de...", "¿Cómo eres?" "Soy guapo, inteligente, violinista. Learning Spanish es magnífico. We had a good time practicing Spanish.

I confess that I did not struggle teaching the technology of this program with him and his mother because the mother of my student was Mrs. Elwood. What a privilege I had! She kindly helped me to do it well.

This class was a great help for me increasing my knowledge in this field. I know that I as well as my students will enjoy this awesome media of Voice Thread and Movie Maker.

This family was so charming that I enjoyed with them this project that will be forever.

My visit to Montessori School

My visit to Montessori School was a great experience. Sylvia the principal gave us the tour. We were only two persons. I've never seen a school than that one. Its teaching is very particular. Its instructors (called guides) don't teach like the other schools where the teacher is in front of the class and the students are sitting in front of the class. This school looks like a house where everyone does different tasks. I saw a rabbit walking for all the rooms.

I was impressed with the peace table where the children are encouraged by the teacher to fix their differences. There were several thoughts or quotation that took my attention. One of them was: "Respect yourself, respect others and respect the environment."

I believe that Mrs. Montessori had a great idea when she wanted to have a school like this. I left so impressed that I wanted to work there; therefore, I ask for an application. Probably, I can work there in the future.

Working with Ryan

It was a great experience to work with Ryan. I enjoyed speaking and helping him with his Spanish. He demonstrated that he has a good vocabulary in Spanish.

Doing this video with Ryan, will help him hear himself to self correct his Spanish pronunciation. He can practice the Spanish he knows and practice more to have a good base and continue expanding his vocabulary.

The video was taken in a park close to his house riding his scooter. We were practicing several phrases in Spanish while he and his brother took turns riding the scooter. They were enjoying riding this awesome scooter that they didn't want to stop.

Ryan and I also started his blogger. In this blogger, he wrote about his scooter.
I can't wait to do the voicethread with Ryan.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

My first meeting with Ryan

It was great for me to meet with Ryan Salinas in his house. I knew his mother before because she is my teacher. Ryan is a great "chico." His father gave him an electric scooter as a gift (una patineta eléctrica). His mother and I went to the park to take him a video riding the scooter. He was very excited practicing it in that vast ground that he didn't want to finish. I spoke with him some phrases in Spanish that he needed to repeat in the recording. When we returned to the house, I gave Ryan a test speaking with him in Spanish, and how great was my surprise when I realized that Ryan speaks more Spanish than I imagined.

The next time, I am going to talk more about my experience in this project.

CCMS Service Project - week one -

Today Easter Sunday, I have an appointment with Ryan Salinas, the son of Mrs. Elwood. Because I'm going to be a Spanish teacher, my goal is that Ryan can learn some basic things in this gorgeous language. It is my privilege to do this Service Project with this special family.

I need to review step by step how to do VoiceThread and Video Maker because I am interested to practice them in my professional work.

The next Wednesday, April 22th, I have an appoinment with CCMS. Later, I'll tell my experiences in these activities.

Making a Movie-- In Spanish

I really enjoyed making the movie. I think this a great way for teachers to involve the students. I also think this is a great way to let parents see their children interacting with each other. I would like to use this technology in my class. The story of The Kissing Hand is a very helpful story for children who are just entering school. Being able to tell it in spanish allows for every student to be able to feel comfortable on their first day of class. I am impressed at how technology has allowed us to be very creative. It allows children to experience in any place and to observe homework or to explain the story as I did as well a parents to be able to have the interaction they sometimes miss.

Wedding Chart

This assignment was a little more difficult for me. I found that many students had difficulty using excel. I think that charts are very important to use in classroom, especially to math class. However, much training needs to be given to the students before expecting them to produce a well-informed chart. This is a lot of technology that I am being introduced to in one semester, and I am glad. All this technology is very important to our future student. I plan to be an effective Spanish teacher, and I am sure that all this computer technology will do me good and my students as well.

Lydia and Julio Wedding

Spanish Story

I enjoy making the video. This is a good experience for children to view themselves speaking another language. This would help children see their errors and self correct themselves. This could also be used as a running record to keep track of children progress. My experience with making this movie on telling the story was a great activity. This is a good idea for me to use in the classroom. I would be able to permit the parents to have access to the website, so that they would be able to view their sons or daughters speaking Spanish.

My experience with Voice Threads

Wow! Voice thread is a web-based communications network for my work with high school students. It's simple, powerful and safe. Definitively, voice thread is a place for creating and collaborating on digital stories and documentaries, practicing and documenting language skills.
I see and I read that all voice threads are private by default, and creators can easily control who can view, edit and comment on content.
I'm happy with this discovery that can help me as a Spanish teacher.

My ideas of teaching Spanish in the classroom

Why should we learn Spanish?

I chose this topic because Spanish is the third language spoken in the world. It's my first language, and I love it. Because when we speak English and Spanish (especially in U. S.) , we are offered a wider range of opportunities.

We can ask ourselves these questions:

1. Is Spanish an important language in U.S.A.?

2. How can you learn Spanish?
3. How can your world become wider?


Knowledge and skills

(1) Reading/Fluency. Students read grade-level text with fluency and comprehension. Students are expected to:

(A) read aloud grade-level text with accuracy, expression, appropriate phrasing, and comprehension; and

(B) use prosody when reading aloud grade-level text based on the reading purpose and the nature of the text.

(2) Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing. Students are expected to:

(A) determine the meaning of grade-level academic Spanish words derived from Latin, Greek, or other linguistic roots and affixes;

(B) use context (e.g., cause and effect or compare and contrast organizational text structures) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or multiple meaning words;

(C) complete analogies that describe part to whole or whole to part (e.g., motor:carro como aire: ____ or carro:motor como llanta: ____); and

(D) use a dictionary, a glossary, or a thesaurus (printed or electronic) to determine the meanings, syllabication, spelling, alternate word choices, and parts of speech of words.

Why should we use this blog? \¿Por qué este "blog?"

The blog will help support student learning. We can use visual media as well as text to help enhance the learning experience in the classroom. It will also help parents observe classroom lessons that are taught. Teachers can design lessons several days in advance and add content relating to teaching ideas for other teachers to view. Teachers can publish students work, so parents can follow along with students progress.