Language Residents

an archive of lesson plans

Category: Intermediate (Page 4 of 27)

Intermediate Conversation class

ES F20 INT Routines

December 1, 2020 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed : Routines

Goal of the class 

  • Get students to know each other
  • Talk about daily life

Class structure

  • Warm-up Routines: I show students how a day in my life looks like. To have them add vocabulary I ask them if they days look very different from mine (Do you do anything else? Workout, meditate, cook, play music, watch a show). In groups, they start talking about their daily routines and answer some questions: What do they have in common? How are they different? Is there anything you would like to start doing? Is there anything you would like to stop doing?
  • Activity 1 Habits: How would you describe a habit? Which ones are good? Which ones are bad? In breakout rooms students brainstorm different vocabulary.
  • Activity 2 Addictions: We start talking about addictions.  What are they? Do they think they are similar to bad habits? Are you addicted to something? What is this generation’s addiction?
  • Activity 3 Internet addiction questionnaire (cred. Tamara Olivos): In pairs they complete a questionnaire that will determine how addicted they are to the internet. We share the results with the entire class.
  • Activity 4: Where you using internet in a different way before COVID-19? How so? Do you like it better now or before? How can you balance “work online” time vs “social life online” time?
  • Activity 5: As a class, we discuss ways in which you can change your bad habits/addictions.
  • Follow-up: In groups they do a brief debate about the drinking age, 18 or 21?

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • The class worked well, we worked up to activity 4 but did not have enough time to share the questionnaire’s results. For this activity I put everyone in the breakout room and, although I went through all the questions to check vocabulary before, it was hard to check on students. It would be better if the questionnaire is not as long, or has easier vocabulary.

Annex

3.-Rutinas-INTDownload
Internet-addiction-questionnaireDownload

DE F20 INT/ADV – Octoberfest

December 1, 2020 /

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 10/1/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate/Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Oktoberfest

Goal of the class: Know how to order foods and drinks & how to give compliments/small talk

How did you structure the class?

A) Warm-Up:  Discussion about Oktoberfest – what do students know about it? Have you been? Learn important vocabulary (best with pictures, maybe let them pronounce the words/fill in translations for intermediate). (10 min)

*Optional for advanced students or students who have been to Oktoberfest: Wordsearch with words that they have to find (helps knowing how to spell words that they have just heard before)

Activity 2: Discussion: How do we order items/ask other people to bring us food? How do we give compliments? (10 min) – can be done online in small breakout groups either just talking or written with Google Sheets or in small classes with whole class (see example for ordering food/conversations with server attached)

B) Some facts and figures about Oktoberfest. Learn about 40th Oktoberfest terrorist attack anniversary. Talk about effects of Covid-19 and the alternate program in Munich via their Instagram page.

Fun Examples: – Watch “Bavarian Line Dance” https://youtu.be/BcU38jrw5ew

C) If extra time, show them attraction “Teufelsrad”, a spinning platform that people sit on and have to stay on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5oEn5y0H10

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.): Share Screen function in Zoom, Images, Instagram, YouTube, Google Docs, Chat, Course Website as a resource for homework and reference

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The students were engaged well. One of the students had been to Oktoberfest, so I let her knowledge and conversations lead to the topics and added some based on questions. They enjoyed ordering things and learning compliments. We zigzagged a bit in terms of topics, but I wanted to keep it organic. They very much enjoyed the videos and pictures of the alternate program to Oktoberfest this year.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

Oktoberfest is such a huge topic that it’s hard to give a true impression in one hour and have a conversation and some grammar at the same time. I assumed they had already seen the partying in tents and the atmosphere, so I focused on more practical/historical aspects of it and some special attractions that they have had in the past and are having now. I think that worked well.

For the wordsearch, you can make your own here: https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2017/01/make-word-search-puzzles-for-your-classroom

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Virtual Handout in target language https://courses.pomona.edu/la-german-2020/blog/2020/10/02/13-1-class-12-10-1-2020 (Password: GERMAN)

Oktoberfest-conversations

Oktoberfest-Vocabulary

Wordsearch-Oktoberfest-10_2-food_word_search

ES F20 INT/ADV Movie Genres/Storytelling

December 1, 2020 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Tamara Olivos

Day and Date: September 9, 2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish intermediate

 Class theme/topics discussed: Movie Genres/Storytelling

Goal of the class: To narrate a story with a beginning, middle and end

How did you structure the class?

Ice-breaker: We play Taboo as a group. The instructor will send the “card” to a student in a private chat (see below). They will describe the word without using any of the “taboo” words. Students will take turns. You can add more words to the list or choose different words.

Warm-up: What’s your favorite movie? What is your favorite genre? Do you watch movies in Spanish?

Activity 1: Divide the class into groups. Each group will be assigned a genre (romance, horror, comedy). Add more genres if you have more students.

Step 1: each group writes the beginning of the story using the genre assigned.

Step 2: they exchange stories, and write the climax/middle using their assigned genre.

Step 3: exchange again and write the ending. The idea is that each story will have a mix of the genres.

Step 4: read the stories aloud

Create a Google Doc and share the link in the chat (make sure it’s set to everyone with the link can edit). All students will be working on the same document but on separate pages. The instructor can write lines or use colors to make it clearer (see link below). The teacher can see what students are doing in real time.

Activity 2: We choose a movie everyone has seen. In groups, students write a synopsis. The class votes on the most complete one. Then, we choose another movie and students write a synopsis with an alternative ending or changing some key details. We vote on the funniest one.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

Google Docs https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zf9lNI54FYsa1fYQ719ItKa0453HKi5TGa0HOjo5n5E/edit?usp=sharing

Zoom

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

I didn’t anticipate the instructions to be so difficult to explain. I will try this class with the advanced group, it might go more smoothly. Once students understood the point of the google doc, they were very engaged and seemed to be having fun. Because it took a long time to explain, we didn’t finish activity 1. Next class we’ll continue on the topic and finish these activities.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

With the advanced class the first activity did go better but we still didn’t get to do activity 2 so maybe you should plan for a two classes. Encourage them to be as creative as they can to get more ridiculous stories.

 If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Puente: NO PUEDES DECIR río atravesar colgante unir

Batería: NO PUEDES DECIR instrumento banda música tambor

Ayer: NO PUEDES DECIR mañana tiempo antes día

Noche: NO PUEDES DECIR luna estrellas oscuro día

Película: NO PUEDES DECIR cine actor director rodar

Cangrejo: NO PUEDES DECIR pinzas crustáceo caparazón caminar

Museo: NO PUEDES DECIR arte edificio pinturas cuadros

Sandia: NO PUEDES DECIR jugosa verano fruta semilla

Pijama: NO PUEDES DECIR ropa noche cama dormir

Pintar: NO PUEDES DECIR artista cuadro colores pincel

Doctor: NO PUEDES DECIR hospital anestesia operación enfermo

Flan: NO PUEDES DECIR leche molde postre huevos

Disfraz: NO PUEDES DECIR traje mascara fiesta carnaval

Vaso: NO PUEDES DECIR beber agua cristal vidrio

Aceituna: NO PUEDES DECIR negra olivo aceite verde

Hoja: NO PUEDES DECIR árbol papel cuaderno escribir

JP F20 INT/ADV: Naomi Osaka

December 1, 2020 /

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Wednesday September 16, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate / Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Naomi Osaka  

Goal of the class:  

  • What Naomi Osaka did, and how the story was told.  
  • Think about racism and BLM movement, think about them in Japanese context, and express ideas in Japanese 

How did you structure the class?  

  1. Good news? (5min) *We share positive stories at the beginning of each class.
  1. Ask about some Japanese news they know (5min)　 
  1. Listen to the news (10 min)  
    1. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012615261000/k10012615261000.html  
    2. Check the basics of the news (Who she is, what she did, her action of wearing masks etc.) 
  1. Breakout room (30 mim) 
    1. What do you think about her action of wearing masks during the US Open? 
    2. Lots of Japanese people believe that top athletes like her shouldn’t talk about any political or controversial issues. What do you think about it? 
    3. For so long time, for Japanese people, “Japanese people” mean people who look like Japanese, speak Japanese, live in japan for entire their life, and have both Japanese parents. Now things are changing. The Japanese society needs to adjust to multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-everything reality. As a person who lives in USA, what would you like to suggest, advise, or teach Japanese people about living in a diverse community? 
  1. Main room (10 min) 
    1. Share ideas regarding the last question (4.c) 

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, Breakout room, chat section, news web site 

What worked well in this class? What did not work? 

  • Listening to Japanese news stories (created specifically for children and non-Japanese native people) seemed to be a little difficult, but they got a basics about the story (I believe the photos helped too.) 
  • Students had so much to say about this topic.  They had thoughts and ideas. They sometimes struggled to express it in Japanese. But I felt their willingness to challenge themselves and share their thoughts in Japanese. I think this is great. 
  • I had another news story to discuss as I thought that one topic wouldn’t cover the whole hour. I was wrong. Students had a lot to think and share.
  • I tried to reflect some reality of Japanese society. Also, I tried to have them think about it in relation to their reality in the USA. I received a lot of great points about question 4.c. One said that the USA has lots of issues itself and that it is difficult to provide any advice. This is understandable, too. 
  • I wasn’t sure how students would react to this topic, but they were very serious, and I can tell that this is not a new topic for them. They have been thinking about this issue for a while.  

Advanced:

  • Even before we start first discussion about Naomi Osaka, students had a lot of questions about Japanese society, such as how Japanese people understand things like BLM, whether there is racism in Japan and if so what kind, how Japanese people think about being different, whether and how people talk about politics, about the media’s political stance, how people learn about the USA. We had a good discussion. 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Providing a basic key terms in Japanese at the beginning of the class might have helped. But at the same time, if I did it, that’s going to frame how and what they are going to think. So probably, just start free flowing, and help them when they ask about certain words.  
  • I see that the advanced class can learn and discuss a lot about Japan’s social and political issues as well as cultural things. I appreciate their curiosity.  

JP F20 INT: Hometown with Google Map

December 1, 2020 /

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Wednesday September 2nd, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate 

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Your Hometown 

Goal of the class:  

  • Introduce hometown using Google Map

How did you structure the class?  

  1. Sara introduces language table, language partners, and tutors (5min) 
  1. About Labor Day (3 min) 
  1. Good news (5 min)  *We share positive stories at the beginning of each class.
  1. Introduce the topic: Hometown (5 min)  
    1. Where is it? What’s there? 
    2. Anything special about the town 
    3. What did you do? What do you remember? 
  1. Breakout rooms: 3-4 people (30 min)  
    1. Share stories each other using Google Map
  1. Back to main room. Share briefly each other’s stories (12 min)  

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, Beakout room, google maps, share screens. 

What worked well in this class? What did not work? 

  • Hometown stories developed to family stories and high school stories.  
  • Students enjoyed showing their homes, hometowns and the places they know using google maps and episodes related to such places
  • Internet became a little slow when zoom and google maps were used at the same time. But students were handling it with no problems 
  • This time each student spoke for a long time when they were sharing stories. Rather than exchanges of a couple of short sentences, this time it was more like a speech.  
  • I didn’t get to hear everyone’s stories as I was moving around among breakout rooms, but apparently, they were sharing some funny stories when I wasn’t there and laughing. 
  • It was good to see that one student talks about another student’s story when I ask what’s been happening. It means they were engaging conversations and finding something interesting in stories. 
  • One dog joined at the beginning. That was cute. 
  • Students liked this, and one of them used this activity for another class/session.

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Today’s class was more like each one’s story sharing with a few questions from others (as far as I saw). Next class probably I will try to do a more interview-oriented topic.  

DE F20 INT – Grocery Shopping

December 1, 2020 /

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 9/17/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed: Food & Groceries

Goal of the class: Identify food in a recipe and know how to buy it

How did you structure the class?

A) Warm-Up Discussion: Who enjoys cooking? Who does it regularly? Has it changed with the pandemic? What’s your favorite food?

B) Quick food quiz about fruit & vegetables: ask them which German fruits and veggies they already know. Then use a Google Doc with pictures and German words underneath to let them fill out the English equivalent and read them out loud for pronunciation.

C) Corona e-shopping: Look at different shopping carts I pre-loaded online and guess what food it might be for, show them photo of finished dish.
(For more advanced group or extra time: ask them how ingredients might be used.)
Then learn each of the ingredients’ words and identify structure and words of the shopping cart.

(Example dishes: Pasta w tomato sauce, Schnitzel with potato wedges, Currywurst with fries, buttered bread/pretzels)

D) Homework/Extra activity: Go over to getnow.com (German equivalent to Instacart), enter 80333 (Munich) as post code and gather ingredients of a dish you make a lot. Bring a screenshot of your shopping cart and a photo of what the dish will look like. (And you can have the students guess each other’s in next session).

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.): Share Screen function in Zoom, Images, Google Sheets, Website getnow.com, Chat, Course Website as a resource for homework and reference

What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The students enjoyed learning the different groceries and learning to shop on their own online.

How could this class be improved/ modified?
If it’s a larger class (more than 4-5 students), it can be done in groups. For more advanced students, you can pick harder fruits/vegetables or practice plural/pronouns.

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Virtual Handout in target language https://courses.pomona.edu/la-german-2020/blog/2020/09/17/1-13-class-8-9-17-2020   (Password: GERMAN)

Obst-und-Gemuse-Sheet1

ES F20 INT/ADV Jeopardy Trivia

December 1, 2020 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Tamara Olivos

Day and Date: October 21, 2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed: Trivia

Goal of the class: To think fast in the target language. Healthy competition

How did you structure the class?

Ice-breaker: We talk about our pets and our favorite animals. I showed them this picture to discuss dogs in particular. Students can also share funny stories with their pets or share pictures of their pets and describe them. https://www.instagram.com/p/By_fXrinn7D/

Activity 1: Share your screen and select the number of teams. You can choose to have pairs be a team. Write the name of the students where it says teams. For the buzzers, I used a website called buzzin.live. You can host a game, and share the game pin with your students. They will need to use the phone to buzz (it tells you who did it first). You also have to add/subtract the points manually using the + and – signs. You can edit this link, but if you will make major changes please create your own and copy the questions you want to keep.

https://jeopardylabs.com/play/trivia-en-espaol-10

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

Zoom, mobile phones.

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

I redid the game taking into account my Advanced class suggestions (I had created a game that was too difficult and asked for their feedback). They loved it and said the questions were neither easy or difficult.

F2020 Online: Ice-breakers #2

August 7, 2020 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name:

Marie Segura

Day and Date:

Week 1, second class, Fall 2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

All

Class theme/topics discussed:

Getting to know each other #2

How did you structure the class?

Warm-up

Use a very short poll to start your class, eg:

  • What’s the strangest thing you did while attending an online meeting? (Multiple choice)
    1. Ate breakfast
    2. Wore pajamas
    3. Brushed my teeth
    4. Cooked lunch/dinner
    5. Watched Netflix
    6. Other but my lips are sealed
  • What’s your best personal remote work hack? (Open text)
  • In one word, how are you feeling right now?

Activity 1 – Interviewing each other

  • Pair up participants in twos.
  • Give them a list of questions to ask each other.
  • Ask each pair to interview each other, either via email or in breakout rooms.
  • When all the participants convene together in the same virtual room, each participant will introduce the participant they interviewed.

Activity 2 – Thumbs-Up or Thumbs-Down?

  • Students should choose a view that allows the entire class to be seen at once. They can also use a voting function if one is available in the virtual tool. Students take turns stating something they like/dislike or something they’ve done. For example, “I like shrimp.” or “I’ve visited Washington, DC.” Classmates indicate their similarity or difference with the person by showing a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down (or by using the voting function).
  • To personalize the activity even more, challenge students to offer an activity or accomplishment that they think is rare or unique about themselves, and see if anyone shares it. For example, “I cleaned out my refrigerator last night.” or “I was born on February 29.”

Activity 3 – ‘One Random Object’ Virtual Training Activity

  • Ask a student to pick one random object that is in their room and not tell anyone what it is.
  • Explain that the other participants will have to guess what it is, by asking questions that require a yes or no answer.

Online tools you can use:

You could use a chat board for this, but it is not necessary. You could just run the activity by speaking and maybe use a virtual board to record the scores.

Activity 4 – ‘Take a Picture of Something’ Class Activity

  • Ask participants to take a picture of something.
  • Typically, you choose a specific theme. For example, ask participants to take a picture of their shoes, or a picture of something that is on their workstation or the view outside their window.
  • Remember to ask participants to take the picture and upload it before the training session starts, as otherwise it might take too much time out of the training session if they were to do it in real time.
  • Ask participants to share the picture on a virtual board.
  • Start a discussion. For example, you could ask why they chose that particular item on their desk, or what they like the most about the view they can see from the window etc.

Online tools you can use

Online whiteboard, chat board, or a shared google doc.

Activity 5 – Find someone who

  • To run the activity online, create a 5 by 5 table with interesting facts, one for each box of the table. For example, you could write things such as: speaks more than two languages, has been to Argentina etc. Or, it would be a good idea to tie the facts with the topic of the class.
  • Share the file with the table with your participants, either in advance or during the session. You can share by email, through the file-sharing feature of the web conferencing system or with an online sharing tool such as a Google doc. Alternatively, you could do the activity in real-time using a tool such as Padlet.
  • Depending on the size of your class, send students into breakout rooms or do it as a whole class. Ask participants to write their name under each of the statements that apply to them.
  • Ask them to share the answers and discuss.

Activity 6 – Would you rather

  • Send students into breakout rooms in groups of 3/4.
  • Send to every room a series of “would you rather question” and ask students to discuss and defend their opinion.

Resources used:

  • Shared google doc
  • Zoom chat
  • Breakout rooms

Some comments:

There are too many activities in the class, but depending on the group, some may work better than others, I think it’s always better to have a variety of activities at hand, and some can also be used to start any other class.

Potential technical difficulties: students may not be able to take a picture, so activity 4 may have to be skipped. Having too many breakout room changes can take a lot of your class time, maximum twice in one lesson should work.

F2020 Online: Ice-breakers #1

August 7, 2020 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name:

Marie Segura

Day and Date:

Week 1, Fall 2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

All

Class theme/topics discussed:

Getting to know each other

Goal of the class:

  • Dealing with the administrative aspects of the class
  • Assessing the students’ technical capacities
  • Introducing myself
  • Getting to know the students and their needs/interests/feelings about the class

How did you structure the class?

Setting up Zoom

  • Ask students to make sure they put the name they want to use as their username or to change it accordingly (maybe add their pronouns)
  • Brief explanation that the videos should be turned on as often as possible (except if discussed before or if impossible) because it makes conversations more natural. The mic will be off to start with/during instructions but students should feel free to interact before the class starts/after instructions/in breakout rooms. If a you have a big group, maybe ask them to raise hand or signal themselves before speaking (but it truly depends on the size of the group, it may be easier to just jump in).

Activity 1 – Where are you joining us from?

  • Depending on the size of the group, it may be useful to use a word cloud
  • Ask students where they are (city, country…)
  • Start introducing yourself by explaining where you are + where you are from, then ask students to introduce themselves: name, where they join from, where they are exactly, what their workspace looks like (if they have the video on) or what their virtual background represents for them, why they chose it etc.

Activity 2 – Introducing myself, Jeopardy Style

  • In pairs, students are asked to think of two questions they would like to ask to get to know me. Pair them up orally and ask them to come up with two questions in a private chat or use the breakout rooms.
  • Then, they are shown information about the LR on a powerpoint presentation (for instance dates, colors… that are answers to questions you may ask to get to know someone). To be allowed to ask the questions they have just prepared, students must, in pairs, try to find the question that might match the answer. 
  • Eg: on the screen, write you birth date. Students should ask you “When were you born? “, “When is your birthday?” etc. If they find the right question, they can ask you an extra one that they had prepared.

Activity 3 – Speed dating

  • Split your students into groups of 3 or more and allocate them to breakout rooms.
  • Ask each group to write down as a list on an online whiteboard or virtual sticky note all the interesting things that they all have in common (ask them to avoid obvious things, such as all being students or taking a conversation class) and something unique to each participant. They will have 5-10 minutes for this task. (online tip: set a timer for your breakout rooms + send a message 2mn before the end to warn the students that their time is almost over).
  • At the end of the 5-10 minutes, ask each group to share their list to the rest of the class via an online whiteboard.

Extra-activity 1 – New Academic Year’s Resolutions

  • Share with your students a google doc with a table showing different resolutions. 
  • (If the class is big) Students are separated into groups of 3/4 and sent in breakout rooms. In turn, they randomly pick a number (can use an online tool/Siri for that or just choose randomly) and discover their new year’s resolution. Then, they have to convince their skeptical friends that they are actually going to keep their resolution this year and to explain why it is so important to them.

Advanced: Besides explaining why it’s an important resolution, students have to explained how they plan on doing it. The others, the skeptical friends or relatives, can ask questions about the resolution.

Extra-activity 2 – 2 truths 1 lie

  • Ask one participant to write three statements about themselves: 2 true and 1 false.
  • Ask the other participants to vote on which statement is true and which is false.
  • After the first person has shared their statement and the group has decided which statement is false, the first person will reveal the truth.
  • Move on until each person in the group has shared their statements.
  • The participant with the most incorrect votes wins.

Online tools you can use:

Resources used:

  • Breakout rooms
  • Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino.
  • Google doc to share with the class in the chat
  • Ppt presentation

JP S20 ADV Gadgets

May 11, 2020 /

Language Resident Name: Miki Saigo

Day and Date: April 21, 2020

Language and Level: Advanced Japanese

Class theme/topics discussed:

  • Handy gadgets from Japanese dollar stores

Goal of the class:

  • Describe how to use something

How did you structure the class?

  • Warm-up: Greetings
    – Ask what students did in the weekend. Ask what they think about the P/I grading policy in Pomona.
  • Activity I: Guess how to use these gadgets
    I show pictures of handy/funny/cute gadgets from dollar stores in Japan (e.g. kitchen tools, cleaning tools, stationeries). I ask students to guess what they are for/how to use them. We watch video clips that show how to use them afterwards. I ask students if they would buy any of the gadgets we saw.
  • Activity II: Discussion
    I ask students if they know any handy gadgets from daily life. (e.g. smartphone stand, cheese grater, tiny stapler)
  • Activity III: Advertisement
    We watch a video clip from a tv shopping channel to observe how people advertise a product (with great energy!):
    https://youtu.be/KBrWprkHt6o (first 30 seconds)
    I ask students what they noticed (“They speak energetically and without pause,” “They use many onomatopoeias”). We pick one of the gadgets from Activity I and try to make sentences to advertise it like a shopping channel.

What technology, media or props did you use?

  • Google Slides
  • Youtube videos
  • Pictures from the internet

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

  • Students seemed to have had fun seeing the funny gadgets.
  • Activity III could be developed more if it’s done in a physical classroom.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

  • If I do this class in person, I would develop Activity III more: I would bring a gadget to class and have students explain how to use it and advertise it like a commercial. (I found it awkward to do it when you don’t actually have the item in your hands.)
  • It would be smoother if you ask students to bring/think about a gadget for Activity II before class.

Material: Google Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Qpt32B8ED56OAuu5QjO1Q80MfTDv0OJ4m7OTdVUhk4Y/edit?usp=sharing

JP S20 INT/ADV Job Interview

May 11, 2020 /

Language Resident Name: Miki Saigo

Day and Date: February 5, 2020

Language and Level: Intermediate Japanese

Class theme/topics discussed:

  • Job interview

Goal of the class:

  • Learn what job interviews in Japan are like
  • Learn what to talk about in a job interview

How did you structure the class?

  • Greetings and announcements
    – Study Break: Calligraphy Feb. 6th
    – Oldenborg Open House Feb. 13th
  • Activity I: Film Nanimono (2016)
    I first introduce the term shukatsu (‘job-hunting’). Next, I briefly explain the setting of Nanimono, a film that well-portrays the situations of job-hunting in Japan, and we watch the opening scene of the film. We watch it twice, and I ask students what they saw (e.g. black suits, interviews, resumes etc.) as I write them down on the board. We watch another scene from the film about a group interview and talk what we noticed.
  • Activity II: Job interview
    After watching what a job interview is like in Activity I, we practice how to talk in a job interview. I give students a handout that lists sample questions and ideas to build the answers. I explain the meanings of the advanced vocabulary in the handout, explain the typical structure of a good answer, and demonstrate some examples. I also show some video clips for more examples (skip to relevant scenes):
    – https://youtu.be/L9fO-xpWF18
    – https://youtu.be/U_jI1KQkmsk
    – https://youtu.be/Ayb2pWPK9ko
    Finally, in pairs, students ask each other the questions and practice how to answer. I ask some students to share their answers to the whole class.
  • Activity III: What would you do?
    Students in pairs discuss what they would do in the following situations:
    1. Your boss pronounces your name incorrectly everytime. What would you do?
    2. You go to karaoke with your boss and colleagues. Your boss is a terrible singer but asks what you think his singing is. What would you say?
    In a few minutes, I ask some students to share what they discussed.

What technology, media or props did you use?

  • PowerPoint slides
  • Handout
  • Youtube videos
  • Film (DVD from FLRC)

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

  • This class was successful. The job interview practice was challenging for the students, but they find it practical and were very engaged. Every student took notes in their handout and brought it back with them (Usually some students leave handouts in the classroom when they don’t need them after class, but not this time). Students left the class with accomplished faces!

How could this class be improved/ modified?

  • Students, especially those actually planning to apply for Japanese companies, would want more feedback. Because it was hard to correct all of their errors when they were talking at the same time, next time I would ask more students to present their answers after the practice time so that I can correct them.

Materials (Download the files for better view):

JP S20 ADV Fashion

May 11, 2020 /

Language Resident Name: Miki Saigo

Day and Date: January 28, 2019

Language and Level: Advanced Japanese

Class theme/topics discussed:

  • Fashion

Goal of the class:

  • Discuss preferences and opinions on fashion

How did you structure the class?

  • Greetings and announcements
    – Study Break: Calligraphy Feb. 6th
    – Oldenborg Open House Feb. 13th
  • Activity I: Whose outfit?
    I show students pictures of various outfits. In groups of three, students discuss who/what kind of person would wear them to where and if students themselves would try wearing these outfits. After they discuss in groups, they discuss with the whole class.
  • Activity II: Discussions on fashion
    In groups of three, students discuss the following questions:
    1. What type of outfit do 5C students wear?
    2. What would you wear when you go to:
        – a family gathering for Christmas
        – a friend’s wedding
        – a job interview
    3. Do you take time to pick clothes in the morning? What do you do when you can’t decide?
    4. Do you stick to certain brands? Do you like fast fashion?
    5. Imagine you traveled to a somewhere far away… and you find people there wear completely different from you (e.g. everybody is wearing ルーズソックス!). What would you do?
  • Activity III: Idol group audition
    I mention how idols/groups wear unique fashion and do various types of activities on media (e.g. singing, dancing, cooking, comedy, acting, harvesting…). I divide the students into groups and tell each group to imagine they are going on an audition as an idol group. Using a worksheet, students first ask each other their hobbies, skills and things they want to try in the future. Students list up the keywords and then discuss what they can do as an idol group using their talents. They also decide their group name, goals and theme fashion (draw what they are going to wear on media).
    When they are done, they present their idea to the whole class.

What technology, media or props did you use?

  • PowerPoint slides
  • Pictures from the internet (for the picture cards)
  • Worksheet

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

  • Activity I was visually entertaining. It is open-ended and made students talk, too.
  • Students had fun in Activity III. They were creative and talked spontaneously to share their ideas. It was nice to have them draw their costumes.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

  • I would add a discussion on trend fashion next time. (e.g. What kind of fashion item is popular now/went popular in the past?)

Materials (Download the files for better view):

JP S20 INT Causative-Passive

May 11, 2020 /

Language Resident Name: Miki Saigo

Day and Date: May 4, 2020

Language and Level: Intermediate Japanese

Class theme/topics discussed:

  • Causative and causative-passive verbs

Goal of the class:

  • Review the grammar rules of causative and causative-passive verbs
  • Use causative-passive verbs in conversation

How did you structure the class?

  • Warm-up: Greetings
    – I ask students to participate in the course evaluation (distributed via email) after class.
  • Activity I: Quarantine Bingo
    Using the bingo sheet made by the advanced class last week, we play a bingo game in teams (two students per team); if the statement in a cell applies to either of the team member, they the cell. At the end, the team with most bingos wins.
    (To do this in the online environment, I made copies of the bingo sheet on a document on Google Doc and had students mark in the synced document.)
  • Activity II: Causative
    First, we review the usage and conjugation rules of causative verbs (-せる／させる; make someone do-). Then, to drill the conjugation, I show some pictures and have students describe them with causative verbs (e.g. “I made my child study,” “I made him eat vegetables,” “I made him go to school”). I write down the sentences on the slides as students answer. Next, we play a game that uses causative verbs; it is a rock-scissors-paper game, except students have to follow the commands, “You win/lose” or “Make the opponent win/lose”.
  • Activity III: Causative-passive
    I introduce causative-passive verbs (させられる; be made to do-) by rewriting some of the sentences from the previous activity. We review when and how to use causative-passive verbs. Then, I ask students to describe the pictures from the previous activity with causative-passive verbs (e.g. “I was made to study,” “I was made to eat vegetables,” “I was made to go to school”).
    Next, we discuss the following questions, using causative-passive verbs:
    1. Were you forced to do anything as a child? (e.g. music lessons, sports, fashion etc.) As an example, I show a picture of myself wearing a kendo uniform as a child and talk about my memories back then (e.g. “I was made to learn kendo,” “I was made to wear the uncomfortable uniform”).
    2. Have you ever been forced to buy anything by your family, friends or salesclerks?
  • Closing: briefly explain what we will be doing in the next class (Final class!)

What technology, media or props did you use?

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

  • I chose this grammar rule as the topic because it is one of the hardest in the intermediate/advanced grammar. I designed this class by setting the target grammar first, and then the activities. This way, I was able to structure the class logically and with a clear goal. (I know this was the ideal way to design a class but I often failed to follow this process this semester.)
  • Because my original lesson plan turned out too short in the advanced class, I added more drilling of the conjugations in Activity II and III. This became a good guided practice, especially to intermediate students; they find the task helpful to practice the complicated conjugations.
  • They liked seeing my childhood pictures. It is nice to use personalized materials sometimes in order to catch students’ attention.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

  • It would be better with a couple more open-ended tasks. I would add some discussion questions that make students use causative verbs after Activity II.

Materials:

ES S20 INT/ADV Traveling

May 10, 2020 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez (Credit to Marie Segura)

Class theme/topic discussed : Travel

Goal of the class 

  • Practice vocabulary related to traveling and means of transport
  • Get to know popular touristic destinations in Spanish speaking places

Class structure

  • Warm up: Questions (Do you like traveling? What does traveling mean to you? What are the advantages and disadvantages of traveling? Do you think traveling is a form of education? What places have you been to? Would you like to travel on your own?
  • Input:  Story about one of my trips (emphasis on means of transport and activities I did there)
  • Activity 1: What type of traveller are you? Students have been given a free trip but they can’t choose where to go. In pairs, students fill in a chart explaining what type of traveller they are and rank a list of things they like to do the most when traveling.
  • Activity 2: Organize the trip. Organize a surprise trip for another pair of students using their preferences. Each pair of students receives another pair’s list of preferences. Now they have to organize a surprise trip, by first choosing a destination (4 destinations are proposed on a handout with the main activities you can do there but they can also choose another Spanish-speaking destination and look up for information online) and then deciding on different aspects of the trip: length of the trip, means of transport, housing, activities organized there. When they’re done, students pick 10 items out of a list that they would pack for this trip. They can add things if they want to. 
  • Activity 3: Presenting the trip/Receiving the Gift. Each group presents the trip they organized to the rest of the class (and especially to the group who receives it who has to react)
  • Activity 4: Customs role-play. Students are on their way to their destinations. In small groups they have to recreate getting to the airport, checking their luggage, going through customs and everything people usually have to do when in the airport.
  • Activity 5: Filling a complaint. Students come up with a complaint about something going wrong with their trip (the flight got delayed, the airline lost their luggage, the place they where staying at wasn’t clean enough, etc.) 
  • Activity 6: COVID-19. ¿How has traveling changed since the virus started spreading? What measures have been taken by airlines/airports? Do you think this is going to have a more permanent effect on traveling in the future? How are airports and airplanes going to look like after the pandemic is under control? 

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • The class worked okay. Trying to use the handout was hard because of zoom, but after trying to make the questions in a more conversational way, it worked okay. Because only 2 students joined the class, we only did the first 3 activities.

Annex

  • Traveler’s handout
Viajero-handout.pages

ES S20 INT/ADV Literature/Idioms

May 10, 2020 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed : Literature & Idioms

Goal of the class 

  • To practice literature related vocabulary
  • To become familiar with Spanish speaking authors and popular titles
  • To recognize common idioms

Class structure

  • Warm-up: Questions about reading taste & habits (Do you like reading? How often do you read? What was the last book you read? Who is your favorite author? Which one is your favorite book? Do you have any favorite character? Do you have any reading routine?) 
  • Activity 1: I show students the book covers of 6 Spanish literature classics. After randomly reading  the back cover of the books, students have to match them to the book cover and come up with a title for the books. At the end students comment on which book seems the most interesting for them.
  • Activity 2:  Santiago en 100 palabras: I show students a Micro-stories. After reading 2 examples,  in groups, using a template provided by the organization in charge of this contest, they have to write a micro-story.  (https://www.santiagoen100palabras.cl/web/#libros)
  • Activity 3: Don’t judge a book by its cover. Students have a list of idioms commonly used in Spanish. In groups they have to guess the meaning of each idiom. I explain what the real meaning of each idiom is before jumping onto the next activity.
  • Activity 4: Using story cubes,  in groups, the class comes up with a short story where they put the idiom in context.
  • (extra) Activity 5: Childhood texts stories. I tell students a story about how this children story that marked me greatly when I was a kid. They do the same. 
  • (extra) Activity 6: Students are randomly assigned one of the idioms we have been using all along the class. They have to write the idiom for their classmates to guess, but only using emojis.
  • (extra) Activity 7: Students watch a video where you have to guess new idioms based on emoji phrases.

Resources used

  • PPT
  • Youtube
  • Story cubes
  • “Santiago en 100 palabras” handout

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • The class worked well. Even though we didn’t go pass activity 3, they seemed quite engaged when reading and commenting on the books’ blurb.

Annex

Santiago en 100 palabras handout

S100p-¿Y-cómo-es-el-cuento

S100p-Periodista-por-un-día

ES S20 INT/ADV Music

May 9, 2020 /

Language Resident Name: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed: Music taste and music genres

Goal of the class 

  • To work on music related vocabulary
  • Learn about music culture in Spanish speaking countries

Class’ structure

  • Warm-up: Introductory questions about music taste and word cloud on music instruments. 
  • Input: Small presentation on Cueca. It includes instruments usually used to play that music, exponents and dance (how is it and how the costumes look like).
  • Activity 1: Students choose between different Spanish speaking countries music styles. They have to make a small a presentation and include the same information as in the presentation the teacher gave (cumbia, ranchera, flamenco, rumba, timba, tango, salsa, merengue) 
  • Activity 2: Students describe a picture in which writing and music is related and discuss whether music should also be considered poetry. Students receive fragments of different reggaeton songs and poems and have to distinguish which are which. They listen to all of them, read as if they were poems and share their results
  • Activity 3: Each group of students works with one of the fragments which corresponded to reggaeton songs and have to invent a new fragment. We listen to the songs and I pause them right before their fragment comes, so that they sing it. 
  • Extra Activity 1: Discussing the content of some reggaeton songs and their cultural significance: Yo perreo sola – Bad Bunny
  • Extra activity 2: I play different songs linked with the styles they talked about in their presentations. Students have to guess the music genre. 

Resources used

  • Youtube: 
  • PPT

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • Students enjoyed the discussions at the very beginning, but doing the zoom presentation was a bit hard. When talking about online classes, it’s better to avoid those “group research projects” because some students may just be on their phones or have a harder time doing group research.
  • As an extra activity we created a playlist in Spotify and I’ve heard students commenting on the songs, which is fun and engaging for them.

Annex

ES S20 INT The Bar (Virus)

May 6, 2020 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente

Day and Date: 15th April

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed: The Bar (Film)

Goal of the class: 

  • To exchange information about the main topic of the film
  • To analyze the characters of the film and their evolution throughout the film
  • To relate the topic of the film with recent events that have taken place in our society 

How did you structure the class? 

  • Warm up: Students share general opinions about the film and their cinema preferences: What did you like most about the film? And the least? Do you like these kinds of films? What is your favorite cinema genre?  
  • Activity 1: Students discuss the significance of the title and analyze the intro of the film: Why did the director choose those images for the intro? How does the music of the intro make you feel? What are your expectations of the film after seeing that intro? Does it match the rest of the film?
  • Activity 2: Students analyze some cultural expressions and events that happen during the first part of the film, learning colloquial idiomatic expressions.  
  • Activity 3: Students focus on the characters, analyzing the first impression that they portray and possible derived prejudices, also describing their personal problems and how their behavior changes throughout the film. Who is your favorite character and why? Is there any character that you specially dislike?
  • Activity 4: Analysis of the use of humor in the film. Students talk about humor scenes. Is humor compatible with a horror movie?
  • Activity 5: Students relate the topic of the film with the current global crisis. Are there any aspects that appear in the film that also show the behavior of people these days in real life? They will also be given some speaking prompts with quotes from the film.  
  • Activity 6: Debate of a hypothetical situation. Students write down the most essential professions during the Coronavirus crisis according to their opinion. The vaccine for the virus is out, but there is not enough for everyone: Which working collectives should have priority and receive the vaccine as soon as possible and why?
  • Extra final activity: Analyzing the advertising of products throughout the film. E.g. the abundance of Coca Cola drinks in the bar. 

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

  • Netflix 
  • Handout with questions and activities

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

  • They had nice discussions with the activity of the vaccine, and they were able to answer all of the questions, however the film and the topic might be too hard for some students. 

How could this class be improved/modified? 

  • They did not have as much to say as I had expected with the first activity, about the intro of the film, so since there are lots of activities, I suggest simply skipping that one. 
Conv_Handout_The-Bar-Virus

ES S20 INT Sport (2)

May 6, 2020 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente

  • Credit: Ivan Lucic

Day and Date: 4th March

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed: Sports (2)

Goal of the class: 

  • To learn about cultural facts related to sports
  • To exchange information about famous athletes 
  • To simulate a sports interview and record it for the conversation project 

How did you structure the class? 

  • Warm up: Students create a list with the sports that they believe are the most famous in the United States. They do the same with Spanish sports. Then they see the real rankings. 
  • Activity 1: Each student receives a sport and students have to look for the best athlete of that sport. They will have to fill in a table with concrete data (e.g. trophies, salary, funny facts about childhood, etc.). Then they share their person with a classmate and discuss some extra questions (e.g. which sport is more difficult or which one deserves a better salary). 
  • Activity 2: Role-play. Students act as sport journalists and athletes. They answer a set of questions as if they were the famous person about whom they made some research. 
  • Extra final activity: Speaking about unsportsmanlike actions and reading about some of the most polemical cases. Agreeing on the suitable punishments for each of those actions. 

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

  • PowerPoint Presentation
  • Handout with table and interview questions
  • YouTube

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

  • The interview worked well and some of them were really creative with their responses. They also did a very well job while researching about famous athletes.  

How could this class be improved/ modified?

  • The research part was individual and took quite long, so it would be better to look for fewer questions so that they can focus more on the speaking part without spending too much time working individually. 
Conv_Sport-2

Conv_Handout_Sport-1

ES S20 INT Sport (1)

May 6, 2020 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente

Day and Date: 2nd March

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed: Sports (1)

Goal of the class: 

  • To review and use vocabulary related to sports 
  • To exchange information about sport interests
  • To design a new sport and rules for it

How did you structure the class? 

  • Warm up: Students answer some general questions about sport (how often they practice it, why they practice sport, etc.). 
  • Activity 1: Students play a memory game about sports to review some vocabulary and learn new words. They will have to match the name of the sport with one rule about that sport.
  • Activity 2: I show them some pictures of myself when I was a child and used to play basketball on roller skates. I explain some basic rules of the sport. 
  • Activity 3: Students explain to a class mate the rules of their favorite sport.
  • Activity 4: Students invent a sport mixing up two different sports and create some basic rules. 
  • Activity 5: Students present their sport to the rest of the class. First they will not speak and will only mimic the sport and the rest will have to guess what it consists on. Then they will explain which rules they made up. 
  • Extra final activity: Watching some of the weirdest sports ever invented and commenting on them. 
  • Extra final activity (2): Speaking about extreme sports. 

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

  • PowerPoint Presentation
  • Memory game cards

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

  • Students enjoyed the mimic activity and inventing a new sport. I think the memory game was also a good warm-up activity.  

How could this class be improved/ modified?

  • I like the class as it is, however whether this class is successful or not will also depend a lot on students’ interests, so it is important to know if they enjoy practicing sports.
Conv_Sport-1

Cards_Memory-game_Sport

    DE S20 INT: Traveling (Zoom class)

    May 6, 2020 /

    Language Resident Name: Tilman Viëtor

    Day and Date: Monday, 04/27/2020

    Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): German, Intermediate

    # of Students: 3

    Class theme/topics discussed: traveling

    Goal of the class: Students repeat traveling vocab, practice a common German grammatical construction, practice presenting information.

    How did you structure the class?

    1. Warm-up (Prior knowledge):

    I put questions in the google doc, that the students talk about in pairs in breakout rooms. 1. What was the best trip that you ever went on? What was so great about it? 2. Can you imagine living in a different country one day? Where would that be? 3. Where would you travel to if money was not an issue? 4. Is traveling important to you? Why/why not?

    • Activity 1 (Input):

    The students brainstorm as many terms that are connected with traveling as possible. After two minutes, we look at all the terms together and talk about them.

    • Activity 2 (Guided Practice):

    The students answer the question “Why do people travel?” with the “um…zu”-Construction (in order to). Together we collect as many reasons to travel as possible. When the students run out of ideas, we look at a website together that gives ten reasons for traveling.

    • Activity 3 (Task):

    Students prepare a mini-presentation about the most interesting trip they ever went to. They explain where they went, for how long, how they got there, what they did there, what was most interesting, etc. They also explain, why traveling is important to them. They can also show pictures with the screenshare function. After about 5 minutes of preparation time, they get together in breakout rooms and present to each other.

    • Activity 4 (Follow-up):

    We meet in the main room, everyone quickly summarizes what they talked about, before we say our goodbyes.

    What technology, media or props did you use? (Internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

    Google Doc, DeepL, website : https://www.auslandsjob.de/10-gruende-reisen.php,

    What worked well in this class? What did not work?

    The class went pretty well. The students talked a lot and were active and engaged all the time. The activities were not as dynamic as I had hoped, but I think that was because half of the class was missing. Also, I had one more, pretty big task prepared for the students, but we did not have the time to do it. But because I did not try to squeeze that activity in, the timing worked out very well.

    How could this class be improved/ modified?

    Finding a short video or some other kind of input with travel-related vocabulary would have been good to stimulate more ideas in the brainstorming activity.

    DE S20 INT: Impressions

    May 6, 2020 /

    Language Resident Name: Tilman Viëtor

    Credit to Katherine Pérez, Mariia Glukhova

    Day and Date: Monday, 02/03/2020

    Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): German, Intermediate

    # of Students: 6

    Class theme/topics discussed: Physical appearance

    Goal of the class: Learning vocabulary to describe someone’s physical appearance.

    How did you structure the class?

    1. Warm-up (Prior knowledge):

    Focused Freewriting: What do you think about when you think about physical appearance? How would you describe your closest friend? How would you describe yourself? (3-5min) We talk about it and come up with categories for describing physical appearance. Then the students get to the board and fill the categories with as many expressions as possible.

    • Activity 1 (Input):

    I show students a picture of me and friends of mine. I then describe some people in the picture, before I have the students describe the remaining people based on what they see.

    • Activity 2 (Guided Practice):

    While the German music is playing, everybody walks around the room observing other people’s clothes, hairstyle, etc. As soon as the music stops, each student pairs up with the person standing nearest and they stand back to back. Each of the students makes statements about the other’s appearance. Repeat a couple of times.

    • Activity 3 (Task):

    Detective role play: Each student gets a picture of someone who “has gone missing”. One of the students is a detective and the other one has to tell what the person missing looks like. The “detective” draws the person who is being described. Both students get to be a “detective” using one different picture each. After having done this, each group describes their partners’ picture and we all get to compare and see how accurate the description was (15-20 min).

    • Activity 4 (Follow-up):

    What do students guess the occupations of the people on the pictures are?

    After guessing and giving reasons for their guesses, in two groups, they each look up one of the people, then present their findings to the group.

    • Extra final activity:

    What do you think the German saying “Kleider machen Leute” could mean?

    We talk about it.

    What technology, media or props did you use? (Internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

    Song, pictures of German celebrities

    What worked well in this class? What did not work?

    The class worked very well, even though we did not get to the extra activity.

    First-impressions

    ES F19 INT Shopping

    December 17, 2019 /

    Conversation Class Lesson Summary

    Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente

    Day and Date: 2nd December

    Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate

    Class theme/topics discussed: Shopping

    Goal of the class: 

    • To exchange information about shopping preferences
    • To learn how to bargain in flea markets
    • To find the best present for an assigned student

    How did you structure the class? 

    • Warm up: Students answer some questions about shopping: how often they shop, what is the best / most useless thing they have ever bought, etc. 
    • Activity 1: Brainstorming about the different possibilities of shopping and sharing preferences about where to shop. This will lead to the introduction of special shopping places such as flea markets. Students watch a video of the most famous flea market of Spain and answer some comprehension questions (what can be bought there, when it takes place, etc.). 
    • Activity 2: One of the main things that happens when buying at this flea market is bargaining. Therefore, students practice bargaining with other students to get the best prices for different products. Then they share different advices and techniques for bargaining. 
    • Activity 3: In pairs, students have to “go to this flea market” and find the best present for other randomly assigned students in the class. They will have to agree on what the best presents are according to their personalities.  
    • Extra final activity: Discussing extra topics about shopping preferences (local vs. shopping malls, second hand vs. new, branded clothing, etc.) 
    • Extra final activity (2): What would you buy if you won the lottery? Sharing ideas. Explaining how the Christmas lottery works in Spain, since it is a very important event. 

    What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

    • YouTube 
    • PowerPoint Presentation

    What worked well in this class? What did not work?

    • They were really into the bargaining part, so the role-play worked pretty well. 
    • Some of the questions of the warm-up were not suitable for all students because they did not go shopping that often, but they were still able to share their ideas and preferences, which was one of the goals of the lesson. 
    Conv_Shopping

    ES F19 INT Food

    December 17, 2019 /

    Conversation Class Lesson Summary

    Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente

    Day and Date: 30th September

    Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate

    Class theme/topics discussed: Food 

    Goal of the class: 

    • To learn vocabulary about food
    • To exchange information about favorite dishes 
    • To invent their own creative dish

    How did you structure the class? 

    • Warm up: Students see different pictures of food and try to guess which one is Spanish. 
    • Activity 1: I tell them that my favorite dish is the Spanish omelet and I explain them how to do it. Meanwhile students complete a worksheet about how to do a Spanish omelet. 
    • Activity 2: Students think of their favorite food and explain the recipe to another classmate. 
    • Activity 3: In groups students will become chefs and have to think of a super creative recipe. They receive three main ingredients that their dish must contain (they will be weird combinations) and they have to invent a name for the dish and a recipe.
    • Activity 4: Presentation of the dishes in front of the class and results from the jury. 
    • Extra final activity: Showing them weird foods or strange food combinations that people eat and discussing whether they would try them or not.   
    • Extra activity (2): Telling them a personal story about a cooking disaster. 

    What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

    • PowerPoint Presentation
    • Handout about Spanish omelet 
    • Cue cards with ingredients for the task

    What worked well in this class? What did not work?

    • They seemed to have fun while inventing their own recipe and they showed lots of interest during the warm-up activity discovering new Spanish dishes. They were also shocked by my cooking disaster; they really like these kinds of personal stories. 

    How could this class be improved/ modified?

    • The comprehension activity while I was providing them with some input was a bit confusing because there were two tasks in the same activity. It would have been better to simply put the statements in order and leave the part of matching statements with pictures only for fast-finishers. 
    Conv_Handout_Tortilla-de-patata

    Conv_Food_INT

    ES F19 INT/ADV: Social Media

    December 13, 2019 /
    SOCIAL-MEDIA-IntAdv

    Spanish Conversation Class – Intermediate/Advanced

    Language Resident Name:  Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

    Class theme/topic discussed 

    • Social media

    Goal of the class 

    • Practice vocabulary related to social media
    • Compare and contrast different situations usually found in social media
    • Create new social media platforms 

    Class’ structure

    • Attendance (2 min)
    • Warm up:  What do you know about social networks? What words come up to your mind: Students create a Menti Word cloud with words they would use to define social media. Most interesting words are chosen and discussed by everyone: Would you use this word as well? Why? Where in social networks do we see it reflected the most? (10-15 min)
    • Input: Video + Survey: I show students a video that talks about uses, advantages and disadvantages of social network uses. Followed by a discussion: Do you agree with this? How many of you do this kind of things when on the internet? We also talk about a survey that shows which are the most common social platforms used in some Hispanic countries. They discuss and compare to the US (5-7 min)
    • Activity 1: Toteking – “Redes Sociales” music video. Students watch half of the video and, as they are watching it, they have to check at least 2 critiques the singers makes to social media. Afterwards, they get three short statements from they just heard. In groups they discuss they statements to finally report their discussions to the class (10-15 min)
    • Activity 2: Made-up social media platform: After giving an example of  a social media platform my sister and I created, in groups of three, students have to create new social platforms using either of the criteria provided in the table (they can also add new ones). They have to consider three different categories: Topic, target audience and functions. Also, they have to create a name and a logo for their platforms (15-20 min)

    Resources used

    Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

    • I did this class at the beginning of the year so students felt more comfortable working in groups at first. For Activity 2 you have to be careful not to take that much time giving an example about what they have to create because the activity itself already takes a long time. They had a lot of fun with activity two and you can even do a jury like activity in a following class where they all have to grade each other’s platforms

    Annex

    • Social networks table
    Categoría Público Funciones
    Citas
    Empleo
    Noticias
    Compra y venta Lifestyle Educación
    Comida
    OTROS
    		Ancianos
    Adultos +30
    Jóvenes Niños Animales
    OTROS     		Fotos y videos
    Transmitir en vivo
    Juegos
    Mensajería directa Música
    OTROS 
    • Grading Table
    Grupo N



    Idea



    Nombre



    Logo



    JP F19 ADV Facial Expressions, Gestures & Emojis

    December 13, 2019 /

    Language Resident Name: Miki Saigo

    Day and Date: December 3, 2019

    Language and Level: Advanced Japanese

    Class theme/topics discussed:
    Face expressions, gestures and emojis

    Goal of the class:

    • Talk about emotions and certain situations to use gestures/emojis
    • Learn cultural differences about gestures and facial expressions

    How did you structure the class?

    • Warm-up: Greetings and announcements
      – Cultural events
      – Lunch Table attendances
    • Activity I: Emojis
      I give students Handout of emojis and briefly explain what “emojis” are. In pairs, I ask students to discuss (i) what kind of emotions/meanings the emojis represent, and (ii) in what kind of context people would use the emojis in a message. After a while, I ask the questions to the whole class and discuss together. If needed, I explain cultural backgrounds of some of the emojis. I also ask if there are other emojis that students often use.
    • Activity II: Gestures
      I show a list of words/situations on the screen (“to call,” “thank you,” “when you meet your friends” etc.) and ask students to think of gestures they might use in the situations. Students work in pairs, and when they are done, I ask them to act out each gesture. We talk about cultural differences found in the gestures.
    • Activity III: Discussions
      In pairs, students discuss the following questions:
      1. Are there other gestures you use/ have seen? (To give examples at first, I mention a couple gestures that I have seen in American TV shows.)
      2. When you travel abroad and you don’t know the local language, what do you do? (It could be gestures or other ways to communicate.) For example, when you’re at a store or in a taxi?

    What technology, media or props did you use?

    • Handout with pictures
    • PowerPoint slides

    What worked well in this class? What did not work?

    We had lively and interesting discussions throughout the class. Students enjoyed talking about emojis more than I had expected. I think it was a good topic for our generation. The first few emojis in Handout were meant to be basic expressions (e.g. smile, laugh, cry etc.), but they developed way more than that and had a huge discussion (e.g. “It is a fake smile you make when you don’t like something,” “You don’t use this crying face when you are actually sad,” “It could be happy tears”). Moreover, students in this class had culturally diverse backgrounds, so it was interesting to compare the cultural differences in gestures (e.g. how to count with your fingers in China).

    How could this class be improved/ modified?

    I was going to do another activity (storytelling by using emojis), but students spent a long time discussing emojis (which is fine because they enjoyed and talked a lot). Depending on the audience, however, I would use another activity to adjust the time.

    Handout & Slide (Activity I):

    絵文字（えもじ）
    A.

    B.

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