Pre-Conference Workshops 2013

"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist." -Picasso. Discover key skills and strategies to implement (or re-launch) TPRS in your classroom. Interact 90%+ in the TL. Sculpt a community of learners eager for more. Converse naturally in mixed tenses. Increase literacy skills. We will revisit the theory and research that underpin this approach and make communication in any language accessible to ALL learners. We will discuss the fluid, artful nature of Teaching with Comprehensible Input and how our own mindset can make or break our success.

Promote Student Communication Through Online Collaboration — Marlene Johnshoy, CARLA, and Frances Matos-Schultz, The University of Minnesota

This hands-on workshop enhances your language curriculum with current web technologies that provide opportunities for students to demonstrate language proficiency through communication and collaboration. You will experience a number of online tools by participating in activities from the student perspective and then you will see how to set things up from the teacher side. We will discuss the advantages and challenges of these tools as well as their application to various levels, contexts, and the three communication modes.

Beyond the Textbook: Creating a Kinesthetic, High-Achieving Classroom — Darcy Rogers, Organic Language Acquisition

Is it possible to create a classroom setting that simulates the environment where second language acquisition occurs? Where there are no textbooks? To develop language proficiency we must go beyond the textbooks and the worksheets to an atmosphere where students are authentically engaged in language acquisition and hands-on interactive activities. A kinesthetic, immersion classroom will take students to higher levels of proficiency through a natural progression and strong sense of community. This dynamic workshop will show you how to incorporate techniques for 100% use of target language and complete student engagement!

Teaching Spanish to Native Speakers — Amanda Marek, Shakopee West Junior High

This workshop will focus on designing a course for native Spanish speakers. We will discuss standards, objective and unit overviews, and activities to help students develop both literacy in their native language and cultural understanding. The goals of the course include promoting fluent bilingualism and biliteracy, teaching analysis of cultural perspectives, and helping students become bicultural by maintaining their own cultural background while navigating expectations placed on them by dominant culture. The workshop will include strategies to accomplish these goals.