“El Portal”:New CI Novel from A.C. Quintero

I am pleased to finally reveal the newest edition to the Quintero CI Novel Collection: El portal; en busca de la verdad, published by Wayside.  This project has been in the works since 2019, and as such, has undergone so many thoughtful and meaningful revisions not to mention the  countless hours invested to ensure it…

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Freebie: Information Gap Weekend Chat Activity| Spanish 1+

That said, Weekend Chat is a perfect way for teachers to introduce, reinforce or review common structures in the target language. Not to mention, it promotes movement and lively conversation, which is the heartbeat of world language class. 

I shouldn’t be the hardest working person in the classroom, and neither should you!

For our Spanish 1 final writing assessment, my students had to write about themselves (which culminated in all the personal interview from the first part of the year), daily routines, and classes (we are preparing for one of my most popular novels, La clase de confesiones next semester, so I am frontloading some of the…

Diego’s Comprehensible Poetry for the Win! Lesson, resources, ideas & activities

It's no secret, I really enjoy using reading, writing and using poetry in the classroom (see my previous post here on Free Voluntary Reading) This semester, I used one of Diego Ojeda's poems from his poemario "Poesía gramatical". You can pick up your copy at the retailers below. Brycehedstrom.com Cpli.net Amazon.com I love the depth…

Gente de Zona Super 7 Verb Activity

Using Super 7 verbs and other basic structures to learn about Latinx artists: Group featured: Gente de Zona.

Cultural Appropriation or Celebration? Mini-Unit for Spanish Class

In preparation for the film Ocho apellidos vascos, students are learning about stereotypes, cultural appropriation, Basque culture, and the culture of Southern Spain, which includes Flamenco. This brought us to discuss Rosalía, her music, and accusations against her style as appropriation. Many times, students hear terms thrown around (such as “that’s racist) and do not…

Making Language Real From the Very First Day!

Making Language Real From the Very First Day! A dynamic activities to get your kids using the language from the very first day!

Cyber Monday TPT Sale! End the Year with Calm!

New School Year, New Post, New Resources & New Sale!

Combining Authentic Resources, Comprehensible Input, and Famous Afro-Latin@s All in One Lesson!

Combining Authentic Resources, Comprehensible Input, and Famous Afro-Latin@s All in One Lesson!

Let me be the first to say that I have a ton of resources for teaching Black History Month to students. You can check out my previous Newsletter to get a rundown of those cultural gems. However, like most teachers, I really love to create! It’s my vice, seriously, it really is (I spend way…

Day of the Dead Lesson: Student Ownership: Successful Lesson!

Sharing from The Trenches Today was my first day back to full classes, and it went better than I had expected. In fact, one student remarked, “Class was very productive, today.” I really appreciate their assessment of the class flow! After teaching today, I asked myself what was so different? Upon analyzing the components of…

Feliz Año Nuevo: Starting the New Year With el pie derecho. Activities & Games to Get them talking in Spanish Class!

Feliz Año Nuevo: Starting the New Year With el pie derecho. Activities & Games to Get them talking in Spanish Class!

Two Approaches to Special Persons in My Classroom: Always a Winner!

Good day, teachers! We are all busy, so I will make this quick! I have just revised this Special Persons resource for my students and posted it on Teachers Pay Teachers Store: Teaching Spanish Made Easy! We just finished up our mini-unit on All About Me and this resource was a true hit! Here is…

Diversify Your World Language Curriculum with These Resources!

Did you know that integrating Afro-Latinx/Black-oriented content and contributions in your classroom curriculum is just a click away? Literally, click here to preview the beautiful array of people and stories that will inspire your students.  And there’s more good news; you don’t have to wait until Black History Month!

Using Affirmations in Spanish Class: Engage the Brain and the Heart!

When I saw this affirmation on the board, my heart melted! It made me so hopeful that even these unique circumstances, and with the curriculum being all over the place this year that a student felt they could triumph in my class! What started out as a novel activity, is now a vital part of…

Tips On How To Teach A World Language in a Split Reality

Tips On How To Teach A World Language in a Split Reality. Spoiler alert: It's challenging but doable.

10 Steps to working a short story IPA style in Your Classroom!

Filomena is my new favorite short story! It was written and performed by Theresa Jensen. You can find it on her storytime Youtube channel. The story and all its activities can be found on storylabs.com See the video for the story below and use in your class right away! *Activities for the story are at…

Virtually Speaking: How To Turn Up the Volume In Class!

Our virtual classrooms can resemble a high-security vault in where the only thing you hear is yourself breathing. What if I told you, it did not have to be like this? Well, it's true! There are ways that we can motivate students to talk online, and have a great time doing it!

Estate Tranquil@: Don’t teach the verb Estar; Rather Use It for Real Communicative Purposes in Your Classroom

Sometimes we fret over how to teach, or how students will learn some of those high-frequency structures in Spanish. I remember a few years ago, I just could not fit it all in. It was tiring. However, developing a more CI approach to my curriculum, has freed up a lot of bandwidth, encouraging creative twists…

Adding Student Voice and Choice To An Already Set Curriculum: ¡Sí se puede!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur5AX25CkiQ&t=3s It’s undeniable that student voice, choice and interest must be the bread and butter of the curriculum. Just think, if your administrators or superintendent polled teachers before rolling out new systems and/or protocols… the education system would be debugged, optimized, and a potential maximizer! Student success would be at an all-time high. Okay, that…

A Jamming Success! Teaching Holiday Traditions in a Time-crunched Spanish class!

Today was a jam session two days before Winter Break! We had a full house, and I hope they enjoyed the festivities. One of the things I love about Jamboard (a new collaborate feature from Google), is that I can assign student work, and monitor it at simultaneously. It's like having communal work time. This…

Mind The Gap: An Energy-preserving Teaching Strategy for Virtual Learning & Beyond!

Mind The Gap As we go into next week, I felt compelled to share this energy-preserving teaching strategy that has saved me my sanity and preserved my energy. It's super simple: Create a gap space between classes, especially when they are back-to-back. We get so carried away wanting to instruct to the very last minute…

Quick Communicative Wins with Novice-Low Students

I am finally learning to have fun on the virtual playground. It is a mix of “Ya está” and, well, just making that good old-fashioned lemonade. Although there is no comparison (similar to real ice-cream, versus the soy variety), I am learning to leverage the right tools to get students talking, laughing, and having temporary…

Virtual Reality Survivor’s Guide To Teaching Remote!

Ready to Work! Last week was my first week of school and I thought it was going to end up much like the picture below. I had heard the stories, seen the posts, read the vents along with the parade of retirement announcements. To quote Gloria Gaynor, at first I was afraid, I was petrified…

Divide and Conquer: Digital Resources that Add Some Jazz to Class!

Well, we have two new resources in the Teaching Spanish Made Easy family! Check them out! And best of all, you can use for remote instruction or face to face! I love writing and even more so short stories. These are my new ones out the gate. First up we have "Mi vida es un…

The Formation and Politics of Identity: Spanish Level 4 Unit by A.C. Quintero

Picture by E. Gómez, Barcelona In an effort to give teachers a peek inside my classroom, I will be using this space to share resources, ideas, and lessons that have shaped by Identity unit for my level 4 classroom. This unit consists of a plethora of resources, both paid and free. Some of the resources…

Caras Vemos, Corazones No Sabemos: A New and Compelling Novel From The Creative Mind of Theresa Jensen

Caras Vemos, Corazones No Sabemos: A New and Compelling Novel From The Creative Mind of Theresa Jensen

Animated Book Trailer And Movie Talk For The Spanish Level 1 Novel: La clase de confesiones.

Confesionista: Anyone who uses the novels "La clase de confesiones" or "La bella mentira" in class! Confesionistas, this animated book trailer/ Movie Talk has been in the works for a very long time, and I am so excited to be finally launching it! I actually started this project one year ago, and have been so…

5 Ways to Use Authentic Realia in the World Language Classroom; You’ll Be Surprised by How Simple This Is!

We all are looking to simplify our lives. These activities help teachers to utilize authentic realia in the class, with a true purpose.

The Writing on the Wall: The Role of Word Walls in a Comprehension-based Classroom

During my last full day classes, students had an opportunity to share about their top five lessons and activities of the school year. Of course, they raved about Free Voluntary Reading (click here to read post), the Telenovela project, Conversation Circle the assortment of level 1 readers we explored, and of course, the Netflix mystery,…

Good Trouble Bundle-CI Books Featuring Characters of Color

The Good Trouble Bundle features 4 books, featuring all Black or Afro-Latinx characters who have their own life adventures. I wrote these books for a variety of reasons, but one very important to me is that we can't have all books about people of color focused on trauma and pain. I seek to balance that…

Post-Break Activities for the Tired Teacher

The relaxed teacher is not a state of mind, but the cumulative effect of preparation! I am relaxed when everything is all taken care of. This throwback task from the pandemic, does just that! This student-centered activity allows students to leverage their creativity, and use their language in familiar ways. It could be the perfect…

When the Lesson Isn’t A Good Fit for Students

Teachers Are Full of Great Ideas Most teachers are active online because we love scoring new ideas from other teachers, especially on how to improve our practice or student experience. We become enamored with novel teaching strategies, games, ideas, to take back to our classroom to implement. We are so sure our students will be…