German: Getränke Word Search

Hello all, Chris here. Today I am happy to present the first post featuring downloadable content! We will begin featuring a series of crosswords and word searches among other types of activities in PDF format! This allows us to present you with more dynamic and ready-made and reproducible activities. Best of all this is free! Check below for our first word search featuring Getränke for German!


Getr�nke Wordsearch


Getränke Wordsearch - Answer Key -

Useful Sites: CLEAR

Hello all, Chris here with another useful website for language teachers. Today I would like to share CLEAR with everyone. For those who do not already know about this great (and free!) online resource, check out their website here:


http://clear.msu.edu/teaching/online/ria/index.php

Clear offers several useful rich internet applications including Broadcasts (easy to use podcasts), Conversations (recording questions for your students to answer), Mashups (combining video and text), and several more. These applications are all fairly easy to use. There are also several online tutorials for those who are not so tech-savvy. Check out their site and enjoy the many great applications.

Spanish: Adivinanzas 5

Hi all, Claudia here,

I would like to add a few more riddles to our adivinanzas collection. Enjoy!

Oro parece,
plata no es;
el que no lo adivine,
bien tonto es.

R: El plátano


Dos hermanas diligentes
que caminan al compás,
con el pico por delante
y los ojos por detrás.

R: Las tijeras


¿Cuál es de los animales
aquel que en su nombre
tiene las cinco vocales?

R: El murciélago

New Release: Enfoque - Latin America is now available!

Hello everyone, Chris here. Today I am pleased to announce that our first product, Enfoque: Latin America is now available for purchase! For purchasing information or questions, please send an email to clteacherstoolbox@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!   

This DVD features a massive collection of pictures from all over Latin America as well as a large selection of useful and reproducible activities for Spanish teachers. Check below for a detailed description: 

Enfoque: Latin America

Enfoque: Latin America provides the Spanish language teacher with a substantial collection of pictures from virtually every Spanish-speaking country in Latin America! This diverse collection provides pictures ranging from cultural sites, plants & animals to food and everyday items. All pictures are labeled and sorted according to country and category to allow you to quickly find the pictures you need. In addition, this collection comes with a diverse set of reproducible activities in PDF format which make use of the pictures as well as several tips and strategies for using them in your classes! The collection also includes several ready to use PowerPoint selections of photos to help teachers use the pictures from day one. Features: 1 DVD with well over 2,000 pictures 8 Activities with multiple variants in PDF format 20+ Ready to use PowerPoints with thematically selected pictures

ATJ conference- Japanese

Hi all, Junko desu. Spring is approaching, it's time to go to conferences! Where? Hawaii!

Annual conference of Association of teachers of Japanese will be held on April 2nd at University of Hawaii at Manoa. The complete schedule is available here... http://www.aatj.org/atj/conference/index.html

(I wish I could) see you all there!

News: 1er Encuentro para profesores y profesionales del Español como Lengua Extranjera

1er Encuentro de profesores y profesionales del español
Valencia, 4 y 5 de Marzo 2011

El instituto de idiomas AIP tiene el gusto de invitarles a participar en su 1er Encuentro para profesores y profesionales del Español como Lengua Extranjera.

Su objetivo es facilitar un nuevo punto de reunión para el profesorado del ELE internacional donde prime la formación y el necesario reciclaje, siempre con vistas a acercar y difundir las últimas tendencias y tecnologías en la enseñanza del ELE.

LUGAR: Instituto de idiomas AIP

C/ Bachiller, 7 bajo, Valencia

FECHAS y HORARIO:

Viernes 4 de Marzo de 2011. De 9 h. a 13 h. y de 15 h. a 19:45 h.

Sábado 5 de Marzo de 2011. De 9 h. a 13 h.

http://www.aipidiomas.es/encuentro-profesores-espanol/introduccion

News: Conjunction Activities Updated

Hello all, Chris here. My recent post on various activities with conjunctions is now complete. To see the post, click here:

http://lteacherstoolbox.blogspot.com/2011/02/grammar-activities-conjunctions.html

Useful Websites: Resources for Teaching English Pronunciation

A Service-learning student recently asked me for help in teaching his companero the sounds and pronunciation of English. There are many resources online and here are some that I passed on to my student. Most of this information can be used for learning about our own language or for deepening our knowledge of teaching Spanish.

This one is great: http://www.angelfire.com/fl/espanglishtips/ There are handouts and activities to download. And http://www.soundsofenglish.org/pronunciation/gk.html

I hate to admit it but YouTube can be helpful. Here is the link to one video but on the right side you will see more videos teaching other sounds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxzieu-WXt4

Google Translator is a way for your student to type in his or her sentences, either from homework, or ones that he or she has read or has questions about, and hear while seeing the translation and pronunciation. Many times, I find that seeing the word while it is pronounced helps immensely.

Another is http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/l1spanish.html

Some good background info and some ideas for your companero:
http://blog.spanishwizards.com/learning-spanish-pronunciation-the-beauty-of

Not necessarily concerning pronunciation but does have some good points: http://www.angelfire.com/fl/espanglishtips/

Japanese: Japanese Dialects

Hi, all. Hajimemashite. Yumiko desu.

Today I'd like to share a link on Japanese dialects. I think some of you are familiar with Kansai-ben or Osaka-ben. It is very interesting to know other dialects in Japan. I am from Nagoya, so please check out Nagoya-ben as well! If you are a beginning leaner, please study standard Japanese first.


http://hougen.u-biq.org/

News: FLAG ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Foreign Language Association of Georgia (FLAG) hosts an annual conference to provide professionals with an opportunity to meet and share. You are cordially invited to join FLAG for its next conference which will take place in Atlanta. Exhibitors and vendors are welcome as well.

Connecting Students to the World
March 4/5, 2011 Atlanta, GA

http://www.flageorgia.org/conference/2011Conference/conference-11.htm

News: The 2011 SCOLT

The 2011 Southern Conference on Language Teaching
Date: March 10-12, 2011
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Conference Theme:

Got Languages? Powerful Skills for the 21st Century

http://scolt.webnode.com/

Grammar Activities: Conjunctions

Hello everyone, Chris here again. Today I would like to share a few ideas and activities for helping students practice conjunctions. These activities work for both coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.

News: Ausstellung "Planen für München 2018"

Hello all, Chris here with a little bit of news. Munich is applying for the Summer 2018 Olympics! You can read more about it here:


http://www.muenchen.de/Rathaus/aktuelles/2011/470766/ausstellung_planen2018.html

This brings up a few interesting points:

• Do you talk about sports in your language classes?
• How would you teach sports vocabulary?
• Are there any specific areas of grammar that would lend themselves to a lesson/unit on sports?
• What types of cultural information could one incorporate into such lessons?
• Are there any innovative activities for teaching a lesson on sports in a language course?

If you have any answers or ideas to share with us, please feel free to comment below. We look forward to hearing from you!

(Munich picture from Wikipedia. All rights are theirs)

News: CLTA Conference 2011

The California Language Teachers' Association presents
The CLTA Conference 2011
Theme: South Bay Language Cabaret
March 17-20, 2011
Hyatt Regency
Santa Clara, California

http://www.clta.net/conference/index.html

Greetings in Japanese

Hi all, Junko desu.

Today I want to share a useful link for greetings in Japanese. One of the things you need to keep mind when greeting in Japanese is that you need to use different expressions depending on who you are talking to. If you are talking to a superior, you say, ohayou gozaimasu while you say, ohayou, to your friends. Please follow the link! http://www2.tokai.or.jp/yuki/greetings.htm

Surrealist games

The Surrealists used these games to explore the role of chance and the unconscious in artistic creations. But they're also a fun way to work on parts of speech and Q&A in the FL classroom:

Exquisite corpse:

• Each person receives a piece of paper and a pencil.
• As a class, decide on a sentence structure (for example: Article/Adjective/Noun/Verb/ Adjective/Noun)
• In the first round, each person writes a word fitting the outlined sentence structure.
• Fold the paper over to conceal the written word and pass it to the next person.
• The next person writes a word (fitting the outlined structure), conceals it, and then passes the paper to the next person.
• Repeat this procedure until the structure is complete.
• When a round of sentences has been completed, the student who wrote the last word should open the paper and read the complete sentence.

New Definitions: Work with a partner. One player writes down a simple "What is (noun)?" question on a sheet of paper, and then folds it over so the next person cannot see the question. The second player writes an answer on the same sheet of paper, without seeing the question (be as creative as you want). The paper is unfolded to reveal the result. Remarkable “facts” will emerge.

Some examples: Q: What is happiness? A: Going the extra mile Q: What is music? A: Clouds floating by.

German Video: Werner's Gesetz Videos

Hello all, Chris here again with a couple of videos for fellow German teachers about the history of the German language. We have all had students ask why certain words, spellings, and sounds are the way they are in German. Without launching into a detailed discussion on historical linguistics, you can instead show these fairly short videos to your students if you want to let them in on a little bit of the history behind the development of German! These videos bring up a few interesting discussion questions:

• Do you discuss the development of German in your courses? If so, how do you incorporate this topic into your lessons?
• What are the benefits of discussing the history of a language in lower level classes? 
• Should this be introduced at all in the lower levels or is this best saved for higher level language courses and/or courses in linguistics?

News: IV Congreso Internacional de FIAPE - Call for proposals

 La Federación Internacional de Asociaciones de Profesores de Español (FIAPE) con la colaboración de los Cursos Internacionales de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela celebrará durante las fechas 17, 18, 19 y 20 de abril de 2011, en los edificios de la Facultad de Filología de la mencionada Universidad de Santiago, su IV Congreso Internacional bajo el lema: La enseñanza del español en un mundo intercultural. Jornadas pedagógicas.

http://www.fiape.org/IVcongreso/index.html

Chinese: Greetings in Chinese New Year

Hello all, Bailu here. Rabbit is the Chinese zodiac sign of the year 2011. Please follow me to learn two basic greetings that are useful in the new year.

Pinyin	Meaning	Traditional Characters	Simplified Characters
gōng xǐ fā cái	Congratulations and Prosperity	恭喜發財	恭喜发财
xīn nián kuài lè	Happy New Year	新年快樂	新年快乐

(Chinese flag picture from Wikipedia. All rights are theirs.)

News: Chinese Culture and Language Learning Events in Spring 2011

Hello all, Bailu here! I am new to the site. Nice to meet you all here. I have listed below activities and opportunities regarding Chinese culture and language learning in Spring, 2011 at Purdue.

1. Weekly Tea hours

Tea hour weekly meeting: TH 3:00--4:00 pm @ SC lounge

2. “The Monkey King 美猴王” (a theater production in English) , March (date to be announced)

3. the 2nd Speech and Performance Contest of the Midwest Area, April 23

4. Calligraphy club weekly activity

The club weekly meeting: W 7:30-9:30 pm @ BRNG B212

Japanese: Culture Introduction

Hi all, Junko desu. Today I wanted to share a student-lead activity or more like a small project with you. Language teaching and culture always go together, so why don't we give them some time to talk about it? Students can chose their own topic of interest in the target culture and make a small presentation(about 5 min) on it in class. It can be anything as long as it's about the target culture; traditional ones or pop ones. Here is the procedures for students.

1. Decide a topic and consult with the instructor

2. Do research on the topic on the internet or ask native speakers around if available.

3. Look for a short clip on youtube

4. Make a presentation in class (nothing formal, it can be casual)

5. Answer questions

Here are the example topics

Kabuki, Geisha, Noh, Sumo, Japanese Food, Fashion, Manga, Game, Cosplay, Animation, Japanese Festivals etc

My students are working on this this semester, so I will let you know how it went. I hope your students can do something similar too!

German: Münchner Snow City

Hello all, Chris here. Fellow German teachers looking for something fun and seasonal to add to your classes then check out the link and video below of Munich's 'Snow City'.

News: Opportunity for French Teachers

Hello everyone, Becky here!

I have copied below information about scholarships (17) to France, Belgium, and Quebec, available from the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) for Summer 2011.

Full information can be found at www.frenchteachers.org. The deadline for application is February 15.

Please note that AATF membership is required to apply for these scholarships.
In addition, the AATF Summer Scholarship Application Form must be used, NOT the forms found elsewhere on the Internet. Applicants who are selected will then
be asked to fill out the forms specific to each country.

Enjoy!

News: VOKI Newsletter

 Hello everyone, Becky here!

I have copied the link below to VOKI's newsletter with ways to incorporate the use of its software into the classroom.

Enjoy!

http://www.voki.com/newsletter/email_newsletter_jan_0111.html

News: Anglicisms in Germany

Hello everyone, Becky here!

I have copied the link below to an interesting article about Anglicisms used in the German language.

Enjoy!

http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/01/german-language-english-words-leaken?cat=world&type=article

News: Article on Second-Language Learning for U.S. Students

Hello everyone. Becky here!

Here is yet another article (I will copy the link and summary below) about the importance of language learning. Enjoy!

Language: A Cognitive and Creative Tool

In a recent issue of EdWeek, Tony Jackson, vice president for education at Asia Society, joined the president of the Committee for Economic Development and the executive director of the National Education Association in calling for second-language learning for U.S. students, not only because it enhances the global competitiveness of the U.S. and its students, but second-language learning "also helps students to learn their first language more effectively and deeply, and gives them access to a larger palette of colors with which to paint their world."
Read their National Imperative for Language Learning.

Portuguese Videos: Conversaçãos Português 3

Hello all, Chris here. Today we would like to present the third video in our Portuguese conversation series! Many thanks to Cezar and Christiane for their help! Comprehension questions will be added soon. Enjoy!

German: Art Memory Game

Hello all, Chris here. Today I would like to share a website I came across which features a fun game about German art. This could be useful for sharing in classes and to help familiarize your students with German artists and periods. Let us know what you think!

http://www.entdecke-deutschland.diplo.de/__Zentrale_20Komponenten/____Multimedia__Bibliothek/Animationen/Gemaelde__Memory/en/memospiel__en?view=popup&site=367613