This novice-mid to novice-high French activity allows students to review material learned in lower-level French classes. This is an interactive Jeopardy board that can be played on the linked site or can be downloaded or embedded where needed. Students can select how many teams will play. The categories in this game include Vocabulary, Perfect Tense, Indirect Objects, Demonstrative Adjectives, and Cultural Facts. This would be useful in preparation for a semester exam or at the start of the following school year to review earlier vocabulary.
This novice-mid to novice-high German activity introduces students to the Inde-Rockband Sportfreunde Stiller. The musicians are big soccer fans and created a song highlighting the few championships that Germany claims. They rewrote the song in 2010 in anticipation of another big win. Students are asked to study both the song and the lyrics to determine the goal of each version of the song. They are provided a copy of the German lyrics and asked to compare the 2006 and 2010 versions to identify differences. Students are also asked to identify the numbers used in the song and write them out to practice numerical vocabulary words. Finally, students examine other key vocabulary words and phrases throughout the authentic text.
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Students will choose a restaurant in a target language city to research and visit virtually. Students will then write a review of the restaurant and finally complete an unrehearsed conversation with a classmate about their experiences during their virtual visit. (This lesson includes 3 phases, uploaded as separate learning activities.)
This activity was created as a result of the World Languages COS Resource Development Summit.
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This unit is based on the novel In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. While the activities and discussion questions are in English, the novel itself and the accompanying activities connect language learners to other classroom subjects as they read about the fight for social justice through the eyes of sisters who dared to confront Trujillo and his dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. This story addresses global challenges, family and community, and personal and public identities. Novice through intermediate low language learners can use this as a cultural unit alongside their language instruction. Intermediate mid to high students can reflect upon this story in the target language as they discuss and write about the topics that are addressed, comparing them to battles for justice fought by those in their own country. An included extention activity asks students to read about others (specifically women) who have shown courage in bringing about social change.
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This activity starts students on their path to knowledge about food. It also gets the conversation going about the view of food in other countries. The students will learn the various food categories in context with an authentic resource and will also have a starting point to compare foods in different countries.
This activity was created as a result of the World Languages Course of Study Resource Development Summit.
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This is a novice, mid-high level Spanish listening activity in which students watch an authentic resource (McDonald's commercial) while interpreting the information provided. The activity includes a link to the commercial on YouTube and a cloze activity for students to complete while watching. Three personal connection questions are provided to allow students an opportunity to practice writing or speaking skills as they compare the gathered information to their personal lives.
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This novice low French activity is a fun way to start the first day of class. Foux da fafa is by a comedic group from New Zealand called Flight of the Conchords. The song is a parody of words and expressions that students typically learn in introductory French courses such as foods and greetings. Their comedic approach offers students an opportunity to see what they recognize before beginning the course. A printable PDF is included to guide students through preliminary and post-activity questions. A French-language copy of the lyrics is also included in the PDF to help students recognize cognates as they listen to the song.
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This activity is intended for students to see how the study of languages can have a positive impact on their futures. Students will research ways to utilize language in their personal lives as well as in the future careers. The final product will be a video from each student discussing their research findings.
This activity was created as a result of the World Languages Course of Study Resource Development Summit.
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This interactive German activity teaches students how to perform a traditional German clap dance. Videos of children performing the dances are provided along with written instructions for the dance. The included lesson plan encourages students to participate in the dance while listening to culturally appropriate music. While learning to present the dances students are introduced to products (music) and practices (dance) of the German culture. The lesson is geared toward upper elementary and middle school but could be adapted for older students who would enjoy the interactive experience as well.
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This unique resource is a compilation of 94 influential Hispanics. The list can be sorted by name or country and provides a photo of each person along with 3-4 direct links to online resources that provide in depth information on the person. These links go directly to information about the person on sites like Wikipedia, Biography.com, History.com, ThoughtCo, The Artchive, and Google Scholar. All resources are in English, making this a perfect resource for novice learners looking to investigate important perspectives from the Hispanic world. With over 90 to choose from, each student in the class can select a different person to research and present.
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This novice-high to intermediate-low Spanish activity focuses on the correct uses of ser and estar. The provided lesson activity includes 4 heritage speakers describing their past. As students listen they are asked to complete a cloze activity that requires them to specifically listen for examples of how the speakers are using ser and estar. Students then discuss the uses of ser and estar that were observed in the video samples. Finally, students are asked to create their own dialogues showing that they can correctly use these two verbs in the preterit and imperfect tenses.
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This novice mid to novice high French activity allows students to gather information from four different heritage French speakers: Franck, J-C, Stephanie, and Virginie. Students are asked to gather information as the speakers describe the homes they live in and who does the chores at their house. Students gather their information on a prepared printable worksheet. This activity is divided into 2 separate sections that can be used together or separately. Students are also provided questions to use as they interview each other about their homes and chores. The links to the interviews used in this activity are posted in the comment section below. Each video provides optional French and English transcripts.
Key grammar points in these audio clips include: Present Tense
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This Canvas-based site is perfect for quickly assessing a variety of Spanish grammar activities either as a pre-assessment bell ringer or as a post-assessment exit slip. Each grammar concept links to a 3 point quiz. Students do not have to have a canvas account to take these quizzes. Teachers can provide the links and have students take screenshots of their results at the end. Each quiz should take less than 5 minutes from start to finish. Grammar topics included are Adjectives, Adverbs, Conjunctions, Determiners, Negation, Nouns, Prepositions, Pronouns, and Verbs. These brief assessments will be most useful for novice-level learners who are learning to identify characteristics of the target language.
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This intermediate mid to intermediate-high Spanish activity introduces students to multicultural fashion as well as the controversies that have evolved as designers incorporate indigenous designs into their work. Students start by reading a target language article and answering a series of comprehension questions to check their comprehension. Students then weigh in on the presented controversy by sharing their ideas to provided discussion questions. Students then compare this presented situation to other similar situations within their own culture in which large corporations have taken advantage of indigenous cultures.
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This useful resource provides a list of basic conversation starters for Spanish students in the novice low and novice mid learning stages. There are 20 different questions written in both the formal and informal forms so that students can compare the grammatical differences that appear based on who they are talking with. This resource can be printed for students or printed in post form to hang on the classroom wall. These questions also make great bell ringer questions. As students start class, the teacher should call out a number and have students use that question to start interpersonal conversations with their peers.
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This printable resource is perfect for writing out classroom schedules in Chinese. The printout has space for students to write out 7 classes that they attend at school. There is enough room for added descriptions such as teacher's name, room number, or adjectives describing the class. This activity is particularly useful for novice low language learners as they learn school-related vocabulary and descriptions. Teachers can choose to print a copy for each student and have each student write out their current schedule. Another option is to have students work in pairs and discuss their classes. Each student can write down the schedule of their partner as they listen to the information provided in the target language.
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This useful resource provides a list of over 50 regular AR verbs along with a detailed Quizlet flashcard set that can be beneficial to helping beginning students memorize key vocabulary. Each Quizlet features a drawing to help students associate each action with an image rather than just a translation. This deck can be used for a variety of review activities such as matching and spelling. This link also provides a printable list of these common verbs.
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In this novice-mid to novice-high Spanish activity, students will learn and practice the art of bartering for items. Students will participate in a simulated market using fake money to purchase items that are needed to meet a specific list of items. This link provides printouts of items to shop for as well as funny money that can be used in the bartering process. A slide show presentation walks students through the cultural idea of bartering and introduces them to some of the key vocabulary words they will need to complete this simulation.
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This link offers novice low to novice high German students an opportunity to hear a variety of people introduce themselves while sharing where they are from, the languages they speak, their age, occupation, and their nationalities. There are two different audio resources, each with 5 different interviews. As students listen to each they are challenged to write down the speaker's nationality, age, occupation, language, and country of origin. After completing the interpretive listening tasks, students are then asked to engage in interpersonal conversations using a provided list of basic introductory questions in German.
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In this intermediate low to intermediate-high French activity, students will brainstorm useful expressions for agreeing with, disagreeing with, and uncertainty about situations. Students will then practice using these expressions in conversation. All necessary resources are provided including a printable chart that offers a variety of idiomatic expressions that can be used to agree and disagree, printable statement cards and a slide show that guides the teacher and class through the activity. As students work, they will use presentational speaking skills to agree or disagree with target language statements that are provided on the statement cards.
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This novice mid to novice high German activity introduces students to the world of German football or soccer. Students start by examining the lyrics to two popular soccer songs sung by fans, specifically paying attention to adjectives used to describe the teams. Then they try their hand at creating a stanza for their own favorite team. Special emphasis is placed on using plural subjects such as we and they. Afterward, students are asked to compare what they have learned about soccer fans in Germany to sports fans near their home.
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Students will choose a real estate property for rent or sale in a target language city to research and then present to the class as a group. The students will prepare a group presentation about their property, in which they will speak freely to the class in the target language giving the basic information about the overall property and descriptions of each furnished room. Students will be using the interpretive and presentational modes of communication, as well as, strengthening their understanding of products and practices of the culture.
This activity was created as a result of the World Languages COS Resource Development Summit.
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This novice mid to novice high German activity guides students as they create their own learning activity. Students start by researching the country of Austria and brainstorming cultural topics for their project. Once they select a theme, they create a list of vocabulary terms needed to complete their project and then work to locate websites that will teach other classmates about the chosen cultural topic. Finally, students create activities that can be completed by using the chosen resources. After finalizing their created activity, students share their activities with others. While this activity specifically focuses on Austria, this activity can be repeated with a variety of target language locations.
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This interpersonal activity is geared toward level one World Language classes. Students will use the target language to interview and gather basic information about others at the novice-mid to novice-high level.
This activity was created as a result of the World Languages COS Resource Development Summit.
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This unit starts with a video introducing students to life in Pompeii. (This video is about 50 minutes long, it may be useful to show select scenes rather than the entire video). Students are then asked to read and translate 2 eyewitness accounts in which Pliny describes what happened the day of the eruption. Public domain versions of these letters are linked within the activity. Afterward, students are asked to examine the ruins using a video tour of the Forum Baths. To end the lesson, a variety of virtual field trip links are provided allowing student groups to each explore a different aspect of life in Pompeii.
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Students will show an understanding of the parameters of location and movement by noting differences in meaning as the location and movement is changed. Students will view "The Five Parameters of ASL" resource for information and examples needed to complete this activity. Students will compete in pairs or teams to see who can experiment with changing movement and changing locations to create the newest sign meanings.
This activity was created as a result of the World Languages COS Resource Development Summit.
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This novice low to novice high French lesson starts off with a brief grammar discussion about cognates and false cognates. Students then play an online interactive BINGO activity as students observe characteristics of the French language. The lesson wrap-ups with a series of French and English questions. The lesson is guided by a prepared google slide presentation.
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This novice low to novice mid French activity leads students through an exploration of an authentic resource online. Students use a printable worksheet to guide them through an investigation of a French cinema site. Students start by examining the current movie titles and look to see which are American films and which are foreign films. Students are also asked to note the times that movies are shown and to examine the use of the 24-hour clock. Students also participate in a simulated French conversation in which they roleplay attending one of the movies that are currently playing.
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“Las Charlas”, or Chit-Chats, allow the student to take ownership of vocabulary, content, and grammar at the end of a unit. Las Charlas helps to build student confidence in the target language while speaking about a semi-familiar topic. This Charla includes the topic of Hemingway in Cuba. Students are given two resources to explore and learn about Hemingway’s time in Cuba. Students will present a two-minute interpersonal chat with the teacher on the information they have learned.
This activity is a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.
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This website offers direct links to over 30 French-language newspapers from around the globe. These authentic materials in the target language were published for French speakers and provide lots of interpretative reading practice for students as they explore current events from the French-speaking world. Resources are well organized and provided from Canada, France, Tunisia, and Switzerland
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This printable resource is a ready-to-use unlabeled map of Latin American countries. It is a perfect resource for novice low students to use as they label countries and capitals, a common first step toward learning to identify the locations around the world that speak Spanish. A copy of this resource that is labeled with each country's name is posted in the comment box below. Additionally, another map that includes Spain and Equitorial Guinea is posted in the comment box.
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This resource provides 14 separate video clips of French speakers, each of which illustrates the task of speaking about past actions. Students use interpretive listening skills to identify main ideas and examine how the imperfect, simple past, and compound past tenses are formed and used through these authentic resources. The videos were prepared for intermediate and advanced level learners but could be used with novice learners as a way to introduce them to authentic language. Each video clip provides a French-language transcript and links to grammar reviews and activities for the concepts that are heard in the clip. The concepts covered include: imparfait; passé composé, and passé composé vs imparfait.
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This paired French activity guides novice high to intermediate low students through an interpersonal conversation about careers. Using the provided checklist, one partner interviews the other about his career preferences. Then, using a target language website, each student researches the top two careers chosen by their partner. Students finally choose the job they feel is best for their partner and give a verbal presentation to the class explaining why they selected a specific job for their classmate.
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This is a public domain Spanish language copy of Adolfo Gustavo Bécquer´s poetry which includes Rima LIII (53) also known as "Volverán las oscuras golondrinas".This specific Rima is featured on the College Board´s suggested reading list for the AP Spanish Literature and Culture Exam. This resource provides students an opportunity to interpret, restate, and react to what is read in the authentic written text. The text can also be used to describe the main ideas and significant details from the story.
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In this intermediate low to intermediate-high ASL activity, students will learn about classifiers and their role in telling stories. A detailed PowerPoint is included to walk students through the key grammatical terms taught in this lesson. The PowerPoint also includes links to video examples of classifiers being used to describe accidents in the past as well as tell stories or jokes. After reviewing the resources, students are asked to use their new vocabulary skills to describe an accident or event that happened.