Using icebreakers in a World Language class is essential for creating a welcoming environment where students feel comfortable practicing the target language. Icebreakers help break down initial communication barriers, reduce anxiety, and encourage students to interact with both the teacher and their peers in the target language. Here's a good one that students seem to like:

Step 1: Write Secret Facts
Give each student an index card. Ask them to write a few secret facts about themselves on the card, plus their name. The facts should be things no one in the class knows but are okay with sharing.

Step 2: Collect the Cards
Collect the cards yourself. Make sure no one else sees what others wrote.

Step 3: Play Adivina Quién / Devinez qui (Guess Who)
Each day, choose 2-3 cards to read aloud. Read the facts in Spanish, using gestures, drawings, or visuals to help students understand.

Step 4: Students Guess
Have students guess which classmate the facts are about.

Step 5: Ask Questions
Once they guess correctly, let students ask that classmate questions in English for a minute.

Step 6: Review and Reflect
Review the clues and ask students: How did they figure out what you were saying? What new words or grammar did they learn?

Step 7: Continue the Game
Repeat the activity each day, using new cards and encouraging active listening and learning for at least 10 minutes each class. This activity helps students get to know each other while practicing the target language in a fun and engaging way.

Save the dates! Join us for our Virtual Presentations on October 10, 17 and 24, designed for all World Language teachers! Each session will dive into essential strategies for using the target language in the classroom, incorporating music effectively, and bringing more cultural elements into your lessons. Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your teaching and engage your students with creative and immersive techniques.

I offer the following Apps and Websites for my students to use when studying a new language.  I tell them to use the apps and websites to help them with their journey throughout the year:

1. Language on your phone: Changing your phone's language can help you learn new vocabulary and connect language learning with your daily habits. It will also change several apps already installed in Spanish, French, or whatever you're learning! For example, you can learn words like "send," "delete," "edit," "message," and "cancel" by using your phone in a new language. 

2. ChatGPT: This AI tools like can help you provide feedback and improve your target language speaking skills through interactive conversations and instant question and answers.  Just open it and ask to have a conversation in Spanish!

3. Toucan: Toucan is an app that helps beginners learn the target language by replacing words as you browse with their language equivalents. It starts with easy words and progresses in difficulty. Free and premium versions are available.

4. Udio: Create songs using the target language vocabulary we're learning with this AI generator. It makes music based on ideas and text prompts. You can use your own ideas and choose different music styles and vocals.

5. Lyrics Training App: Learn Spanish through music with the Lyrics Training app. Fill in song lyrics as you listen and sing along. Available for iPhone and Android.

6. Memrise: Memrise aids in memorizing the target language vocabulary and grammar with local pronunciation videos and spaced repetition learning. Ideal for on-the-go learning.

7. Duolingo: A popular app for learning Spanish, Duolingo is enjoyable for beginners but may become repetitive at higher levels. Uses implicit learning similar to how children learn languages.

8. Conjugato: Conjugato uses mnemonic flashcards to help master Spanish verb conjugation, making this typically challenging content more accessible.

9. Netflix Learning App: The Netflix Chrome Extension (Language Reactor) enhances language learning by offering movies with dual subtitles (your native language and Spanish). Choose between automatic and human translations, and save new words and phrases. Suitable for intermediate to advanced learners.

As we celebrate StoryCorps’ 20th anniversary, we bring you the story of a man who integrated his high school as a teenager in Knoxville, Tennessee, and how a StoryCorps listener comment helped him reckon with his past five decades later.  Click the link below to listen to the Podcast:

https://storycorps.org/podcast/storycorps-then-and-now-the-griot-of-knoxville/

Flangoo is a subscription-based service for digital World Language readers available in Spanish, French, and German!! A sister company of Teacher’s Discovery®, Flangoo creates an affordable solution for World Language teachers who want to offer students a wide range of readers. One Flangoo account gives you and up to 150 students access to an entire virtual Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) library. Try it out! 

How about some quick, fun activities to do with your students in the target language! Let’s start with...

Who's telling the truth?

Have them fill out a survey telling something strange they did as a child. Choose several of those answers and display them on your board or presentation.

This can be played online. Call on 4 people in the class, including the person who wrote the sentence, to read the sentence as if they wrote it.

You ask each person two questions, and they answer, acting as if they wrote it. Then the students type in the chat who they think is telling the truth, but the students wait to send until you say, "Send".

After they send, you ask each actor if they wrote the sentence to reveal the truth-teller. The actor with the most votes gets extra credit. The students who got it right get extra credit.

This is a great game to play with your upper levels, especially now with the fun Among Us game, students have to try to figure out who the imposter is! Here’s an example:

Example: When I was little, I used to hide in the kitchen cupboards.
Questions: Why did you hide in the cupboards? (asked to all actors)
or How old were you when you hid in the cupboards? (asked to all actors)

Who knows you best?

Choose a volunteer and have them select a question to answer (#1-12).

The teacher asks the question, then all of the other students guess what the interviewee's answer is.

They type it in the chat but don't send it. When the teacher says "send", they send it.

The teacher then asks the interviewee to send their answer. Everyone who gets it right gets a point.

Here are some sample questions. You can adapt them to any level, any unit:

• What are you afraid of?

• Where do you like to go on vacation?

• What is it that makes you angry?

• What are you laughing at?

• Do you prefer to cycle, ride a horse, or drive?

• What do you prefer: doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, cleaning the bathroom, or vacuuming?

• At night, do you prefer to play a game, visit a relative, watch a movie, or read?

• Who would you like to be lost with on a desert island?

• Approximately how many pairs of shoes do you have?

• Which public transport do you prefer (plane, boat, train, bus, metro, etc.)?

• What is your favorite zoo animal?

• What is your favorite holiday: Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Easter, July 4th

Scavenger Hunt:

If you're online, ask students to find something that makes people happy/sad/frustrated etc and show it to the camera. Ask students to find something hard/soft/wet/round/square etc and show it to the camera. Great for all levels and another great way to start some fun, personalized discussions!