Teaching Demonstration

A Peek into My Classroom

The lesson below was filmed in February 2023 in my 6th grade Spanish classroom where class periods are 90 minutes long. The students are approximately 11-12 years old and have estimated proficiency levels of Novice-Low to Novice-Mid. The language program in my district uses the Realidades textbook as curriculum and in this lesson, students are working with the essential question ¿Y tú, cómo eres? (And you, what are you like?) In the previous few classes, students practiced receptive skills during reading and listening tasks and in this lesson students complete a speaking activity where they engage in both receptive and productive communication skills.

The class begins as usual with a preview of the class period and students answering questions about the day, date, and weather. We move into a Pre-Actividad (Pre-Activity) where students use WordReference.com, Vocabulario Extra (Extra Vocabulary) at the front of the room, myself, and each other to warm-up and expand their vocabulary when it comes to descriptive adjectives. Following the pre-activity, I complete a quick comprehension check through PearDeck. Once we move onto the main activity, students take some brief notes of frases útiles (useful phrases) for during the activity and then we practice with The Wheel of Names. In the speaking activity, the goal is for students to speak with each student in the classroom asking and answering the questions ¿Cómo eres? (What are you like?) and ¿Cómo no eres? (What are you not like?). In the following class, we used the information they gathered during this activity to warm-up and practice answering questions about others, rather than ourselves.

Throughout the entire lesson, I provide both positive and corrective feedback to students in order to encourage self-awareness, confidence building, and promote positive washback. I believe maintaing a positive, lively space where the target language is used most of the time provides the optimal environment for students to develop their language skills. PearDeck is helpful to encourage participation and to take quick, formative assessments throughout the lesson. Wheel of Names improves engagement and, really, just adds a little something fun. Prior to this class, the students worked through readings, videos, and recordings where gendered nouns and adjectives were taught implicitly rather than explicitly where students "discovered" the grammar on their own. In the pre-actiivty, I remind students to "watch the adjective endings" as a way of asking them to recall what they learned through previous activities.