EDCI 5065 Week Two Assignment

• http://www.spanishnewsbites.com

This looks like an extremely beneficial resource to use in the classroom. This website consists of articles and videos about what is going on currently in Spain and Latin America. There are a variety of articles and videos of various levels for different levels of Spanish speakers. Unfortunately, many times current events are discouraged from being included in curriculum as it takes away time from other topics that needed to be covered. However, including events that are actually happening right now in the world seem to be an excellent way of engaging the students in the subject matter. In my opinion, “good teachers” will take the time to incorporate something that may not be in the curriculum, but is relevant and important to what they are teaching. In this way, the subject may seem more relevant to the student’s own lives as the event is occurring right now. Students will be able to develop competency in world languages when they allow themselves to become immersed in the language and this can be accomplished by sharing with the students current events from the Hispanic culture.

• http://www.virtualseville.com/

This also looks like an excellent resource that I may use if I were to teach a unit on the cities of Spain. This website provides a virtual tour of the city of Seville. The videos provide an accurate portrayal of the city and it comes to life more for the students instead of just looking at Seville from 2d pictures. The website also includes 2d pictures and maps so this activity could also be used for teaching directions and public transportation. I feel that many people learn by seeing and actually experiencing something, which pairs nicely with this activity. In my opinion, “good teachers” utilize a variety of teaching methods and utilize a wide variety of materials. This is an excellent interactive tool, which many students nowadays will appreciate. Students will develop competency in Spanish when they feel like they are a part of the culture, which is easily facilitated with this activity as the videos can make them feel like they are practically walking down the streets of Seville.

• http://www.spanish4teachers.org/

This website would be for me to utilize in order to produce activities for the students but it provided me with many ideas to include in my lesson plans. The website includes a variety of lesson plans, handouts, PowerPoint’s, vocabulary lists, tests/quizzes, and songs/videos. This website has a whole host of resources to browse through. Again, “good teachers” will pursue a variety of different resources to share with their students. Students will especially interactive activities such as the songs/videos section. Students will learn best when they are engaged in what they are learning about and this can be accomplished through incorporating something like unusual like a song that will help them remember the subjunctive tense for example. Something interesting like a song to help remember a verb tense will encourage students to develop competency in Spanish.