This is so not my job and I would so like to do other things, but I am required to teach at this level and I have decided that the only way to make it non-draining is to put serious effort into it. That goes against all standard academic advice — especially since the memos and manifestos I have been writing and sending surely do not sit well with those in power. In any case, I am right and I will be heard. As I said in writing to my department chair: “I am not willing to teach in a way that makes no pedagogical sense.”
POSSIBLE GRADED ORAL ACTIVITIES FOR SPANISH 1-3
Notes:
1/- It is key to develop students’ ability to speak, not only because this is a practical skill but also because in order to speak one must assimilate the language, not merely memorize a few words and rules. That is why speaking is not an optional or merely an enrichment activity, but is basic to language acquisition.
2/- Teaching to the test, and shame at failure, are hallmarks of our education system now. These constitute barriers to thought and also to the kind of risk-taking actual learning requires. We need graded activities which foment learning and do not just “test.”
I recommend:
– Oral exams: as per the model sent earlier. Students prepare topics, and must interview each other on these (job interview, customs interview, more) … then, change partners and change topics. All this is happening simultaneously, in one room, as I move around among groups.
– Brief presentations: no Power Point, no Google Translate, only five words not in book allowed and the meaning of those words must be explained to the class either in Spanish or with a picture. Classmates grade comprehensibility and part of their grade is asking questions on classmates’ presentations.
– Oral interviews: Again, not on memorized answers to set questions, but on topics. Once again I really, really think we should get OPI training so that we can all conduct oral interviews using those principles and standards.
I might also suggest more creative/more research oriented oral activities:
In Spanish 4 I like to assign creative projects (like making videos), and projects in the community (e.g. interview an immigrant and record it, then transcribe and discuss).
I have done these things in earlier eras at UL Lafayette and would really like to get back to it. These things could be done before Spanish 4 as well, if the program were structured in such a way that these could be fit in.
Once again:
In my view and my experience, and according to every interesting pedagogue of the present or the past, these kinds of activities have much more meaning and pedagogical value than do mechanical tests on grammar rules. And they can be graded in a reasonable, efficient, and consistent manner.
#OccupyHE.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 