Building a Culture of Trust in World Language Class

Posted on by Vicky Masson

by VIcky Masson

‘Why do we teach…?‘ is a column of Language Teaching Lab. It might help us think deeper on why we teach a certain topic. In addition, it might show a new perspective on how to teach it.

Emotions galore

Why is it important to build a culture of trust in our language class? The beginning of the school year is always one full of emotions for me. I love new beginnings and I know my students love them too. Each new year allows us a fresh start. It is like having a blank page in front of us to draw and write our next chapter. 

Apart from this initial excitement towards a new year, my students also feel the uncertainty of the unknown. They have lots of questions regarding their new teachers, friendships, and also, let’s face it, how they are going to be assessed. Students want to succeed in school and each year brings new challenges.

Building connections

Teachers want to learn about their students. They want to know about students’ strengths and stressors. At the beginning and throughout the year teachers usually plan activities and tasks that will help them get to know their students better. ‘What do they like?’ ‘What is important to them?’ ‘How can I help students overcome obstacles?’ Building those connections takes time and it is absolutely worth it. The more we learn about students’ identities, backgrounds, and of course, how they learn best, the better. I see building these connections at the center of my teaching. But wouldn’t it be important to start concentrating on developing ‘Trust’ first?

HP Teaching Fellow Challenge-Based Learning

I am so lucky to be a Digital Promise #HPTeachingFellow! The fellowship helped me tackle last year’s new distance learning modality with strength and support.

Along with other fellows, we embarked on a Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) Nano-Challenge.



CBL is about engaging, investigating, and acting upon a challenge. The Nano-Challenge (as it was a small challenge) consisted of exploring the idea of building positive relations with students in distance learning. 

The group I belonged to had teachers and instructional coaches. We engaged in the Nano-challenge and investigated different ways of building relations with students in distance learning. After some thought and prompted by questions posed by our facilitators, we came to the conclusion that in order to build positive relationships, students needed to trust us first. Therefore, we shifted our ‘act’ question to answer “How do we build trust for student learning?”

Building a culture of trust

I realized through the Nano-Challenge that by building a culture of trust first, our students would feel safe and supported while in distance learning. Now that I am starting a new school year, I believe that building a culture of trust applies to onsite learning too. 

To develop and build a culture of trust in my language class, I put together some activities into a lesson plan. The following includes one of the activities we did. I used the Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routine, “Root Cause” thus, becoming “Root Cause of Trust.” For this part of the lesson I had students work with assigned partners.

In this routine, to build a culture of trust, I used the tree metaphor. Students write the issue in question, trust in this case, in the middle of the trunk. What makes people trust is identified on the tree roots, and what trust reflects or how it is reflected is in the branches and leaves of the tree.

I was amazed at how much students opened up throughout the lesson but in particular during the ‘Root Cause’ task. Students were also amazed at having someone explicitly asking and talking with them about trust. 

Giving students agency and showing them you care for what they have to say is key in building relationships and trust. It deepens your understanding of who they are and what they care about. Most importantly, my students understood that I really cared about them. This lesson allowed me to emphasize a classroom culture where learning would happen. And all was done virtually and in Spanish!

Begin with a culture of trust and everything else will fall into place

In times of remote learning (or face-to-face learning), it is not only critical getting to know students or building relationships between students and teachers, but primarily it is about building trust. Once trust is present, as fragile as trust might sometimes be, students will surely share more about how they feel, what they think, and how their ‘mindsets’ adapt and change to the new realities. 


We are starting a new year. I should begin having my students talk about what is important to them. I should weave into my curriculum other lessons related to other deep concepts like ‘trust.’ Which concepts would you investigate in your classes?

Credits:

Reading and Writing Teaching with Novellas

Posted on by Vicky Masson

by Marcela Velikovsky

“Novels in the Centre” is a column of Language Teaching Lab where you will read about why, how and what novellas become meaningful resources for teaching a language

If we learn to walk by walking and to talk by talking, we can also learn to read and write in another language by reading and writing in that language. 

That is why I love teaching Spanish and I love teaching with novellas! 

How is Reading and Writing Teaching with Novellas for me

I start by building the necessary background knowledge to facilitate students’ understanding of the story. Depending on the novella, I focus on the social-economic, historical or geographical aspect. For example, before reading “Patricia va a California” students research about Guatemala.

When we read it is important to check students’ comprehension often to avoid misinterpretation and help them construct meaning beyond unknown words.

When we read it is important to check students’ comprehension often to avoid misinterpretation and help them construct meaning beyond unknown words. I ask them comprehension questions sometimes in English and sometimes in Spanish. I explain new vocabulary and phrases in context and when I model reading aloud, I verbalize my thinking and ask for their opinion. “Hmmm, I wonder if Patricia…” What do you think?” Do you think she will… or…?

When I’m sure they grasp the story in a chapter, we analyze, explain, compare and contrast characters and places. For example, Patricia’s house has only one bathroom for seven family members living there. This is something common in Latin America that shocks most students who are used to bigger houses with multiple bathrooms. 

Go deeper when re-reading chapters

We annotate, represent, and talk and write about the topics and themes in the novella. For example, Patricia, the main character, is being discriminated against for being Latina. While she’s Guatemaltecan, Debbie, one of the characters, calls her “Mexican.” This leads us to talk about identity, immigration and discrimination. Students make personal connections and read current events articles and watch short videos in Spanish related to the topic and theme.

Assessment Tasks

The novella becomes the center from which I derive multiple communicative tasks related to each chapter. For example, I’ve used the following task as an assessment:

Pick ONE of the following points and write a paragraph in Spanish based on the information given in  Chapter 8:

Point  A  –  When Patricia talks with Debbie at the party, she says that while many people think being poor is a terrible thing, she has “everything” and “she does not need anything else.” What does Patricia consider the most important things in her life? 

Point B  – What do you think are the most important things in your life? Why?

Point C – Imagine you’re Patricia. Write a letter to a friend in Guatemala telling her/him all about the robbery.

This way, students empathize with the characters in the novella and see the world from different perspectives.

Novellas are Key for Language and Culture Learning

Students focus so much on the characters and the plot that don’t realize how much language they are absorbing. Novellas are great not only from the point of view of language acquisition, but also to immerse students in the culture and other people’s realities through the life experiences of the characters. I also use novellas as a springboard for class discussions of current events that relate to the topics and themes developed in the novellas.

Resources

Patricia va a California (Spanish Edition) – As an Amazon Associate LTL earns from qualifying purchases

Why It is Important to Make Interdisciplinary Connections

Posted on by Vicky Masson

by Gabriela Barbieri

“Interdisciplinary Connections” is a column of Language Teaching Lab to show specific examples of connections between world language teaching and other subjects at school

Why it is important to make Interdisciplinary Connections

My motto: “Connecting Spanish with other subjects and working side by side with Homeroom teachers and other specialists is a great way children see the value of language as a means of communication and not as a subject that they have to study for”.

This reflection makes me go back in time to when I started teaching in Lower School. The kids were hungry to express themselves in Spanish and would ask me… “Sra Barbieri..how do you say this and that?” The words and expressions were the ones they were using in their English class when reading books that definitely could be related to Spanish culture.

Definitely, the way the brain makes connections is amazing, and it is more significant in kids’ brains. It is easy for students to discover the connections between languages and I do not need to tell them to relate concepts when presenting a theme they are learning in the English language.

What is important in this matter is that those connections endure for a long time, if not forever, in the students’ brain. When I meet with students the following year, they recall those expressions, words, ideas like they were studying them on that day. I have to admit that everything we do in class is significant for them, and they love to recognize and find meaning in every way they acquire those words, expressions, ideas, and concepts.

For these reasons, I believe that to learn anything new, and for it to last and to be available to use, it needs to be meaningful and connected in the human brain.  

How I do it

Once, when third, fourth and fifth graders were reading The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry in English class, I found that this book was also written in Spanish, its name is El Gran Capoquero (translated by Alma Flor Ada), so I decided to create a unit with the message of this book for each grade. I ran my interest in reading this book in Spanish by the Homeroom teachers while they were reading it in their English classes. The first step was to read the story aloud in Spanish and show the beautiful pictures of the Amazon rainforest. The exciting part for the kids was to see that the book they were reading in English had the same pictures! Then, students, through the pictures as a medium for understanding, found the meaning of the words in Spanish. Since they had a lot of INSIGHTS while I read, I did not need to translate any words into English. 

We talked about the people from the Amazon rainforest, their language and culture in the three grades. The activities in class were different but always connected. Students loved to learn and research about the animals in the rainforest, the people who live there, and the geography. 

Students recognized cognates in both languages, enriching their vocabulary base, and helping them to use more specific language when communicating.

Third and fourth grades focused on describing the animals and shared other interesting facts they found. The students loved to describe the appearance and behavior of the animals living in the Amazon rainforest.

Fifth graders described the four layers of the amazon rainforest, labeled and explained the habitat and environment of the animals. Through whole class discussions, small groups, and pair work, they realized that a rainforest is more than just a forest of trees. It provides shelter, food, and oxygen to all kinds of living creatures. They also researched and brainstormed about the reasons for deforestation and the consequences of deforestation. They found ways to help preserve the environment by linking the themes to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

In connection to the story, students learned about Chico Mendez, an environmental activist who gave his life in order to preserve the rainforest through Mana’s song Cuando los angeles lloran. 

Interdisciplinary Connections Value

This experience made students’ learning meaningful, memorable, and long-lasting. Interdisciplinary teaching allows students to learn about a topic through language and use language to learn more about a topic.

Resources:

El Gran Capoquero: Un Cuento de la Selva Amazonica (The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest) – As an Amazon Associate LTL earns from qualifying purchases

What do you do when you learn something new?

Posted on by Vicky Masson

by Vicky Masson

‘What’s in a framework?’ is a column of Language Teaching Lab. A framework informs our teaching and it shows a unique philosophy.  It gives us a shared language and purpose, and it lets us see teaching and learning from diverse perspectives

DKDK – Don’t Know what you Don’t Know

You do not know what you do not know. What counts is what you do when you get to know something, i.e. when you learn something. That is what happened to me when I learned about the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs are a path to action for people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnerships. The SDGs consider sustainability from the economic, environmental, and social perspectives. As we know them now, the SDGs started in 2015 with a plan to achieve the 17 goals by 2030. I had to do something so I became a Cohort 3 #TeachSDGs Ambassador.

17 Goals

When I saw the image of the seventeen goals and started reading each one, I happily realized that most of the teaching happening in my Spanish classes related directly to them. I committed to introducing the 17 goals to my students, our changemakers. 

There is so much more information about the SDGs now than when I started introducing them in my classes. Fortunately, lots of these materials are in different languages! 

Let’s start by learning about some of these resources. Then, let me share some of the things that I did in my language classes.

SDGs in different languages

Let’s start with some places where you can find materials on the SDGs in different languages:

This is a short list with lots of information. These sites are great starting points for introducing the SDGs in language classes.

How I prepared to teach SDGs

In order to teach about the SDGs, I first informed myself. I took courses, I read books, I created a Wakelet, and I presented together with Gaby and Marcela in language conferences.

Since I became a #TeachSDG ambassador, I have introduced the SDGs to all my students. Learning about the SDGs is engaging and empowering for students, therefore, it boosts proficiency. Students want to learn, read, and talk about the SDGs. Most importantly, they want to take action.

How I teach SDGs in my language classes

I usually show them the Global Goals icons. I ask students their favorite goal or the one that catches their attention and why, how old they will be in 2030 and what they see each other doing differently than they do now. Then, I explain what the SDGs are and their importance, and connect them to what they are studying in class. In no time students realize that the SDGs are an intrical part of their life and of what we do in class.

SDGs = Enduring learning

The most enduring learning happens when students are connected with other students to solve problems. The No.More.Plastic. project was one of these instances. It was a three week project where 4th grade students had to attempt to answer: 

  • What’s the problem?
  • Are there any solutions? Let’s try to fix the problem!
  • Action! The students take action and try to bring change at school and at home.

Students researched about plastic, brainstormed possible solutions for reducing the use of plastic at school, and wrote a chant to share with the rest of the elementary school. They posted the chant in the cafeteria as a reminder of the importance of reducing the use of plastic. All in Spanish!

Students also saw some of the projects done by other schools around the world and felt part of it! 

My students were engaged in the content and empowered to make change happen. They were also proud when they received a certificate of participation.

SDG in language classes

The SDG framework is perfect for language classes. It is a powerful tool to raise awareness of sustainability, to empower students as changemakers, and to have students see that learning a language might have an impact outside the classroom. 

Don’t wait one more minute to introduce the SDGs in your language classes if you haven’t yet done that. Don’t wait to have students ask you: Why has no other teacher taught us about them?

Why We Teach To Describe People the Way We Do

Posted on by Vicky Masson

by Vicky Masson

‘Why do we teach…?‘ is a column of Language Teaching Lab. It might help us think deeper on why we teach a certain topic. In addition, it might show a new perspective on how to teach it.

This was me back then

How do you teach to describe people? For a long time, early in my career, I embraced the typical unit on how to describe people wholeheartedly. Most of all, I loved teaching descriptive words. In particular, I was so happy to teach my students how to say the eye color in Spanish. 

What a great way to show that ‘green eyes’ or ‘brown eyes’ would become ‘los ojos verdes’ or ‘los ojos marrones’ in Spanish. 

I would emphasize the sentence structure needed in Spanish compared to English: 

  • articles + nouns + colors/adjectives – in Spanish
  • color + noun – in English

Moreover, I was delighted to explain how to use the articles and the colors in the plural form, a concept that was extremely difficult to grasp for my learners. To make things even more complicated, I happily added that in the case of ‘brown eyes’ you could also say ‘los ojos café’ where the adjective remains singular! 

My students would practice saying the eye-color through describing family pictures, friends and playing ‘Guess Who?’ 

I used to teach article-noun-adjective-verb agreement through this unit and I felt accomplished. I was teaching about the language and not necessarily to think and communicate in the language.

Fastforward, I don’t do that anymore

So, what happened? Teaching evolves. Language research provides new approaches and methodologies. We study. We read. Suddenly, it doesn’t make any sense to describe people for the sake of teaching agreement. I mean, I continue to explain the importance of agreement in class to avoid comprehension gaps, but I explain it depending on the functions we use and of course, always in context. 

One aspect of teaching that has changed is the push for the decolonization of the curriculum. We want to be inclusive in our teaching. We want to consider the variety of voices that encompass a language. And in doing so, we fall into another trap. 

We often present our learners with a textbook unit, where they showcase people from another culture that are probably different from our students, and we ask students to describe them. Without realizing we may perpetuate stereotypes by doing so. We are pointing out differences in our humanity without celebrating them.

How do we break this cycle?

One way I broke this cycle of perpetuating stereotypes in my classes was by referring to the cultural iceberg to frame my teaching. 

Students define culture, iceberg, and talk about what the phrase cultural iceberg may mean in their own words. 

After we brainstorm what a cultural iceberg could be and what it could be about, we describe visuals, read articles, and watch videos about the cultural iceberg. Even novice learners can do this. It is a question of finding the correct resources, scaffolding the teaching, and putting students into the driver’s seat.

Then, I ask students what words come to mind when they ‘describe people.’ We brainstorm ideas on physical characteristics and personality traits that they could use. 

A task that has proven effective for perspective taking was to ask students to describe themselves by their personality traits first. Then, to compare themselves to a family member. Most importantly, have them think about what personality traits from their chosen family member they would like to have themselves and why. This challenged them to put themselves on someone else’s shoes. 

After connecting the cultural iceberg to describing people, I asked why it might be important  to be able to describe people in Spanish. We talked about people as prisms, gems, and multifaceted unique beings. 

This exercise reminds students that a person is more than its physical characteristics. I include an example that shows this from an activity that I created as part of my own professional development during an ISTE conference.  

The cultural iceberg becomes our framework

We might continue by asking what happens when two cultures come together and what elements of those cultures are shared at first. We connect the topic to diversity and extend it to linguistic diversity, for example. We can talk about music as a universal language, distinctive but unifying. We can also talk about literature, food, and clothing. We conclude that for the most part these are products of a culture. 

After defining the words ‘products,’ ‘practices,’ and ‘perspectives,’ I proceed to ask students to sketch an iceberg and add those words to it. 

We refer back to what students said about culture earlier. Students generally conclude that they concentrated on the part of the iceberg that is visible. It is what we see of a culture, mostly its ‘products.’ Just below the surface we find the ‘practices’ or how it is done. Finally, the part of the iceberg that is even deeper, refers to the ‘perspectives’ or why it is done.

Having incorporated the ‘cultural iceberg’ framework in my teaching has allowed me to help my students expand the lens through which they study a language. It has helped them to find the differences as well as the similarities among humanity. It has also helped me anchor my teaching. 

What are you doing differently now than when you started teaching?

Credits:

https://accessjca.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Why-is-culture-like-an-iceberg.pdf