Yo mismo, escrito por James R. Curso 1

I'm delighted to share this student work as the first post on Pancomido in 2016. James R. (Form 1) prepared this piece as part of his Form 1 Assessment in November. Along with the whole class, he prepared a first draft, which I corrected, and then a second draft incorporating corrections. His work required very few corrections and …

Airport, weather & revisiting the preterite

First up, a review of the airport vocab we started with in the book. Rags to Riches for the airport - note this was designed by someone teaching Latin-American Spanish, so we'll see abordar instead of embarcar and boleto instead of billete. Just important to keep in mind, and useful to notice the difference between there and the peninsular Spanish …

Looking at the Present Perfect

Explanations of the Present Perfect An extremely clear explanation which examines how the Present Perfect works in English & Spanish. (the video runs for about 5 minutes before you have to pay, and that is enough to get the main understanding of this tense). See it written down and do the quizzes listed in the menu …

La hora – telling the time in Spanish

As always, here's a few options for reviewing how you tell the time en español. Do at least one of these before moving on to the activities. NOTES Telling the time, very clearly expressed on this page. Expand your knowledge. Take it one step further by looking at these phrases. Do you want to see it …

The month’s end (September): reflecting on targets

I took five minutes with one of my Form 5 groups today to reflect on where we were, one month into the school year. The end of a month is a good time to do that, both in one's personal and professional life. It's hard to keep our eyes on our goals all the time. …

Show-and-Tell for senior students of Spanish

(If you're a student and want to use this idea for your own oral practice, click on the post and then scroll all the way down for some study suggestions) My last two classes on a Friday are double sixth year (twelfth grade in the American system). That's two-fifths of our contact time every week at …

A photo a day to ease you in: #backtocole15

Back to school is a rush of adrenaline for teachers and students alike. The change of pace from the easeful days of summer to packed days and weeks can often be fraught and tense instead of exhilarating and enjoyable. How about changing the story? Diving into a private language space with other teachers, while focusing on …

La Vuelta 2015 (#backtocole15) – for teachers

If you're a teacher and you're anything like me, the new academic year has been looming in your mind these last few blissful days of August and the holidays. As part of my plans for the new school year, I'm working on a number of free community projects for Spanish teachers and learners. I'm based in …

Twitter chats for Language Teachers

Connecting with other educators with Twittter in the last five years (I joined it in 2010) has provided me with many wonderful learning opportunities, and big hugs and smiles all round when I meet my twitter friends ("tweeps"!) in real life. If you haven't engaged in any of the amazing #edchat opportunities on Twitter, why …

Results Day (and the night before)

In the house we lived in then, you had to go round a corner from the long, cold hall to get from the front door to the kitchen, and that's where the phone was. It was a modern phone then, with push-buttons instead of a rotating finger wheel. A long coiled cord connected the mouthpiece to the phone, and …