Monday, December 22, 2014

¡Mira lo que pueden hacer!

     Last week I was interviewed by friend and colleague Patti De.  We were talking about the Immersive Method, and I was explaining how OWL has freed me to evaluate my students' work based on where they are in terms of ACTFL standards. I showed her an example of one group's work, and beamed at her.  "Look what they did!  Isn't it great?"
     In previous years I would have picked the nits and dinged them for little things-- but as Darcy pointed out, novices can't control adjective agreement, verb forms, etc.  They are easy to grade and mark off for, but not important for comprehensibility, which is where I am now putting emphasis.  Could a sympathetic native speaker understand what my student is trying to say?  If the errors interfere with my ability to understand, then there is cause to take off a point or more.
     Here are links to commercials my students made for their restaurants,  They aren't perfect, but they do show what my students are able to do to promote their restaurants in Spanish.

Sofía y Viviana: La Vivi con un Acompañamiento de Sofía

Javi y Memo: Un Sabor de Ecuador

Pancha, Guadalupe y Juanita: Pasta la Vista

Paz y Anita: El Restaurante de Paz y Anita



What am I waiting for?

  So, I've been doing this for a long time, but still don't feel like an expert.  What will make me an expert?  How good do I have ...