Let’s start with ACTFL’s position statement on the use of technology as an initial step when deciding to go high or low tech in a lesson or activity: The use of technology should never be the goal in and of itself, but rather one tool for helping language learners to use the target language in […]

“Only by acquiring skills that bring us into contact with the physical world can we flourish as social individuals.” Matthew B. Crawford, The World Beyond Your Head, 2015. Scissors, tape, glue, and brightly colored construction paper. The first thing I remember constructing with my hands was a wide-brimmed floppy paper hat for my mom, an […]

I recently reacquired the suitcase that I lugged around on my very first trip to Paris. The moment I grabbed it by its handle and felt it dig into the flesh of my fingers, I was flooded with sensory memories – cue the soundtrack to Amélie! Only instead of seeing movie-like images, I could smell […]

Using ACTFL’s 21st Century Skills Map as our guide, how can we strengthen the ways we teach recurring cultural themes such as food? Food seems to be a favorite topic of our students and many of us teach a unit on food or often incorporate it into our lessons. We’ve chosen to look at food […]

This month marks the one-year anniversary of High Tech/Low Tech: Ideas for Every Classroom. As we look back through the archives, we notice that there are quite a few ideas involving sticky notes. This is not surprising. After all, sticky notes represent a perfect marriage between high and low tech. The combination of space-age “low-tack pressure-sensitive […]

Across cultures, stories about gods and heroes fall into the category of myths and legends. According to diffen.com, “…the two aren’t the same and can be differentiated based on factors such as reasons behind them, the stories behind them and the truth they hold.” The table below (from diffen.com) helps us distinguish between myths and […]

Recently after a museum field trip, an ever resourceful colleague in Spanish was pleasantly surprised when her students reported having greatly enjoyed an activity she had assigned: “sitting still for 30 minutes staring at one painting, to see what new things they’d notice.” Given how accustomed we have become to scrolling quickly through images on […]

It’s easy to forget that what now seems low tech was once high tech. Such is the nature of our relationship with technology. We want the next big thing, but in order to justify getting it, what we have now must feel dated. It can be enlightening – and fun – for students to trace […]

What does Close Reading mean? Students who meet the expectations of the standards are able to comprehend complex text closely. They are close readers, delving into texts in order to unearth evidence, construct knowledge, and broaden their understanding of the text and world. As thinkers, such students are able to reason logically and use what […]

Mise-en-place, the culinary practice of arranging all utensils and ingredients ahead of time, is essential to preparing a consistently successful dish. Likewise, our students benefit from first gathering together all of the tools they need for an assignment, so that they can then focus more intently on the task before them. For presentational speaking, the […]