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• Reviewing Techniques (3 tips)
• Make-Up Work (1 tip)

Reviewing Techniques

French Web Site

From Jennifer Wells, a French teacher at Eastside High School in Butler, Indiana:

"There are very few sites available for students in French programs to use for review and extra help so I designed a web page for my class. It relates to DC Heath's Discovering French series but it has useful grammar information and help for everyone. I hope others will be able to share and enjoy this site, Mrs. Wells' French Page."

Smack It!

From Tina Matic, a Spanish teacher at Oxford Academy in Cypress, California:

"Here's a fun way to review vocabulary. Write a variety of vocabulary words all over the board. Divide the class into two teams and choose one representative from each team to come up to the board. Give them a fly swatter with which they are to 'smack' the correct vocabulary word upon the teacher's prompting. Whoever smacks first wins a point for their team. Prompts may be English translations, complete the sentence, opposites, synonyms or any other creative question the teacher can make up. This game gets the kids moving! In the event the 'smackers' don't know the answer, the other students (who have been paying close attention) have an opportunity to answer it for the point!"

Donde esta la Rana? (Where is the Frog?)

From Sherry Ewing, a Spanish teacher at Spearfish High School in Spearfish, South Dakota:

"I used this activity instead of a test to find out if my students knew how to follow directions and had learned vocabulary words. Each student made a paper frog and put his/her name on it. On the board I wrote the words for the directions: north, south, east and west. Under each direction word I wrote the words for five numbers (in Spanish). I also wrote on the board vocabulary we had been working on for instructions like turn, go, walk, left, right, backward, etc. Each group of students was assigned either north, south, east or west. The task for each student was to write directions for where he/she would hide the frog, first using the direction assigned (north, south, east, west), and then the numbers under that direction on the board and all the vocabulary words. We did an example sentence together: Leave the circle from the north and walk 20 steps.

When all students had finished writing their directions, we went outside where I had a circle marked off with rope. The students brought their papers, their frogs and pencils. As many students as could fit in the circle at a time left the circle, followed the instructions and hid their frogs. Once all students had hidden their own frogs, they lined up and I gave them another student's paper. They now went back to the circle and followed the instructions on the paper they were given, to find another student's frog. When they had finished they brought their frog and paper back to me. I made sure the name on the frog matched the name on the paper, stapled them together and put the finder's name on the paper, too.

This is a great activity for a warm day. I found the students were concentrating so much on following their own directions they didn't have time to watch where any one else was. They spread out a long way and were busy the entire time."

Make-Up Work

Student Responsibility

From Anonymous:

"In my classroom I have 3 plastic file boxes labeled 'Spanish 1,' 'Spanish 2' and 'Spanish 3-4' (my classes). Each file box has separate slots and contains a file folder for each day of the week, labeled in Spanish (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) At the end of each day I put in the folder a slip of paper that tells what we did that day that the student is accountable for, along with any worksheets or vocab lists that were given out. When a student returns to class after an absence, it is his/her responsibility to go to the box and look up the assignments for the day(s) he/she was gone. This takes the burden off me, there is no class time lost, and it puts the responsibility where it should be - on the student. Each week the file is updated, so that students know they have a week to check the box and get the work in. After that time, there is no opportunity."