I.E.P.: Rosetta Stone Software

Rosetta Stone is a software program designed to teach a specific language to non-speakers of that language. Students set up their own profile and can chose between a number of activities that include reading, writing, speaking, and listening components. (I have determined that the Recommended Program would work best for my students.) This is an immersion program and at no time do students hear their native language.

Each level is divided into four units and each unit has a Core Lesson and a number of additional activities. Vocabulary and grammar are introduced through a series of questions associated with images. If students answers correctly, they progress. If they answer incorrectly, they have to answer again. At the end of each unit is a Milestone. A Milestone is a staged conversation in which students have to provide the correct responses based on the images seen and what the other people, represented by pictures, say to them. This allows students to practice the language in a realistic setting.

The current question everyone asks foreign language teachers is, “Does Rosetta Stone software work?” This question has been posed to me many times this year and up until now I did not have a good answer. I did not learn how to speak Spanish in this way so I did not know. However, that excuse did not work well when my Superintendent approached me at the last Parent Teacher conferences, his son is in my Spanish II class, and asked if the district should invest in the software. After stumbling over my words, and possibly making an idiot of myself, I became determined to find out what the hoopla was all about and if it could benefit my teaching.

To figure out if it could be helpful I decided to open the one copy of Rosetta Stone purchased by my district at the beginning of the year. I started by reading the instructions and the literature provided in the package, then I posted the question on Teacher.Net (the online chat form I used this semester for Spanish teachers) but did not get any responses, I also read reviews by others online, and finally I set up a profile for myself. I started at the beginning of Level 1 and skipped around looking to see what I could use. I am still not sure if this program is all it claims, but most reviews are good and I would be curious to try a different language out for myself. Already being fluent in Spanish it is hard to know what I would learn if I were not.

I think that this software could be incredibly useful in my classroom as a supplemental activity. I would not use this on a daily basis but it would make for an excellent emergency sub plan, a great way to review information before a test, and an engaging way to introduce new vocabulary. There are examples of each of these lesson plans at this link. I would spread out the lesson plans posted throughout Spanish I and Spanish II and no two lessons would take place within the same unit.

What I like best about the program in a classroom setting is that students can move through the lesson at their own pace and there are enough supplemental activities to keep the faster students busy while the slower learners progress. I also really like how it tests each student individually on pronunciation. We do numerous speaking activities in class in large and small group form, but it is difficult to catch every slip up every time and the more often students say a word the wrong way the more likely they are to remember it that way. The program also gives students feedback after every exercise and provides them with a progress report at the end of each Core Lesson and supplemental activity. I believe that when learning a language students need constant feedback and an individualized computer program can accomplish this more efficiently than I can.

Overall, I like Rosetta Stone for my classroom and I am going to discuss the program with the Superintendent in the near future

image used from Rosetta Stone at this URL.

Social Networking Spanish Style

The web- based community that I participated in this semester was Teachers.Net a Spanish Teachers Chatboard. On a number of occasions I sought the advice of others in the units that I was planning. In particular other teachers helped me to understand more fully the differences between the words “por” and “para” both of which technically mean “for” and on the differences in the schedules between Latin America, Spain, and the United States. I took the ideas that they offered and adapted them to fit the needs of my class.

In addition, I responded to posts when I felt like I had strong contributions to make. I advised a teacher about how to create Spanish Sub Plans for non-Spanish speaking subsitutes (I knew of a good book) and this in turn started an email correspondence between us.

However, more helpful to me than participating in the chatboard was reading the posts of the other teachers. I made it a point to visit the site at least once a week and I spent hours pouring over posts and looking at the recommendations of others in my profession. There are constant debates about grammar and vocabulary rules that I had frequently wondered about but had no one to talk to about them. Also, other teachers provided me with other links to look at and the reflexive power point I am using in my Teacher Work Sample came from this site. I also have joined Yahoo Groups for Spanish Teachers based on a recommendation from this site and used an awesome and highly esteemed video from YouTube on the day before Valentines Day to have my students practice listening to Spanish vocabulary they know.

This assignment is over now but I plan on continuing to use this and other sites I found through Teacher.Net’s forum in years to come.

Spanish Resources Online

My Favorite Resources:


Online Resources for Teachers of Spanish

Teach-nology

Google Image Search


The three resources above are just a few examples of the websites I have used this year to improve upon my teaching abilities. Whenever I feel stuck or confused I take to the web. These websites are just examples of what is out there that I have accessed and have become important references for me.

Online Resources for Teachers of Spanish is a site created by an individual teacher that lists units she teaches in Spanish I. Each of the pages attached to this site have been created by this teacher and outline ideas for activities that she uses in her classroom. I originally found this website when looking for help on a unit about food and I used her idea about having students create a menu. Since that time I have gone back to her website on other occasions and I look forward to incorporating more of her ideas next year.

Teach-nology is a database that I use when looking for help on many of the units I teach. It lists 56 different websites for Spanish lesson plans many of which I have accessed this year and found to be very helpful. One great activity I found that my students absolutely loved was on how to teach colors. Each student is given a slip of each color that is taught and they must put them in order on their desk as you recite colors. You recite colors more and more quickly as they progress.

Google Image Search is not much a secret nor is it specific to teaching Spanish but I had to include it on my list as it is the website I use most frequently. It is incredible. Whenever I teach new verbs I find pictures that represent the verb and have my students identify large images in the front of the classroom and then create flashcards using these images. We then use the flashcards in a number of activities. I would be a much poorer teacher if Google Image Search did not exist, as students frequently point out my inability to draw. I also recently used Google images to create an immersion lesson plan about animals. I could go on and on. I love it!