Description
You will experience the same “two conversation” method I use with my high school students: Each class session includes two conversations per day (one student-centered, the other a “Voices of others” presentation), scaffolded by Write & Discuss guided writing, brand new musical transition activities and more.
Participants will have access to a Free Voluntary Reading library during the summer course. You’ll be encouraged to read at least 20 minutes per day outside of class using the online pleasure reading library (but this is not required! ).
Are you a teacher of French/German/other language considering taking this class because you’ll need to teach a section of Spanish next year? In this summer class there will be a cultural presentation every day that you will be able to download and then use with your own Spanish classes. These presentations are NEW for 2022, so they will be new to students from last year or for anyone who has downloaded the Spanish Maravilla presentations from my website.
Frequently Asked Questions
“When will we meet? For how long?”
We will meet 5 days a week starting on Tuesday, June 28th until Friday August 5th with a one-week summer vacation for iFLT between July 11-15. There will be a morning class and an evening class hosted on Zoom; attend whichever fits your schedule or both if you really want to improve your Spanish this summer. Altogether there are 48 sessions. We expect you to occasionally miss our classes. For that reason, the meetings will be recorded and the videos will be available until December 2022. Each session lasts one hour; the morning session starts at 10am Eastern time (9am Mountain, 8am Central, 7am West Coast) while the evening session starts at 9pm Eastern time (8pm Central, 7pm Mountain, 6pm West Coast).
“I am more interested in seeing methods than learning a language. Is this for me?”
This is a real language class. You’ll see everything I do in a real class, but there will be no time dedicated to discussion of methods. There will be no teacher talk. The goal is to use every minute together to move students along into a higher level of fluency. If you are really interested in my approach, consider joining my CI Master Class that has videos, detailed instructions and classroom-ready resources.
Is this class suitable for my level?
I am calling this an intermediate level class, but I think there is a lot of misunderstanding around what students expect from intermediate classes. All intermediate classes are multi-level. I have taught multi-level classes for years. There will be a lot of scaffolds for everyone to understand the class. The guided writing (Write & Discuss) will be 100% comprehensible to everyone regardless of level. There will be times when the class conversation feels too slow or too basic for you: please know that you are developing fluency & the ability to process the language with immediacy like a native speaker. Ideally, you should not be straining your brain muscle! There will also be times when the language feels too fast or too rich: please know that it will all be recycled before we move on so that you do understand. Sorry for the brain strain, this is the nature of an intermediate class.
Is this class appropriate for my 12 year old? Or my 17 year old?
This is an adult class. Twelve, I would say no. Some seventeen year old students may thrive. Does your 17 year old normally enjoy & contribute to adult conversation? If so, then yes.
How much time do I need? What if I’m going on vacation?
Expect 60 minutes of class per day, plus any reading for pleasure outside of class that you choose to do. If you choose to attend both morning and evening sessions you can get up to 120 minutes of good comprehensible input every day. I’ll be going on vacation too… but we have reserved a house by the beach with good internet so that we can still meet online every day. Even if you’ll be off the grid, every class is an independent experience. Miss five days and you’ll be able to jump right back in without feeling lost. Also, classes will be recorded and posted online.
“Will my state accept this course for professional development hours?”
I can send you a completion certificate for the number hours that you attended, but I cannot guarantee that your state will accept it for professional development credits. Please talk to the person in your district in charge of that. When in doubt, the principal’s secretary will know who to talk to.
Mike Peto has an active California teaching credential for teaching Spanish to grades 1-12 and adults. He has long been a member of the CI teaching community and is recognized for developing the Sweet 16 verbs approach to a student-centered classroom, using authentic media effectively, promoting independent reading programs for language learners and developing engaging approaches for heritage learners of Spanish.