AVUHSD Professional Development 26-27

This PD will target specifically beginning Spanish Language teachers. Concepts covered: The importance of using students' natural artistic assets to help them develop Spanish vocabulary.
The importance of creating short stories with simple vocabulary to help students develop Spanish communication skills. Strategy: I will use participants' drawing skills to create oral stories in Spanish.
First, I will guide them through a few Spanish vocabulary words to help them develop the story line. As we develop the story line together, the participants will draw specific pictures representing the elements of the story. After we finish the story, participants will use their drawings to retell the story in Spanish to a partner and then to the rest of the class. Hopefully, participants will notice that the story line is the same but that the retelling is done at the vocabulary level of each participant; each participant uses different intonation and body language which highlights the story-telling talent of each individual. I strongly believe that using our students' drawing and story telling skills is a re-imagined way of teaching and learning Spanish or any other content. After we are done with this exercise, I will share with participants examples of my students' other artistic work, explaining the objective of the assignment, and demonstrating the many different forms the work can be used to teach other concepts or expressions in Spanish. Participants then they can modify the work to use in their own classrooms.