Fresh

Started new semester this week, and while I'm especially sad to see some of my old classes go, the emotion has been high at the start of the second term.

I always love the beginning of the first semester because there are so many unknowns, but everyone is so excited they can hardly contain it. I'll share my google voice number with them this week too, so I'm anxious to see the return rate on the new groups. Then we can get right to work creating some vokis (first project is always about self identity in Spanish) so they can get a handle on a 1:1 environment, which none of my 6th, 7th or 8th grade students have any experience with (mine is the only non computer lab classroom at my school that is completely student-centered with laptops).

My younger folks are going to make a storybird this week about mischievous Spanish vowels, and I hope to use xtranormal for the first time with a 4th grade class to retell a TPRS story we create next week. I'll let you know how it goes.

I also want to re-recommend BBC's fantastic interactive language series called "La vida loca"(the crazy life...no relation to that blasted Ricky Martin song).

Image courtesy of dcjohn via flickr (creative commons): http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcjohn/23681519/ (sorry I forgot to post that last night when I posted the entry.