Spanish teacher in France, resources for the Spanish classroom<

Spanish teacher in France, resources for the Spanish classroom

Hello, my name is Sergio and I am a Spanish teacher in France. I currently give classes to groups of French students. I normally work with adult groups who have a great interest in and motivation for learning the Spanish language. The methodology that I follow is based on theoretical classes that follow a text book and practical classes where we do activities related to the theoretical fundamentals that we previously learnt.

A difficulty for French students that I have found is the difference in meaning between the verbs ser and estar. Not having this difference in the French language, I have to explain the uses for these verbs on a case by case basis to the students. You need a good knowledge of the French language in this case so that you can explain the nuances for each use. For example, the difference between estar triste and ser triste or the difference between ser bueno and estar bueno that exists when it comes to food. We do activities such as role-play games, short answer exercises, and board games in order to reinforce the theory content learnt in the lesson. One of the activities that I like to use with my students is related to learning numbers. To do this I use the internationally known game “Battleships”. Simply tick the boxes with units and sets of 10 to practice numbers up 100. Once we have sunk half of our rival´s fleet (it needs to be played in pairs), we change the units to tens, and the tens to hundreds; by doing this we can count from 100 to 1000. A brief extract from my final project: Philosophy of teaching; I believe that in order to learn one has to have fun. In my opinion it necessary to explain the theoretical content but, at the same time, it is also necessary to practise it using fun activities such as role-play games, dialogues between partners, board games....A language, besides being a communication tool, is also an essential part of the culture of a country. Therefore, I personally like to occasionally teach my students a little about the history, art, culture, and literature of Spain. The material resources I use are a text book and we follow its programme and I use the book´s Audio CD for the listening comprehension exercises, and finally, photocopies of extra material on each topic (photocopies of extra exercises and activities that are not in the book to reinforce the material learnt).