Let me articulate a bit of the goals of this new project. I should have done this yesterday, but didn’t have the time. Thank you all who commented with ideas, they are great!
Our goal is to create a blog and vodcast to help folks around the world learn Spanish. That’s a tall order, and one that’s been done before in a myriad of methods. Some of the most amazing ones are TryMango and LiveMocha.
We want to do something a bit different, with a bit of 6th grade flair. We in our class often watch short clips of the Jeff Corwin Experience (from DE Streaming) as he explores Central and South America and tries to use his limited Spanish. We then break apart what he says and correct it.
A few days ago we came up with the idea of publically trying to help him. And so, www.teachjeffspanish.com was born!
We decided on teaching Jeff because we felt like it would be so much fun for people to come and learn along with us without feeling like we were teaching “them” necessarily. This just felt like such a fun way to teach Spanish with a focus on Jeff, who seems like the type of guy who would love this kind of thing. And to answer a question in the comments, this would absolutely be appropriate for anyone, anywhere who wanted to learn Spanish or maybe brush up the Spanish learned in high school, etc.
For what it’s worth, this is an all-kid idea and I’ve just implemented what they wanted, and guided them along the way. Cool, eh?
Here is what we’re thinking…
1. A daily blog post, posted and edited by kids, with a new word of the day. We’ve already developed a category structure in which to place the words, and it looks good. There would be one post per day, one word per day. We’re working on ideas such as pronunciation, etc.
2. A weekly vodcast with student hosts (permission slip pending). This is where we’re stuck. We want something amazingly fun and quirky that will help you learn/improve your Spanish in a practical way, but without it being cheesy or corny. For as silly as it was, Guinea Pig TV was so much fun!I wish it was still around.
That’s what we want, something viral, something fun, something that will catch some notice because of the quality. I’ve got a kid who knows iMovie so I’m going to let *her* use my personal MacBook Pro to cut the video.
We just need a great idea. Can someone contact Marco Torres for me?!
Any feedback is welcome, and remember, my kids are watching this like a hawk, so talk to them!!
Silvia Tolisano says:
¡Hola chicos!
¡Qué buena idea! I will pass this along to our 6th grade Spanish class. I am sure they will check out what you are doing.
Keep those great ideas coming.
Suerte
Mrs. Tolisano
16th October 2007 at 4:58 am
TeachingSagittarian says:
I am really looking forward to learning more spanish this way. It will be very helpful for me when I go on my trip! Tomorrow I will ask the students in my class if they have any ideas for your vodcast. Ms H (NZ)
16th October 2007 at 5:41 am
Ben says:
Absolutely hilarious! I love the idea; the hook you’ve provided is definitely one of the best I’ve heard in awhile, and I can’t wait to see how well your students do correcting his Spanish. You know you need to send a letter to Mr. Corwin and see if he can offer up a comment or two or the blog
16th October 2007 at 8:30 pm
John says:
Hey this is a great idea. I’m curious to see how it will go. This project could cause a snowball-like effect around the world I think, because a lot of people are going to try to copy what you have done. And that’s a good thing! Thanks for being pioneers! I’m wondering: Will you do your vodcast with Ustream?
16th October 2007 at 7:31 am
Chris says:
I’m not sure how to go about broadcasting it. Truth is we’re a bit stuck for a good idea for a video that would be fun, worth watching, and not cheesy.
We’ll probably work it out here at school and then post it for download and vodcast subscription. I’m not sure ustream is the best way since we’re not looking for a live deal.
We’ll see, method follows idea…
Chris
16th October 2007 at 7:36 am
Maria says:
Desde Arabia sauidta , los saludo en Espanol.
16th October 2007 at 4:57 pm