Yesterday about 40 Spanish students had another great conversación y café session with Paulino Brener. After our last session, he thought it would be a good idea to expand the session and try to skype with two classrooms. The Newell-Fonda Spanish students were invited to join us this time and Paulino surprised us with a guest! Direct from Argentina, Pat Verano spoke about some of her favorite things to do, eat, and see there. Students were tempted by pictures of cuisine, geography, and other sites in Argentina. Variations on pronunciations were also introduced to the students. How exciting to bring native speakers into the classroom to provide authentic topics, realia, as well as listening and speaking practice.
A googledoc was initially used to brainstorm questions for Paulino and shared with him and the students in each school ahead of time. Paulino offered some suggestions for the students when writing their questions. Additionally, he provided links for the students to further their understanding of the given answer. After the Skype, students were quizzed on the conversation to assess their understanding of the conversation.
The students loved the conversation and were excited about the topics that were provided by the native speakers. Thanks to Paulino Brener and Pat Verano!
