Texteando

Texteando con estudiantes

Yep, I've got your attention now. So, it was a little white lie. I have strong feelings against texting students (outside of www.remind.com). We did learn how to text in Spanish, however, to give students a way to use their skills outside of class.

To get started
I set up a google doc and students logged in and we together we read through the overview and step-by-step instructions. There was some proverbial hand-holding, but for the most part, my Spanish II students were able to understand what they were being asked to do in the language.

Start texting!
Once students entered the conversation, got their initial post going, they started "texting" like crazy! It was fun to see what they had posted and the conversations that they had. Some were, well, not so interesting. Others were in groups that had inside stories and they thought were totally hilarious. I didn't care what they were writing, just that they were communicating in Spanish, using the texting phrases, and having fun.

After about 30 minutes of texting, they connected the idea that if they were on their phones, it would be through snapchat. This started the flood of pictures being posted. Teacher editing had to begin and opened a good impromptu lesson on "time and place" and also digital citizenship. Overall the students were very polite and respectful and enjoyed a change of pace from the usual storytelling and reading.

How much did you learn?
After the students had an opportunity to play with the language, it was time to see how much they learned. Working in their conversation groups, I showed one shortcut at a time and the groups wrote on an individual marker board what the it meant either in English or in Spanish. What was most interesting was the conversations that took place. "Hey you had that one in your response to me!" "Remember when you were talking about [X] you used that one."

What would you add?
Now's your turn to help me out - what are other phrases that you know that could be added to the list?