A Low-Tech First Class

Many language teachers already know how important it is to have interactive lessons that get students involved from the first class, such as this example. But what can you do in a Low-Tech Classroom? Today we have the honor of a guest post from Raven, a former Language Assistant in Caceres, Spain, who will address the important topic of the low-tech first class. 

Planning Your First (Low-Tech) Class

Anyone who has taught in recent years, especially in Spain, will tell you that kids don’t like to sit and listen quietly. I figured this out very quickly in my first few lessons, but I definitely wasn’t prepared for it. So when planning my introductions this year, I set out to create a lesson that would allow the kids to get to know me, have the chance to move around, and not have to sit and listen to me talk forever. What I created also had the advantage of being low-tech (a major perk in Spain), easily adaptable to a variety of ages and abilities (as long as students can read, they can do this lesson), and it can be a quick first lesson or can be extended and spread out over several lessons. 

Materials needed

• Students: something to write with and on
• Teacher: printed slides (optional: laminated), sticky tack, instructions

Lesson Prep

First, I essentially interviewed myself and answered these questions:

1. What is your name?
2. How old are you?
3. Where are you from?
4. Where do you live?
5. Who is in your family?
6. What do you like to do?
7. What are your favorite things?
8. What do you not like?
9. What do you look like?
10. Why do you like (insert language being learned here)?

Next, I went through and made a slide presentation with each of the questions, the answer, and some pictures to help aid the students in comprehension. 

Once all of the slides were created, I printed them in color and had them laminated. In Spain, there are print shops everywhere for decent prices –  just look around your neighborhood for a papelería or a store saying fotocopías. You’ll find printers in 24/7 markets, corner stores, book shops, etc. Some schools will give you access to their equipment so that you won’t have to pay for it yourself, others won’t. I know that budgets the first few months are pretty tight, but printing in Spain was much more affordable than in the US and it makes this lesson work really well.

The lesson

Game day. I entered the classroom and put the instructions on the board. Keep your instructions simple and straightforward. A good rule of thumb is no more than 6 instructions/points with no more than 6-8 words. 

The computers in my schools in Spain were very slow and finicky. Until you know the situation at your school, I’d recommend planning on writing this on a chalkboard (much more common than dry erase boards). As I explained what the students were going to do, I walked around the classroom and hung up my 10 slides on the walls using sticky tack. 

I had the students mark their paper with numbers one through ten and then, working in pairs, go around the classroom to each slide on the wall. They did not need to go in order. At the slide, they wrote down the question, then, using my answer to help them, they wrote down their own answer to the question. Some students finished more quickly than others. I had a homework assignment for them to begin, but you could have them interview others who are done or do some peer review of their work. 

While the students were moving around the classroom, I walked around to the partners and asked them questions to check for understanding. This also made it easier for students to ask questions, especially those afraid to raise their hand to ask. This ended up taking the whole hour that I had for the lesson, but it may only take 20 minutes for you depending on the student’s level and their time management. That’s it, your first lesson. The students have received a lot of information through reading, they’re cementing that by putting it in writing, and then they are producing their own work in English. It’s simple, yet hits all areas of language learning without much effort into the preparation. 

Adaptation/Extensions

I had initially planned to take two lessons for this material, it ended up taking six. So, here are some adaptations and extensions. You can choose to make this an extended project or just add a little more to your first lesson: 

Plickers

• In the same lesson OR at the beginning of the next lesson, give a Plickers quiz. If you’re not familiar with Plickers, it’s a modern take on the “clickers” that we would use in school. Instead of each student getting a clicker to answer a question, they get a card with a QR code that the teacher then scans with their phone. Many schools in Spain are pretty low-tech compared to what I was used to, so this is a simple way to give the kids fun, game-like activities. This is a fun way to see how well the kids understood and retained the information about you. I made my quiz in English/Swedish to ensure that the students actually understood (I teach at a bilingual, English/Swedish school).
• To do this for your lesson, you’ll need to print off the Plickers cards and assign them to a class. Since you won’t know the names of your students, I’d recommend just entering numbers for each card. If you can get in contact with you school before arriving, ask what the maximum number of students in your classes will be. If this doesn’t work out though, I’d guess that there will be no more than 32 students in any of your classes. You can then reuse these cards throughout the year and make little quizzes/surveys for your students. Most of my students LOVE this.
  

Classmate Interviews

• Have the kids interview each other. This is an easy way to make the kids practice speaking (one of the hardest parts of learning a language). They’ve got the questions copied down on their paper and they should have already written out answers as they went around the room. They don’t have to think up an answer off the top of their head, just read from a page, but they’re still interacting and putting the conversation skills to use. All of my students in Spain LOVED to talk, so any time that I could use that to have them practice English, I went for it. You can do this at the end of your first lesson, if you have time, or the next time that you see your students. If you choose to wait, I would recommend collecting the papers that they write their questions and answers on and bringing them back with you. That way you KNOW they’ll have it, especially because it could be a month before you see some of them again. 

Presentations

• Everyone has now basically prepared a presentation. Have them stand up in front of the class and introduce themselves. If you’ve had them interview each other, ask them to also introduce their partner (they’ll have to change their verbs!). To challenge the strongest students, tell them to include more information about themselves (more things that they like, don’t like, more detailed descriptions). As the students give their presentations, note major and common errors and use this for planning future lessons!

Slide Review

• With each of my classes I went through the slides and made sure that they understood what was on them. You can project your presentation in the classroom, if you have a reliable projector. If you don’t, just pull the laminated pages off of the wall and hold them up for the students to see! Use this as an opportunity to go over some grammar. (“Why does the question ask ‘where are you from’, but the answer is ‘I am from’?”, “Where do we put adjectives in English?” [In Spanish you say ‘color favorite’, not ‘favorite color’], “notice that we don’t put “the” in front of the noun when we explain our favorite things”). This is also a great opportunity for the kids to ask other questions about you. Open up the floor and let them get to know you in these first few classes! (Have your teacher help you translate if they don’t know how to ask a question in English).

Simplify

• For the 6th graders (in their first year of Spanish), instead of having them write their own answers, I had them copy the information and then guess what the question asked and what the answer meant. With the pictures and context clues, they were able to do really well. It really boosts their confidence, which is great for the kids who don’t really want to learn a language or those that think language learning is too difficult. 
  
  

In conclusion, it’s important to realize that your first lesson will set the expectations for the rest of the school year, so make it a good one, even if it is low-tech.

As to expectations, there’s a lot of variation from school to school about what “auxiliar de conversación” means. I was placed in two schools that were at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. One week I would show up every day and simply assist with the lesson that was planned by the teacher (help read things in a native accent, correct pronunciation, give instructions, etc.). At the other school I was given very little guidance and expected to plan and give hour-long lessons for several different subjects (science, English, and social studies).

The second school saw this as a compliment to me, because they felt that I was capable of managing the classroom and providing material that was beneficial. I felt like I was being asked more than in my job description. We are hired as language assistants. Does that mean providing 20-minute activities/games to supplement the curriculum? Supporting the teachers by providing an hour lesson in native English? Being a translator? Listen to what you’re told by your program at your jornada before you start and decide what “auxiliar de conversación” means to you. Develop your first lesson around that and demonstrate to the school what your role is. 

How did this low-tech lesson work for you? What other adaptations can you come up with? Leave us your answers in the comments!

Bio

¡Hola a todos! I’m Raven and, after graduating in 2017 with a degree in Spanish education, I was an auxiliar de conversación during the 2017-18 school year. Prior to moving to Cáceres, I found Melissa’s blog and used it to help quell both mine and my parent’s worries about the big move. I was blessed to meet Melissa on my second night in my new home, it felt like meeting a celebrity! My third day in Spain, I reached out to Melissa for help because I didn’t have a kitchen to cook my own food in and I was too anxious to eat at a restaurant alone. She came to the rescue and became one of my closest friends in Spain. I now teach Spanish in Stockholm, Sweden where I get to use my experiences from Spain to engage my students. Whether you’re here considering the role of language assistant, prepping for your first year, or gathering ideas to make the coming year better, I wish you ¡Buena suerte!