What I Would Do - Ideas for an Authentic Resource

A New Type of Post

I was raised by two of the most creative people I have ever known. My parents struggled a lot as they raised my brother and I and had to learn to be resourceful. My mom was very artistic and had a knack for making beautiful things out of nothing. My dad is  an every day McGuyver. No, seriously. He can make or fix anything. His greatest gift is to look at something and see not what it is, but what it could be. I really believe that those are some of the gifts I have inherited from my parents and they transfer into lesson design so well! I think this is why I have had so much success with using authentic resources in my teaching.

Since I have had a lot of folks ask me where and how I find the authentic resources I do I began tweeting links to resources I come across in blogs I subscribe to, but it struck me that maybe there are people out there who wonder why I find a resource interesting. So, I came up with a new idea for blog posts. My "What I Would Do" posts are going to be dedicated to taking a look at an authentic resource and how I envision it being used in instruction. I would love to be able to develop each little authentic treasure I find, but being that I am still in the classroom and needing to focus on my own level of instruction, I don't have the time it would take to design something for everything I find. Besides that, I am a believer in teaching people how to fish rather than fishing for them. If you know what I mean.

So, here's my first go at this type of blog post.

I follow a blog called Uncomo.com, a Spanish language blog that has nothing but "how to" articles on every possible topic under the sun. Most of the articles are very short, highly comprehensible and chocked full of amazing vocabulary for students of any level of Spanish. I highly recommend Spanish teachers to subscribe to this site via a feed reader and would also suggest that other language teachers use it as a model to help them search for something similar in your own TL.


Today's example at first glance may not seem interesting, but it is the potential the resource offers that makes me so impressed with it. So, here's how I see using the resource:


The Authentic Resource:     Como reciclar las pilas usadas - Uncomo.com
Unit / Lesson Theme:     Environment or Technology
Level Appropriateness:  Any level from 1-4 depending on task
Possible Uses:

• Comprehensible input piece for thematic vocabulary
• Post CI resource to compare technological or "green" terminology with what students learned before through the textbook or other resources
• Source for self selected vocabulary
• Introductory reading for service based project in class - Students can read the article and decide on a "green" project to participate in during the environmental unit. The class project would provide an authentic context for TL use among students and would also make great inspiration to pull from for a presentational performance assessment in which students have to report on results of the project.
• A reading to introduce a presentational writing task in which students create public service announcements or posters in the TL to display in school within the community.
• A reading to serve as a model for students to create their own "how to" article on their own environmental topic.
• A jigsaw reading that can be broken into parts and read in groups. Afterwards the groups can present the parts to the class using the TL.
• Read and Report - Students read the article or part of it and report interesting or surprising facts they find related to the unit's theme.
• A reading students can read and then either discuss or write about their own habit regarding battery recycling and what they could do differently.
• Inspiration for Research - Students can read the article and then investigate where in the community to recycle batteries. Then, they can create advertisements in TL for where to go to recycle them.

So, those are the ideas that come to me. Leave a comment and share an idea you have.


Happy Coaching!

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