Maria Soto de Podritske

GBL

OLTD 508 Mobile Technologies and

Assignment 1B Week 1

USING THE VERB SER TO EXPRESS PROFESSIONS, OCCUPATIONS AND

RELATIONSHIPS

Time required
60 80 minutes

Area of teaching and age of students

Intro Spanish 11 Grades 9-12. Class size is 15-18 students

Learning outcomes
o describe and exchange information about activities, people, places, and things
o explain acquired information in oral, visual, and simple written forms
Traditional activity synopsis
o Materials: handouts, paper and pencils, teachers computer and multimedia projector.
o Description: The day before, students are given a list of vocabulary in preparation for the
lesson (professions, occupations, family members). At the beginning, students will receive
a one-page hand out to work with a partner to get an overview about the verb ser while
I walk around answering questions. Once everyone finishes with the hand out I will do a
10 15 minutes lesson where we discuss the uses of the verb and how it is different from
estar and write a few sample examples together. After the lesson, students will create
a little dialogue in groups of 4. At the end of the class students will present the dialogue
in front of the class.
Redesigned Lesson

Pre-lesson assignment
Students were assigned a group of lessons using Duolingo.com, Duolingo for Android or for iOS (content
and capture) to provide them with vocabulary required for the lesson. Most of them use mobile devices
to complete the lessons with the Duolingo App, but for those without access to one were able to use our
classroom computers.
Activate prior knowledge and connect with new content
In groups 3 or 4 and using the 6 desktop computers in the room or mobile devices, students will review a
lesson shared with them in Google Drive. After reviewing the online lesson, the students gather with the
teacher to answer questions and review examples.
Practice
Using Google docs, students work in groups of 3 or 4 to create a little dialogue using the vocabulary
provided (occupations, professions and relationships) and will practice the pronunciation using Read and
Write extension for Google Chrome (settings can be change to Spanish and will read aloud the text to
students (Compute).

Maria Soto de Podritske

GBL

OLTD 508 Mobile Technologies and

Assignment 1B Week 1

Using a mobile device (Android or iOS) or desktops, students will create a voice recording with their
dialogue and we will play it to the class (communicate) where other students will be asked to identify the
content of the dialogue.

Comparison
I believe the redesigned lesson provides students with a variety of opportunities to acquire information
using Duolingo for vocabulary and Google Drive to activate prior knowledge and connect with new
content. Using the traditional lesson, students have to study the vocabulary by reading the words,
Duolingo uses pictures, sounds and asking students to pronounce and write the words. This activity then
provides students exposure to the 4 skills involved in second language learning (listening, speaking,
reading and writing). Also, students can compete with each other in Duolingo by sharing their progress.
This is not something I require but some of them enjoy.
By accessing the lesson via Google Drive, students are able to go as fast or as slow as they wish or review
it later on. In comparison, when students listen to the lesson live it is not possible to adjust the pace or
review the lesson without the teacher.
The use of Google Docs in combination with the Read and Write extension for Chrome, is an absolute
wonder to help students practice their pronunciation. Not only the language can be set to Spanish, but
also there are some voice options and you can choose the speed. In the case of the traditional lesson, the
only way to practice and correct pronunciation is with help of the teacher, which becomes and impossible
task if we try to check with each student.
Finally, using a mobile device (android or iOS) or a desktop to create a voice recording allows students to
try the dialogue as many times as they need until they are satisfied with the product. Also, gives them an
opportunity to review their own progress and for the teacher to make a better assessment of their
speaking skills.