Attention Spanish./foreign language teachers!?

Question

I will soon be a new Spanish teacher. Where do you all find your little books that have worksheets: pages about the countries (maps, flags, cultures, etc), worksheets that go with the lesson plans, etc.? Also, does your school provide you with the big maps of Latin America? (or whatever language area you teach?) any other things that you must buy from your pocket or use from your school budget to buy for the class?

1st answer:you'd be surprised how much the teacher has to purchase for the classroom these days: budgets are being cut, nearly eliminated

Answer 1

The BEST catalog for language teachers is Teacher's Discovery. They have a web site but I prefer the actual catalog. You can probably request a catalog at their website. Check it out; you will really like it.

They have great posters, books, videos, workbooks that you can copy from. There are a couple of great books called Snappy starters for foreign language teachers. I highly recommend them. They give wonderful ideas for a new teacher. Also I recommend Sing, Dance, Laugh and Eat Tacos. All of those CD's are good. They are a little juvenile, but my kids BEG to hear them.
Also read my post in response to a question in teaching about what to do for an after school bilingual homework club. It is near this post in the list.
I have an amazing packet full of ideas, but it is too big to scan and email to you. Contact me and perhaps I can give you more ideas if you need them. [e-mail]
One more idea; do a search for spanish powerpoints or educational powerpoints. There are some great ones on line.

Answer 2

I second Teacher's Discovery! (other companies are Carlex, Applause Language Learning etc.) Reading is fun (they have a .com) has all kinds of worksheets, movies, computer programs etc.

Have you been in your classroom and tried to discover what the former teacher left? When we change schools we have to leave anything that the school bought (which is not near what I have...)
Join the AATSP (American Association of teachers of Spanish and Portuguese) and find out when your state conference is, then come to your regional (Central States, SWCOLT etc.). All the companies, textbook and learning materials companies, bring their materials and sell at a discount (and no shipping and handling!) , that way you can check out the materials before you spend your own money.

Scholastic Books has Club Leo, a reading club where you can buy children's books at a discount, and for Spanish, you can haunt places like half price books for some cheap materials.

Oh, and join FLTeach, a foreign language teacher's listserv. It is very heavy volume, but they also have archives that you can search easily for answers to your questions.

Do join your local state's foreign language teachers association (you can probably link to their website through AATSP). There will be real people who live near you who will be glad to help you with whatever you need. (and there will be idiots who think you should figure everything out on your own, but ignore them)

Welcome. Teaching languages is SO MUCH FUN! (French and German for more than 30 years...)

Answer 3

Textbooks come with a great deal of bonus materials, including maps of countries discussed in different units and worksheets, reading materials, and more.

Actually, though, most of my worksheets come from a CD and a binder that my old French teacher sent me (I know, French for a Spanish teacher? Some where adaptable and some another French/Spanish teacher had adapted). Keep those connections with old hands, because they have good stuff they've collected over the years.

For my primary map, too, I use a world map that is actually a large piece of fabric with the world printed on it--from Wal-Mart, no less! It doesn't get destroyed by pins or fade!

Answer 4

Nowadays, aim for the Internet. You will find virtually all you can use in your classes there. It also depends on what level of Spanish you are going to be teaching (grade school, high school, college, etc.). For a start, check, for example, the following links, where you can find pretty useful materials:

http://www.spanishworksheets.com/

http://www.fastq.com/~jbpratt/education/mypages/myfreeworksheets.html


For the big maps you may need to go to a medium or big store in a mall that deals with school supplies; you should be able to find plenty of useful maps there. Another possibility, if you have internet access in your classroom or you can take your students to a place where they can use computers, is to check the Google Earth maps: it can be lots of fun, very educational (mke them browse for different cities in different countries) and you can actually see many famous places whose pictures come in the text books (downtown Madrid or Buenos Aires, for example). I hope this helps!

Answer 5

Im not a teacher, but doesnt the school give you all the worksheets and stuff? idk