Going digital in a hurry...and World Water Day

March 23, 2020

Teachers. WOW. Just Wow.

We know how you are all scrambling to create a high quality virtual classroom for a class that is based on input. No easy feat. We quickly went into power mode to make our favorite unit more tech friendly in the absence of the number one key to the world language classroom: YOU. You are their input. You are the one that makes language comprehensible, that shares awesome authentic resources, and that has the talent to formatively assess all class period long.

And now they don’t have you there in the same way. Yes, we have Zoom and Skype and FaceTime, and we can use Google Classroom, but the best part about a communicative classroom is COMMUNICATING. Our unit, La huella hidrica is thought provoking, combines social justice, community connections, the Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, and even the super important skill of “properly” washing your hands...such a familiar topic these days!

The unit will still get them through some amazing communicative tasks, with some tech-friendly updates for your virtual “distance” teaching.

You’ll get a Google Doc of most of the student documents. We did leave out one or two so you will have assessments for when (if?) we return to our sites. You’ll have a bunch of extra online resources (Quizziz, Quizlet, Quizalize, Kahoot, etc) to play games and check for understanding so you can assess without clicking through Every. Single. Page. that they turn in. We have added additional “digital classroom” instructions so you can quickly pop interpersonal material into discussion boards, class blogs, and Google Classroom questions.

What’s more, we understand the REAL challenge of not being face to face with our students: We can’t make all of our input comprehensible. Speaking of, we also can’t GIVE as much input. So, where we wouldn’t normally have our students memorize vocabulary or work with vocabulary lists, we’ve included vocabulary scaffolders so that your students aren’t getting frustrated looking up every word. The list, then will take the place of your gestures, drawings and images that you incorporate probably way more than you realize. We have also taken the opportunity to add extra input-based games that will provide some of what they are missing without you, but will easily carry over when you are using the unit in your classroom, whenever we are able to get back there.

Keep in mind that although we use this unit in our second year course, it can easily be adapted to more advanced levels. As they say in the California World Languages Framework, “change the task, not the text”! Your upper level students will love the infographics and activities, and YOU can access the Links we Love section for more advanced material that centers around our current events.

ALSO, in celebration of World Water Day on March 22nd, we’re offering a $22 gift card. So you’ll get the ENTIRE unit including an IPA,, a ton of online resources, tasks and assessments in the three modes, a bunch of structured input to reinforce structures, visual literacy, a student document for a digital classroom, a daily plan so you can quickly plan your class and get your own life back! So take a peek at the unit and use WWD22 in your check out! You’ll automatically get your digital download, and we will send you the student document in a separate email after your unit purchase.