Today we began content, and I was worried. Why? Well, we spent an entire week on team building and setting the tone, and it was a lot of fun. Last week is a tough act to follow. All weekend, I thought about my plan for level 3. Part of the day would involve a a vocabulary brainstorm that I’ve done various ways in the past. I wanted a way in which I could make it engaging for every single person in the room. So we did Four Corners*!
There are different ways to do this activity, but here’s how I did it. I told my students to choose (and move to) a corner of the room. Naturally, the groupings were uneven so I did “nose-goes**” and sent people to different groups to balance things out. Next, I gave each group a different category on a medium-sized piece of butcher paper and set a timer for 5 minutes. In their groups, students brainstormed as many words as they could that fit the category. Students could use phones to look up unknown words. After 5 minutes, students rotated to a new corner where they had 3 minutes to read the the list and add words not already brainstormed. After each group visited each corner, everyone returned to their seats and we processed the activity by discussing which categories were easier and which were harder. We then segued into what they thought the new unit was going to be about. They seemed intrigued, and they did not hide the fact that they were having fun.
At the end of every class period I heard students saying, “Spanish goes by so quickly.” I agree. My days are flying by because we are having so much fun every period of everyday. I hope that is everyone’s experience right now!
*I learned of the activity Four Corners at the AVID Summer Institute last summer.
**Nose-goes: when someone says, “Nose goes,” the last person to touch his/her nose must do whatever it is that no one is willing to do voluntarily.
Oodles and Gobs 
Input welcome and wanted!