Keeping Kids Engaged &
Coming Back For More
Michelle Kindt
Hershey Middle School
We all want . . .
• Kids that are excited to learn (or at
least awake)
• To use authentic resources in the
classroom
• To have students complete assignments
with enthusiasm/interest
• To retain our enrollment
Ideas I’ve stolen that have
worked!
• Songs
• Classroom Reading and Reading for
Pleasure
• History & Current Events
• TPRS – Teaching Proficiency through
Reading & Storytelling
• Homework Choice
Songs
• Provide lyrics in the target language
• Students translate a section with a
partner
• Discuss translation/meaning
• Listen daily for about a week
• Cloze quiz
Places you can find them . . .
• YouTube
• I-Tunes
• TV5
Reading
•
•
•
•
Blaine Ray & Carol Gaab novels
Abridged versions of classics
Class translation
Teach Grammar
Reading
Mes cousins étaient mes meilleurs amis.
François avait beaucoup d’humour. Il
était difficile de ne pas rire quand nous
étions ensemble. Isabelle était la fille la
plus gentille au monde. Je sentais qu’ils
étaient les frères et sœurs que je
n’avais jamais eus.
Classroom Library
• Free Voluntary
Reading – Dr.
Stephen Krashen
• Search the text –
cognates, etc.
• Using context clues
to learn vocab
Classroom Library
• Read with
a partner
• Answer
teacher
questions
about the
text
History – The Holocaust
• La France Divisée
– Documentary
• Tu t’appelles
Renée biography
• Les Chansons de
la guerre – Edith
Piaf
• La Rafle - Film
Current Events - Haiti
• Earthquake and
poverty
• My travels
• Wyclef Jean
• « Désolé » by
Kery James
TPRS
Teaching Proficiency through Reading &
Storytelling – Blaine Ray
• Emphasis on comprehensible input
and repetition
• Focus on student interest
• Roots in TPR – Total Physical Response
TPRS
Three steps of TPRS
1. Establish Meaning - translation &
gestures
2. Storytelling – story”asking”
3. Literacy - reading
TPRS
Produces . . .
Spontaneous speech
&
Clear writing
How I Teach Grammar
• Pop-up grammar through reading
• Embedded in the vocabulary structures
– chunking “il lui a dit”
• Use of perspective changes
• Verb tense/conjugation sequence
Perspective writing for grammar
Il y avait un garçon. Il avait faim. Il est
allé au café. Il s’est assis à une table. Il a
commandé un croque-monsieur. Le serveur
lui a donné un croque-monsieur. Le garçon
a mangé son sandwich. Il était content.
Students re-write in the 3rd person plural.
Two boys were hungry, etc.
Homework Choice
• Alfie Kohn – The Homework Myth
• A great way to differentiate!
• Weekly choices
Keeping kids
learning for life!