My school has a cultural exchange with Venezuela.  So, every year in early January, a small group of students and a teacher from our partner school in Caracas visits our school for about a month.  The students are usually in grades six and/or seven, and have been learning English from a very young age. They attend classes from 8am-3pm, and go on cultural excursions on the weekends.

I invited the teacher to visit with my seventh grade Spanish Onesies.  But, instead of the usual, one-way dialogue between presenter and students, or, even the use of the standard, “students create questions in Spanish” and presenter answers them, I made the experience more interactive for both my students and the presenter.

1.  Students spent some time in the Tech Lab conducting research on Venezuela.  Thirteen students were divided into groups of two or three, and assigned a topic.  The topics included: history, currency and economics, government and politics, geography, food, and tourist attractions.  Two additional students devised questions for the presenter.

2.  On Presentation Day, the students delivered their findings, to the delight of the visiting teacher.  She then spoke with the students, in Spanish, using lots of comprehensible input.  She gave them something of a history lesson about Venezuela.  Several of my students translated nearly every word, with their confidence increasing with the confirmation of every correct response.

3.  The questioners used Google Translator to translate their questions from English to Spanish, which was fun for them and for me.  But, mind you: It did not occur to me to instruct them to use Google Translator.  Actually, one of the students assigned to ask questions took the initiative to do so.  It was great to see the students to see not only such active engagement, but also the direct use of technology – on their own initiative.

Why the above lesson worked:

1.  As I mentioned from the outset, the lesson did not constitute the traditional one-way dynamic.

2.  High level of engagement

3.  Us of technology in a meaningful way, i.e. to facilitate communication in the target language.

A great way to end a unit.