OER Teacher - Badge application (Responses)


7	One implementation of OER involves using the SpinTX corpus in my Spanish for heritage speakers course. In a lesson on Spanish copular verbs 'ser' and 'estar' '=to be' with adjectives, I modified one of the available lesson plans on the topic. In one activity, students watch a video of an interview with a speaker of Texas Spanish and are presented with a script in which 'ser' and 'estar' are left blank using a function on the SpinTX website. Students had to identify the correct verb used in the interview and explain why that particular verb is used with the adjective given. Then they create their own mini-grammar lesson to give to their classmates. Using SpinTX allows heritage learners from Texas to observe linguistic features from the lesson in vernacular speech that they themselves use and are familiar with. This makes the material immediately relevant and contextual, eliminating some of the tedium and esoterism of abstract concepts in grammar. It also provides a unique opportunity to address differences in regional dialect, register selection, and the history of the Spanish language in US. The Spanish Proficiency Exercise, Brazilpod, and 'Tá Falado' websites available via CORELL, which also compile video interviews with diverse speakers discussing a range of topics, among other materials, are similarly valuable resources for heritage and second language learners alike.

7

One implementation of OER involves using the SpinTX corpus in my Spanish for heritage speakers course. In a lesson on Spanish copular verbs 'ser' and 'estar' '=to be' with adjectives, I modified one of the available lesson plans on the topic. In one activity, students watch a video of an interview with a speaker of Texas Spanish and are presented with a script in which 'ser' and 'estar' are left blank using a function on the SpinTX website. Students had to identify the correct verb used in the interview and explain why that particular verb is used with the adjective given. Then they create their own mini-grammar lesson to give to their classmates. Using SpinTX allows heritage learners from Texas to observe linguistic features from the lesson in vernacular speech that they themselves use and are familiar with. This makes the material immediately relevant and contextual, eliminating some of the tedium and esoterism of abstract concepts in grammar. It also provides a unique opportunity to address differences in regional dialect, register selection, and the history of the Spanish language in US. The Spanish Proficiency Exercise, Brazilpod, and 'Tá Falado' websites available via CORELL, which also compile video interviews with diverse speakers discussing a range of topics, among other materials, are similarly valuable resources for heritage and second language learners alike.