Ya sabes

Dear educators,

It's National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept 15 - Oct 15)!

"Mes Nacional de la Herencia Hispana" is a period for recognizing the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the US. We have some great resources to help celebrate!

• Cook along with Wayside's very own Eduardo and Maurice
• Read two well-timed blog posts - Beyond the piñatas, and We all speak a dialect 
• Download our effective strategies for engaging heritage learners

¡Felicidades!
The Wayside Publishing Team

New! La Casa de Eduardo

MMmmm –MOFONGO!

Need to disconnect after a long day at school? Our team recommends cooking therapy, and just in time for Hispanic Heritage Month. Wayside is proud to launch a new cooking series, La Casa de Eduardo.

In this first episode, Eduardo – a former teacher turned Wayside Account Representative, teaches his remote colleague Maurice how to cook making the famous Mofongo de Puerto Rico (a popular side dish). Enjoy this step-by-step guide punctuated by plenty of banter. (Language: Spanish)

Want to cook along with the video at home? Grab the ingredients in advance!

Mofongo de Puerto Rico Ingredients:

• 2 cups of vegetable oil for frying the plantain
• 3 green plantains
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 5 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Optional garnish: Cilantro

Beyond the Piñatas

Renowned Spanish teacher and cofounder of #langchat on twitter, Diego Ojeda takes a hard look at Hispanic Heritage Month and encourages us to do better and move beyond the tacos and fiestas. 

We All Speak a Dialect

As learners listen to authentic resources or interact in the real world, they’re bound to hear different dialects. As Curriculum Coordinator Jennifer Carson notes in her most recent blog post, “Just as it is important to respect students’ accents, so it is equally important to recognize and demonstrate respect for different dialects, including students’ home dialects.” Read more about her philosophy, and the research she bases it on, in this timely post.

Strategies for Engaging Heritage Learners

Wayside recognizes that students in North American classrooms come from increasingly diverse backgrounds, and that a growing number of them are heritage learners. These students may have varying levels of exposure to the target language and/or its cultures in their homes or communities. We can help! Be sure to download these effective strategies for engaging heritage learners.

Ya sabes

Dear educators,

Summer is winding down and we are looking forward to another year of learning—whatever that may look like at your school. We have some great resources to get you ready for what comes next!
 

• Catch up on our Poolside Proficiency webinar series
• Read our latest blog posts on how to recharge and declutter your mind and curriculum  
• Get to know EntreCulturas 4 and enter our giveaway

¡Felicidades!
The Wayside Publishing Team 

ICYMI: Catch up on Poolside Proficiency

In case you missed it, we just posted the recordings from our Poolside Proficiency webinar series! Catch up on all three webinars at your leisure: 

Let Go to Move Forward  

Declutter your curriculum

Using a Learning Management System to design online learning experiences

Ideas for recharging and decluttering
 

In a two-part blog series, Jen Carson and Michelle Olah bring you a treasure-trove of ideas for decluttering your mind and your curriculum for the coming school year. To make the most of these blog posts, watch their webinar on the same topic! 

What are you favorite ways to recharge before school starts? Latin teacher Maureen Lamb shares how she is getting ready for the ups and downs of the coming school year. 

EntreCulturas 4 is here!

EntreCulturas 4 is here and we are celebrating! We are giving one lucky educator a chance to win our entire proficiency-based Spanish line!

Grand prize will include:

• Online and print editions of EntreCulturas 1,2,3,4, Triángulo APreciado and Azulejo
• A class set of online subscriptions to the Spanish title of your choice!

Exciting runner up prizes include an EntreCulturas 4 gift bag including Spanish classroom readers, and print Teacher Edition of EntreCulturas 4!

Contest ends August 7, 2020.




Get your digital sample of EntreCulturas 4 or our entire Spanish line and see what the buzz is about!


 

Ya sabes

Dear educators,

We hope that you are having a relaxing summer! As you start to think about what the fall will look like, we are excited to bring you some helpful resources.
 

• Attend our Poolside Proficiency webinar series
  Browse instructional videos, guides that help you bridge the gap from last year, and free digital samples 
• Join the Proficiency Talks summer book club
• Take a survey if you are using EntreCulturas

¡Felicidades!
The Wayside Publishing Team 

Poolside Proficiency starts tomorrow! 

It's not too late to register for free for our Poolside Proficiency series starting tomorrow, July 9! Whether you are using a Wayside language program or not, this webinar series offers useful insight and advice as you plan for the fall and beyond. 

Let Go to Move Forward  
Thursday, July 9, 3:00 ET 

The end of the 2019-2020 school year was not what anyone had planned. As teachers look forward to the 2020-2021 school year there are a lot of questions regarding curriculum and lesson planning. In this webinar, a panel of diverse stakeholders, including a Wayside author, an Instructional Strategist, a Curriculum Coordinator and two classroom teachers, discuss how to start off the next school year without feeling like you have to "hurry up and catch up."



Declutter your curriculum 
Thursday, July 16, 3:00 ET 

How do we make deliberate instructional choices so we can better support students' target language proficiency and ignite their passion for learning? In this panel discussion we will explore how to declutter your curriculum and lessons in order to focus on what is essential for student language proficiency.

Using a Learning Management System to design online learning experiences
Thursday, July 23, 3:00 ET

A Learning Management System can enable classrooms to transform what students and teachers can do with instruction. These platforms can help increase student engagement and allow for differentiation as we look to bridge gaps between content, pedagogy, technology, and training. In this webinar, we will discuss how using a Learning Management System can expand your classroom and open new doors of opportunity for learning. Our panel will include Wayside Publishing's Digital Specialist for Innovation & Instructional Technology and a district coordinator for Instructional Technology.

Digital samples, instructional videos, and more!
 

Curious about Wayside language programs and the supporting materials we offer? You can sample our groundbreaking EntreCulturas series for 30 days!

We have created an expansive instructional video library around EntreCulturas—from introducing the basics of the series, to more in-depth looks at assessment, authentic resources, Learning Site tools, and more! 



Browse our library of activities related to Spanish songs for your mid- to intermediate-high Spanish learners.

¿Dónde jugarán los niños?
La bicicleta
La gozadera
Madre Tierra
Raíces
Soy yo
Te mueves tú, se mueven todos
Todo a un clic
Vive a tu manera

Summer book club

It's not too late to join the conversation! Visit Proficiency Talks Live to talk about Simon Dowling's book Work with me: How to get people to buy into your ideas.

We are posting a daily question and will discuss the book live on August 6.



 

Your opinion counts!
 

Ya sabes

Dear educators,

There are a lot of unknowns this spring, including when it comes to thinking about and planning for assessment. We put together this issue of Ya sabes with a focus on the tools and resources you need to make this time of the year less stressful.

In this issue you will find:

• The first 3 units of EntreCulturas 4 and the formative assessments included in the units
• A free lesson plan adapted for remote teaching, focusing on sustainable communities
• Tips for using Triángulo APreciado to prepare your students for the AP® Spanish exam
• An instructional video on using formative and summative assessments in the EntreCulturas series.

¡Felicidades!
The Wayside Publishing Team 

New units & assessments in EntreCulturas 4

EntreCulturas 4 is coming to classrooms this fall, with an innovative approach to differentiated formative assessments that will get a clear picture of learner progress as they complete AP®-style tasks!

Each unit provides authentic resources and activities to help learners answer the essential questions. You’ll see the familiar En camino, along with the ¿Qué aprendiste?  formative assessments and the new differentiated assessment items for ¿Qué aprendiste?

These differentiated formative assessments are single-task, AP®-like activities. They focus on a single mode of communication in a pre-AP® task format and over the course of each unit all four interpersonal and presentational modes are assessed. On the Learning Site you will find differentiated versions of each assessment: one at the on-target proficiency level, one at the level above, and one at the level below. The above-level version contains a modified prompt allowing students to take their language to the next level, while the below-level version provides support to bring those students who need it up to the targeted level.



The two new units we just added to the Learning site include: 

Unidad 2: La Creatividad
Essential questions explored:

• How is artistic creativity a form of cultural expression?
• How are universal themes reflected in various forms of art?
• How does design reflect cultural identity?
• How does globalization impact what we wear? 

• What can we learn from historical figures?
• How can an individual transform history?
• What elements shape our identity?
• How do language and traditions contribute to form a cultural identity?

Lesson plan: Creating sustainable communities

Check out this free lesson plan from EntreCulturas 3 for intermediate-low to intermediate-mid learners. We have adapted it to work for you right now as you teach remotely, using the Learning Site's Classroom Forum feature or Google Classroom.

Performance-based assessments and rubrics

Watch this brief overview from instructional strategist Cristin Bleess as she walks you through the performance-based assessments in EntreCulturas and explains why it's important for students to be able to show what they can do with the language.



Sign up now for our upcoming webinar on assessment and feedback: 
Assessment and Feedback that Lead to Continued Learning
April 14, 3:00 - 4:30 pm EDT

Preparing for the modified AP® exam

Last week, The College Board revealed its modified 2020 exam structure, in which learners will have 45 minutes to complete two free response questions (FRQs).

See what this means for you and your students if you have—or haven't—been using Triángulo APreciado.