Authentic texts, TPRS, Comprehensible input, direct instruction or no direct instruction, vocabulary lists, embedded reading and the list can go on.  Teaching of a second language has changed much in my 17 years.  So much that it is unfathomable.  We went from drill and kill when I was in school to Free Reading and natural acquisition.  The pendulum keeps swinging and tipping.  So, what is the correct method?  How can my students learn the most and the fastest and have the content be engaging and motivating?
    I don’t think that this is a one answer fix; you have to know your students and build that relationship to see what catches them.  I do firmly believe that free reading, use of novels, and embedding authentic TV series into the curriculum are key elements to helping the students toward natural acquisition; that is learning, retaining and applying.  This semester I learned, with the help of my students, other teachers and twitter, how to incorporate free reading time.  
When I say free reading, it is just that: free from tests, free from worksheets, free from projects...free and relaxed.  Students are allowed to choose what they want to read.  I have worked very hard at building my free reading library this year.  TPRS books by @fluencymatters have been instrumental at building the confidence of my novice to intermediate readers.  Also stocked in my library are El Mundo en tus manos by @martinabex.  These current event newspapers are priceless and some students made these their go to.  Of course there were my students who always wanted a challenge, so best sellers and lexile leveled chapter books were available for them.  I even have a stack of People in Spanish magazines and the Scholastic magazines Ahora and El Sol.  Lastly, the discovery that Duolingo offers books on their website was a hit; especially for my readers that needed a bit more scaffolding.

Organizing my library was essential to helping the students pick level appropriate books.  I identify each book with a colored sticker that corresponds to a proficiency level and each proficiency level is grouped together.  Since students are attracted to a book because of its cover, I made sure to show as many covers as possible.  I also give my books “shout outs” in the way of conversation bubbles.  These say read me!, Choose me!, and Like science?  I made sure to order in or put out 2-3 new books every couple of weeks.  This anticipation of something new, kept it fun for many students.  I, also, would personally help students pick out a book in their level if they needed help.
    So, how does one facilitate true free reading?  While there are many way here is what worked for our classes.  Three simple rules: 1. Find your level.  2. Find your interest  3. READ.  After MANY trial and errors and with the guidance and patience of my students  we decided that Mondays at the beginning of class was a great way to start the week and class.  We all read for 20 minutes then opened up a Padlet to share out 4 things:  Name, name of the reading or type, how much we read, and summarize what we read. To facilitate our share outs, we first  tried several options.  The first were booksnaps which soon just became busy work that the students would just take out of context.  The second was a small group verbal share out where each would take notes on what the other read.  Better, but still time consuming in class.  I wanted something seamless and quick. Third, came the use of Flipgrid.com.  Much better, but also time consuming since they needed a quiet area t o record.  The last was the winner: Padlet.com  This allowed all the students to see each others’ book summaries while being quick.  It soon became so routine that it was a seamless transition for all of us. Notice that I said WE.  This is so important.  I fully participated, too, in free reading, share out and all.  This showed the students that I believed in the process and was also using it to grow.  
    Next how do you get students to buy in?  This took time and trust.  We related the reading to what they have always been told in English:  the more you read, the better your vocabulary, grammar, and writing.  I guaranteed them that this also applies to Spanish. While I did receive  quite a  bit of resistance at first, they slowly started to show progression.  I would have students comment how they are looking up less words and how they are able to read faster and comprehend more.  Now, at the end of the semester, part of the final is to read a short novel on their own.  After overcoming the “oh no, I have to read a novel”,  I now hear ‘Hey we can read a novel!”   
    On the agenda for next semester is to have the students create small book reviews that will be taped into the books after they have read them.  These would be for extra credit.  Also, I want to take pictures of the kids who first read a new book and tape their name and picture in it!  I am always looking for news things to add and news ways to facilitate, so please leave any helpful ideas below! I truly believe reading is an integral part of language acquisition. When your students move from “we have” to “we can”, I call that success.

With the drive of comprehensible input in the World Language arena, my classes are each reading 1-2 novels in the curriculum per semester (we are on a block schedule, so one year is complete in a semester).  Just as in English, the more input that one has from good sources, the brain will begin to recognize the patterns of language and the student will eventually be able to turn that input into output.  Because of a companies like @Fluency Matters, there is finally content written at the language level of my high school students that encompass topics that are interesting to them.  Fifteen to twenty years ago children's books were pushed because of their short number of pages and “easily” understood topics.  Sadly, though, these were so juvenile that the content didn’t capture the HS students’ attention and even many of these have advanced grammar that is incomprehensible to the novice and intermediate language learner. Hence, my rejoicing to find small chapter books that have engaging content and use I +i comprehensible input. They are full of cognates and language structures that these language learners can understand without becoming too frustrated and giving up.
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It isn’t just enough to have your students read then answer questions, you must engage them in the novel and the material.  Push their thinking to the higher critical level in order to analyze the novel and make connections.  Protest the drill and kill novel and move beyond the worksheet, the question and answer drudgery.  Engage your students with movement, technology, pair work and group work.  Tap into their creative skills and have them create, allow them to have small group chat circles, play games, and role play.  Create silent movies to show comprehension, use roll a question to encourage conversation, create a balloon pop scrambled story activity,etc.  (Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers link here to see what I have created to teach the book Rival by Mira Canion.  A complete 2-3 week curriculum with all activities and assessments!  goo.gl/IvryLP )

Think about what activities you do to differentiate on a daily basis, then apply those same concepts to your novel chapter reviews.  By doing so, your students will be engaged and look forward to reading not only the next chapter, but the next book as well!

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After attending @martinabex 's workshop on Comprehensible Input,  I reflected on my teaching and how I have made input comprehensible to my students.  One of my favorites is the traveling and airport unit.  At the end of the unit students will be able to "make" their way through an airport by checking in, showing identification, they will make it through security and get on the plane.  All the while, they are coming in contact with others who have to do variations of the same thing--all in the target language.  The only way to make this more real is to get them to a real airport.  Here are the brief logistics of this authentic unit and assessment.
Day one
Watch an input video of me going through the airport with a dialogue.  Click to watch.
Fill out a passport application in TL and receive a passport. 
Day two
Book a flight with hotel on a website in the target language
Day 3-5
Work with vocabulary and target structures to acquire proficiency
Day 6
Prep for improvisation.  Each student receives a note card with a role and a task to accomplish.  In order to accomplish this task, the students will have to interact.  Some example cards are:  the pilot who is late for the flight, a passenger who is flying for the first time and asks to take pictures with everyone, a passenger who has contraband fruit in their bag, the customs agent with a dog who catches a person with contraband fruit and so on.  The roles are secret and the tasks are kept secret.  The prep time is for students to make costumes and gather props that will help people decipher his or her role.
Day 7
Go Time!  My room is set up to resemble an airport and the students must accomplish their task using their level of the target language.  They are expected to handle unexpected situations and interact with each other.
Assessing
I have a check list for each student and I make sure I circulate throughout the room.  Additionally, I have a student assistant film on the opposite side of the room that I am working to make sure we cover everyone. If I need more evaluation time,  I like to throw unexpected situations at them or I personally interact with the students to whom I haven't listen.  Most of the time, students will find ways to sustain the conversations so that I hear them.  I haven't missed one yet!

This is one activity that my new students ask about at the beginning of the year.  While it has evolved and gotten better, I have kept it in my curriculum for 4 years.  Why?  It works.  Plain and simple.  On my end of the year survey, students note that this was one of the units that they feel the mastered the fastest.  Why?  Because it is comprehensible and real.  What do you do that keeps it comprehensible and real?

With summer vacation well under way, I have relaxed into sleeping late, taking long vacations, reading anything I want, going to the spa, beach, etc.  You know: loafing and lounging.  Maybe, if I lived in another dimension.  Nope. Not here.  I have attended an awesome 2 day workshop by @martinabex on Comprehensible Input, am reading The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros and reading Marina by  Carlos Ruiz Zafón (a Spanish Language novel), am watching El gran hotel on Netflix (a series like Downton Abbey out of Spain), and have just purchased 3 albums of Spanish artist rock and Christian rock  music to work on my listening skills. So, basically,  I don't have my summers "off"  I am using my summer to improve.  I want to be better in my teaching than I was the year before:  always learning, always improving. I don't want to just open a file and dig out all of the old.  I want  the students that I have had in lower levels of Spanish to say " that was even better" when they take the advanced levels. A teacher never stops learning, adapting, and changing. When one does, I believe, it is time for that teacher to evaluate their worth as an educator.  How can we instill intrinsic  motivation in our students, if we don't have it ourselves?

En español:

Con la vacaciones ya empezaron, yo he relajado por dormir tarde, tomar vacaciones, leer lo que quiera, ir al spa, la playa, etc.  Sabes: haciendo nada importante.  Quizas, si yo viviera en otra dimensión.  No. No aquí. Yo he asistido un taller asombroso  por @martinabex,  Enseñanza comprensible para idiomas; estoy leyendo The Innovator's Mindset por George Couros y Marina por Carlos Ruiz Zafón (una novella española); estoy viendo El gran hotel en Netflix (similiar a Downton Abbey de España) y acabo de comprar 3 álbumes de música de artistas españoles y rock de cristiano.  Pues, basciamente, no tengo mis veranos 'libres'.  Uso mi verano para mejorarme.  Quiero ser mejor en mi enseñanza que fui el año pasado: siempre aprendiendo, siempre mejorando.  No quiero justo abrir una carpeta y sacar todas de las actividades antiguas.  Quiero que mis estudiantes que yo tuvieron en niveles básicos de español digan 'eso fue tan mejor' cuando ellos tomaran niveles avanzados.  Un maestro nunca para de aprender, adaptar, ni cambiar.  Cuando uno hace eso, yo creo, es el tiempo por ese maestro para evaluar su valor como un educador.  ¿Cómo inculcamos la motivación intrinsica en nuestros estudiantes, si no lo tengamos?

Airports, art museums, public service announcements, books, surveys and too much more to list; with which do I begin my blog?  For some unknown reason I have be resistant to the idea of writing about what happens in my Spanish classroom.  For me, what we do in class is just everyday effective teaching.  It is what I  have always done to help my students gain proficiency. Over the years, friends and colleagues have nudged me to blog, telling me that I must talk about the wonderful things my students are accomplishing and how the class is student centered around authentic activities and proficiency.  I have never been one to shout: "Look at me!" The whole blog thing seemed odd.  After following many blogs, I  had a realization that this is not bragging, but therapy.  It is self reflection about the awesome, the good, the bad, and perhaps the down right horrible.  It is a way to connect with my colleagues worldwide and lean on them for support, trade ideas, and share a hearty laugh that all of us teachers need from time to time.  So, check often as I share the wonderful ups and downs of what is working to help my students not only learn Spanish, but learn about life!