When I started teaching Spanish, my budget for props was essentially nonexistent so I learned to be very creative with what I found around the house.  I had the extra challenge of having no classroom.  Looking around in the basement one day, I found a wonderful thing – a bag of pom poms of various [...]

These are just the hats I’m rejecting!  The rest are in plastic boxes labeled by type.  You may not have silly hats, but do you have an old baseball cap?  How about a fun ski hat?  A tennis visor?  A sun hat?  Hats can add a bit of fun to your usual routine.  Match [...]

I  was just searching through a drawer and found a Trainer’s Warehouse catalog from 2003!  Now I have purged my catalogs more recently than that and I have tried to end my habit of keeping stacks of magazines and catalogs “just in case there’s something interesting,” so this catalog must have been really interesting!  Of course, [...]

If you’re like me, somewhere in the depths of your bathroom you have a box of those tiny bandaids that don’t stick on any body part or a box of Dora bandaids that your kids refuse to wear.  Put those bandaids to good use the next time you want to practice body parts vocabulary or [...]

   HUGE!      TINY!

Would you notice a stretch limo parked in front of your house? Not only would I notice, but I would wonder who it belonged to, why they needed a limo, what exciting event they were going to, etc. etc. Now apply that to your teaching. Grab your students’ attention with something [...]

I have a new plan.  If I start a post with the words BASEMENT TIP, you know I’m going to suggest a prop you might be able to use to spice up your teaching.  If I ever figure out how to create a virtual tour of the basement, you’d know long I could keep this [...]