How Do You Teach Spanish Through Total Immersion?
As a teacher of foreign languages, do you ever feel dissatisfied with the usable knowledge your students have at the end of the course? Part of the problem is that many of us teach about the language, while failing to teach from within the language. Immersion is a solution to that. Determine, in your own mind, that you are going to teach Spanish in Spanish, with little or no recourse to English. This one, solid determination makes the process of immersion doable. Create a list of “survival phrases” that your students will need to use to gain understanding during the first few weeks. Include phrases such as “How do you say ___ in Spanish?”, “What page are we on?”, “What activity are we doing?”, “Who is my partner?” and “When is the homework due?” Give the students a list of very common words that will help them get meanings across to you and their classmates in the early stages of immersion. Include time-telling, colors, numbers, money, days of the week, months of the year and courtesy
