How My Student Became Fluent in Two Years

Would you like to know how to become fluent in two years? Or how to ensure your students become fluent in the target language?

The best way to become fluent in a second language is to converse, one-on-one with a native speaker. Actually, that is, in part, how I learned Spanish. In a regular classroom, the typical student-teacher ratio is anywhere from 1/36 to 1/25. How is a student going to get the required exposure to reach proficiency with so few opportunities to speak and interact in the language?

In this post, I will show you how I solved this problem with an activity students LOVED and I will give you one of the activities for free.

How my student became fluent in Spanish in two years

When I was working as an illustrator/graphic artist, a co-worker asked me to tutor him in French during our ten-minute breaks. TEN MINUTES! I agreed. For two years, I spoke to him in French, guiding and teaching him as I went but, mostly, speaking to him in French.

Approximately two years later, he was fluent and ready to travel to France. Which he did. He speaks French to this day.

How can we duplicate that experience for our students?

When I first began teaching, I was greatly frustrated by the impossibility of the situation. So, I sat down and thought about how I could expose my students to more one-on-one language.

Then it came to me– MULTIPLY THE PRESENCE OF THE TEACHER in the classroom!

And that’s what I did.

I created an activity that allows EIGHT times more language interaction than normal and I am offering it to you for FREE. It is one of my most popular products. You can use it for repetition in context of any vocabulary or concept or as an END-OF-THE-YEAR ACTIVITY to recycle the vocabulary and provide tons of language in context.

In every level, I assign this task at the end of the year to reinforce all the vocabulary and grammar concepts and to give students more opportunities to speak.

SURPRISE!

I was not prepared for how popular the activity would be. Students BEG me to play it again.

I love it for five reasons:

Students speak Spanish or French the ENTIRE period, and sometimes two periods.
It is student-centered.
Students are highly engaged.
It’s a superb assessment for speaking proficiency. It’s a challenge not only to come up with ways to evaluate oral proficiency but also to find class time to do so.
Students are doing all the work. All I have to do is wander around and listen for English.

Students love it because:

They get to talk to their peers all period, albeit in another language.
They are enthralled to amass chips they can turn in for points. (I don’t get it.)
They ask and answer the questions.
They feel successful.

Here is how I set up my world language lesson to prepare for the activity.

Every night for eight days, in addition to the regular homework, I assign questions for one of the stations. For example, students must answer the questions for the supermarket. It’s super easy because the possible answers are already written for them; they just choose the answer that is appropriate for them.

The following day, I pose the questions for the supermarket. Students get participation points for answering.

After eight days, I assign “maestros” or “professeurs” to each of the places. I determine who my best, trusted, and most responsible students are, or who the best speakers are. Then, I assign to each of them a duty. For example, José, you will ask the questions from the bank. José must then study the questions that night.

The maestros take the questions home and practice asking the questions. I give them prerecorded audio of the questions so they can practice the pronunciation, especially important in French.

The non-teachers must study the packet for homework. I tell the students that the results of this activity will significantly affect their participation grade and, if possible, not to be absent the day of this activity.

The following day, I project the PowerPoint of the groups that I assign by skill level and social factors. (I’m not putting two class clowns or two introverts in one group.) Students are grouped under a particular maestro or professeur.

THE DAY BEFORE THE EIGHT STATIONS ACTIVITY

I explain the rules the day before, projecting them on the screen or reading them with the students: Questioners will sit at their stations which are placed equidistant around the room. Three to four students will be assigned to each station. Questioners will ask the first student question number one. If the student answers correctly AND with the proper pronunciation, the questioner gives the student a chip. If not correctly answered, the questioner repeats the same question to the next student and the next until someone answers it correctly, then proceeds to ask question number two. If the questioner hears any of the students speaking English, he/she takes away a chip. (Each chip is worth one participation point.)

I put students into pairs and have them take turns asking and answering the questions. One student has the questions and answers while the other one practices. Then, they trade places, working for ten minutes.

CLASSROOM SETUP

The classroom is set up for optimum accessibility with desks shoved back and a walkway created between stations. I place illustrated placards on the desk of each maestro.

Before students arrive, I place a large container full of poker chips on each teacher desk. (It took a while to amass enough chips. Find a place you can buy them cheaply.)

AND GO!

Students head to their first assigned station. When most questioners have finished their questions, I ring the bell. I instruct the questioner with the most questions to raise her hand when she has finished. While waiting for the bell to sound, the other questioners begin again at question number one, giving the participants more opportunities to gain points. Upon hearing the chime, students proceed to the next station in a counterclockwise direction.

During the activity I roam around the room taking away chips when I hear English spoken, monitoring the questioning, giving help where needed, re-supplying the questioners with more chips and handing out plastic bags to students in which to put their chips (or they can bring their own).

The activity can last two days as it will take at least 90 minutes to complete the eight stations. At the end of the game, students may count their own chips and report the number to you, in Spanish or French. Alternately, the questioners can go around and count each student’s chips and report to you. (This option is necessary if you doubt the integrity of some of your students.)

Add the score for each student to their participation grade or use it as a test by converting the points to a grade.

Want to try it out?

I created a short version just for the future tense.

To access it, click on the following link: Spanish Future Tense 8 Stations Activity

Here is the same activity for the Preterite Tense.

Here is the same activity for the Subjunctive.

Here is the Present Tense Activity in action in my Spanish One class.

Will your students become fluent in two years?

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