Foreign Language Elementary Summer Camp is a fantastic way to spend part of the summer. For the past ten years in Glastonbury, Connecticut, the authors have offered a variety of foreign language elementary camps that meet daily for three hours for three to four weeks during July. Currently, they offer camps for Chinese, English Language Learners…

In this article, the author presents teaching tips for elementary second or foreign language teachers. These include (1) using index cards for beginning level vocabulary practice; (2) chanting the words or phrases to help students remember; (3) taking the students' work out the door and spread the language to a wider audience; (4) pruning an…

Information gap activities are partner tasks that improve interpersonal communication skills. One student has information the other student needs, hence a "gap" exists that students seek to close through communication. As students gain experience and language skills, they create language that is more meaningful. These are activities that…

Discusses the content-based approach to foreign language instruction and highlights a content-based unit that has been used successfully. The approach includes brainstorming; mapping; singing; recognizing, labeling, and describing; story dramatization and pantomime; writing compositions; and creative activities. (Author/VWL)

Describes an activity for use in the Spanish as a foreign language classroom. The theme of the activity is focused around Paco the puppet's birthday. (Author/VWL)

Although she is now teaching Spanish in a new school full time, Linda Smrokowski, spent 9 years teaching in a once-per-week second language program. Because many once- or twice-per-week programs still exist, she shares strategies for writing and implementing detailed lesson plans that worked for her while she was teaching in a once-per-week…