Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Foreign Phrases

As many of you know, our country is moving toward Common Core standards. While I feel that half the teachers are freaking out about this transition, some of us know that really, if you're teaching what you're supposed to, you've covered Common Core anyway. No need to fret! When I taught in Tennessee, part of our state standards (which were based on CC) required that we teach foreign phrases. Out of all the concepts I was to teach, this made me want to pull my hair out. Why? Because I couldn't find any resources!!! There were none in the textbook or on the state department's website. Now that I have moved back to Alabama, foreign phrases are not specified in our CC's, but students still need to have a general idea about common Latin or French phrases we use. In the kit below, I have included 21 foreign phrases that students are likely to hear throughout their lifetime. I know what you're thinking, "I live in Podunk, ____, and my kids ain't ever gonna talk like that!" Well, if you continue to have a bad attitude, then no, they won't. But, what if we actually taught our students to use words outside their normal vocabulary??? We might have an America that can talk beyond curse words and our students might grow up to appreciate more intellectually advanced materials. Lofty goals, right? Hey, you've got to start somewhere!

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