I believe that being able to communicate in Spanish is more important than being able to write 100% grammatically correct sentences. (Now I still want my students to have proper grammar because the more messed up your grammar is, the harder you are to understand). This means that I have slowly been working towards integrating more use of the language in a fuller context than separated sentence translations. For our house unit that meant a day where for half of a period we sat in a huge circle and described the fictional home of one of the students. I stood in the middle and asked question after question, my hands showing where the different rooms appeared. My questions forced the students to pay attention and be ready to correct me along with use their creativity to design this imaginary home. Two days later when they took their quiz, the bonus was based on part of the description. For eighth period, that question was not connected to house vocabulary but instead was to name one of the pets besides the four dogs. Nearly every student remembered that we had given Andrea a monkey and a hermit crab.
It was a random detail but it was one that pulled them into the story that they had created, that they had ownership in.
Additional reflection: next year I think I might have them take five minutes after the class discussion to draw the house with the help of a partner. While I tried my best to ask individual students questions throughout the activity, I know it was possible for a few to zone out at times and this will help hold them accountable.
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