What is The QTalk Method?
The 3 Tenets of QTalk Cognitive Materials are:
1. Use visually appealing and intuitive images to teach pronunciation and meaning of vocabulary before showing text.
2. Always introduce & practice vocabulary in the context of meaningful sentences relevant to daily life.
3. Use interactive activities that require deductive reasoning to practice
To do that, use our proprietary 4-Step Teaching Process that can and should be used with EVERY QTalk product for maximum variety
and assimilation of target vocabulary.
The Q4 consists of:
The 3 Tenets of QTalk Cognitive Materials are:
1. Use visually appealing and intuitive images to teach pronunciation and meaning of vocabulary before showing text.
2. Always introduce & practice vocabulary in the context of meaningful sentences relevant to daily life.
3. Use interactive activities that require deductive reasoning to practice
To do that, use our proprietary 4-Step Teaching Process that can and should be used with EVERY QTalk product for maximum variety
and assimilation of target vocabulary.
The Q4 consists of:
Vocabulary Introduction
Whether your students are 2 or 92, we use 3 rules for introducing new vocabulary.
1. IMAGES ONLY - NO TEXT TO START : Wherever possible, introduce words (pronunciation and meaning) with images from your QTalk Image Library (found in QCards, DLS, Online Games and coming soon, QTalk Blocks).
Do not show students the text until they have repeated the words out loud at least 3 times.
(If you are using a book to teach, use something like a ruler to cover up the text.)
2. INCLUDE VERBS: Include at least one verb that can be used with all the other words so that complete sentences are used as soon as possible in the oral recall practice . Vocabulary learned in the context of a complete thought is exponentially easier to recall than lists of single words.
3. PRAISE EVERY ATTEMPT made by the students, correcting their pronunciation mistakes only by repeating the words slowly and with a slight emphasis on the part they mispronounced. When you have them repeat again, they will auto-correct themselves.
Example: We'll demonstrate with a lesson working with clothing and colors taken from the Spanish Sapling Book 1 Student Book
To introduce the new vocabulary at the top of this Sapling Book 1 page excerpt below, you have 3 options:
Students can follow along
with individual or shared physical student books or with flipbook versions of the student book on ipads/tablets (shown below) |
1. Use QCards on your magnetic white board
2. Use the DLS on your Smartboard
3. Use the Online Games projected onto your board
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RECALL PRACTICE
As soon as students have had a few rounds of repeating the new vocabulary out loud, we begin reinforcing them through the interpretation of complete Q-sentences. CLICK HERE to see all of the suggested Recall Practice Activities
SPONTANEOUS PRODUCTION
If you've followed the suggested Q2 Recall Practice Activities and Online Games, by now your students are ready to start creating their own sentences, dialogues and short stories using pure recall. CLICK HERE to see all of the suggested Recall Practice Activities
Your Teacher Guide will provide you with activity suggestions like the one below to Host a Fashion Show and have students describe each other's actual outfits. A complete guide to additional Q3 Spontaneous Production Activities is also available for download.
Q3 is where the language comes alive as students get to ask and answer questions about their own experiences.
It's exciting! |
QCards can be used to include vocabulary from past lessons (like the verbs "to like" and "to see" below) and challenge students to make the longest sentences possible. (You can split the room into teams or small groups if you have mini-QCards)
The DLS offers many ready made Q3 Activities for your use like the one below in which students can pull up images to create a sentence and then can call on another student to read it out loud.
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WRITING & ASSESSMENT Once students can demonstrate full comprehension and speaking ability with vocabulary, it's very rewarding for then to begin writing what they now know. There are 4 ways we suggest writing and assessment be done.
- Any QTalk Student Book page featuring either Q-Sentences or Scenes can be used to practice and test writing either in class or at home.
- Any DLS Printable can be used for take home work or in class writing assignments.
- The Online Games include writing assessment games.
- Assessment Stickers let teachers use dictation to check comprehension and syntax clarity in a fun, engaging way
1, Assign Q-Sentence or Scene Pages in the student books as writing homework or in class writing activities.
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2. The DLS comes with Printable Worksheets for each lesson that can be downloaded and printed for use by students either in class as practice activities, for homework or for testing purposes.
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3. Online Game writing games include special characters so that students can practice typing sentences from the lessons. Answers are submitted and scored. Errors are clearly shown with corrections.
4. Assessment Stickers can either be used in conjunction with the included Teacher's Suggested Test Sentence Guide or you can have students use the stickers creatively, creating the sentences they like.