Blog

Learning a new website can be intimidating, but if you take the time to watch these very short tutorial videos, you'll be a pro in no time.  

With 25 music videos, it's very easy for newcomers to not know where to start.  What video should you watch first?  What is the appropriate level for your students?

I encourage you to watch this video blog, in which I help to answer this question.  

Many people have told me that, although they're incredibly excited about the new Billy y las Botas graphic novel, they aren't necessarily sure how to teach with one.  And I totally get that.  It's a new medium, one in which the majority of the story is told through visuals, not dialogue.  It's for this reason that I spent the last month creating an 18-part video tutorial series on how to teach with a comic book!  

Sr. Wooly talks about the need for graphic novels in second language classrooms.  Length: 2:59

Sr. Wooly explains why he wrote the graphic novel with an emphasis on visuals.  Length: 2:11

Why you need to hold off on letting students read the book.  Length: 1:06

How to pull Spanish out of the visuals instead of relying on the dialogue.  Also, an introduction to the Circling Guide.  Length: 3:47

In this tutorial, we finally get into the classroom with Carrie Toth and her students.  Carrie will pre-teach some key phrases and vocabulary that students will need for the activities ahead.  This tutorial is also a primer on teaching with comprehensible input.  Length: 5:40

An additional video on pre-teaching, this time with a focus on the structure "se pone".  For those experienced in teaching with comprehensible input, you probably don't need to watch this video.  However, if these concepts are new to you, this video will have essential review alongside a handful of new ideas.  Length: 5:24

Carrie Toth models how to bring a scene to life through Reader's Theater.  Length: 6:51

Although this activity might look similar to pre-teaching on the surface, there is one big difference.  We're going to ask "WHY?"  Length: 4:54

At a certain point, you just have to let students read the graphic novel.  Length: 1:34

Total Physical Response is one of the easiest activities to implement in the classroom.  Just tell your students to do stuff, and they do it!  Length: 4:38

Most likely you have played Matamoscas (or Flyswatter) in one form or another in your classroom.  Here are some practical ideas on how to adapt it for a comic book. Length: 3:24

Volleyball is probably the single most concrete idea in this entire series.  It's easy-to-learn, easy-to-implement, and it's a phenomenal way to ensure that all students understand all of the comic book. Length: 4:29

It's one thing to read a comic book.  It's another thing to have students assemble the comic book! Length: 2:35

A low-pressure activity to get students beginning to speak.  Lenth: 3:30

In Fishbowl, we begin to push our students to give more verbal output. Length: 3:01

Our final verbal output activity puts students on the hotseat! Length: 3:57

In this quirkly activity, students get to alter the comic book to make new, weird and funny combinations.  Length: 1:24

The conclusion to this video tutorial series.  Length: 0:46

This week, I release a fun Behind-the-Scenes video for Ya Está Muerto.  It doesn't have much educational value for Spanish, but it does provide insight into how much work and time goes into these productions. 

I have a very important secret to share you guys, but under no circumstances can you tell your students.

UPDATE: Feb 6, 2017.  This song now has an official music video!  Since the song/video is now fully supported as part of the Sr. Wooly curriculum, this blog page is now officially deprecated, and will be deleted soon.

La Salvavidas is a song from my first album, Billy la Bufanda y Amigos.    It's a catchy little song about a boy who falls in love with a lifeguard.  It was very much inspired The Sandlot, a great little movie that I've seen far more times that I'd like to admit.  

This song is a simple rhythm combined with a melodic chant that was designed to teach the present tense conjugations of PONER.  

This song is a simple rhythm combined with a melodic chant that was designed to teach the present tense conjugations of SER (to be)

This song is a simple rhythm combined with a melodic chant that was designed to teach the preterit tense conjugations of IR.  

This song is a simple rhythm combined with a melodic chant that was designed to teach the present tense conjugations of IR (to go). 

La Casa del Sr. Wooly was the very first video I ever made for my Spanish classes.  

This song is a simple rhythm combined with a melodic chant that was designed to teach the present tense conjugations of AR, ER, and IR verbs. 

This song is a simple rhythm combined with a melodic chant that was designed to teach the present tense conjugations of HACER.  

In 2005, I created this short video to introduce my class expectations in a fun way. It was one of the first videos I ever created, and it is still one of my favorites.

This song is a simple rhythm combined with a melodic chant that was designed to teach the preterit tense conjugations of hacer.  

¿Dónde queda el museo? is a song from my first album, Billy la Bufanda y Amigos.  It's a simple rhythmic song to teach prepositional phrases.  

Odio la clase de español is a song from my second album, Billy la Bufanda Presenta Más Amigos.  It's a silly little song about a kid in Spanish class that, well, hates Spanish class.  

This new video tutorial will teach you a fantastic activity for reviewing numbers called ¡ARRIBA!.

Reviews of my music video, ¡Es Una Ganga! are all across the map. Some teachers have told me me that their students have never responded so positively to one of my videos, and others are telling me that it’s the worst thing I have ever made.

This new video tutorial will teach students a fantastic conversational activity called Una Ganga.

Sr. Wooly’s seventh activity is a unique take on the jigsaw puzzle. Unlike other activities in this series, this one requires very little explanation. Although there is nothing particularly ground-breaking about this puzzle, I think you’ll find that it’s simple, easy-to-administer, and valuable. I hope you like it.

Today I'll show you a game called Noventa y Nueve. It’s a really fun, addictive little card game that’s great for reviewing numbers.

Today’s video tutorial is the first, all-out competitive game that I have presented in this video series. And, for that reason, it absolutely will not be everyone’s cup of tea. However, in my opinion, it is ridiculously fun for both teacher and student.

What if I told you that there was an activity that you could easily implement with any age group, deeply engage all students for an extended period of time, and guarantee a much-needed tranquil classroom environment on that crazy Friday afternoon?

This activity is adapted from an old theater game.  It's extremely easy to implement, it’s also applicable to any age group and level of study. Quite simply, this is a fun and structured way to allow students to share their opinions.

This week’s activity teaches a concentration activity that is perfect for reinforcing any type of sequential vocabulary such as numbers, days of the week, etc. It’s a great supplementary activity to the video Las Excusas, since as you’ll see in the video below, it’s perfect for teaching ordinal numbers.

Assuming you are willing to sing in front of your students a little, this is a great activity that requires no preparation, no materials, and very little instruction. It’s also a phenomenal way to start the class.

Although SenorWooly.com has only been around for a couple of years, I have actually been making educational music since 2006. However, over these 6 years, my ideas on how to write my stuff have changed quite a bit.

Putting aside the ridiculous, attention-getting title of this post, there is of course no doubt that exposing students to authentic, native speaker materials is essential in any student’s Spanish education.