How to Find Authentic Resources for your World Language Classroom
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Do you use authentic resources (authres) in your classroom? They’re wonderful to include, especially when scaffolded for your students to engage with. One of the most exciting parts of learning how to find authentic resources is realizing just how much real-world content is out there waiting to be used. I love that these materials let students witness practices and perspectives from other cultures straight from the source, instead of through me or a textbook summary.
However, sometimes finding an authentic resource that fits exactly what you need can be more trouble than it’s worth, so I wanted to share with you some tips for how to find authentic resources for your world language classroom!
How to Easily Find Authentic Resources for your World Language Classroom: Option 1
This is a quick life hack that will change the game for your authentic resource hunting: change your phone’s language. When it’s in the target language, all the sudden you’ll start screenshotting left and right. Weather for today? *Snap* Clothing ad from Target? *Snap* Every day language that your students will understand starts dropping into your lap!
How to Easily Find Authentic Resources for your World Language Classroom: Option 2
Do you follow social media accounts in the target language that you teach?
I have TWO reasons why you should!
Reason 1:
Especially if the language you teach is not your first language, following accounts that post about your personal interests helps you read, listen, and interact in that language.
Reason 2:
Following accounts like that helps you easily find authentic resources for your world language classroom! When you find something that works, grab a screenshot or save the link and add it to a Pinterest board or a folder in your Google Drive for the next time you teach that unit. That way, hopefully, you won’t be scrolling like crazy just SEARCHING for the perfect resource when you’re planning that unit!
How to Find Authentic Resources Without the Stress
If you’ve ever found yourself Googling how to find authentic resources five minutes before planning, you are not alone. The good news is that once you know where to look, it becomes second nature. Authentic content is all around us — from real restaurant menus to Spotify ads to social media captions — and once you start noticing it, it’s hard to stop.
One of my favorite ways to teach teachers how to find authentic resources is to think about the little moments in your day when you interact with language. Are you reading a Spanish headline? Scrolling through a playlist by Latin American artists? Checking the forecast in another language? Every one of those moments is a potential classroom resource. Capture it. Screenshot it. Save the link. You don’t need to overthink it — you just need to catch it while it’s fresh.
Some Recommendations:
Here are some of my favorite places to follow and find authentic resources for your classroom. My examples are specifically for Spanish teachers, but the overall idea applies!
🦜 National Geographic accounts for different regions (like this one!)
📊 Digital design accounts like Pictoline
🎶 Musical artists (you know I love Alvaro!)
🏋️♀️ Health and fitness accounts (this one is more for me than my students, but it’s been handy for our health unit)
Here are a few ways to find new accounts to follow!
- A little snooping: Go to a bigger profile, click on the people following them, & see if any of them are interesting to you!
- Location, location, location: Go to a location tag, scroll through the feed, and follow people there! This is especially helpful if you’re exploring a particular region with your students, like I did here when we were studying Oaxaca!
A side note – I know all of these examples are from Instagram, but the same strategies apply to Facebook, Twitter, TikTok – find accounts that are interesting to you and add them to the pages you follow to slowly gather the authentic resource goodness!
Don’t forget to save this post for later!
