Global Watchdog

Media And Commentary

Global Watchdog

Media And Commentary

Category Teaching Guides

How-to guides, from classroom experience or classroom research, that tell a teacher how to teach a specific skill, topic, or class.

Education, EduLingo, Teaching Guides

Teaching Ser vs. Estar: Why the DOCTOR and PLACE Acronyms Fail Your Students (And What Works Instead)

A Spanish teacher points to two columns of sticky notes on a classroom whiteboard while her students watch, the sorting approach this guide uses for ser vs. estar

Every Spanish teacher has a poster, a worksheet, or a well-meaning textbook page that promises to settle ser vs. estar forever with two acronyms. DOCTOR for ser: Description, Occupation, Characteristic, Time, Origin,…

Dr. Alan Wood
October 23, 2026

Culture & Heritage, Education, EduLingo, Teaching Guides

Teaching Día de los Muertos: Not Mexican Halloween

A traditional Día de los Muertos ofrenda with framed family photos, lit veladoras, decorated calaveras, orange cempasúchil marigolds, glasses of water and pan de muerto on a blue cloth

Día de los Muertos is not Mexican Halloween. A Spanish teacher's guide to teaching it accurately: the ofrenda element by element, La Catrina's real story, a two-level reading approach, the comparison that…

Dr. Alan Wood
October 13, 2026

Education, EduLingo, Teaching Guides

How I Structure Spanish I Final Exam Review

How I Structure Spanish I Final Exam Review (So It Actually Works) Every May, I watched the same tragedy unfold: students “studying” for the Spanish final by rereading a semester’s worth of…

Dr. Alan Wood
September 28, 2026

Culture & Heritage, Education, EduLingo, Teaching Guides

Teaching Restaurant Spanish: Beyond Vocabulary Lists

Teaching Restaurant Spanish: From Vocabulary Lists to Real Ordering Skills Ask a Spanish I student to name twenty foods and you’ll get a confident list: la pizza, el pollo, las frutas. Then…

Dr. Alan Wood
September 28, 2026

Education, EduLingo, Teaching Guides

Why Students Never Really Learn Gustar (And How to Fix It)

Why Students Never Really Learn Gustar (and How to Fix It) Every Spanish teacher knows the moment. You have taught gustar. The students nodded along. The notes look fine. Then the quiz…

Dr. Alan Wood
September 28, 2026

Education, EduLingo, Language & Culture, Teaching Guides

Literature Review: The use of ChatGPT and AI to improve language learning outcomes in the high school classroom.

ChatGPT and AI in language learning graphic for this literature review of high school classroom outcomes

a plain-English reader’s guide, Short Version, and table of contents added, the review’s section titles converted to real headings so the contents list works, two dead reference links repaired, a 2026 update…

Dr. Alan Wood
February 21, 2024