I love Dinah Zike...but not in an inappropriate way.

We had our first Spanish test for the summer school session, and some of the kids ripped it a new one, which really suprised me. I was impressed at how well many of them did. However, a majority of them struggled with the section on the test in which they were asked to conjugate the verb "estar." The next day we made the "fold it like a hot dog, then fold it like a hamburger" books and then wrote the pronoun on the outside and the corresponding verb form on the inside. Then we reviewed the conjugations and it seemed like they understood it well...but the real test would be to see if they were able to retain the information better. Then I explained to them that this is an excellent way to study, instead of just reading their notes. Most of the students were oblivious to the possibility that there is a different way to study instead of skimming over class notes, and ideas like using flash cards or anything was a foreign concept to them. The next time I taught Spanish, we reviewed "estar" and the conjugations, and to my suprise, some of the students actually used the "fold it like a hot dog, then fold it like a hamburger" book to study! Those who studied remembered the conjugations much better!