Gallery

TTU students gather in front of Roscoe Wilson at least 15 minutes before the program starts to ensure that everyone can sign in and get into the building on time. These 15 minutes of free time also allow them to become more familiar with each other and their new surroundings - everybody is nervous on the first day!

Taking attendance is a great way to get to know each student personally - it also helps track how many times each child attended to ensure that they have earned the SPARK certificates given out at the end of the semester!

TTU students create personalized lesson plans and choose the material they want to use. This group taught animals using a PowerPoint, puppets, and physical activities such as drawing and charades. It was many students' favorite lesson to teach, and the kids' favorite to learn!

Drawing is a great way to help the children make personal connections to the lesson material. They can draw their family, their favorite food, dream job, etc. which allows them to remember the vocabulary specific to them while having freedom to create something on their own. 

Using games or appealing to the kids' competitive nature enhances their ability to retain the information presented to them. They can learn a lot in one hour if it's presented the right way! 

PowerPoints and other visual learning tools are extremely useful, especially when enhanced with music, videos, and stories!

SPARK is such a valuable and enriching program for the children and the college students that many decide to attend more than one semester. Adam (pictured holding the box) taught SPARK for two semesters - 20 weeks!

Word searches are a fun and stress-free way to get familiar with the new vocabulary of the week, and breaking out into smaller groups is a great way to review new information one-on-one!

SPARK is a great way for TTU students to get more involved in the community, practice their German skills, and learn how to teach! Many students planning to become teachers or professors after graduation value the program for it's ability to prepare them for, and expose them to, their dream job.

Students at the Lubbock Junior Academy grew to love the SPARK program so much that they talked about it all week leading up to it! Tech students were sad to say goodbye at the end of the semester.

A special treat for the children is that if they attend most of the SPARK lessons, they receive a Certificate of Participation from the sponsors, Goethe Institute/AATG. They may not remember everything they learned, but they'll always have something to hang on the refrigerator!

Allowing children to present on familiar topics teaches them to get comfortable in the spotlight. It is also useful in reviewing past material! The boy in the picture is thinking of what animal he is thankful for and wants to do for his turn of charades!

Fun Fact: teaching and reteaching material through fun facts makes the material more digestible and fun! By the end of the semester, the kids remember the basic material covered from all 10 weeks just by the photos presented in the Fun Facts portion of the PowerPoint!

TTU students are able to personalize the material they teach to make it more entertaining and memorable. When teaching the word Haustier (literally "house animal") these TTU students included pictures of their own cats and dogs making silly faces or wearing goofy clothes. The cat in the apple hat was mentioned for weeks after this presentation!