About me:
I have been a public school teacher in Michigan since 1997. I have taught middle school, high school, and college. I have taught Spanish mainly but also Earth Science, Speech and Communication, Video Editing and News Broadcasting and have even been a Library Media Specialist. In 2001 I began writing curriculum for Fluency Matters in addition to teaching full time. With Fluency Matters I have been a webmaster, a workshop presenter, a curriculum developer, and an author/co-author of several novels for Spanish students. I was recognized by ACTFL in 2016 for my Global Engagement Initiative in my school. I am available to provide consulting and training for schools as well!
You may reach me at placidok at gmail.com or on twitter @placido
Follow Placido Language Resources on facebook.
My publications:
- Mata la piñata
- Testigo
- Laritza
- Esmeralda, la tortuguita marina
- Vidas impactantes
- Hasta la sepultura
- Frida Kahlo
- Robo en la noche
- Noches Misteriosas en Granada
- Noche de Oro
- various teacher’s guides
- a multitude of materials on Teachers Pay Teachers
Co-authored:
- Brandon Brown versus Yucatan by Carol Gaab and Kristy Placido, Fluency Matters 2013
- “Bringing Formative Assessment to Life in the Language Classroom” by Sally Warner Read and Kristy Placido in The Language Educator, August 2012 (Vol. 7, #4, p. 50-53)
- Cuéntame Más curriculum TPRS Publishing 2005
Kristy Placido 
Hola,
I want to thank you so much for sharing your resources. I am looking at your Guerra Civil Española unit and I am wondering how you connect the reader ¨La hija del sastre¨ with the Guerra Civil and other resources you’ve shared. Any information would be greatly appreciated!! Gracias de antemano.
HOLA, IS CAROLINA STILL HIDING BEHIND THE BOXES MARKED “OROTEC”???? MY CLASS IS CONCERNED!
En mi clase, Carolina ya no está escondiendo detrás de unas cajas pero ahora Makenna está escondiéndose con Martín en la selva cerca de una valla….¡qué miedo!
Hola,
I am a junior in high school and my class and I just finished reading your book Robo en la Noche and we loved it. We were discussing the ending and we had a debate over who said “pura vida” at the end. We had many different opinions on who it was, did you have anyone in particular who said that? Gracias!
pura vida
Hailey 😀
Read “Noche de Oro” to find out. 🙂
Hola! I attended your session at ACTFL 2016 and loved so many of your ideas. I am about to start Robo en la Noche and would love to use the PSA Commercial that you showed us on bird poaching. Is the commercial available on Teachers Pay Teachers? Muchas Gracias!
Sorry for the delay in replying! I didn’t notice your comment! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Zoo-Ave-Commercial-Movie-Talk-Activities-2433128
Hola!
Do you think it’s important to have all teachers of the same level (level 1) teach the same novels or do you think variety is ok when it comes to considering that there will be students feeding from the 2 of us into 1 teacher next year (level 2)? I’m coming from the perspective that as long as all the students get the same focused structures, they are good, but then it should be ok for each teacher to supplement with novels that they are really into. What do you think?
Thank you for your time.
I don’t think it matters. As long as they are reading and enjoying it, you will find that the readers developed for CI classes are focused on high frequency vocabulary and will serve students very well!
Hola Kristy–Do you recommend a Frida unit for beginners? I know that it says on the website that it is a novice level reader. ¡Mil gracias!
Hi Jeanette!
The Frida novel is certainly accessible for novices! The teacher’s guide is also a really great resource if you don’t want to have to create a unit from scratch. It has all the work done for you! If you prefer to use the novel in an intermediate class, it is fine for that as well. You can make it higher-level via discussions and by bringing in additional authentic materials!
Kristy
Kristy, I have spent the last 5 month building graphic novels for each episode of El Internado. I break each episode into about 4 parts. I couldn’t find your email address on your website. I would love for you to look at what my classes and I have built. By the way, all of your books are part of my reading list! I would like to present in Chattanooga, Tennessee this summer. I would really like to collaborate!
Hi Kristy, I wanted to take a moment and really thank you for helping me be a better teacher this year (this is my 10th year teaching). We are just finishing up Les nuits mystérieuses à Lyon with my French 2 students and it is the best experience I have ever had with teaching a novel. The students were more engaged than in any other book I’ve read any year. THANK YOU!!! They loved that the main character was from Michigan, since we are in Kalamazoo. I can’t wait to read it again next trimester. Are any of your other books translated and adapted to French?
Also, I attended your Movie Talk at iFLT last summer and have been using this strategy ever since. Again, students are engaged in the target language. It didn’t make sense until I saw you model it. Thank you–you really are changing lives.
Wow, you made my day! Thank you! Robo en la noche is also in French – Vol des Oiseaux. Set in Cameroon. I am so happy you enjoy my work!
Hi Kristy, I wanted to take a moment and really thank you for helping me be a better teacher this year (this is my 10th year teaching). We are just finishing up Les nuits mystérieuses à Lyon with my French 2 students and it is the best experience I have ever had with teaching a novel. The students were more engaged than in any other book I’ve read any year. THANK YOU!!! They loved that the main character was from Michigan, since we are in Kalamazoo. I can’t wait to read it again next trimester. Are any of your other books translated and adapted to French?
Also, I attended your Movie Talk at iFLT last summer and have been using this strategy ever since. Again, students are engaged in the target language. It didn’t make sense until I saw you model it. Thank you–you really are changing lives.
My students and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning with El Nuevo Houdini. I was wondering if you would be ok if I edited your reading on Las Dificultades de conducir en el DF- to say: en el Zócalo como parte muy antigüa de la ciudad, no hay carreteras modernas como en otras partes, including a picture of the periferico. I grew up in Mexico and use my neighborhood and its environs from day one, so my students did not like the statement that the city hasn’t any modern highways-
Thanks.
Jeanne
If you are only using it in your own classroom and not redistributing it to anyone else I think that constitutes fair use of those materials. Thanks for bringing this to my attention! I will suggest the edit for future editions!
Thanks. I did not change it, we just talked about it.
Christy, I need your email address so that I can send you a song for your book.
Wow, Tom, no man has ever written me a song before! 😉
Thanks!
Placidok@gmail.com
Hi Kristy,
I am a fellow Michigander myself and would love to teach there someday. We are a retired military family currently residing in Kansas (that’s where our jobs are). After leaving teaching for a good 13 years (OMG) to raise my family, I’m back on the scene and am feeling extremely overwhelmed at what is the best method for teaching Spanish/ESL, what are the best resources, which blogger has the best ideas, suggestions, and curriculum maps. I realize that I need to do what works for the students and find my own rhythm for teaching, but there’s so much from which to choose. My question, finally, is what advice would you give a new teacher who was taught the grammar way, loves the TPRS way, but doesn’t know where to start as a new or returning teacher?
Thanks so much. GO BLUE!
First of all, thank you for the comment. Second, GO GREEN! 🙂 I would suggest looking through the blogs I link to for great ideas. I especially recommend Carrie Toth, Martina Bex, Carol Gaab (TPRS Publishing has awesome materials!), and Cynthia Hitz. If you have any means at all to attend the IFLT conference in Denver this summer, it would be really great training for you! Check out http://www.tprstorytelling.com for info! Buena suerte! – Kristy
Help…I would love to show el internado season one to my Spanish IV students but can’t find it anywhere!!! ugggg..
I ordered my dvds from amazon.es.
Kristy,
I am about to start Robo en la noche and I love your choice board. I was considering showing the move Rio with the book. I thought you had some materials that also went with showing the movie but could not find them. Please let me know if this really exists. Gracias
Hi Ellen, I have shown the movie for fun but have not done any specific activities with it. Have fun! 🙂
Hola kristy , esta es zoraya la misma a quien, con mucha humildad, le has escrito un libro;)
Me pregunto, si habrá multicultural este año o solo la internacional en California. Me podrias dejar saber ? Te lo agradeceria mucho .
Cuidate , es un placer hablar contigo.
Gracias
Zoraya
Hola querida! Acabo de contar “tu historia” a mis clases! 🙂 la conferencia de California es la única de este verano. Vas a poder venir? Espero verte! Abrazos!
Hi Krity,
I watched couple lessons from fluency matter.com. I think that you were the presenter of ” The SLA from Day 1: Powerful First-day(s)-of-school Activities. The attached pdf of that lesson encountered error to be opened. Could you please kindly send me as attachments? The webinar is a great way to learn for people not living in US.
Many thanks.
Nini
Hi Kristy, I watched coulpe webinar from fluency matter. And some lessons might be from you. So I want to see whether you hosted the lesson ” The SLA from Day 1: Powerful First-day(s)-of-school Activities, however the attached pdf encountered error to be opened. Could you please kindly send me as attachments?
Many thanks
That was not from me, I’d suggest you contact Fluency Matters directly.
Just a big thank you to you, Kristy, for finding me on FLTEACH and directing to moretprs about 15 years ago. You have done so much to grow the TPRS movement. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much Janet! This comment warms my heart! 🙂
Hola,
I have been reading some of the things you posted and it sounds great. I was just wondering how you fit all this in. Could you possibly give me a breakdown of what activities you do weekly? What do you feel is the most important? Also, I am getting more and more interested in TPRS. Could you possibly recommend a place to get started. I have had little to no training in it and I am looking for some great training. Thanks.