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Monday, September 9, 2013

TPRS year 4 - Zapatito blanco, zapatito azul

So I was encouraged by my department to make sure to "cover" the colors and numbers 1-20 before our first common assessment in Spanish 1.  While I could just point to the numbers and colors and make them repeat them over and over, I thought it would be better to drill them (in context) through other sneakier means while communicating in the language.  I have been trying to do this as frequently as possible and as CI friendly as possible.

Last week I read the book Oso Pardo, Oso Pardo, ¿qué ves ahí? (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?) to them and went slowly and pointed to the animals and described their colors and what noise they make.

Then I asked questions sometimes to check for comprehension.  Most kids did ok on this.  Some kids need to be focused on a little more next time, to ensure better comprehension.

I repeated the book today with much more participation than the first time.  I of course explained that we repeat stuff a lot in Spanish class to make sure each time we understand a little more.

But as I was trying to think about the numbers, I came across this cute little rhyme called: Zapatito Blanco, Zapatito Azul.  (Little white shoe, little blue shoe.)

Basically, as my wife explained to me, in Mexico kids might use it to figure out which kid is going to be it in a hide-or-seek kind of game or something like that.  But I had a different idea.

The lyrics are simple:

zapatito blanco, 
     little white shoe
zapatito azul
     little blue shoe
dime cuántos años tienes tú
     tell me how old you are

We went over the lyrics and I said it a few times so they could hear the rhythm of it.

Basically you go through the lyrics pointing at the different feet of people in the circle.  Then when you get to "tú" at the end, the person has to answer their age in Spanish.  You count out that number and that person is out.  I decided (for more buy in) to give that person a piece of candy: fruity flavored hard lifesaver.  Once someone got candy that really upped the ante and interest.

So then we started on the person to the right and did the rhyme again.  It landed on the person, we counted out their age and gave another kid some candy.  Sometimes I had to shift to a different part in the circle when starting because only the same couple kids were getting a piece of candy (although the kids could have lied about their age).  One kid said he was 20 to try to get the candy back to him but he was one off.  Haha.

Regardless, I think it went well and I think it was a more engaging way to practice numbers in addition to practicing the question, "¿Cuántos años tienes?", which I also have to "cover".

Then afterwards I let the class watch this authentic text:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anHIAjxJKtM

We talked about it in Spanish.

I asked them how old the father was.  Then I asked them what he said near the end: "¿Quién juega?"  A few students actually made it out!  I was so proud.  This worked in perfectly since we have been doing PQA and getting to know them.  Every class has gone over, "____ juega [sport]."

All in all, I thought it went well and I was glad to bring even an authentic resource into class to enhance instruction.

A few videos to hear the rhyme:

*Revision* My kids figured out if they lied about their age to say the exact number of people in the circle, they get the lifesaver.  

So maybe instead I will have a few numbers in my pockets to act as +/- 0/1/2 and then after they have said how old they are, we'll use that to change the game up a little bit.  This way, they are just saying a number and trying to get them self, but it might change the direction.  Just a thought.  

This activity has been much better for buy-in with counting up to 20 or so and there are more reps and it's more interactive.  I also like the rhyme which includes, colors, diminutive (-ito), clothing (shoe), command (tell me), and the question, "how old are you?"
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