TPRS year 5 - speed dating and Agentes Secretos

Something I was trying to do with my Spanish 1's to help them read Agentes Secretos y el mural de Picasso was an activity I got from a presentation at FLAM a few weeks ago.

The presenter mentioned "speed-dating".  And instead of talking about themselves, the characters talk about the topic for 1-2 minutes and then switch.  This way they can get another pass of the information from a chapter or a concept and when we change to another person, we can change the information we ask of them.

It also brings movement and interaction into the classroom, which are so necessary in a block class or for a rainy day (or chilly cloudy day in October).

I numbered my students off (1-15 twice), told them to form two lines in order.  I explained they were going to talk about Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Paula, Luis, Los agentes secretos, etc and they had two minutes.

I didn't want to hear English.  I only wanted to hear Spanish.  Their pronunciation wasn't the most important part (gasp) because they were interacting with the text, and I think for some this made them aware of their shortcomings in pronunciation of a word so maybe they will listen more for that word later.

They were allowed to have their books as a security blanket.  Some kids read the information from the chapter (but they had to find the important information about the characters or plot).

Not a bad activity!  I might have to bring it in every once in awhile.  Definitely not bad for a 10 minute chunk in the middle of class or for another pass of the chapter in a completely different way.

For some 2:00 was an eternity.  But for others, it was about right.  They usually opted after the first round to do 1:30.

My mind is thinking about the other possibilities for this type of activity...

TPRS year 5 - Movietalk/Song - Celos

There is a song I discovered years ago and always found a way to tie it into storytelling because of the themes in it of romance and betrayal.  It also has a lot of good solid TPR words like body parts and concrete actions (kiss, look, walk, dance).  It is seriously the best song.

I just found out it's a remake, but either way, it's the only version I ever knew and it's called Celos.  Fanny Lu (Colombian singer) sings the remake and the video is even fun.

In previous years we did a cloze activity and watched the video.  This year, I have some targets I want to hit on structures (busca, encuentra, quiere hablar con, se cae, camina, sobre/hacia) and thought this would be the perfect way to introduce those before we read Agentes Secretos y el mural de Picasso.

So here's the activity I came up with.  Let me know what you think!

TPRS year 5 - Cultural reading - los niños no acompañados

I realize that for our students, things that are novel are more interesting.  I'm also aware that one of the best experiences I had with my classes (ever) was being real with them in Spanish about a discussion where I was prepping their understanding of the words "las cosas pequeñas"(the small things) before listening to a song, "Las cosas pequeñas" by Prince Royce. (see blog entry)

While we prep our Spanish 2 students to be able to read Noches Misteriosas en Granada by the wonderfully talented Kristy Placido.  

And so a friend and I had decided to create a breakdown of new vocabulary per chapter for the novels so we would know how to pace ourselves and what/when to pre-teach structures.

This has been very helpful to determine which words we could teach through different contexts.

TPRS year 5 - Movietalk - Simon's cat - Scary Legs

I am trying to do storytelling this year, but also to add in another component after every story or two: an extension (commercial, song, video, movietalk, cultural connection, etc).  This way I can further recycle the structures from our stories, but bind them in a new way for better acquisition.

Our Spanish 2 students will be reading Noches misteriosas en Granada 2nd quarter this year and we are pre-teaching them structures from the book to be successful.

One of our first stories was:

• sigue ___ndo (s/he keeps __ing)
• se va para (s/he leaves for [place])
• "tienes que ayudarme" (you have to help me)

Then I had done Total Physical Response (TPR) during brain breaks for some other words:

• aplasta (s/he squishes)
• [se] sube (s/he climbs/goes up)
• muere (s/he dies)

And for fun, I also went over the song: la araña pequeñita