Easy Spanish Readers for SSR/ FVR

In my little classroom "library" I have:

TPRS readers (Agentes Secretos y el mural de Picasso, Piratas del Caribe y el mapa secreto, etc)
(chapter books; which automatically discourage lower leveled readers)

and children's books
(ummm these have words I haven't even learned in Spanish and the grammar is all over the place)

Cover of book

But what gets my students ready to have the confidence to read those books or what else can I offer to them during SSR and FVR that isn't just  a TPRS reader and has more pictures and might even have structures from those TPRS readers broken down but aren't just "there's a boy. He goes to....".  I want to play around with genre.

So I ordered some leveled readers from http://www.willbooks.com. These were actually like the idea that I had and as I read them with my daughter, I realized that more of this type of book was what I was missing in my class!

And I wrote a book. The sample was well received by teachers.
And two particular teachers told me to sell it for other teachers to print.

The book focuses on "no hay"; "hay", and "al mono le gustan los plátanos" and numerous places.

While it is more simple than many Spanish teachers would ever think to give to a student, I want to make reading so easy that it can be enjoyable and relaxing. When a student finds success, they are more likely to read! And I think this can even be used in high school if students are given the choice to read it. Because many of my high school students are nostalgic for being young again and simpler times. I want my class to be as stress free as possible. So that means I should make sure I have book options that can be stress free for even the lowest reader.

Without further adieu, my first Easy Spanish Reader: Al mono le gustan los plátanos. I am finally selling something on Teachers Pay Teachers (don't judge me too hard!).

I hope you can find a use for it in your classes and I plan to write more as well.

Al mono le gustan los plátanos:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easy-Spanish-Reader-Al-mono-le-gustan-los-platanos-3358958


*Edit*  Here's my second super simple reader!

¿De qué color es el cerdo?
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easy-Spanish-Reader-De-que-color-es-el-cerdo-3367401

TPRS year 2 - Kindergarten day (revisited)

I wrote an entry here about my first attempts at Kindergarten Day (or what I thought it was) last school year.

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So last year I probably misunderstood what exactly “Kindergarten day” is.  I thought having a children’s book up on the board and having the kids translate the pages was what I was supposed to do.  I discovered through reading about other TPRS teachers’ experiences, I instead discovered that the purpose of Kindergarten Day is to read to the kids in ONLY Spanish and allow them to soak in the language (no translation). 

A few weeks ago I tried this out on a Friday after a reading we had.  I tend to rush through the readings a little bit because it’s not my strongest point as a TPRS teacher and I can tell since I am not as passionate about them, my students aren’t as passionate either.  I prefer speaking the language (Tangent: On the other hand, a teacher that just started using TPRS this year LOVES the readings and feels less confident on his spoken TPRS and the students love doing the readings in his class).  But we can simulate a little bit of the Kindergarten experience through finding a children’s book and reading it to them in comprehensible language.  It could be a book in English that we describe in Spanish or it could be a book in Spanish that we read when level appropriate. 

Long story short, it went great a few weeks ago and my kids really liked acting like Kindergarten students.  A few were asking me when I would read to them again and I decided this week.  I chose: El Oso Verde de Alan Rogers.  (“The Green Bear” by Alan Rogers).  It’s great in that it’s very colorful and you can describe what’s in the pictures as well as it not being too complicated to follow. 

Here were the ground rules:

My job(s)

• I will read in Spanish to you and point in the book
• I might also ask related questions while reading the book
• I will stay in Spanish the entire time

Their job(s)

• bring in cookies, juice, milk, a blankey, a stuffed animal, etc (optional)
• give me their eye contact
• pretend like they are children (sitting/laying on floor)
• answer questions in Spanish (no English)
• enjoy listening to the story and to the language

      Today my classes were REALLY excited about it.  As soon as they walked in they were ready.  I had to explain that we had another activity beforehand but I wanted to give them 20-25 minutes of Kindergarten so if they would just let me know when it was time by saying, “¡Ya no puedo más!” (I can’t do it anymore!) – a structure we had used in a previous story.

A few students probably behaved in my class much like they behaved for their kindergarten teacher and were fidgety and didn’t appear to be paying attention.  But for the most part, they did a great job.  I joked with them (since it was a half day today) that they had done such a good job in class that I was giving them the second half of the day off.

Successes:

·     I think this activity works because high school students are nostalgic for their elementary school days

·     Students seemed to enjoy the activity

Needs improvement:

• My push over nature allowed some kids to go to the cafeteria at the beginning of class to get milk.  I told them next time to come prepared.  Maybe I should have let them learn their lesson this time by not letting them go so they knew the consequence was real first
• Some students didn’t really play the game
• One student commented that the book had no plot (afterwards). Someone else responded: "Hey, we were in kindergarten.  It doesn’t matter."  So maybe I can also choose some more engaging books every once in awhile.

Día 100 - Children's books

Ever since I was first studying Spanish in college, I remember that my favorite section in Border's was the little kid's section of books because they had Spanish books for kids!  It was there I bought the book: Un dinosaurio en peligro ("A dinosaur in danger") that I talked about a little bit in this entry.  It's a great little book.

So I slowly started acquiring children's books in Spanish as I went throughout college and the farther I have gotten, the larger my collection has gotten.  I currently have over 50 (easily) and a student gave me a small bookshelf that she didn't need anymore because I didn't have a place for my children's books!

Sufficed to say I get pretty excited about them.  I actually modeled an activity with my classes one day because I really want to have a great time with them in Spanish, but I would like to help build their enjoyment of reading in Spanish through children's books for now and slowly we can move into chapter books.

One day last semester (before I was going to be absent), I had the kids pick out a book from the many that I had from a series.  On amazon.com I found a series of books that I really like and they're somewhat cheap and they have differing levels from Lightning Readers.  Some of the ones I really like are Manchita la vaquita torpe, La tortuga tonta, and El planeta de dinosaurios.  But there are so many.

So I took all the different levels of those Lightning Readers that I had (20 or so) and I put them on a desk and had directions on the transparency for the students to get a book and on a piece of paper:
1) write their name
2) write the title of the book
3) write a short (2-3+ sentence) summary of the book
4) write down 5 words they recognized with the meaning and 5 new words they had to look up with the meaning.

The books range in level of difficulty.  But I just thought it would be neat for them and the pictures would help them figure out the meaning as well.  So that day we read a book and I gave them 20 minutes to complete the activity and then we did something else.


Then on sub days, I have this assigned to them and they have to complete 2 books and turn their paper in before they leave.  It has worked well for the high school students.  It's also good because they know what to expect and they have something they can accomplish without me in class.

Some teachers have them perform previous TPRS stories for the sub.  I like this idea but haven't tried it yet.  For now, I am ok with the readings since I have smaller class sizes and my students (although more comfortable than any years before) aren't as comfortable yet with the language.

If you are a foreign language teacher and have the resources, I recommend trying to buy even 1-2 children's books a month to slowly up your arsenal.  They can be a great activity by themselves.  Sometimes if not a lot of kids show up or my plan has flopped, I'll read them one of my favorite children's books from my collection and they gather in a circle and we can talk about the pictures and different things.  We might shift the conversation onto the students and talk about them.  But it's a lesson plan by itself.

Día 35 - Children's story

Today I didn't really want to start a new story and decided to start a children's story with the class entitled, Un dinosaurio en peligro.  The book is about a dinosaur that worked and played in a small town and he had a snoring problem so the town had to solve it.  It's one of my favorite books of all time in the Spanish language because it's simple but also humorous.

I originally used it with my Spanish two classes as an example of the preterite versus the imperfect, which are two past tenses in Spanish.  But since we're using those with storytelling interchangeably without really mentioning it to the students, I decided that I would just use it today as a sort of fun activity.

Yesterday I watched a new show produced by A & E called Teach: Tony Danza.  Tony Danza, an actor I grew up watching on television now around 60 years old has decided after a short boxing career and longer acting career that he wants to help make an impact on the next generation.  He goes through a baptism by fire summer in which he takes professional development classes and I just watched the first episode where he is teaching at a big diverse school.  He's teaching English and he comes off as an exciting and genuine guy.  From what I can see, he has passion to become a teacher, but like me, I think he struggles with the question: "Am I really cut out for this?"

I do enjoy teaching students and getting to know them.  I've enjoyed using TPRS because it often feels more like playing with the students and less like a traditional class.  But there are days where I am met with such laziness and resistance on their part.  In the clip of a future episode of Teach: Tony Danza, he can't take it anymore and walks out of class.  There are many times I wish I could do that.  My students can be some of the rudest and negative people, but they are most likely only reflecting what they've grown up learning from their parents and family.  Nevertheless, it makes for teaching them very draining because I try to be pumped up and positive and they aren't making an effort to help me stay pumped up, which is what I ask of them every day.

So today I got excited about sharing one of my favorite stories with them and it flopped.  I don't care for the physical room that I teach in too much.  There's not much room for flexibility with the giant desks.

Success(es):

1. My first hour class was paying attention to the book and they were answering questions that I made about the book.
2. For some students it's good to have pictorial representations while telling the story.
3. Due to the size of my class and the smallness of the book, I scanned the pages into a Powerpoint to show them while I was going through the story and walking around the class.
4. I tried to walk around the class via Fred Jones explanation in classroom management while reading the story

Failure(s):

1. It's not the greatest setup and the desks are too huge.
2. I didn't pace myself very well and didn't finish the story in any of the classes.
3. Students felt as if they didn't have to think during the story because it was a story
4. many laid their heads down as if it were nap time instead of story time
5. some showed complete lack of interest as if one of my favorite stories could be [gasp] LAME
6. some students probably didn't follow because I didn't go slowly enough or use a teachery reading voice
7. I got offended when my students didn't show interest

Next time:

1. What I should have done was to have them come in and maybe I could have the desks all moved against the wall and they would have to sit on the floor.  This would have helped them buy into the 'storytime' mindset
2. possibly bring in milk and cookies or some small treat for them to buy into the storytime
3. maybe don't circle as much as I did because it is storytime and try and get through the story as long as I can make sure that it is comprehensible
4. keep in mind that students often are bored in an activity; I can try to reach as many as possible but some students will still be hard to reach; not that I should keep trying, but I need to grow harder skin
5. encourage my students and remember to go slowly when needed

*If you are a teacher and would like to see the Powerpoint I created for the book just leave your email in a comment below.