This is a blog where I organize my thoughts as an educator and reflect on certain things such as the evolution of my teaching or a lesson I have learned.
Someone recently asked me about how I plan out for the years. I generally do the following:
My first year with a curriculum:
fly by the seat of my pants
take notes on what works/doesn't (mental or written/typed out)
survive
Subsequent years:
hone different areas (not all at once)
assessments
activities
stories
movietalks
guided discussion prompts
extras
games
classroom management
usage of novels
usage of SSR / FVR
continue to gather more resources to throw in
adapt resources to level of students that year (readings)
have more fun because it's way less stressful
For example, you can tell my 2nd or 3rd year of using TPRS, I saw Cynthia Hitz had used something called a MovieTalk about Alma. I was relatively new at this.
So my first year with Alma (maybe fall 2012), I did the following:
Spoken story
MovieTalk (talked to kids, paused movie at key points to build interest)
Simple version of a reading
I lost this over the years
Then the next year at a new school (spring 2014), I thought it would be fun to make an Embedded Reading. So I was comfortable with the movie and added different versions.
In a previous post, I talked about a story idea for Black Friday. It really could be for any time of the year, but lends itself to Black Friday because of the craziness that can ensue.
The structures were:
arrived / got there
saw the perfect __.*
bought it for only __.
it was a bargain!
Here's what I tried out with the story.
It turned out not to be anything earth shattering or groundbreaking. I would chalk that up to my making up the story but not scripting it out well enough. And my Spanish 2 students aren't always very good yet at playing around in the realm of silliness.
So I had three different people in each class and we narrated when they arrived, what they wanted to buy, and how much they payed. Then we decided if it was a deal. No one wanted to pay with anything other than dollars unfortunately. But that's ok. I'll know better for next year!
Here's what we came up with for our class story and my present tense story. I decided it might be humorous to have the Incredible Hulk wanting to buy SpongeBob underwear.
*Disclaimer* The beauty of storytelling is that you really could use a story in any level. The complexity of your backstory or how you go about solving the problem is really defined by each level. For example, you might be able to have way more complex dialogue in upper levels and ask the class things like, "what would you do if he/she said that to you!?"
Here's a story idea that I used in Spanish 2 a week or two ago:
Structures:
No sabía bailar (S/he didn't know how to dance)
Le dijo, “Voy a regresar pronto” (S/he said to him/her, "I am going to return soon")
Le dio lecciones (s/he gave him/her lessons)
Some previous words I wanted to review:
s/he saw
s/he went towards
s/he wanted to dance
s/he was
s/he left (came out of)
s/he said to him/her
It's a pretty simple one. Someone was at a party or in a club. They wanted to dance. They saw someone, went towards them, they told them, "I want to dance with you." Or asked, "Do you want to dance with me?"
So this year in Spanish two, I have certain vocabulary points I need to hit for a unit and I have wanted to use this commercial for years.
I decided to do a lot of TPR first with my classes to build up their understanding of some words for sure.
So this folder gives you all of the things that I used with the Argentine commercial: Personal - Me voy de casa. (Folder Contains: screenshots from movie, TPR, warm ups, readings, Movietalk slides, instructions & reflection)
*this is my attempt to keep track of what happened while I was at my very first NTPRS in Reno, Nevada
Embedded reading presentation
In the morning I went to Michele Whaley's presentation on "Embedded reading: A Literacy Tool".
It was really neat to see! I have been using embedded reading now (or trying) for three years.
If you aren't familiar with it, it's simply creating a simple version of a text and then a harder (bottom-up) or using a hard version of a reading and making it more accessible in different versions (top-down).
Michele Whaley did a good job breaking it down and I could see how important it really can be to help kids be successful. So thankfully it reinforced what I did for my classes.
Something really neat about teaching from year to year is to see how things evolve. Also, how I can use the same resource to suit different needs depending on when I can throw it in, because we're always using the language.
Back in my 3rd year of TPRS, I showed my classes the Alma video, and Movietalk it. I might have had a reading or so. And then I started experimenting with embedded readings (multiple scaffolded versions).
This year, my kids had different language needs. And I even continue to re-conceptualize the movie's utility in my class.
For example, this year, I added in some additional words to the TPR phase so we could describe a few minor details about climbing, the window, and turning around. It just clicked this year that that would be good since we've already hit "looks exactly like", "can't" and "I need help" a lot!
In the mini-unit, I wanted to spice things up and tell a story based on real life about a guy named Justin who has gone through body modification.
This is the second year I've used this presentation. I think it could work out great in a unit on body image and talking about how if kids are comfortable with their body. I don't really organize things that way quite yet, but I could see it being something to talk to kids about depending on your relationship with them and/or maturity/class level.
I like it because most of the kids don't know who he is and they really find the presentation fascinating and want to know what's going on. So it makes for compelling and comprehensible (if we did our jobs right) input.
I want to share last year's presentation and this year's. You might notice I revised the presentation and added a few different words. I made some language slightly more compex using various forms of dar (to give) to expose my kids more to the indirect objects (to me, to you, to him/her). Thus far they get that "le means to him or to her" (said in a southern accent).
But what I want is to make it so next year in Spanish 2, when the emphasis is more on grammar, these things will make more sense because of all the front-loaded contextualized and comprehensible language.
Here's the original presentation. you'll notice there was one version and it was a day long presentation + quiz. I also had some TPR to get them moving and scaffold some words (mixed new with old).
Here is the new one. You'll notice I made it into an embedded reading (to keep pushing my kids to read). Version 1 was the first day after some TPR* (and other class activities). Version 2 will be with a partner (on day 1 or day 2 depending on time). And version 3 will be as a class. There is also a part in version three where we can get up and move around to vote on our opinions (movement is crucial in my class as a brain break and just something different).
Let me know what you think! It's one of my favorite stories in the year because one year a student was adamant about how much they hated silly stories. It made me realize that we have to mix things up with real stuff too!
*the first 3 TPR terms are from our last spoken story. "le da" is a review and for some reason this year, I never got to "el cuerpo" (the body) so I added it in and "piensa" (s/he thinks) will be great as we start expressing our opinions more with it instead of "en mi/tu/su opinión" (in my/your/his/her opinion).
So I like to do volleyball reading every once in awhile to get the kids up out of their seats and to interact with one another but still practicing what we're doing.
A nice way to do this is volleyball translation. I tweak it slightly to make it seem new. but the idea is the same.
Person A reads a sentence in Spanish.
Person B translates the sentence into English.
Person B reads the next sentence in Spanish.
Person A translates the sentence into English.
Etc...
In my class I often do it as an additional pass of a reading we've already done (or that will be relatively simple for them).
But I like to give instructions to my students in Spanish whenever possible, because life's too short!
Here's something I came up with that might help.
*feel free to use it in your class if you would like. I drew the objects so you have my permission to use it to explain volleyball reading. Obviously, I noticed there were fewer problems when I did this than usual (for understanding expectations). If you would like to change the language for your own classes / download a copy, click on the "google slides" part near the bottom and it should take you to the google doc, where you can download it through the "file" menu.'
The following is part two of a response to a comment.
Someone recently asked on a comment:
Hola Jeremy - this is really funny and I've very impressed. I teach Spanish I and I'm in awe at the complexity and level you're introducing to students. I'm really interested in knowing more about how you pace your content and your lessons (in 90 min classes and shorter periods). Just a suggestion for a future blog post. Gracias!
Part #2: " I'm really interested in knowing more about how you pace your content and your lessons"
So what I worked on doing (as you can probably see in my blog) is that I worked at Backwards planning through TPRS novels last year and the previous years to help my kids be successful. The idea was to load the kids up with Comprehensible Input (via PQA, TPRS, etc) all semester so when they got to the novels, they could read most of it with ease.
A few weeks ago, I posted about a story line I was wanting to do with my classes involving a grandmother (or any other character), monsters and silliness. See that post here.
So I had a class that was a little bit ahead of my other classes due to a late start and I wanted to have an additional activity (reading pass) for enrichment and to get those pesky yo forms of the verbs for them!
I wanted to give them a google slides presentation instead of another piece of paper to read and while I thought about telling the whole story again from the grandmother's perspective, it occurred to me that it might be sillier to tell the whole thing from the monster's perspective.
If I did this right, here's the presentation for the monster story (part 4):
To make a copy of the presentation, click here to see it through my google drive!
So if you read my last post, you can see my dilemma. I now have to start coming up with my own story scripts and picking and choosing again via books and blogs of other TPRS practitioners.
And I was wracking my brain yesterday until right before bed, I finally had a story epiphany.
Element 1:
I needed to practice sale de (leaves), compra (buys), and the other usual ones (wants, has, sees, says, gives, etc).
Element 2:
In addition, going over family members (aside from dad, mom, brother, sister) is not my strong suit. Which got me thinking about this story script from Amy Bachman Catania with a grandmother yelling after finding a monster and leaving the house and grabbing a cactus.
I loved the idea of introducing grandmother because I wanted to use the word grandfather soon in a quick movietalk about dinosaurs coming to a house and hitting Santa Claus and an grandfather (old man) hits them and runs them off. (See video on Youtube.)
Element 3:
Oh, and not to mention I need to hit, "le gusta" (likes), "vive" (lives) and "se llama" (he/she calls himself/herself) to be closer on target at this point in the year.
Storytelling:
So as this is all coming together, I came up with the following:
TPR structures:
abre la puerta - s/he opens the door (open a door)
(this is a review of a similar phrase we learned in se hace de noche)
la abuela - the grandmother (grab walker and smile)
se llama - he/she calls himself/herself (make name tag on chest)
this is also a review that I taught a little bit earlier on but I would like to practice "what's your name" and "my name is" more with actors.
vive - s/he lives (my 1st class decided the gesture should be a zombie/monster walking because "IT'S ALIVE")
If you've been doing storytelling, you've probably already thought of this activity before. I came up with it because for the life of me, I couldn't finish the last story and it was losing steam, and I wanted to do a timed write, but in a new way.
What I wanted was a conscious extra pass over the structures from our story. So I did an embedded reading of their story so far.
Here are the structures we were working on in their story.
For a few weeks this quarter, I wanted to work on a unit in Spanish 1. I thought we could review the super seven (hay, quiere, tiene, está, es, le gusta, va a) and add more.
Last year around this time, I did the Movietalk with Alma. It's a neat little video about a little girl who finds a surprise in a store in Barcelona. My classes are always sufficiently creeped out by it, which is wonderful!
This year language-wise has been a little bit different so I thought I would do the following to lead up to Alma.
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!
So if you're teaching in a Department, you might find that you need to throw in those Indirect Object pronouns as soon as possible to get your kids hearing them as much as possible in context so by the time your department "covers" them, your kids are more comfortable with them and can use them without realizing them.
The following is a story idea I had after seeing a video. I think it would work well in Spanish 1 or Spanish 2.
With the 90 minute block schedule, my students and I have been doing some PQA and some TPR in the same days. This has really been kind of neat because it's almost like two different classes. Sure they're worn out by the end of it. But I told them at the beginning of the year that my class would be more like Spanish boot camp and if they didn't like that idea, they could transfer out of my class.
So I found this silly video clip and I was going to try it out next week with them to introduce a simple story to them to break up the monotony of PQA and show them that they have been learning for a purpose!
So I have been inspired some other teachers who have been using videos to do a Movie-talk in class. This is the idea of describing what's going on in a scene with your kids.
Having not ever seen someone do this, I decided to try it today. To give a little bit of history though, I had planned this out for this week.
So Tuesday (spoken storytelling day) I told in my Spanish two classes a story using the following structures:
Se miraba en el espejo(he looked at himself in the mirror)
De repente un grano salió de su nariz. (suddenly a zit came out of his nose)
Lo trató de sacar pero no pudo(he tried to pull it out but he couldn't)
We acted it out and it was entertaining. In one class a rat came out of the bellybutton and a cow came out of the mouth of the girl on a date. We used my puppets for that. Then in another class a pink beard had a pink zit come out which he later realized wasn't a problem when he remembered he was pink.
So today, we first tried the MovieTalk with the video: Blind Date. It's my favorite kind of animated movie: short, silly and it has no no spoken language in it. This way, we can hear the music and talk about the movie and pause as needed and the kids can comprehend what we're talking about. After watching/talking about the movie for 10 minutes or so, I had a reading that I had tried to write around their level (plus a few words that they didn't know but we could be exposed to over the course of the rest of the year). I admit it's not the most advanced story, but please keep in mind I want my kids to acquire the language slowly over time instead of "teaching them" way too much that they'll never possibly remember.
The second hour class is a hard sell. They are quieter and slightly over half Spanish-speaking. So the Spanish speaking kids are patient with the kids who are learning, but when it comes to reading, only one person ever really translates. This is frustrating because I know how important the reading is. It's like the idea, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." But I so want to make him drink. I want my kids to always enjoy the readings. Especially when I work on them!
The third hour class seemed to go better. There are only four students but there was more eye-contact with the reading.
I pulled a girl aside from 2nd hour and asked if there was something I could do or if my reading was horrible. She said she enjoyed it, but the other girl monopolizes the translation and she wasn't able to get anything out so she stopped. I asked her if maybe I tried to create groups where only a group could answer however many questions before I changed groups. She said that might help her. Food for thought.
Oh and here's the movie clip:
I made an extended embedded reading in the yo form that was loosely based off of a different Youtube video but went along nicely with these structures above. My students in the morning did an awesome job on it. It's a lengthy read as well, but I want to build their confidence with the reading. I thought it turned out well. Here's the link.
I think I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to be trying out teaching this year by planning out the year with first choosing the novels I want my kids to read, and then backwards plan what structures I need to teach them.
There's a very talented teacher that I have the privilege of working with on this project, Josef Sallen. He's in his second year as a teacher and we are both the foreign language departments at our small schools.
We decided to choose some different novels for our two levels of Spanish classes. I opted to not read the Blaine Ray stories. Nothing against Blaine Ray. He obviously has been amazing in creating a method of teaching that I (and my students) have fallen in love with. But they tend to be somewhat repetitive in plot.
So Josef Sallen and I picked some novels and looked at the structures in the novels. Then we decided how our year would look (more or less) with the different novels in the different levels. Obviously the novels are written for students (taught with TPRS). But it would be nice to work the kids up to some actual novels by Spanish 3 or 4. For now though, it's nice to have something to work towards. We did the first 4-5 weeks of the semester with PQA (getting to know you activiity). Then we did TPR of some of the structures from the book. Then we did a few weeks of TPRS with spoken stories in the past and embedded readings in the present. The idea was to get them ready to be able to read most of the first book before we even read it. So for both classes we chose, Agentes Secretos by Mira Canion.
