Teaching interrogatives with TPRS

(someone asked on the Spanish for Teachers in the U.S. group on Facebook about how one might go about doing a model lesson with interrogatives and I replied with, “Any TPRS story EVER”. Here is my explanation on how one might set that up)

Setup the question words displayed somewhere in class like so. Notice the translations are there.

Have a prop like a stuffed animal or maybe something from target country like a Carlos Quinto chocolate bar.

(You might consider downloading the FREE interrogative posters I recently designed for TPRS books here.)

In all honesty, I never was incredibly good at using language with my students before TPRS (relating to students in the target language). So beforehand I might do a lesson on all of the question words, give some ways to remember them and examples and then give a quick quiz or test and assume they would remember them. But I didn’t manipulate the language to help them acquire them. 

Now that I use TPRS, the students not only learn the interrogatives, but learn to use them in context and to make novel questions. So let’s move on to TPRS. 

Evolution of my TPRS teaching: example Alma

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.

• Spoken story
  
• MovieTalk
  
• Embedded Readings
• versions 1 & 2
• version 3

Comercial - Me voy de casa

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)

Commercial:

Here is more or less what I did.

Persona especial - happenings

I've been at the "la persona especial" activity for the last 4 weeks in my classes. I have been using it in Spanish 2 (more on that later) and Spanish 1.

I figured I would blog on it in a few days, once the weekend hits and I can reflect.

So far it's going ok. It's definitely a change of pace for me from just the Circling with Balls activity that I used to use in Spanish 1 for the first 5+ weeks to get to know the kids and teach some basic concepts.

Nevertheless, if you saw my previous entry, you probably saw the Powerpoint I adapted from Bryce's script of questions.  I haven't decided to go ALL in and teach all of the questions he has been doing. I'm just baby stepping. But it has still been an interesting experiment.

It is similar to something I started last year when I used stories even from the first day (in conjunction with TPR and the Circling with Balls activity). That was thanks to 90 minute classes.

This year at my new school I am back to 50'ish minute classes and so I am sticking to one activity + warm up + quiz (and song/brain break if needed).

Back to what is similar. Last year when I used the stories first thing, I noticed the kids were exposed to the I, you, and he/she forms more than ever because I was really doing my best to interview my actors and coach them through answering questions and helping them out.

So I am now trying this out with the personal interviews. If a person doesn't know how to answer the question, I'll just ask the class if they know how that person could say "I ___". And usually at least one person knows and I have the class applaud them and praise their awesome Spanish and ask my actor (interviewee) if they want to try to answer the question again to which they pretty much always say, "yes". Then when they get it right, we applaud them too.

Anyways, so I have done pop-ups here and there and point out that the "o" on the end of the action means "I".  So I also talk about myself pretty much with that form instead of the 3rd person stuff I used to do about me.

What has this done?  It seems to have really helped them grasp the ending of the "o" on the end a lot better to use it with more accuracy when we are talking. Writing is another issue entirely. ;-)

Baby steps.

I'm bringing this up today because in a Spanish 1 class, I noticed the class didn't seem to want to talk and so I asked (gesturing), "¿No quieren hablar?" ("Do you all not want to talk?") and they gestured that they didn't understand so I went to write it on their butcher paper and then a student said, "Oh.  So is "I want" "quiero"?"

I praised his awesome Spanish and had the class applaud him and it was just magical.

I love when their brains make those connections because they've been exposed to the rich language so much.

It reminds me of what Dr Farley who taught my methods course in college told us. He said that when we teach, we should explore the language with the students and allow them to slowly peel away the wrapping paper of the present (that is the language).  If we just teach them via grammar and as if they were getting a minor in linguistics, we spoil those fun surprises for the kids to enjoy.

Today was one of those days that really rang true for me and my students!

But anyways, more on how I've been doing La persona especial later!

When dinosaurs attack - movietalk

Here's something I decided to do to help review some things for later as well as add in some additionally useful words.

And I think it's funny.

I realized since this week was a shorter week, it might be fun to spice things up with a MovieTalk and do it as a mini lesson and then build to another MovieTalk with similar structures.

So here is MovieTalk one about dinosaurs:

Bathroom story (revised)

What's a storytelling Spanish class without a good bathroom story!

I'm sure you've all heard of Señor Wooly. He's fantastic. I admit that I'm incredibly envious of his talent and creativity and wish I had an ounce of all of his amazing abilities! If you haven't heard of him, he makes silly songs in Spanish with story lines that really resonate with students.

I don't personally have an account this year for his site, but he has the song: "Puedo ir al baño" on youtube.

Every year I have a bathroom story of some sort. In conjunction with the story, our warm up involves listening to the song by Señor Wooly and accomplishing various tasks (cloze, re-order lyrics, translate phrases from song, etc).  They always listen to it at least twice when class begins while completing the task, while I do necessary teacher duties (attendance, last minute prep, etc). I enjoy starting class with music whenever possible because it generally relaxes students to ease into class.

Click here to see post from last year.

In previous years, it was more like a traditional story from TPRS classes where a person goes to different people and asks them for information. Last year's structures weren't going to cut it.

Probably due to the nature of my class, it's always a fun time and I had no real reasons to change the story except the Spanish 2 teachers expect the kids to know some more information by next year that I haven't been able to really hit yet.

I need to use "to have to [do something]" and I thought that would go great with a bathroom story based more around the song: Puedo ir al baño by Señor Wooly.  And I could actually borrow the genius idea from Señor Wooly from the story within the song.

So here's what I came up with:

Some of the structures match the song more easily and/or I can use the song itself to create an embedded reading for the present tense while we tell a relatively simple story in the past. The part that I think is nice is how relate-able it can be (for some classes) or how farcical it could be for others. Also, we tell the story once we have TPR'd the phrases.

Remember that in anything it's always good to try new things and genre is always something you can play around with.  The best part about storytelling is that there are so many types of stories we can use. It's best not to limit ourselves to "character doesn't have ___. Character is sad. Character goes to so and so, etc.".

TPR (Total Physical Response):

Here's the TPR part where I have students get up and move a little bit for a brain break:

• Necesita ir al baño (hold tummy / cross legs)
• “Tienes que esperar” (point finger down at palm for have) / (hold out hand like picture for “wait”)
• Lo / la deja ir - let butterfly go free

And I always add more to it, "necesita ir al baño y se da la vuelta y sonríe" (s/he needs to use the bathroom and turns around and smiles). "Lo deja ir lentamente y grita en silencio" (S/he lets it go slowly and yells silently).

TPRS (Storytelling):

Here's my basic story skeleton. Let me know what you think!

El muñeco viviente - the living doll (revised)

Last year I briefly mentioned a mini-unit that dealt with muñecas.

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).



Click here to see version 2 if you wanted to see the progression.

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).

Responses to Comment - Pacing and Lessons

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.

Last minute gem - Una papa - simple song

I always find myself planning late at night before bed (for some odd reason) and stumbling across something that I really want to use with my students (because I LOVE to mix things up each year with new activities).

I stumbled across this really cute little song about potatoes that like to dance!

It could be great for elementary teachers or middle school/high-school students to get those wiggles out for a brain break. (Of course you know your classes better than I do. As a wacky teacher, I can often encourage them to do things like this or the mascota activity.)

video:

But I digress. I found this song a few minutes ago and HAD to use it tomorrow for the following reasons:

PQA, TPR and TPRS oh my!

Well, our school year started last week on Wednesday and we're currently on the day 3 rotation (due to block scheduling).

My Spanish 1 students last year felt like we didn't do enough storytelling due to PQA (Personalized Questions and Answers) with Ben Slavic's "Circling with Balls" Interview activity and then jumping almost straight into the novels.

Since storytelling is one of my favorite things, I thought that we could do the following for class this year to start off:

1. Personalized Questions & Answers (Interviews about who does what in Spanish)
2. Total Physical Response
3. Storytelling

It's a little bit intense.  The idea was the get to more stories before the Agentes Novel so that it would be easier to read.

So far, it took about 8 days to get through story 1 of Blaine's revised Look I can Talk for Spanish 1.

Obviously, I would rather go too slow than too fast and the constant exposure each day of those first structures might be a way better way to go about doing this.  Their retells were pretty good and their writings weren't too bad either!  But I am not sure if at this rate we'll really get to more stories before starting Agentes next month.

Either way, it's nice to have 3 different activities and my students' brains seem to be able to handle that.  And it helps class to go faster.

Movietalk - Carwash

This year, we are reading Piratas in Spanish 1 this semester (last year, we only got through Agentes secretos by the end of the year due to department paradigm shift).

And so I am revisiting some of my activities from the book, but I have realized something since I have been doing the books for a few years now, and this year, I feel like my Spanish 1 students are truly more capable than any previous year with Comprehensible Input.

Something I didn't do in my previous school was a movietalk or two in conjunction with the book to teach a few additional TPR words and a silly story to offset the book.

Here's something I came up with (and am still working on).  I think this will fit in nicely with one of our final stories for the year about el chico del apartamento 512 storyline from the very talented Martina Bex.

Here's the activity.

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

TPRS year 5 - Mi mascota es _____.

Here's a video/song to get you to talk about your students' pets and also get a little brain-break and music all in one.

While it might seem silly, yes I would probably do this in a high school class because in my opinion, high school students are often nostalgic for those activities they used to do in classes as kids.


Step 1: PQA (Personalized Questions and Answers)

Depending on the level of class, here are some Spanish 1 questions I would consider asking to practice some basic structures... in upper levels, you could use more complicated language:

¿Quién tiene una mascota?
¿Cómo se llama?
¿Es pequeño/a, grande o mediano?
¿Es bonito/a o feo/a?
¿De qué color es?
¿Te gusta tu mascota?
(maybe target action word you could ask about: what does it eat? / why is it special? /etc)

TPRS year 4 - Story - la mafia de las vacas

So I have to share this, it went well with a few classes who appreciate my goofiness.  I wrote this story lastnight. Maybe I haven't slept as much this week.  I didn't realize there were meme's with the cow mafia until looking for one after the fact for this post!

(See possible pics for classes:
The Cow Mafia   &    Al Cowpone)

So I can use these pics next time!

Here's what I did in Spanish 1 this week.  I like the idea of starting out with past at the first few places and then transitioning into present in the last place.  Haven't quite gotten to it yet, but that's why my story was written that way.

TPRS year 4 - Spanish 1 simple story

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!

TPRS year 4 - song - pulgarcito

So I've been continuing doing a warm up, basic conversation, TPR and PQA for my 90 minute classes.  It's going ok.  I started trying to do brain breaks about 20 minutes into PQA and then we finish more refreshed.

I think it also reminds my students how important their attention is.

But today, for the brain break, I wanted to do something a little different.  I thought a change of pace would be to turn around to the projector (which is strangely at the back of my classroom). And then I made a very basic PowerPoint with the lyrics to the little song: "Pulgarcito".

This is a Spanish version of a song "Where is Thumbkin," which I had never heard of, but saw on an episode of Sesame Street.  In the Elmo's World section, there was a Spanish version of it called: "Pulgarcito."  It's to the tune of Frère Jacques.

Here are the lyrics I used, I changed it slightly for my students and added a gesture for, "¿Dónde estás?"

Pulgarcito  (hands behind back)
   Little thumb
¿Dónde estás? (put hand up over brow looking for someone)
   Where are you?
Aquí estoy. (bring out right hand, thumb up, moving to say "Aquí estoy")
   Here I am.
Aquí estoy. (bring out left hand, thumb up, moving to say "Aquí estoy")
   Here I am.
¿Cómo estás? (move right thumb as if talking)
   How are you?
Muy bien, gracias.  (move left thumb as if talking)
   Very well, thanks.
Ya me voy. (put right hand behind back)
   Gotta go.
Ya me voy. (put left hand behind back)
   Gotta go.

Then repeat as much as you want with students having them gesture and sing along/move their mouths so you don't know they aren't singing.

Most of my students seemed to enjoy it.  I saw them smiling.  Many of them are freshman/sophomores.  I think the simplicity of the language helped them and the fact that I explained how important music is in my classroom and how studies show how music can enhance learning a language.

Good activity!  Saving this one for later.

*revision: My mother swears she used to sing "where is thumbkin" to me when I was little (in English) but I don't have any recollection of it.

*revision #2: Some of my students will say "Ya me voy" as they leave class now in Spanish 1. 

TPRS year 4 - block schedule (revisited)

So I proposed a question, very unsure of myself before school started.  I now work in a school with a foreign language department that consists of more than one person (myself).

In addition, our classes are not 50 minutes like in my previous schools.  They are 90 minutes and meet every other day (alternating).   So I have 3 classes (& 1 prep) every day. I'm not complaining about the 1.5 hour prep everyday!  But I have 3 classes every day for 90 minutes.  Since there are other teachers in the department, I am a Spanish 1 & 2 teacher.

So I am back to report that I have been doing the following for class, which I'll do for the next few weeks.

5 minutes - warm up on board reviewing previously discussed words, sentences, etc
5-10 minutes - basic conversational skills with kids
25 minutes - TPR (Total Physical Response)
5 minutes-  TPR closed-eye quiz
20 minutes - PQA (getting to know you activity in Spanish)
2 minutes - brain break (in English is fine)
20-23 minutes - PQA (getting to know you activity)
5 minutes - PQA Yes/No quiz
0-3 minutes - extra time to pass out papers, chat with students in Spanish/English. Down time for them before next class

And it has been working pretty well.  I didn't do the brain break for the students for the first two or so days and I have found that it really did help their concentration after the 20 minute point.  I must remember it's 90% Spanish and even if they understood Spanish, they would need a brain break after 20 minutes.

My students are retaining the body part words + actions from TPR as the closed-eye quizzes would suggest.
And they are ok to change gears in the PQA conversational section where we talk about the other students. The best part is being able to incorporate words from TPR into the PQA to enrich it and get more passes of the structures in a new context.

But I'm sure they won't want to TPR for the rest of the year for 25-30 minutes each day.  It does wear you out after awhile.

How to start the year with TPRS (part 1) - TPR

I never know where to direct people when they are curious about starting using TPRS in their classroom... so here's an attempt.

First few weeks:
Many TPRS teachers would recommend that you start off the year using TPR.  If you're not familiar with TPR, it's basically getting the kids to stand up and act out what you tell them.

You choose (at the most) 9 structures each day to go over with them and repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.  I always choose 3 of the nine to teach in a cluster, then review the previous 3 as needed.  By the end of the class, I am using all 9.

There are some different techniques involved in TPR.

TPRS Year 4 - Block Scheduling...?

So I am going to be teaching at a school this year where they use block scheduling.  It alternates each day to the other set of classes.  So there are 4 classes (90 minutes) one day and the other set of 4 classes (90 minutes) the next.

I have only ever taught in my 7 years of teaching with 45-50 minute periods and I have (as you might imagine) gotten quite used to it.

What concerns me is that I will see my kids every other day and we might just have way too much time.

I'm sure there are TPRS & CI teachers out there who do this and find that 90 minutes isn't enough for them. But I would like to propose the question of those who do have this situation, what do you do for the first weeks?

I am thinking of the following in the 90 minutes for Spanish 1, with a slightly modified version for Spanish 2 (since we would have to review present tense anyway with them and the quality of input could be slightly higher based on their learning last year).

5 minutes - warm up
45-50 minutes: PQA (get to know you activity, 1-2 students per day) + short quiz over what we talked about
20-25 minutes: TPR (learning body parts; some commands; at most, 9 new words a day)
15-20 minutes: kindergarten reading / description of picture / extended PQA / basic movie-talk / kid's song

In the last section, I wasn't as sure since that's still a pretty good chunk of time.  I like the idea of more time for PQA but their attention might wane.  And TPR will get them moving for a little bit.

I would say for the first 1-2 weeks, I planned on having some basic books that I read over and over to them and told them how to play the game.  I have carpet so they could feasibly gather around me.

Of course, they might not be as comfortable with me yet to do that.

I would appreciate any thoughts or feedback as this whole block scheduling might push back our reading first semester if I can't find a way to effectively use the time for acquisition.

Does my "spanish boot camp" seem like too much?

TPRS Year 3 - Planning backwards from novels

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.

I'll let you know how it goes.