Día 110 - student participation

So I've been failing my students!  It's not like I am giving out F's.... but I am failing them because I haven't been cracking the whip on my expectations for class.  I'm too much of a push-over.

Some of the kids in youth group at church were talking about a teacher they had this year who was really strict but they didn't talk about her in a negative light.  They said, "She's strict, but we learn a lot in there."  It seems as though there is a positive association in their minds when the teacher is strict but actually can teach them as opposed to a really strict teacher who just sits there and lectures them about non-class material (like a former teacher a this school).  Oops!

I've always been laid back as a teacher for the most part but as I've been told by parents of children, the best thing is consistency.  When parents raise children, they must be consistent in their rules.  I realize that students don't always have the easiest time in life.  I try to be firm but kind.  But I still have students who find it appropriate to put their heads down on their desks in my class.  Then of course, they're going to fall asleep.  I mean, the posture can't be doing much for the brain.

It probably helps that I've been reading through Ben Slavic's TPRS in a Year this weekend in an attempt to get out of this funk I've been finding myself in as a TPRS teacher.  I find that students don't seem to be interested in the stories like they used to be.

The problem is most likely a result of many factors.  But one of those factors is that students most likely don't feel like they have to pay attention.  If they aren't paying attention from the beginning of class and I don't say anything, they think they'll get away with it.  I usually encourage students to sit up straight, but there are days where I don't say anything and I just let them get away with it without talking to them.

So today in one of my classes I had students who weren't giving me eye contact and they weren't trying from their posture.  I stopped and explained that they needed to sit up straight and give me their eyes.  They resisted and groaned and I waited patiently with a smile.  Once I had it, I continued.  During the class it happened again . I apologized and said, "I realize I have been failing you this year by not making sure you are sitting up straight and paying attention.  I will continue teaching when I have you sitting up straight and your eyes on me."   Once I had it, I continued.  It took a little bit out of the class' story today but it will only make things easier in the long run.  I only wish I would have started the year with being better about this. 

Día 106 - patience

Ok.  So I have a class that LOVES to use as much English as possible.  I think I've created a bit of a monster because they tend to blurt things out in English and I've honored it by going with it.

My thoughts have been, I can help them translate a phrase.  But I can more than ever see the two words rule of Ben Slavic as being important.  So much time can be wasted in English.  I would rather them just use as little English as possible so we can practice the structures in Spanish.

Yesterday I kind of failed (thus the name of the previous entry) and I actually stopped class a little early by stating... "Guys, there's a little too much English today and I'm just going to end class early because I'm frustrated with it and I don't want to yell."

I know it wasn't the best course of action.  If there were a kid who wanted to end class early, he would just speak in English way too much from now on to frazzle me.  Sure... it's possible.  But I am not saying I will let it happen anymore.  It was a wake up call for me to be more pro-active about production.  I am not referring to making students repeat what I say.  I want them to TRY in the target language.  In TPRS, they do learn how to speak in the language, but laziness compels us all to take the easy road sometimes.

So today when some students spoke in English during the story, I paused.  I looked into the class with a blank look.  The question was that a girl wants to buy a big wig in a store.  The wig costs the other hand of a student.  (In a previous story, something else cost him his first hand).  I staired blankly when a girl suggested that it cost "His other hand".  Eventually some students tried to explain in Spanish what the student wanted to say.  I wasn't sure if they remembered, but a students said "Otra mano" (other hand... WITH feminine agreement! WOW).  This happened at a few times in the class and it seemed to work well.  At the end of class, I explained that I hope no one feels bad.  If I think they can try to say something in Spanish, I will patiently wait for them to from now on.

We'll see how it goes.

Posted by el Señor Jordan at 12:18 PM

Día 109 - going slowly

Yesterday I was teaching my 8th grade Spanish class.  The kids just started during this semester.  They're kind of my experimental group where I try out things because in the long run, all I do for them is only going to further establish a base for next year when they enter Spanish 1.


So the first two weeks or so, we talked about them and learned some different verbs and I practiced some of the interrogative words in Spanish with them (who, what, where, why) as well as important prepositions (with, of, from, in, on) that will be useful for telling stories.

Then for a few weeks I thought it would be fun to try a little TPR with them to work with classroom objects, review some of the verbs we learned in command form and also add some body parts.  The whole point is to build them up a little with some different activities before storytelling.

I'm not opposed to starting storytelling from the very beginning, but I just thought they might like something a little different after I go to know them.  I know the 7th graders that I had before Christmas loved TPR.

So we started storytelling from Ana Bachman Catania's Cuentitos Fantásticos.  The first day, the structures to practice were:
hay - there is, there are
brinca - he/she jumps
entra a - he/she enters
corre - he/she runs

The basic script was that a student runs and jumps on the bus.  He runs and jumps in the class. Finally the principal enters the class and takes the student to the office where the principal jumps on the student.  Then the principal is happy.  I stayed pretty close to it because I was modeling the storytelling to them and they were hanging on.  There was a moment of confusion or two, but I went back and we got through it.  I did change the verbs to the past tense though while telling it out loud

The second day, I decided to do another verbal story.  I added 'levanta' as a target structure (he/she lifts). and just and instead of following the script about a bad student, we could have a little more fun.  So I asked at the beginning if there was a student. One of the students remembered how to say "deer" in Spanish.  The class went with it.  So we ended up with a deer in Cabela's.  He ran and jumped in Cabela's.  Then it turned out he lifted the teacher.  Taylor Lautner walked in and the deer lifted him too!  Taylor Lautner wasn't happy so he lifted the deer and went home with the deer.  At home they watched tv.

It was silly, but I made sure to go slow and circle as much as possible while going slowly and pointing.  The students did a wonderful job.  They all did well on the quiz at the end.

But I realized that it was because I had to go slowly and point.  Sure some girls got a little chatty during class and I had to give them a patient but stern look.  They stopped and we continued.  The class did a wonderful job and it was their story.

So today we'll do a reading in the present tense and we'll see how they do with the same structures but now in the present.