Last semester at Palmer I taught essentially the same curriculum as I did at Pikes Peak Community College, so I did not blog about it.  I taught Las aventuras de Isabela, maps, a unit on La Llorona and a song by Pablo Alboran.  I started with the backward plan from Isabela that we use for Fluency Fast.

In the first week of the second semester I taught Chapter 1 of Cuentame, by Carol Gaab to catch up with the rest of the department.  Most of the vocabulary had already been taught.  There were 11 new words.

In the second week of the semester I started Isabela captura un congo using the reader and the Teacher's Guide as resources.

Day 1:  Using the slide show and videos from the Teacher's Guide, I taught (in English) about Costa Rica, the core problems of howler monkeys being electrocuted on electrical wires in Costa Rica and the solutions to this environmental problem.  I discussed wildlife, flora and fauna in Costa Rica and the country's focus on sustainability and protection of the environment and it's designation as "The Happiest Place on Earth."  Much of this cultural information is on the Teacher's Guide, also in English.  The videos are of howler monkeys and each is 30 seconds to 1 minute long.

I introduced the vocabulary in Chapter 1 that had not been previously taught in Isabela (there is a vocab list on the Teacher's Manual of words not taught in Isabela) through TPR.  I also reviewed body parts a little, as they come up in Congo.

Day 2:  (block day... double long period)

We made a checklist of how each person individually reads best.  First, we listened to the first half of the audio recording of Chapter 1.  Students did not have the books.  They wrote down how much they understood.

Then we read together the first paragraph and I asked questions and translated any words anyone didn't know.  They wrote down how much they understood of the first paragraph.  This continued as they evaluated translating sentence by sentence, reading independently, translating with a partner, asking and answering questions about the content, acting out portions with actors in front of the room and in small groups, etc.  At the end they all had a list they could refer to later of what worked best for them.  

We read and discussed Chapter 1, paying attention to things like, why the mom is still 29 years old even though Isabela aged and what possible careers the mom might have that could take her all over the world travelling.

Day 3:  Introduced vocabulary for Chapter 2, introduced new body part vocabulary through TPR.   Co-created a TPRS story using the vocabulary.  Read Chapter 2 using a variety of reading strategies.

Day 4:  Introduced the vocabulary for Chapter 3, but did not read Chapter 3.  Asked for 2 volunteers to act out a vocabulary word like charades while students guessed the word.  In order to make sure that each student participated, we used popsicle sticks to call on students.  (This is output, so  we spent very little time on it, but it was fun and fast and different.)  Played a quick game of Buzz at the end of the period as a Friday game.  (Wrote the numbers 1-30 on the board --written, not numbers.)  I have not really taught numbers well so far.  Buzz is a very short game --- high stress.... high attention.... high focus by all students... students who don't know the number can read them off the board, so everyone can play.  Multiples of 3 and any number with a 3 in it are replaced by the word "Buzz".  Every mess up makes the game re-start at One.)

We are now ready to start Chapter 3.

2. Reading Chapter 9 in groups

3. Reader's Theater -- Chapter 10

4. Character's worksheet from Teacher's Manual

5. Beginning the numbers game

6. Homework - where do you want to travel?  What's on your bucket list?  Choose a place, bring in a picture, tell us where it is and how to get there.

1. The students came in having studied for the "map test."  I have found their strengths!  They are enthusiastic memorizers.  I clarified that my intention was that they study it... and that then I would teach it.  We will talk geography and capitals and where we want to go this week.  I wrote the words norte, sur, oeste and este on the board and explained the "bucket list" homework.

2.  Students read Chapter 9 -- I wrote words they didn't know on the board so I know what to continue recycling in the next few weeks.

puente - bridge

veo - I see

cuerda - rope

quinto - 5th

heridas - wounds

se muere - dies

se murió - died

muerto - muerto

han muerto - has died

semana - week

puede - can

trae - brings

a veces - sometimes

enseña - teaches

ayuda - helps

también - also

cosa - thing

voz - voice

meses - months

escucha - listens

me duele - hurts

enojado - angry

Body parts we aren't sure we know yet (Chapter 10)

estómago, espalda, mejilla, nariz, cara, boca, 

3. Chapter 10 - 

Two actors played the parts of Daniel and Isabela.  I read as they acted out the surfing scene using a prop for the surfboard made out of the back of a butcher paper pad.  Students in the class said, "sigue" or "atrás" and "rápido" or "despacio" to make the actors and me go forward or rewind.  The more we did it the more the directions changed.  A couple of the students started adding "romanticamente" and "como Arnold Schwarzenneger" and "como un elefante" which made it hilarious.  After going forward and backward many times I asked the class if they wanted to do it again with different actors.  The current actors thought that was a great idea, but since it was one student who had come up with all of the great ideas... romanticamente... como un elefante... they made him play BOTH roles.  It was hilarious.

Afterward they helped me re-tell what had happened in the story without using their books.

We read the rest of the chapter together, which finished the book.  There is a cute dialogue scene with Daniel and Isabela that contains a joke.

4.  We did one of the worksheets from the Teacher's Manual with sentences about things that happened in the book.  They had to identify what character it described.  We will go over the answers on Wednesday.

5.  I intended to use the last 5 minutes of class to teach "Buzz" but instead we counted off and when someone messed up, we started over.  It was not terribly successful, so they are all studying numbers 1-30 again so that we can play "Buzz" on Wednesday.

6. Homework - where do you want to travel?  What's on your bucket list?  Choose a place, bring in a picture, tell us where it is and how to get there.

When you come in.... look over the Reina story and write down any words you still don't feel like you know and need more time with.  They wrote words on the board and then broke into groups.  I passed out butcher paper and markers.  Their assignment was to create a 6-frame, illustrated story on the butcher paper that they had created together and used as many of the words on the board as possible (no requirement for a certain number, though.)  They had to use those words often in their stories in order to teach them.  Then they had to act out their story for the rest of the class without reading.

They prepared and presented their stories and then I gave a 10 question quiz over 10 words. Some were words we had just done in the stories and some were high frequency words from the story that we hadn't even mentioned.  By NOT choosing those words to write on the board, they had indicated that those other words were already "sticky."

On the back side of the quiz they wrote a freewrite and wrote the story they had just performed and created.

Homework for Wednesday:  Read through Chapter 7.

Homework for Monday:  Study map.  Study numbers 1-30.

Wednesday: 

PQA:  Lengthy discussion... que te gusta hacer?... y que no te gusta hacer?... using the vocabulary list from the end of chapter 5.  It is all words we have already done with the exception of a couple of new words which we added as people said they like to do them.    Vocab we ended up using:  descansar, hacer ejercicio, bailar, trabajar, leer, mañana, tarde, noche, concierto, galería, confianza, antes, tocar la guitarra, pagar las cuentas, subir montañas, salen, llegan, fines de semana, sábado, domingo, los lunes, causo estrés.

We listened to Chapter 8 -- the audio book for Congo -- together, stopping frequently to be sure they understood the words.  I showed pictures from the Teacher's Guide for Isabela captura un congo and talked about the electrocuted monkeys.  

Homework:  Now that you know the geography of Latin America, where do you want to go?  What's on your bucket list.  For example... do you want to see Machu Picchu?  Do you know what country that is in? =)  Bring in a picture of somewhere you want to go and tell everyone where it is and why you want to go there.

This coming week:  

Watch Isabela's video book from Congo Teacher's Manual.  
How knowing the geography of Latin America can make you not sound stupid in conversations.  
Finish Congo.  
Take 10 question character quiz from Congo Teacher's Manual.  
Focus on va a and present progressive structures.  
Focus more on basic conversational abilities.
map quiz

¿Por qué debo estudiar español?

El cuento de T.J., el hijo de Reina

Por Karen Rowan y la clase de español

Reina es muy bonita y muy inteligente.  Es especial. Reina tiene un problema. Su hijo no le ayuda en la casa. Duerme todo el día. No limpia la casa. No lava la ropa. La pobre mama limpia toda la casa. Reina lava toda la ropa. Reina limpia afuera de la casa. Recoge (picks up) toda la caca de perro. La pobre mamá está triste. Trabaja y trabaja y trabaja. Nunca duerme. También, el hijo fuma en la casa. El hijo abre la ventana y fuma en la casa. ¡Qué asco!

Un día Hoyal (skateboarding company that sponsors skateboarders, which is what the son does) quiere hablar con el hijo, T.J. Pero Hoyal tiene un problema. Hoyal no habla ingles. T.J. no habla español. Pero, Reina está en la clase de español. Ella puede hablar español y puede hablar inglés. Hoyal habla con Reina.

Le dice: 
-T.J. tiene que practicar mucho.

La mamá mira al hijo y le dice EN INGLÉS: 
- En la opinión de Hoyal, tú tienes que limpiar toda la casa.

T.J. le dice (en inglés): 
-¿Por qué?

La mamá mira a Hoyal y le pregunta: 
-¿Qué más?

T.J. piensa que la mamá le dice ¿por qué?, pero le dice ¿qué más? Hoyal le dice: 
-También tenemos que tomar fotos de T.J.

La mamá mira a T.J. y le dice: 
-¡Tienes que limpiar la casa porque Hoyal quiere tomar fotos EN la casa!

A T.J. le gusta fotos. Quiere ser famoso. Quiere estar en MTVs The Crib. Hoyal le dice: 

-Y también tiene que llevar (wear) la ropa de Hoyal.

La mamá le dice: 

-Y también tienes que lavar (wash) toda la ropa de todas las personas en la casa. Es importante que el representante de Hoyal es muy, muy responsable.

Hoyal le dice: 

-Y finalmente, no puede hacer drogas. 

La mamá sabe que T.J. no hace drogas, pero no le gusta que fuma en la casa. 

 La mamá le dice: 
-También no puedes fumar. Y tienes que recoger (pick up) la caca del perro de afuera (outsider) de la casa. 

T.J. mira a Hoyal y le dice: 
-Okay.

Le dice “okay” porque no habla español. T.J. tiene miedo. Tiene miedo porque no quiere trabajar. No quiere trabajar en Wal-Mart con “R”.  No quiere ver a los “People de Wal-Mart.”  No quiere trabajar en 7-11. Quiere montar a monopatín. Quiere jugar. Quiere dormir. No quiere trabajar. Inmediatamente, T.J. limpia la casa. Limpia toda la casa. Tambíen lava toda la ropa. No le gusta lavar la ropa, pero lava toda la ropa de todas las personas en la familia. También recoge la caca del perro de afuera de la casa. No tiene tiempo para dormir todo el día. No tiene tiempo para fumar. ¡T.J. casi se muere! Limpia y limpia y limpia y casi se muere. Casi se muere porque no puede fumar. Casi se muere porque no puede fumar. Está triste porque no le gusta trabajar, pero limpia y limpia y limpia porque no quiere trabajar en Denny’s.

Reina se sienta y mira la televisión y come palomitas (popcorn) y chocolate. Reina no está triste. Ella está contenta. Está contenta porque no tiene que limpiar la casa. No tiene que lavar la ropa. T.J. limpia la casa y Reina no le ayuda. No le ayuda porque quiere dormir en el sofá y mirar la televisión. T.J. limpia la casa y pasa la aspiradora (passes the aspirator….vacuums).

La mamá le dice: 
-Muévete. No puedo ver la televisión.

Reina toma siestas y mira la televisión y toma cerveza en el sofá. Reina piensa que es la culpa de T.J. Es la culpa de T.J. Es la culpa de T.J. que tiene que limpiar toda la casa y lavar toda la ropa. No es la culpa de Reina. Es la culpa de T.J. porque T.J. no habla español.

(My sub was the Spanish-speaking department chair.  She's competent and smart and can pretty much do anything.  She does not do TPRS, but she's great at PQA and conversation and personalization, so covering for a class is natural for her.  Thus -- the sub plans are not for a non-Spanish speaker.)

This is WILDLY over-planned.   You can start at the beginning or you can pick and choose what you feel like doing and let me know what you didn’t do.  If you would rather do the personalized story (at the end) instead of the book chapters, or if you’d like to have them read on their own, I taught them how to read in groups and they do it well.  So… up to you.  Pick and choose what looks the most fun.  If you decide to bring props to act out chapter 6, all you need is a towel.

If anything is hard to understand in my plans, feel free to skip it and have me do it Wednesday.

Homework over break:

10. Homework.

Over Spring Break read through Chapter 7. Read a little bit each day. Create a playlist on Pandora of Spanish music (Celia Cruz, Juanes, Maná and Enrique Iglesias make a good play list) and watch one hour of televisión in Spanish. A movie in Spanish with subtitles or Plaza Sésamo. I will also send a couple of things by email.

1. CHECK HOMEWORK

Check to see who did homework.  Probably easiest to have everyone write down what they did over the break to stay in Spanish.   This will double as attendance. No idea if they will have done it or not.  They should have read through chapter 7.  I intended to take questions, talk about what happened in the chapters and read some of it together, depending on how much they had all actually read.

2. DISCUSS SPRING BREAK

You can start with a general what did you do over break question.  (Remind them to have their question words out in front of them.)

3. INTRODUCE NEW WORDS

New words: tiene miedo

Camión

Habla primero y piensa después

Culpa (culpability… culprit)

And just for fun…. Tira las llaves al inodoro….. (I couldn’t remember how to say “flush” when Antonio dropped his keys in the toilet)

4. DISCUSS

Discussion possibilities:

¿De qué tienes miedo?

¿Quién habla primero y piensa después?  ¿Quién piensa primero y habla después?  ¿Con quién hablas primero y piensas después?  ¿En cuáles situaciones?

5. READ CHAPTERS 6 and 7 (I’m assuming that they have at least finished Chapter 5 – that’s where the monkey touches the electrical wire while trying to reach the banana that Isabela and Daniel left out and falls out of the tree.  If not, they need to read it first.  You can let them read in groups at their tables.  They do this very quickly.   You might start by asking them what happened in Chapter 5.)

Chapter 6 is set up to act out.  You read, they act. 

Parts: 

1. the Daddy monkey on the ground who waves his arms and jumps up and down and throws papayas

2. Bridget, the lion and tiger vet from Canada.

3. Isabela’s mom. 

4. Daniel.

5. The baby monkey with a towel over it’s head

6. Daniel’s dad, who grabs the baby monkey, throws a towel over it’s head and runs to the truck with it.

When there is dialogue, let them read it, but I usually say it again after so it’s pronounced well if it wasn’t the first time.  Everyone in the class is okay to read dialogue now.

If you read Chapter 7, you can just assign parts and read it – lots of dialogue… have the students read.  You can ask questions.  The crux of the chapter is that in Chapter 5, while alone, Isabela tells herself that it’s all her fault.  Chapter 6,  Isabela speaks first and thinks later… and blames Daniel for what happened to the monkey.  In Chapter 7 she accepts responsibility.

6. PERSONALIZED READING  / HOMEWORK– pass out the Reina story.  They should read for Wednesday.  If they did NOT do the homework over break (music and TV), tell them I won’t know until I get back on Wednesday, so they have two more days to get it done.)

The Reina story is the one we told in class the Wednesday before break. 

NEXT BLOG ENTRY... THE REINA STORY

This message is for Karen Rowan. Karen, I have recently been reading your blog and my only regret is that I didn't start sooner! I taught high school Spanish for a few years and used TPRS. That was three years ago. Now I am teaching adults through a continuing ed (read: non-credit-just-because-they-want-to-learn) program. These students are unlike my high schoolers in two major ways: age/experience and desire to learn. I only see them once a week for 2 hours and the class is only 12 sessions. There is a book that has been used with this class and because I hadn't taught for this program before, I didn't change the book even though I had no intention of using it. Since I'd never taught this type of student before I didn't want to commit to the curriculum I'd used for high school (a combination of TPRS products) because I had a feeling some of the stories might be too silly for them. Therefore, I've been structuring my lessons/stories around core phrases/high frequency words. My question is how much time do you have with your students each session and each week? You definitely have more class sessions than I do, but I don't know how long your sessions are. Sometimes, I wish I saw them twice a week for an hour each so I could do more stories. They are pretty stretched after just one story, so I usually use the rest of the time for PQA, some conversational practice, reading, and questions they might have about anything. hey get stalled a lot on grammar questions because of previous classes they've had and because of their age (they want to make the connections to English grammar all the time). I am half way done with this class but anticipate teaching Span 1 again in the fall and would like to align my pace a little more closely with yours and see how that works for this class. Thank you very much for all your thorough posts and lesson plans!  Vanessa McGuire

This is my feel-good email of the week!  Thank you!

CLASS SESSIONS

My classes are 1 hour and 15 minutes per session, twice a week, so about the same amount of contact time (and don't subtract anything for getting starting etc. etc.... I don't lose any minutes).  

MATERIALS

Re: materials... I am using the vocabulary from the Isabela books because I already aligned it with the 100-200 highest frequency words in Spanish.  The stories are about the students in the class -- personalized.  I don't have any kind of pre-written stories.  We're just making stuff up based on what happens in class and how people answer questions.   So... it might BE silly... but it's not elephant-talking-to-a-cat funny... it's dropped-my-car-keys-in-the-toilet funny.

THEY GET PRETTY STRETCHED AFTER ONE STORY... ARE YOU READING, TOO?

They get pretty stretched after one story.... so are you doing reading of readers, too?  And are you telling stories about them?  And are they physically involved in the storytelling so they aren't sitting there the whole time?  Those are three ways I keep them from getting too stretched.

SOME IDEAS:

Stop... take a 30 second break... walk ten large paces and then find a partner.... tell him / her what you think should happen next in the story?

If you think that character X should kiss character Y stand up and jump.  If you think she should hit character Y, stomp your feet.

Finish a story and then have them break into groups of 3.  person 1 is character X, person 2 is character Y and the third person is all of the props.  Tell the story again as they act it out.

Grammar questions should be coming up in context and be answered in less than 5 seconds.  If the explanations go longer than that, refer to the explanation you gave them of why their brains are trying to turn this into an intellectual exercise and store information in short term memory.  

Have them draw the story with their non-dominant hand to switch their brains back to acquisition from learning.

I'm SO happy this is helpful to you!  Thank you for the questions!!!

1. So… I had a dream.
2. Brainstorming a story
3. But first we also did...
4. Personalized information from previous classes
5. Target vocabulary (meaning what I meant to teach today):
6. Words that were added to target vocab during the story:
7. Words that ended up on the board as structural elements of the story as we went:
8. Here’s how the story turned out. (Lots of dialogue in the story -- trying to build towards output and things that people want to say.)
9. Re-tell
10. Homework.

1. So… I had a dream.

Bear with me now…. So I’m in a large auditorium with a large audience. I’m in the audience and a comedianne is up on stage pulling people up from the audience and making them part of her act for a minute or so. She pulls me up and says something about needing someone to translate something into Spanish for her. She wants to translate something like “hatchet”. I hijack her joke and teach her “lava los platos” which, in the context of the story is going to end up making someone wash the dishes for me instead of whatever she wanted them to do. So I wake up thinking… I need to remember that. That would make a good story. But once I woke up… no matter how much I rubics cubed this plotline, I couldn’t make it be like I dreamed it. Like “Spanish for your Nanny” where the teacher teaches all of the rich, obnoxious women alternate things to say to their nannies. So… I went into class and told them the dream and we spent a great deal of time brainstorming the story together. (I explained the dream in English, but we came up with ideas for how to make it into a story in Spanish.)

2. Brainstorming a story

While we were brainstorming the story, I wrote the vocabulary on the board for Chapter 5 of Isabela captura un congo. The idea for the story came entirely from the class from this brainstorming session and bears some similarity to the concept in my dream. I think they developed it even better. It’s more of an episode of I Love Lucy now.

3. But first we also did...

(This is after asking them what happened in Chapter 4, as that was the homework for today. And also after razzing Antonio for missing class on Monday. Turns out he dropped his car keys down the toilet and flushed them… which would have made it into the story had I been able to remember the word for flush. We also had a lengthy discussion about problems that find us, rather than problems we create. I drew a descriptive photo on the board explaining that my toilet is constantly running and does not have a llave, so can’t shut it off. My utility bill is up $40 a month, but the plumber costs $84.00 just to come look at it. Problemas me encuentran.)

4. Personalized information from previous classes

Okay.. so back to the dream story. Background. We already know that Reina (woman in class) has a teenage / adult son who doesn’t help around the house and has a contract with a skateboarding company. Son sleeps a lot, doesn’t pay rent and Reina does his laundry and cleans the house.

5. Target vocabulary (meaning what I meant to teach today):

Se muere (recycled – we’ve used casi se muere before in Isabela) / está muerto – is dead - new (mort...mortician)

Tiene miedo – has fear

Está triste – is sad (recycled)

Culpa – fault (mea culpa, culpability, culprit -- root word connections)

Piensa - thinks

6. Words that were added to target vocab during the story:

Ayuda – helps

Tiene que – has to (recycled)

7. Words that ended up on the board as structural elements of the story as we went:

Tal vez – maybe
Tiene que practicar – has to practice
No puede hacer drogas – can’t do 
Tiene que tomar fotos – has to take pictures
Tiene que tomar agua – has to drink water
No puede fumar – can’t smoke
Tú tienes que limpiar toda la casa – you have to clean the whole house
Tú tienes que lavar toda la ropa de todas las personas en la casa – you have to wash everyone’s clothes
Tú tienes que recoger (pick up) la caca de perro (de afuera de la casa) – you have to clean up the dog poop

8. Here’s how the story turned out. (Lots of dialogue in the story -- trying to build towards output and things that people want to say.)

Reina tiene un problema. Su hija no ayuda en la casa. Duerme todo el día. No limpia la casa. No lava la ropa. La pobre mama limpia toda la casa. Reina lava toda la ropa. Reina limpia afuera de la casa. Recoge (picks up) toda la caca de perro. La pobre mamá está triste. Trabaja y trabaja y trabaja. Nunca duerme. También, el hijo fuma en la casa. El hijo abre la ventana y fuma en la casa. ¡Qué asco!

Un día Hoyal (skateboarding company that sponsors skateboarders, which is what the son does) quiere hablar con el hijo, T.J. Pero Hoyal tiene un problema. Hoyal no habla ingles. T.J. no habla español. Pero, Reina está en la clase de español. Ella puede hablar español y puede hablar inglés. Hoyal habla con Reina.

Le dice:
-T.J. tiene que practicar mucho.

La mamá mira al hijo y le dice EN INGLÉS:
- En la opinión de Hoyal, tú tienes que limpiar toda la casa.

T.J. le dice (en inglés): 
-¿Por qué?

La mamá mira a Hoyal y le pregunta:
-¿Qué más?

T.J. piensa que la mamá le dice ¿por qué?, pero le dice ¿qué más? Hoyal le dice:
-También tenemos que tomar fotos de T.J.

La mamá mira a T.J. y le dice:
-¡Tienes que limpiar la casa porque Hoyal quiere tomar fotos EN la casa!

A T.J. le gusta fotos. Quiere ser famoso. Quiere estar en MTVs The Crib. Hoyal le dice: 

-Y también tiene que llevar (wear) la ropa de Hoyal.

La mamá le dice: 

-Y también tienes que lavar (wash) toda la ropa de todas las personas en la casa. Es importante que el representate de Hoyal es muy, muy responsable.

Hoyal le dice: 

-Y finalmente, no puede hacer drogas. 

La mamá sabe que T.J. no hace drogas, pero no le gusta que fuma en la casa. 

 La mamá le dice: 
-También no puedes fumar. Y tienes que recoger (pick up) la caca del perro de afuera (outsider) de la casa. 

T.J. mira a Hoyal y le dice: 
-Okay.

Le dice “okay” porque no habla español. T.J. tiene miedo. Tiene miedo porque no quiere trabajar. No quiere trabajar en Wal-Mart. No quiere trabajar en 7-11. Quiere montar a monopatín. Quiere jugar. Quiere dormir. No quiere trabajar. Inmediatamente, T.J. limpia la casa. Limpia toda la casa. Tambíen lava toda la ropa. No le gusta lavar la ropa, pero lava toda la ropa de todas las personas en la familia. También recoge la caca del perro de afuera de la casa. No tiene tiempo para dormir todo el día. No tiene tiempo para fumar. ¡T.J. casi se muere! Limpia y limpia y limpia y casi se muere. Casi se muere porque no puede fumar. Casi se muere porque no puede fumar. Está triste porque no le gusta trabajar, pero limpia y limpia y limpia porque no quiere trabajar en Denny’s.

Reina se sienta y mira la televisión y come palomitas (popcorn) y chocolate. Reina no está triste. Ella está contenta. Está contenta porque no tiene que limpiar la casa. No tiene que lavar la ropa. T.J. limpia la casa y Reina no le ayuda. No le ayuda porque quiere dormir en el sofá y mirar la televisión. T.J. limpia la casa y pasa la aspiradora (passes the aspirator….vaccuums).

La mamá le dice:
-Muévete. No puedo ver la televisión.

Reina toma siestas y mira la televisión y toma cerveza en el sofá. Reina piensa que es la culpa de T.J. Es la culpa de T.J. Es la culpa de T.J. que tiene que limpiar toda la casa y lavar toda la ropa. No es la culpa de Reina. Es la culpa de T.J. porque T.J. no habla español.

9. Re-tell

We re-told the story once together as a class and then in groups they re-told the story – about 5 minutes for re-tell.

10. Homework.

Over Spring Break read through Chapter 7. Read a little bit each day. Create a playlist on Pandora of Spanish music (Celia Cruz, Juanes, Maná and Enrique Iglesias make a good play list) and watch one hour of televisión in Spanish. A movie in Spanish with subtitles or Plaza Sésamo. I will also send a couple of things by email.

Monday, March 12, 2012

1.     Discussion – what did you do this weekend?

¿Qué hiciste?

Yo trabajé                        I worked                                    trabajo

Yo limpié                        I cleaned                                    limpio

Yo fui                                    I went                                                voy

Yo tomé                        I drank                                    tomo

Yo bailé                        I danced                                    bailo

Yo no pagué                          I did not pay                                    no pago

Yo mire                        I looked / watched (a movie)            miro           

Yo vi                                    I saw                                                veo

I explained what I had done over the weekend and each student contributed what they had done.  We spent some time talking about one student who cleaned her house and joked that her 18 year-old son should be doing the cleaning instead.  This evolved into a longer conversation about what it is he is doing instead of cleaning the house.

Some pop-up grammar about the difference between preterite and present (I am not teaching preterite -- but we need it to talk about what 

2.  We went over the textbook chapter by chapter.  At this point in the semester, about half way through, and about 17 hours of contact time in, we have covered significantly more than what is required in the class, but not in order.  Students are familiar with vocabulary in each chapter through chapters 9 out of 10.  Chapter 5, for example, contained a great deal of vocabulary we had already done.   Students will scan the book this week to get a feel for what we already know… what’s in the glossary… what other reference resources are in the book.  They are required to “study” only the map of Latin America.

2.     We went back to the story from Wednesday about the people of Wal-Mart.

I wrote this on the board:

  ….not all at the same time.  I added questions to re-build the story and they answered them.   I also asked “what else don’t we know?” and they suggested new  questions.

 We also added some cognate adjectives to the ¿Cómo es? list and learned that her husband is very romantic and sentimental.

activo, ambicioso, arrogante, atractivo, competente, creativo, discreto, estudioso, excelente, extrovertido, flexible, generoso

honesto, idealista, increíble. interesante, maduro, materialista, nervioso, optimista, paciente / impaciente, pesimista, reservado

responsable, irresponsable, romántico, sentimental, serio, sociable, terrible. tímido, tranquilo

¿Cómo es L?  The class described L under ¿Cómo es?

These were their contributions to the first question.  It went like this:

¿Cómo es L?  ¿de qué color es su pelo? ¿De qué color son sus ojos?  Students answered… one asked, ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?  ¿Cuántos años tienes? ¿Qué le gusta?  A ella le gusta zapatos.  Es adicta a zapatos.    Most answers were provided by her.  Other students provided much information. 

As we added details we reminded ourselves of the story and the details of the story.  Homework:  write the story in no more than 5 minutes.  Due Monday. 

This was non-stop English-free comprehensible input.  I asked questions and they added details from Monday’s story. 

In the story as it was told in class last Monday, Franco’s wife comes into Wal-Mart wearing a SuperMan shirt and Superman cape (es normal en Wal-Mart) and sees L taking pictures of her husband.   Franco is now posing as though he’s a super model while also practicing yoga and eating a Big Mac.   L is singing to him…. She is singing…. She is singing… what is she singing to him?

They break into spontaneous song… not kidding…. We change and correct their verbs a bit and what comes out is

Eres guapo, eres muy, muy guapo.  Tienes ojos…. Cafés, y pelo castaño….  (If this doesn’t make sense go to www.SenorWooly.com and watch the Soy Guapo music video.)

 Franco gives his wife a big plastic diamond ring that he bought her at Wal-Mart.  She looks menacingly at L… who was just singing to and taking pictures of her husband and she says….

“¿Quiere Usted un bolsa?”

I would write the story…. But since it’s their homework… and they read this blog….

I’ll start Congo on Wednesday and  possibly write the story later this week.  

Monday, March 5

1. We listed to the audio of Chapter 10 of Isabela.

2. Slide show of pictures from Guanajuato (what will later make up parts of the Teacher’s Manual for Isabela).  Asked students to say things about the drawings and pictures based on what they had read.

3.  Words on board today

compra

trabaja

caja (cashier station)

un año

se ríen

invierno

verano

pijamas

4.  What we learned.  L (not her real name) works at Wal-mart.  She has two daughters.  Her husband of 2 months has 4 children. Together they have 6.  The big wedding is still coming up.  She works 9 hours per day, but only 36 hours per week.  We discussed the People of Wal-Mart, unsuspecting, poorly dressed shoppers who have their pictures taken in Wal-Marts and find them posted on a website.  We learned that many students go to Wal-Mart in their pajamas, including Franco, who  once went in to grab a bottle of water on his way to a fishing trip.  He was not wearing a shirt or shoes. 

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

(This class was heavy on props... my secret?  November 1st at the Halloween Store when everything is half price.  I also occasionally find things throughout the year by just keeping my eye out.  For example, an X-large size Superman T-shirt I bought for $3.00.  All clothing should be super-sized because it's going over other clothes.)

1.     Students who had finished Isabela got stickers based on the best quote of a few days ago. 

“We finished a whole book!  (big smile)  I used to teach Kindergarten.  I feel like I need…. a sticker.”

Generally, I do not reward reading.  (Alfie Kohn, Punished by Rewards), but I bought kitten and puppy stickers which allowed me to give out stickers while giving lots of comprehensible input (that was why I didn’t select the smiley face or star stickers.  Kittens and puppies were more appropriate to what I had been teaching.)  I passed them out asking students if they wanted kitten or puppy stickers, which one and where they wanted them… on their hands, heads or in their book.

2.     I passed out index cards and asked students to answer this question:

If you were trapped in an elevator for 25 hours with any celebrity, who would you choose?  Don’t like that question?  You’re on a deserted island with no immediate needs – plenty of water, etc. – and you are stranded for 24 hours before being rescued with any celebrity.  Who is it?  (I asked in English… it took about 30 seconds.)

Each one wrote down their favorite celebrity and then passed in the cards.  (I will use the rest of the cards in later stories.  This ENTIRE story was in Spanish, but I have summarized in English in places for teachers who don't teach Spanish. )

)

I started the story….

Un día…. L está trabajando…

¿Dónde está trabajando?

¿En cuál Walmart?  ¿En Missouri?  (Student says Hawaii).  No, no está trabajando en Wal-Mart en Hawaii.  ¿Dónde trabaja?  ¿Está trabajando en el Wal-Mart en la calle 8?  (Student says on Powers.)  Sí, L trabaja en el Wal-Mart en Powers.

¿Qué hace L?  ¿Por cuántas horas trabaja? ¿Qué quiere comprar L en Wal-Mart?  ¿Quiere comprar zapatos?  (Students say no… Los zapatos son feos.) 

Un día… ¿quién entra en Wal-Mart? )I pick up a card and select one student’s answer… Natalie Portman. 

I grabbed props and dressed her up like a Person of Wal-Mart.  By asking questions we established that she had come to buy new shoes (not used shoes).  She took them to L, the cashier who did NOT say, “¿Por qué quieres comprar zapatos feos de Wal-Mart?” and instead said, “¿Quiere Usted una bolsa?”

However, L secretly takes pictures of Natalie Portman and posts them on People of Wal-Mart.  (Saca fotos en secreto.)

I continued to ask questions about the next person who walked into Wal-Mart – I picked up another card --- Lady Gaga –  I handed a boa to the student who had written Lady Gaga on the card.   Lady Gaga wants to buy…. Meat… clothes made of meat, it turns out.

L secretly takes pictures of Lady Gaga and posts them on People of Wal-Mart.com

When she checks out L does not say, “¡¡¡¿¿¿¿You’re buying meat clothes????!!!!”  She says, “¿Quiere Usted…. 5 bolsas?”

(L… who actually works at Wal-Mart, had asked how to say things like, would you like a bag?)

The last People of Wal-Mart customer is, of course, Franco, who arrives without a shirt or shoes.  I posted a picture on the board of Antonio Banderas shirtless and said it was Franco.  Franco dressed in the muscles.

L loses all professionalism.  Franco is there to buy a Big Mac from the McDonald’s inside of Wal-Mart.  She takes pictures because she wants to take pictures of his muscles (Franco is wearing the muscles prop).  She wants to take pictures of his feet.  She wants to take pictures of his stomach muscles.

Franco notices her taking pictures and how does he react?  The class says he starts to pose like a model.  He is eating a Big Mac and flexing.

But his wife walks in.  I gave her the Superman shirt and Superman cape props.  (Es normal en Wal-Mart.)

She says, “¿Qué haces?” (What are you doing?)  He whips out a huge plastic diamond ring and says he’s buying her a big ring… from Wal-Mart!”  The wife looks at L and L says, “¿Quiere Usted una bolsa?”

All established facts in the story were arrived at through questions.

Target vocab for review and new:

Quiere comprar

Está triste

Canta

Le dice:

El dedo

Está trabajando

Le gusta

Other words that came up in class:

Ya no

Camina

Zapatos

Más o menos

Experta

Barato / tacaño

Corbata

Ropa de carne

Yo compro un diamante grande para ti.

Quiere Usted una bolsa.

Usados

Nuevos

Imitación

No me siento bien

Ciudad

Ilegal / legal

When we finished the story we had time left for the reading.  First we read the reading and I asked questions. 

Julie y el Doctor Mc Dreamy

Patrick Dempsey tiene un problema. Un día Patrick va a ABC. 

Una mujer mira a Patrick.  La mujer se llama Julie.  Patrick mira a Julie.  Julie mira a Patrick románticamente. Julie quiere un favor. Julie quiere tocar sus músculos enormes.  Julie mira los  enormes músculos.  Julie quiere tocarlos.  Julie corre a Patrick.  Julie mira románticamente a Patrick. 

Julie le dice, -Quiero tocar tus enormes músculos  –

Patrick le dice, - no.

Julie está triste.  Julie le dice, - Yo quiero tocar tu  músculo enorme , por favor. –

Patrick levanta las manos y le dice, - No. 

Julie no quiere tocar la mano de Patrick.  Julie no quiere tocar el ojo de Patrick.  Julie no quiere tocar el dedo de Patrick.  Julie no quiere tocar el pelo perfecto de Patrick. Julie quiere tocar los músculos enormes del actor. (Julie quiere tocar la boca de Patrick, pero es otro cuento.)

Patrick llama a la policía.  Patrick habla con un policía.  El policía  la mira a Julie.  Julie está triste.  Julie llora.  Patrick se  ríe. Julie no es normal.

EL FIN

(This story is on the Fluency Fast website inside of Free Resources and then Spanish.  There are several more stories like this in the Beginning Spanish curriculum.  You can see that in class, though, I did not teach quiere tocar, I taught quiere sacar fotos, so that it wouldn’t be… you know… TOO weird.)

Then they broke into pairs and one of them played the role of Patrick Demsey and the other played the role of Julie.  They acted out the story as I told it.

On Monday we will take the class story from Wednesday and turn it into a reading.  I can't wait to write this story.  It has been lots of fun to develop.  I'll post it here when I finish writing it.

Class 12, Monday, February 27, 2012

Quote of the day…. As we finished Isabela.

“We finished a whole book!  (big smile)  I used to teach Kindergarten.  I feel like I need…. a sticker.”

If you missed the last class, go to www.fluencyfast.com/isabela and look at the pictures I showed in class last Wednesday.  

Teachers... please ask questions if there are things you want me to explain!

All vocabulary written on board only in Spanish. 

Tell me which ones you don’t know --- those are the ones you try to get into today’s story because you haven’t had enough repetitions yet, so I’ll recycle more today.

No new vocabulary today

All vocab:

Quiere ser

Compra

Camina

Piensa

Come

Tiene

Se llama

Habla por teléfono

Grita

Se levanta

Se sienta

Agarra

Le dice:

Trabaja

Escucha

Está cansado

Está contento

Está triste

Puede comprar

Puede hacer ejercicio

Puede tocar

Puede cantar

Quiere matar

Quiere correr

Dibuja

Toca la guitarra

Ve

Mira

Pone

Canta

Va

Va a + inf.

Viaja

Juega

Se ríe

Llora

Lee

Fuma

Vive

Le da

Es divertido

Es aburrido

Abre la puerta

La cabeza,

El pelo

La mano

La lengua

El ojo

El ombligo

El pie

LA BOCA (I forgot this one… adding to the list)

+ Question words:

¿Quién?

¿Qué?

¿Dónde?

¿Cuándo?

¿Cuál?

¿Cómo?

¿Cuánto? ¿Cuántos?

¿Por qué?

I did not add any connecting words to the list… they are picked up in context entirely.  Y…con…para…

Words they asked to review:  (this is what I would call non-sticky --- it has not been acquired yet.  That would be because they haven’t been exposed to the vocab or structures enough yet.)

Ve, Pone, Escucha, abre la puerta,  quiere matar, piensa, tengo, está cansado, está triste,

Cognates I added (in an effort not to add new words) – imagina, emergencia, terapía, horas, cortar

Words I used or added that weren’t on the first list: cerveza, tomar, besar,

Asked a story in class, pointed to the words on the wall, tried to use lots of the more difficult vocabulary.  When we finished the basic structure of the story, I re-told it and they added more details and students played the roles (using props).  (Silly string served as the vomit; chile spiced mango from Trader Joe’s was the mango with chile)

Freewrite:

Write three of the words you feel like you still don’t know at the top of the page… you can look at the vocab list on the board while you write… write the story we just created and count the words.

Reading:

We quickly read Chapter 9 together.  Unknown words, dulce and pregunta.

Homework for next class:

Read the last chapter of Isabela.  Come prepared to discuss. 

Study map of Latin America in Chapter 3 or on-line.  I will email blank map.  Know what countries are considered Central America and what countries are considered South America.  Study for test.  NOT next week. 

Student mentioned Che Guevera and The Motorcycle Diaries.

Next week we will start Isabela captura un congo together in class. (Monday, March 5.)

Quiz for Wednesday will have 10 vocabulary words I am fairly confident are “sticky,”   They will translate into English.   Also… several questions using question words.  For example,

¿Cómo se llama la hija de Franco?

¿Cómo se llama el ex-novio de Carolina?  (Interesting information… the real “Carolina” broke up with first one and now both of the boyfriends.  She blames the class for pointing out their flaws.)

¿Por cuántas horas toma Franco en el bar?

¿Cómo se llama el bar?

¿Quién trabaja en el bar?

Details about the people in this room, I reminded them, are more important than the Spanish.

It’s also important not to sound like an idiot in your real life, which is why you need to know the geography of Latin America.   Costa Rica?  Not an island.  But you’d be surprised how many educated people in the U.S. think it is.  Mexico?  Part of North America.  People think we’re smart based on whether or not we talk when we don’t know what we’re talking about.  

Class story about Franco is in the previous blog.

Ironically… Franco was home sick today. =(

El papá que casi mata al novio de su hija

por Karen Rowan y la clase de español, 27-2-2012

Franco es un hombre bueno. Tiene pelo castaño y ojos cafés.  Él puede tocar la guitarra.  Puede cantar.  Trabaja en la galería, pero no es un artista.  No puede dibujar.  No puede pintar.  Pero trabaja en la galería.

Franco tiene un problema.  Tiene una hija que tiene trece (13) años.  La hija es inocente y perfecta.  Es como un bebé.  Ella es un ángel.   Ella se llama Alfa.  Tiene solamente 13 años.  Es una niña. 

El problema es el novio.  El novio se llama Damien.  Alfa y Damien hablan por teléfono cuatro horas al día.  Escriben mil (1000) textos todos los días.  Alfa no estudia.  Alfa no va a la escuela.  Alfa no juega videojuegos.  Ella no mira la televisión.  Ella no habla con la familia.  Alfa habla con Damien.  Solamente habla con Damien.  Vive en la casa con la familia, pero no habla con la familia.

Alfa no quiere ser la presidenta.  Ella no quiere estudiar.  No quiere ser veterinaria.  No quiere viajar en Europa.  No quiere ser pirata.  Solamente quiere ser la novia de Damien. 

Damien es malo.  Damien es el Diablo.  Damien es un problema.  Damien tiene diecisiete (17) años.   Él tiene un carro.  Tiene un carro grande.  Tiene un carro con mucho espacio.    El carro tiene mucho espacio para besar. 

Damien va a la casa de Franco.  Damien no camina.  Damien va en carro.  Damien tiene una flor para Alfa.  Él le da la flor a ella.  Alfa mira a Damien románticamente.  Mira directamente a los ojos de Damien.

Franco se levanta y mira a Damien.  Damien es alto. Franco quiere matar a Damien.  Quiere matar a Damien con sus propias manos.  Quiere matar a Damien dos veces.  Imagina lo que quiere hacer.  Quiere agarra el pie de Damien…. Y quiere ponerlo en su boca.

Franco quiere gritar.  Quiere llorar.  Quiere agarrar a Damien violentamente.  Quiere agarrar a su hija y ponerla en una torre alta. 

La esposa de Franco no quiere matar a Damien.  Ella le dice:

-¡Entra en la casa, Damien!

La mamá de Alef no grita a Damien.  La mamá de Alef no agarra a Damien.  La mamá lo invita a comer con la familia.  Damien le dice:

-Sí, acepto la invitación, pero soy alérgico a chile. 

La mamá le dice:

-Yo preparo espagueti.  Está bien.

Franco le dice a la esposa:

-Quiero hacer ejercicio.  Adiós.

Franco quiere correr.  Franco corre de la casa.  Franco no camina.  Franco no va en carro.  Franco camina a Cowboys y se sienta en el bar.  Se sienta en el bar a las cuatro de la tarde.  Él ve a Alicia.  Franco está triste.  Está triste y quiere hablar.  Franco habla y habla y habla y habla. 

Alicia trabaja en el bar.  Ella pone una cerveza en el bar y escucha a Franco.  Franco habla y toma por nueve horas y media.  No está contento. Franco toma quince (15) cervezas.  Llora en la cerveza. 

Normalmente, Franco no toma.  Normalmente, Franco no fuma.  Él quiere fumar en el bar, pero es ilegal.  No puede fumar en el bar.

Franco le dice a Alicia: 

-Quiero matar a Damien. 

Alicia le pregunta:

-¿Por qué?

Franco le responde:

-Damien es malo.  Es el Diablo.  También quiere tocar a mi hija.  ¿Tienes una pistola extra?  Quiero comprar una pistola.  Yo voy a matar a Damien.

Alicia es muy inteligente.  Ella no tiene pistolas ilegales.  Alicia piensa.  Ella tiene una idea.  Alicia escucha.  Ella está cansada, pero escucha y escucha.  Es divertido.  Es divertido porque Alicia tiene una cámara de video en el teléfono.  Alicia tiene video de Franco.  Es divertido porque toma mucho.

Alicia le dice:

-Franco.  Yo soy muy inteligente.  Es obvio.  Tú no tienes un problema, tú tienes tres problemas.  El problema no es Damien.  Los problemas son:

1. la lengua de Damien. 

2. la mano de Damien

3. la otra mano de Damien

Alicia le da mango con chile a Franco.  Franco agarra el mango con chile y camina a la casa.  No camina muy bien.  No corre.  NO va en carro.  Camina como un bebé.  Camina a la casa y mira a Damien.  Damien está en el carro con Alef. 

Franco no agarra a Damien.  Franco no grita a Damien.  Franco le da el mango con chile.  Damien mira el mango.  Damien toca el mango y lo come.   Lo toca y lo come. Pero Damien es alérgico a chile.  Damien toca el mango con chile y toca el mango con chile con la lengua.  Come el mango con chile.  Piensa que es mango normal.  No piensa que es mango con chile.   No lee el paquete de mangos.  Inmediatamente, Damien tiene dos manos super grandes y una lengua enorme. 

Damien no puede hablar.  Damien no puede tocar.   Él es completamente miserable. 

Damien no quiere besar.  Damien no quiere tocar a Alef.  Él quiere gritar, pero no puede gritar.  Abre la boca y no habla…. No grita…. Vomita. 

Alef mira a Damien y le dice:

-Yo no quiero besar a una persona con una lengua grande.  Yo no quiero tocar a una persona con manos grandes.  Yo no quiero besar a una persona que vomita.  !No me puedes besar! ¡No me puedes tocar!  ¡Estar en el carro es aburrido con una persona que no puede besar!  !Qué feo! 

Alef abre la puerta del carro y entra en la casa.

Franco se ríe y se ríe y se ríe.

¿Quién quiere besar a Alfa?

¿Qué quiere hacer Franco?

¿Adónde va Franco?

¿Cuándo va Franco al bar?

¿Cuándo va Franco a la casa?

¿Cómo se llama el bar?

¿Por cuántas horas toma Franco?

¿Cuántas cervezas toma?

¿Por qué le da mango con chile a Damien?

Classes 9 and 10 were taught by March Sustarsic while I was in California visiting a family member in hospice.  During the previous two classes, March taught up through Chapter 6.

Class 11, Chapter 7-8

1. Slide show of photos from Guanajuato, MX (all are available free on the website  -- http://www.fluencyfast.com/isabela)

.

Some cultural references, explanation of Miguel de Hidalgo’s role in history, explanation of “Our Lady of Guanajuato” patron saint, geography of Guanajuato, culture:  guitar player on bus, young boy leading the horse in the park, students exercising on the university steps, gold decorating inside of the church, children trying on shoes, what is pan dulce

2. What has happened so far in the book?  Students gave one sentence responses. 

3. I brought dried chile mango from Trader Joe’s and passed it out.  Most students tasted it and we talked about who was going to scream and cry like Isabela.  Most said they preferred regular mango.

4.  Read chapter  7 together, translating and pointing out pop-up grammar.  Read Chapter 8 on their own (only 1 page).  

Grammar:  discussed masculine and feminine, agreement,  verb endings

Vocab: panadería, heladería,

5. Discussion:

Que piensa…

Piensa…

Piensa que…

Isabela piensa que…. (la familia no tiene dinero)

La familia piensa que… (la mamá de Isabela tiene mucho dinero.)

(contributed by students)

6. In-class Assignment: 

Quiere ser

Compra

Camina

Use the following 3 words in a 5 minute freewrite about what has happened so far in the book.  You must use each word at least once.  Freewrites were 51 to 83 words long.  5 minutes.  First freewrite.  We will do one per week now.

(SOOOO impressed.  I just counted… we’re at 12.5 hours of contact time so far. )

Homework…. Quiz next week on vocabulary.  This is only because the university requires grades.  I will test “sticky” vocabulary and re-evaluate what is sticky and what is not if the words have not been acquired.

We will finish Isabela this upcoming week, but will play with it and vocabulary for longer.  Then we’ll start Isabela captura un congo.  

Discussion vocab -- random --lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, sábado, domingo, tienda de ropa, zapatos, dinero, él casi se murió, matar, todavía, me encontré con el novio de mi hija, librería, va a (= is going to )viajar

Target vocab:

puede comprar (sí se puede)

quiere comprar

piensa

ve (vs. mira)

pone (pongo)

canta 

Discussion about target vocab:

¿Qué puedes comprar con un dólar?  ¿Qué puedes comprar con $100 dólares?  ¿Qué quieres comprar que no puedes comprar?  ¿Qué pudes comprar que no quieres comprar? (spandex!!)  ¿Qué piensas de....? 

Chapter 4 of Isabela, El caballito (y otras aventuras).  I used many of the reading strategies in the previous two lists.  I forgot one... I also often have them go back and re-read silently a paragraph we have just done so that they can read at their own pace and see if there are words they notice this time that they don't know.

Homework -- re-read Chapters 1-4 AND Chapter 5.  I have pre-taught all of the vocab in Chapter 5 now and this will be the first time I've asked them to read independently.

Class 9 they will go over Chapter 5 together and start Chapter 6 together.   I plan to write a story using some of the newer, non-sticky vocabulary, too.  My class will be covered by my good friend March for the next two classes while I go visit my 92 year-old grandfather in Southern CA.  Perhaps we can convince her to be a guest blogger. =)

Class 7

I received a request from Chris Roberts to explain how I teach reading.  (Last post.) The request was with regard to a book that someone is currently teaching that his students weren’t terribly excited about. 

This lesson involved re-teaching the vocabulary from the end of Chapter 2 in Las aventuras de Isabela ( my mistake for not realizing that I had not yet taught the words at the end of the chapter) and pre-teaching the words for Chapter 3. 

These vocabulary lists likely seem longer than they should be.  The reason is because of consistent recycling.  New words, whether they come up in reading or conversation are recycled until they become “sticky.”    I don’t consider a word completely acquired until every student reacts to the word immediately and it is no longer a word that gets a “time-out” (an indication from any student that they don’t remember a word.)  For example, “camina”, a day 1 word, should be “sticky”, but one student reacted slowly and then asked what it meant during this class, which means it’s not on the permanently “sticky” list yet. 

Techniques / strategies:

1. Classical TPR

2. Novel commands

3. Acting out portions of the book (actors in front of class)           

4. Acting out portions of the book in small groups

5. Personalized questions using new vocabulary

6. Passive stories (i.e. one student contributes information that lends itself to a discussion which adds information to a previous or current story – no acting)

7. Reading and translating.  (spot checking – can you translate that sentence for me? – so that I can correct misunderstandings like thinking the book is in the past tense.)

8.  Pop-up-grammar questions. (If Yo quiero ser means I want to be, how would you say he wants to be?  If Isabela está cansada… what would he is tired be?  Why is there an o at the end of trabajo?)

9. They read in small groups or pairs, translating into English one sentence at a time.  I walk around and listen to as many people as I can.  They use the glossary or ask me if they aren’t sure about a word.

10.  They read a paragraph in a small group and then I read it in Spanish while they act it out.  I “milk” the good stuff.  Isabela canta… ¿QUÉ canta?  And then I make them sing. =)

11.  Use props.  Act out the story with props… which can serve as anything, even if it’s not their original purpose.

12. Use photographs from the place where the book is set to create a visual image in the mind of the reader.

13.  Draw parts of the book or a story from the book while I read a part.

14.  Look back through the book for…. (for example…. Draw and label all of the things that Isabela “quiere ser.”  They are re-reading, they are processing visually, they are scanning for information and they are writing a difficult target structure.)

15.  Draw something that happens in the book while I read it again… with your non-dominant hand.

16.  Try to elicit opinions... what fruits to you like?... what don't you like?... what do you buy?... what do you not have money to buy?... what do you want to buy that you can't buy?  What can you buy for a dollar?  What can you buy for $100?  The ultimate point is to get them to participate in a conversation without having to produce non-spontaneous output.  i.e.  no listen and repeat... no full sentences (yet)...  Conversation today revolved around a parent's desire to murder the 17 year-old boyfriend of his 13 year-old daughter.   I suggested we jail the daughter instead.... another student suggested in a tower.   When they can't communicate their one or two-word responses in Spanish, they say them in English and I immediately say it in Spanish and then write it on the board in case they want to use it again.  This is not "Sticky"  vocabulary at all.  It's in the moment funny stuff.  Ultimately, the hope is that eliciting opinions will result in differences of opinion and then fun disagreements and discussions.

Target and recycled vocab:

Está cansado / cansada – is tired

Saca fotos – takes pictures

Viaja –travels . (quiere viajar)

Va - goes

Juega - plays

Dibuja - draws

Lee - reads

Quiere correr / quiere ser / quiere hacer ejercicio – wants to + infinitive (this comes up a lot and I’ll keep using this structure with new verbs)

(I spent insufficient time on these structures below and will be recycled them again in the next lesson)

Puede cantar – can sing

Casi me muero – I almost died!

Piensa – thinks

Sale – leaves

Personalized questions:

I targeted structures on this list that leant themselves well to discussion.  Quiere viajar / está cansado.  We chatted for a while about who was tired and who wanted to travel and where.  I pointed to the question words and paused after every question word as question words are not yet acquired.  Somehow a reference to the previous story about Carolina came up.  It turns out that “Carolina” dumped one of her two novios and was down to one.  Before we let her tell us which one, the class guessed which one, which gave us the opportunity to go back over some of the details of that story (characteristics of each novio) and then guess which of the two she wasn’t with anymore.

TPR body parts: Toca… la lengua, la cabeza, el pelo, la mano, el ombligo, el pie, el ojo,

Words I added so that I could get more repetitions of the target vocab and it didn’t hurt to teach: la mesa, el asiento

Words I recycled into the body part TPR lesson from previous or current lessons:

Dibuja, corre, despacio, rápido, saca fotos de

Words that came up in conversation that I was not teaching:

Prefiere, máquina, depende

Casarse

I received a request from Chris Roberts to explain how I teach reading.  The request was with regard to a book that someone is currently teaching that his students weren’t terribly excited about.   Here's a separated out list from the 7th lesson (also included there in context).

 Techniques / strategies:

1. Classical TPR

2. Novel commands

3. Acting out portions of the book (actors in front of class) (Chapter 3 of Isabela, she takes pictures of statues in a church.  One student stands on a chair and tries to stand very, very still.  When the statue fails by laughing, talking or moving, an understudy takes her place.  Isabela takes pictures and touches the statues with her feet and her head.  The mom sees her and whisper / yells at her to stop.)

4. Acting out portions of the book in small groups (Same as three, but the whole class at the same time in groups of 3.)

5. Personalized questions using new vocabulary

6. Passive stories (i.e. one student contributes information that lends itself to a discussion which adds information to a previous or current story – no acting)

7. Reading and translating.  (spot checking – can you translate that sentence for me? – so that I can correct misunderstandings like thinking the book is in the past tense.)

8.  Pop-up-grammar questions. (If Yo quiero ser means I want to be, how would you say he wants to be?  If Isabela está cansada… what would he is tired be?  Why is there an o at the end of trabajo?)

9. They read in small groups or pairs, translating into English one sentence at a time.  I walk around and listen to as many people as I can.  They use the glossary or ask me if they aren’t sure about a word.

10.  They read a paragraph in a small group and then I read it in Spanish while they act it out.  I “milk” the good stuff.  Isabela canta… ¿QUÉ canta?  And then I make them sing. =)

11.  Use props.  Act out the story with props… which can serve as anything, even if it’s not their original purpose.

12. Use photographs from the place where the book is set to create a visual image in the mind of the reader.

13.  Draw parts of the book or a story from the book while I read a part.

14.  Look back through the book for…. (for example…. Draw and label all of the things that Isabela “quiere ser.”  They are re-reading, they are processing visually, they are scanning for information and they are writing a difficult target structure.)

15.  Draw something that happens in the book while I read it again… with your non-dominant hand.

16.  Try to elicit opinions... what fruits to you like?... what don't you like?... what do you buy?... what do you not have money to buy?... what do you want to buy that you can't buy?  What can you buy for a dollar?  What can you buy for $100?  The ultimate point is to get them to participate in a conversation without having to produce non-spontaneous output.  i.e.  no listen and repeat... no full sentences (yet)...  Conversation today revolved around a parent's desire to murder the 17 year-old boyfriend of his 13 year-old daughter.   I suggested we jail the daughter instead.... another student suggested in a tower.   When they can't communicate their one or two-word responses in Spanish, they say them in English and I immediately say it in Spanish and then write it on the board in case they want to use it again.  This is not "Sticky"  vocabulary at all.  It's in the moment funny stuff.  Ultimately, the hope is that eliciting opinions will result in differences of opinion and then fun disagreements and discussions.

As I add more strategies in this class, I'll post them to the blog.

Anything else that you do that you would add to this list?

se llama - calls himself

tiene - has

viaja - travels

va - goes

quiere ser - wants to be

corre - runs

quiere correr - wants to run

On the board, new vocabulary (target structures for today)

juega - plays

dibuja - draws

lee- reads

(although secretly the only crucial target structure is still "quiere + infinitive)  Additional grammatical concepts -- first person vs. third person, adjective and noun agreement, adjective placement

Chapter 1 of Las Aventuras de Isabela

PQA --- re: students --- what color are your eyes?  What color is your hair?  Who has brown hair?  Who has blonde hair?  How old are you?  Who is X and a half?  Who is 29?  Who pretends to be 29?  Do you think Isabela's mom is really 29?  I am 29.  I wrote down all of the ages we talked about. (My students range in age from 17 to 42.  Everyone over 29 claimed to be 29, though.)

Quiero ser famosa... quien (what does quien mean?) quiere ser famosa o famoso?  Si?  Como que... How... quieres ser famoso?  Quieres ser famoso como musico?  Que tipo de musica? (conversation about rap stars I'm not familiar with -- in Spanish) Quien mas (what does quien mas mean? ) quiere ser famoso  o famosa?   Quieres ser famosa como.... una actriz!  Ah!  Quieres ser famosa como una actriz en la television?  Etc... conversation included one famous musician, one famous artist and one famous actress.  The others did not want to be famous... they wanted to be nurses, teachers etc. 

Pop-up grammar:  Me llamo -- how do you say he calls himself?  Ojos azules...  azules is plural because ojo is plural.  How would you say one blue eye? What does mis mean?  Why is it mis aventuras?  How would you say my adventure?  ito on the end of any word makes it little.  If casa is house what is Casita?  Has anyone been to the restaurant "La Casita"? Cognates -- alto sounds like altitude.  Cafe is also coffee.  

At the end of  Chapter 1 I asked all of the students to stop and re-read chapter 1 on their own to be sure they understood 100%.  There is a glossary in the back for independent reading, but I asked them first to see how they did without it.  Questions regarded things like "what does una mean" and "why does the adjective come after the noun?"

Chapter 2 of Las Aventuras de Isabela

I then pre-taught juega, dibuja and lee and started chapter 2.    At the bottom of page 3 we switched to acting out the parts of Isabela and the mom.  

They drew what they want to be on their own paper and we discussed.... Yo quiero ser rica.... Yo quiero ser una enfermera.... Yo quiero ser actriz.

Occasionally throughout the chapter instead of my reading a sentence and then discussing, I asked for volunteers to read a sentence in English.  I would read it in Spanish, they would translate, and then we would continue discussing.  (i.e. I continued asking questions... quiere ser veterinaria famosa?  Quien es un veterinario o veterinaria famosa?  Dr. Doolittle....

Imagina... el Presidente Obama... en un tutu.  Quien quiere ser la presidenta y una bailarina????!!!

Words that came up that we weren't prepared for were:

hacer ejercicio

casi me muero

no puedo respirar / puedes sentarte

sale

estoy cansada

I will teach all of these words on Wednesday along with pre-teaching body parts for Chapter 3.  We will slow down and spend more time on vocabulary during the next class. it was comprehensible in the moment because I told them what it meant, but these words will not be retained.   It's great that we're already reading, but in order to keep comprehension as high as possible, I should have stopped after chapter 1 and pre-taught all of the vocabulary in chapter 2 before reading it.  

Homework is to listen to Sr. Wooley's song Soy Guapo.... it contains the same 1st person structures as Isabela and also covers hair and eye color.   Because it is a male singer, the1st person structures are masculine and complement Isabela well.

This week I was at a conference in Denver working with Dr. Stephen Krashen.  We were discussing ways to use technology to provide comprehensible input.  I showed him the Sr. Wooly site and he spent the rest of the weekend singing, "Soy guapo, soy muy, muy guapo."

Homework is also to re-read chapters 1 and 2.  (Not to read further.)

  If you are teaching Isabela, what are you doing?  Any interesting, creative ideas for making input more comprehensible?

Today two students arrived 30 minutes late.  

Teaching in the real world....

Here is the feedback from students from the 5th class in response to the questions:  What is your % comprehension?  Too fast, too slow or just right?  Give yourself a grade on how well you are doing at stopping me or slowing me down when you don't understand or it's too fast.  Anything else?

1. 100%, just right, A.Love the stories and love doing some of the things.  Keep it up.  Thanx.

2. 95%, just right / little fast, A-  I like the stories and repetition.

3. 100%.  Just right. A.  Fun class!

4. 100%. Just right. A.  I think everything is perfect esp.  the stories.  Really helps.

5. 85% (student who joined during class 3 and missed class 4). Just right.  B-.  Keep it fun!

6. 95%,  Just right, B.  I like the fun, fast-paced learning.  It helps me and for the most part I am able to keep up.  Pretty simple.

7. 100% Just right. A.  Like the repetition.  Very fun.  Like the interaction.

8. 98%, just right, A++.  All is wonderful.  You are a great teacher.

9. 100%.  Very slight too fast. B.  Would like to say the words more. (Missed 2 classes -- financial aid problems)

10. 98% passive.  Just right.  C.  I just need to know the passive verbage better so I can connect the sentence faster.

11. 100%.  Perfect.  A.  The techniques used in class work perfect for me.  I really enjoy Spanish in this class.

Day 4 new vocabulary: question words,  describe / ¿Cómo es, su / tu, llora, está triste, le da, divertido, grita, abre la puerta, todo un hombre, nunca, some numbers.

I taught most of these words through TPR and then did some PQA to incorporate the names of the other classes that they are taking -- mostly cognates.  What classes are you taking?  What is your favorite class?  Geografia, matematicas, sciencias, sciencias sociales... etc.

Day 5 New Vocabulary:

quiere, saca fotos, va, viaja, corre, se ríe

Review:  question words, hacia, como, y, todo un hombre, todo es posible en la clase de español, 

todo el mundo, grita, llora

Taught most of these words through TPR.  (Va--on a bike and eat spaghetti and talk on the phone and laugh.... laugh like...run fast, run toward)  and PQA (personalized questions and answers) like where do you want to travel?  Where do you not want to travel?  Then we acted out variations of story #4 and story #5.  Actors used props and I asked questions.  Most of the details changed, but the vocab was the same.  Instead of chocolate... the girl was eating spaghetti.  The guy ended up going to Italy to get good spaghetti for the girl after she rejected a diamond and flowers. These are the stories from the beginning of the Fluency Fast Beginning Spanish curriculum.

 I printed copies of these stories and then cut them apart with scissors.  Each table had a stack of stories and their job was to read them and make sure that everyone at the table understood every word.  They asked me or each other when they forgot a word.  It turns out that I used lento instead of despacio for slow in one of the stories, which tripped one student up.  Otherwise, comprehension was at 100% at each table.  This was with about 8 minutes left to go in the class, so they read quickly.  At the end of class I had them pull out a piece of paper and answer three questions:

What is your overall rate of comprehension?

Was it too fast, too slow or just right?

Give yourself a grade for today based on whether or not you stopped me or slowed me down if it was too fast or you didn't understand.

A little commentary in the next blog, so that this one is just basically lesson plans.  

Cuentito #1

Sally se sienta. Sally mira a  un elefante.  Sally se levanta.  Sally corre al  elefante.  Sally corre al elefante rápido.  Sally no corre al elefante despacio. Sally agarra al elefante.  El elefante grita.  Sally se ríe.

Cuentito #2

Joey se sienta.  Joey se levanta.  Joey se sienta.  Joey se levanta. Joey se sienta rápido.  Joey se sienta despacio.  La mamá mira a Joey.  La mamá le grita a Joey.  La mamá agarra a Joey y le  grita a Joey.  Joey corre en círculo y se ríe de la mamá.

Cuentito #3

Mónica mira a Joey.  Mónica mira a Sally.  Mónica mira al elefante. Mónica corre al elefante.  Mónica  le grita al elefante.  El elefante se sienta normalmente.  Mónica corre a Sally.  Mónica  le grita a Sally.  Sally se sienta.  Sally se sienta como un elefante. Mónica corre a Joey.  Mónica  le grita a Joey.  Joey no se sienta.  Joey se ríe despacio.  Mónica agarra a Joey y le  grita a Joey.  Joey corre.

Cuentito #4

Hay una mujer .Se llama Lexie. Lexie mira a Bob normalmente.  Lexie mira a Bob despacio.  Lexie se levanta.  Lexie corre a Bob.  Lexie corre rápido.  Lexie mira a Bob románticamente y grita.  Lexie grita y grita y grita.  Bob llora.

Cuentito #5

Bob mira a Lexie.  Lexie es súper atractiva.  Bob se levanta.  Bob camina hacia Lexie con chocolate.  Bob le da el chocolate.  Bob le da el chocolate a Lexie románticamente.  Lexie mira el chocolate.  Lexie mira a Bob.  El chocolate es atractivo.  Bob no es atractivo.  Lexie agarra el chocolate.  Lexie come el chocolate.  Bob llora.

Cuentito #6 --- parte 1

Chris se sienta en el parque. Chris mira a una mujer.  La mujer se llama Sara.  Chris se levanta.  Chris camina hacia Sara.  Chris mira la pizza de Sara.  Sara come la pizza.  Sara tiene un problema.  Chris agarra la pizza de Sara.  Chris roba la pizza de Sara.  Chris corre rápido con la pizza.  Sara llama a la policía.  La policía se ríe.   

Cuentito #7 ---- parte 3

Una mujer se llama Sara.  Sara tiene un problema. Sara no tiene pizza. Sara camina lento en el parque.  Sara camina en el parque y llora.  Harold mira a Sara.  Harold mira a Sara románticamente.  Harold camina hacia Sara,  Harold camina hacia Sara rápido.  Harold le da chocolate.  Sara mira el chocolate.   Sara mira a Harold.  Sara mira el chocolate.  Sara come el chocolate.  Sara mira a Harold y come el chocolate.  Sara le da su número de teléfono a Harold.  Harold camina. 

En dos minutos, Harold llama a Sara.  Harold llama por teléfono a Sara inmediatamente.  Harold la invita a Sara a Pizza Hut.  Sara acepta la invitación.

Cuentito #8 --- parte 2 (el resto del cuento)

Hay un policía.Se llama Russell.  Russell es un policía.  Sara llama a Russell por teléfono.  Sara llama a Russell porque Chris le roba su pizza.  Russell se ríe.  Russell se ríe porque en la opinión de Russell, la pizza no es muy importante.  Russell llama por teléfono a Harold.  Russell se  ríe y  se ríe de Harold.  Russell  se ríe porque Sara llama a la policía.  Russell  se ríe de Harold porque en la opinión de Russell, Sara es muy estúpida.  Russell se  ríe porque Sara camina en el parque con una pizza. Harold no  se ríe.  Harold camina al parque con chocolate.

Cuentito #9: Brad y Jen                                                         

Hay un hombre famoso. Se llama Brad.  Brad mira a una mujer.  La mujer se llama Jen.  Jen es súper atractiva.  El hombre que se llama Brad mira a Jen.

Brad se levanta.  Brad camina a Jen.  Brad mira románticamente a Jen.  Brad corre a Jen. 

Jen corre a Brad.  Es muy romántico.  Brad corre despacio.  Jen corre despacio. Es súper, súper romántico.  

Brad mira el chocolate de Jen.  Brad agarra a Jen románticamente.  Brad agarra a Jen con pasión.  

Brad le roba el chocolate a Jen.  Jen grita.  Jen llora.  Jen llama a la policía.  Brad corre a Angelina con el chocolate. Angelina come el chocolate. El hombre que se llama Brad se ríe. _____________________________________________

Cuentito #10: Angelina y Jen

Hay una mujer. Se llama Angelina. Angelina mira a Jen.  Jen es súper atractiva.  Angelina es súper atractiva. 

Brad se levanta.  Brad mira a Jen.  Brad mira a Angelina.  Brad mira el chocolate.  Brad mira románticamente el chocolate.  Brad mira el chocolate con pasión.  Brad camina hacia chocolate. Brad corre hacia chocolate. Brad no corre a Angelina.  Brad no corre a Jen.  Brad corre al chocolate.  Brad corre rápido. Brad agarra el chocolate con pasión.  Brad agarra el chocolate románticamente.   Brad llora con emoción.  Brad come el chocolate románticamente.

Brad tiene problemas.  Angelina grita y llora.  Jen se ríe.

Y - and

Con - with

A – to

Al  - to the

De- of, from

Él - he

Ella – she

Hacia-to

Hay-there is

Por – for, through

Para - for

Muy -- very

Mucho – a lot

Le  - to him or to her

El –the masculine

La the feminine

Como – like, as

Es- is

Está – is

Pero – but

¿Quién?--------------------------Who?

¿Qué?---------------------------What?

¿Dónde?-----------------------Where?

¿Cuándo?----------------------When?

¿Cómo?--------------------------How?

¿Cuánto?----------------How much?

¿Cuántos?---------------How many?

¿Por qué?-----------------------Why?

Porque ------------------------because

COGNATES

Rápido

En  círculo ------------------ in a circle

Un aplauso

Románticamente

violentamente

Como un elefante – like an elephant

Normalmente - normally

Pirata

Real

Otra persona

Es posible

Secreto

Enormes

Aniversario

Admira

Escándalo

Día

Inteligente

Esposa

Bailarina

Day 3:  Review vocabulary. Read story and ask questions.  Use question words.  (see question word post)

¿Cómo se llama la mujer?

¿Cómo se llama el hombre?

el novio / la novia

está triste

le dice:

trabaja

divertido

morado

verde

alto

es aburrido

amigos

dinero

toca la guitarra

Los secretos de Carolina (un cuento secreto por Karen Rowan y la clase de español, 1/25/12)

Carolina es una mujer.  Carolina no es normal.  Carolina es especial.  Carolina no tiene un novio.  ¡Ella tiene dos novios!  Un novio se llama Carlos.  Carlos es alto.  El otro novio se llama Bubba.  Bubba es alto, también.  Los dos son altos.

Carlos es un músico.  Él no trabaja.  No trabaja y no tiene una casa.  No tiene una casa.  Toca la guitarra en la casa de su mamá.  Toca la guitarra mucho.  Toca la guitarra y fuma.  Fuma cigarrillos en la casa de su mamá.  Su mamá no fuma.  Su mamá no toca la guitarra.  Su mamá trabaja.

Carlos toca la guitarra en el parque.  Carlos es divertido.  Carlos es el novio de Carolina.  Carolina trabaja.  Carolina va a la universidad.  Ella no fuma.

Bubba es el otro novio de Carolina. Bubba es inteligente.  Comparado con Bubba, Carlos no es muy inteligente.  Comparado con Carlos, Bubba es super inteligente.  Bubba no es tan inteligente como Albert Einstein, pero es inteligente comparado con Carlos.

Bubba no es un músico.  Bubba no toca la guitarra.  Comparado con Carlos, Bubba no es muy divertido.  Bubba no fuma.  Bubba no toca la guitarra en el parque.  Bubba trabaja en Fort Carson.  Bubba es un hombre bueno.  Bubba tiene una casa. No es la casa de su mamá.  Bubba visita a su mamá, pero la mamá de Bubba no está en Fort Carson. 

Bubba le da flores a Carolina.  Carlos toca la guitarra para Carolina.

Bubba le da chocolates a Carolina.  Carlos le da cigarrillos usados a Carolina.

Bubba abre la puerta del carro para Carolina.  Carlos no tiene un carro.

Bubba mira a Carolina románticamente.  Carlos mira a Carolina con ojos grandes con pupilas SUPER grandes.

Bubba no llora.  Bubba no llora nunca. 

Carlos llora mucho.  Llora porque es un artista.  Es normal para artistas.

Bubba no tiene mucho dinero.  Bubba trabaja mucho, pero no tiene mucho dinero.  Carlos no tiene mucho dinero.  La mamá de Carlos le da un poco de dinero. 

Un día, Carlos camina al parque.  Camina porque no tiene un carro.  Mira las flores de su mamá.  Roba las flores de su mamá para Carolina.  Carlos camina al parque con su guitarra, las flores, un poco de tequila y sus cigarrillos.  Carlos tiene catorce (14) cigarrillos.  Carlos camina y fuma dos punto cinco (2 1/2) cigarillos.

Carlos camina al parque y mira a Carolina.  Le da las flores a Carolina.  Le da parte de un cigarrillo (1/2) a Carolina.  Carolina se sienta en el parque.  Carolina se sienta y Carlos toca la guitarra.

Es un día especial.  Es el aniversario de Carolina y Carlos.  Carlos toca la guitarra.  Carlos toca “Carolina, Carolina, Carolina.”  Es muy romántico.

Carlos le da Tequila a Carolina.  Carolina mira a Carlos románticamente.

Pero…. Bubba camina en el parque también.  Bubba mira a Carolina.  Bubba camina a Carolina.  Carolina mira a Bubba.  Carolina tiene un problema.

Bubba le dice: Hola, Carolina.  ¿Cómo estás?

Carolina le dice: Estoy bien, gracias.

Bubba mira a Carlos.  Bubba le dice:  Hola.

Carolina está nerviosa. Carolina le dice a Bubba:  Hola Bubba.  Te presento a Carlos.

Carlos mira a Bubba.  Bubba mira a Carlos.

Bubba le dice:  Mucho gusto.

Carlos le dice:  Encantado.

Carlos y Bubba les dicen:  Soy el novio de Carolina.

Bubba mira a Carolina.  Bubba mira a Carolina despacio. 

Carolina les dice: If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it.  If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it.

Bubba tiene un diamante.  Bubba le da un diamante a Carolina.  Carolina mira el diamante y le dice:

-No, gracias. 

Bubba le dice: - Hasta luego, Carolina.

Bubba camina.

Carolina mira a Carlos.  Carlos mira a Carolina. Carlos no se levanta.  Se sienta y toca la guitarra. Carlos le dice:

No importa.  Yo tengo tres novias.

Day 1: introduction of vocabulary with TPR, telling story below

Day 2: Reading story and asking questions

Cognates: elefante, pirata, romanticamente, violentamente, normalmente,  círculo, inteligente, especial, músculos, otra person

se levanta

se sienta

mira

camina

tiene un problema

le da

agarra

come

Connecting words:  como, de, a, pero

Story:

Reina es especial.  Reina no es normal.  Reina tiene un problema.  Reina no tiene un Starburst.  Reina mira el Starburst.  

Antonio tiene un Starburst.  Antonio es especial.  No es normal.  Tiene músculos como Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Antonio camina a Reina.  Antonio no le da el Starburst a Reina.  Reina mira a Antonio.  Reina mira el Starburst.  Antonio no le da el Starburst a Reina.  Antonio come el Starburst como Arnold S.  Antonio tiene otro Starburst.  Antonio come el otro Starburst despacio como un elefante.... PERO.... Reina mira el Starburst.  Reina agarra el Starburst y camina rápido con el Starburst y come el Starburst.  

I step into this class on the heels of a Salsa class I took on Sunday with a marvelous dancer who makes me seeth with jealousy.  I want to be a dancer... but I am not good.  I am uncoordinated and my arms and my legs are incapable of taking simultaneous brain direction.  I can either move my arms OR my legs.  When I try to do both... the beautiful men who bring me out on the dance floor, leave it bruised and battered.   But this class was on Ladies Styling.  I was finally going to learn the moves that would make the difference between the Swan and the Ugly Duckling.

I learned to step differently and to add some swagger.  I learned to raise my arms without whacking my partner in the face.  I learned the art of smoother turns, pointed toes, keeping my thighs together.  I felt confident.  My fellow students and I were moving gracefully.  We were adding shoulder rolls.  We were hot mamas.  Then she showed us a routine.  The routine did not exactly match the steps we had been taught and included several sequences in a row and was so very, very clearly above my level.  I felt it... the rising Affective Filter... the part of my Cave Man brain that had to choose between Fight or Flight.  The very bottom of the class literally threw up her hands and said, "That's all I can do."  Within a couple of minutes, she had snuck out the door.

I stayed.. heart pounding, cringing every time I was looked at.  I wanted to disappear into my corner of the room and practice those things I had already been taught until I felt I had mastered them.  And suddenly I realized... that teaching to the bottom of the class is essential in all disciplines, not just in languages.

As long as I can remember each time I'm teaching what it felt like to learn French... or Mandarin... or German.... As long as I can force myself to remember the fear of exposure, the fear of being the bottom of the class... I knew I could still teach without losing anyone.  But Salsa is the same.  Salsa is exposure of our weaknesses and our fear of embarassment.  We are dying to be invisible and if we can't be invisible, then we want to walk out.  We know when we've reached our limit and we give up.

So, I will keep you posted on this class as we go along and I will be transparent about my own mistakes as a teacher.  I will be uncoordinated and graceless, I imagine, in the classroom.

But in the Salsa class she said, "Imagine that you are standing in the place that is most comfortable and most natural for you.  Imagine that you are doing what makes you feel safe and passionate and alive.  What are you doing?  What is that place for you?"

For me, the answer was "in front of a class, teaching Spanish."

If you're trying to learn Spanish or you're trying to teach it, I'll post my graceful steps and my misteps here and feel free to ask questions.  The class runs Mondays and Wednesdays from now until the first week of May.

Karen