At a recent Northeast Ohio TCI event, I watched as Vicki Antequera and Sheryl Rawson demonstrated a story they use for level 1 Spanish and some of the activities they use with it.  I was amazed at the simplicity and usefulness of the story, and I adapted it for my level 3 classes.  I will post resources below in the order we used them in class (more or less).

Target structures:

• ella estaba cocinando cuando él llego – she was cooking when he arrived (these type of sentences were a focus for much of the unit)
• hermoso(a) – beautiful
• “déjame en paz” – leave me alone (in peace)

1. Presentation of vocabulary – We used this presentation, Le dio el corazón, as an introduction to new structures.  PQA activities included stating what was happening in photos, what others are doing at this moment, what each student was doing yesterday at certain hours and creating partner situations in which one student said “déjame en paz” to another.  We also used gestures to review structures that would come up in this unit.  I don’t often use gestures, but they worked well here.
2. Story skeleton – The skeleton story text was projected (again, not something we typically do) and read.   The Spanish text can be found on the presentation linked in #1.  Translated to English, it reads:
   • There was a man
   • He was in love with a woman
   • He called the woman
   • The woman was cooking when he called
   • The man said, “You are beautiful. I love you.”
   • The woman said, “Leave me alone.”
3. Story details and acting – We told the story with actors and filled in details.  Who was the man?  Who was the woman?  How did they meet? Did she love him?  Why not.  We then advanced to part two of the story, which was similar but with different details.  In part 2, the man went to her house.  She was ___ when he arrived.  She opened the door.  He gave her flowers. He told her she was beautiful and he loved her.  She said, “leave me alone,” threw the flowers  and closed the door.
4. Predictions – We were near the end of day 2 at this point.  With slide #26 projected, I asked partners to predict what would happen in part three.  What did he take to her?  What was she doing when he arrived?  What did he say?  How did she react? The slide gives enough structure to make predicting easy for students but still allows for enough input to make it a creative/fun activity.
5. Finish story – With actors, we finished the story.  For his third attempt, the man gave her chocolate (or other student choice object).  The woman again threw it and told him to leave her alone.  For his final attempt, he took out his heart and gave it to her.  She threw it down (in some classes, she ate it), and he died.
6. Reading – We used these slides, Luke Reading Intro, and then read this text, Luke y Liliana Reading. After reading the text, we did some speed reading activities and translating games that Vicki and Sheryl shared from a presentation b Craig Sheehy.
7. Game – We played sentence charades, using these sentences, sentence charades – le dio el corazón.
8. Google Voice speaking evaluation – Using this guide sheet, le dio el corazón, students called and retold the story from class.

Again, the strength of this unit was its simplicity.  It is certainly one I will use again.