Entrevista con Dr. Phil

Posted on October 28, 2013 by bryankandel

After reading the story about the woman who was in love with a duck (last post), we completed this activity.  Students work in pairs to complete two interviews.  In the first, one student is Dr. Phil and the other is Amy.  In the second, one student is Dr. Phil and the other is Doug.  There are questions projected.  The interviews act as a guided, first-person retell of the story.  After students interview each other, I act as Dr. Phil and ask the questions of them.

The presentation with questions is here:

Entrevista con Dr. Phil

dr phil

Posted in Classroom activities, Communicative Activities, Reading, Speaking | Leave a comment

The magic doll and the woman who was in love with a duck

Posted on October 23, 2013 by bryankandel

Here’s a recent reading that was received well.  It’s a rather tragic story about the power of love.

We read this a couple weeks after watching Alma.  You may see the connection and use of shared vocabulary.

Link to Google Document – here

Adapt and use the text as needed.

Posted in Reading | 4 Comments

Murder Mystery – An interactive embedded reading

Posted on October 22, 2013 by bryankandel

Not long ago, we completed a short murder mystery unit.  I developed the unit because I wanted a good setting to expose students to the use of preterite and imperfect in Spanish.  The unit was based around an embedded reading.  The steps are below with some links to documents.  This activity can be adapted for any class or extended for other settings.

1.  Introduce and practice new vocabulary that will be important and used often.  For me, it was:

estaba enamorado(a) – was in love

     tenía miedo – was afraid

     alguien lo mató – someone killed him

Vocabulary with questions

2. Read version 1.  A very simple paragraph that summarizes the story without giving away the ending or developing details.

There was a man.  He invited people to his house for a dinner.  9 people went.  After dinner, the host was dead.  Someone killed him.  Someone called the police.  Two detectives went to the house but didn’t know who killed him.

3. Read version 2.  A slightly more developed version, which includes who the 9 guests were:

The host’s ex-wife, his boss, a poor man, a crazy man, an alcoholic, a jealous man, a scared man, a woman who was in love with him and an angry woman.

4. Read version 3 and finish it as a class.  In version 3, the teacher and class write the descriptions for each of the 9 guests.  Students have a sheet to write descriptions and the teacher writes on the smartboard/computer.  Describe each character’s physical appearance, personality, relationship to the host and why he/she was angry/jealous/scared/in love . . . etc.  Basically, create motives for murder for each character.  Use students from class as names for each of the nine.

Student character sheet

Smart Notebook file with versions 1,2 and 3 and pages to write character descriptions

5. Practice activities.  On the back of the sheet on which students wrote descriptions, I had them draw the scene from the dinner.  The drawings were used for speaking and writing practice.  Students can also be asked to give their opinion of who the killer was and why.  Use contests or other techniques to build anticipation about the ending.

6. Read the final version.  Because each class has created its own version, it is necessary to write a different final version for each class (I had to write 4).  I chose to have the woman in love be the murderer because I wanted to get more reps of “enamorada”.  It could be different for each class.  The final reading can be part of an assessment.

Final version of mystery for one of the classes 

Posted in Embedded Reading | 7 Comments

The power of context

Posted on September 30, 2013 by bryankandel

We were working with giving and following directions today (turn right, turn left, go straight . . . etc.).  I had students pretend to drive cars while I showed them projected road signs and told them to turn or go straight.  Then, I had them close their eyes, listen to my directions and do what I told them to do.  As I was preparing the lesson, I remembered the scene from “Scent of a woman” in which the blind man (Al Pacino) drives a car.  I wondered about showing the clip in class.  My initial thought was that the audio was in English, and it would serve no purpose.  But, I changed my mind and showed the clip.  Why?  Context.  Students watched the video and better understood the idea of driving blind, which gave them a context for closing their eyes and listening to my directions.  If I’m wrong and the clip gave them no extra motivation to follow my directions, I wasted a couple minutes.  I can live with that.

The clip could be used with Movie Talk to extend its value.

Posted in Movie Talk, Reflections | 2 Comments

When it falls apart

Posted on September 22, 2013 by bryankandel

Unfortunately, not all TPRS stories work in class as they do in my head.  Yesterday, we were working with these structures:

Soy el rey – I am the king

La gente grita – the people yell

Tiene miedo – he/she is afraid

The story I had in mind was of a king who was feared by his people.  Out of fear, the people of his kingdom would shout of his greatness until the day the king was faced by the one person he feared – his own mother.  Maybe there is a way to make this story idea work, but it sure did not yesterday.  The plot was not engaging enough.  I rushed through parts.  I didn’t circle enough.   The students did well to stay with me for the most part, but I was disappointed afterward.

Yesterday was not the first time I’ve had a story fall flat.   My TPRS experience has taught me that a bad story is not the end of the world.  There are ways to get back on track.  I thought I’d share a few here.

My two main concerns after a weak story are:

1. The vocabulary from the lesson will not stick

2. Bad stories cause students to lose interest and faith in story telling in general

The first issue is pretty easy to address. The key is to find new ways to use the target structures.  This can be accomplished with extra readings, alternate stories, in-class activities or by inserting the structures into future stories.  Fortunately, all of my structures from yesterday can easily become a part of future lessons.  I just need to be deliberate about finding ways to insert them.

The second issue is a bit more tricky to overcome.  Student engagement in the story process is vital.  A few ideas that can help:

1. Take a short break from story telling: A break can allow a teacher to regather himself and come back as a better teller.  It also allows students enough time to get the bad experience out of their minds.  Embedded readings, cultural activities, games, music or Movie Talk can be used in place of a story.  Even reading, writing or grammar exercises can offer a nice break.

2. Guarantee success in the next story: Go back to something simple.  Use simple structures and a plot that can’t miss.  Worry less about the concepts that need covered and more about the actual story itself.  Getting students back into it will pay off for future stories in which difficult structures need tackled.

3. Tell a different type of story:  My favorite is to switch from a story with two actors to a story in which everyone is involved.  Give every student some type of role and require that they be involved.

The key is to be aware and proactive.  Sometimes pushing on with another story about purple elephants can do more harm than good.

Any other ideas?

Posted in Reflections, Stories/Storytelling | Leave a comment

Phone message retells

Posted on September 13, 2013 by bryankandel

Here’s another way I’ve used Google Voice to evaluate speaking.  I’ll briefly detail the four days from presentation of vocabulary to student retells.

We were using the unit, “un accidente de autobus”.  Vocabulary and text here.

Day 1: Presentation of vocabulary and personalized questions.

Day 2: In-class story.

Day 3: Class rewrite.  The class collectively retells the story while a volunteer student types.  The text is projected.  This step can be a bit dull, but it is important for students to see the story reconstructed.  It also helps me remember what happened in each class, so I can draw the pictures.

Day 4: Students are given a set of pictures from their story and instructions to call the Google Voice number and leave a message.  Their message is their summary of the story.  The pictures are used as a reference.  Students may expand as they need.

GV

 

 

Posted in Assessment, Story activities, Technology | Leave a comment

El hombre rico no sabe la verdad

Posted on September 9, 2013 by bryankandel

Here’s an easy story script that I used recently.  It’s simple, but it’s a good example of how I approach grammar concepts.  Among other things, my school’s pacing guide states that I should cover “saber/conocer”, “stem-changing verbs” and “superlatives” early in level 2.  There is an example of each in this script.  After establishing meaning for the four terms, we start with personalized questions and activities.  See the attached power point below.   Then, we move into the story.  Each grammar concept will be developed further as we continue through readings, future stories and practice activities.

Here is the script.  (Works best if you have a wig)

el hombre más rico del mundo – the richest man in the world

 prefiere a las mujeres rubias – he prefers blonde women

 no sabe la verdad – he does not know the truth

 una mentira – a lie

 Hay un hombre que se llama Chip.  Es el hombre más rico del mundo. (Alternate hombres – más guapo, más alto, más inteligente) Chip tiene muchas cosas.  Tiene una casa grande.  Tiene un avión.  Tiene un ferrari.  Tiene tres gatos.  Pero, no tiene una novia.  Quiere una novia.  Prefiere a las mujeres rubias. 

 Hay una mujer que se llama Doris.  Es la mujer más pobre del mundo.  No tiene nada.  Quiere un novio.  Prefiere a los hombres ricos. 

 Doris ve a Chip y quiere ser la novia de él.  Hay un problema.  Doris es morena y Chip prefiere a las mujeres rubias.  Doris dice, ¿Quieres ser mi novio?  Chip dice, “No, gracias.  Prefiero a las mujeres rubias.”  Doris está triste y llora.

 Doris tiene una idea.  Compra una peluca rubia y se pone la peluca.  Habla con Chip y dice, “Hola.  Me llamo . . . eh . . . Betty.”  Doris sabe la verdad pero Chip no sabe la verdad. Chip está emocionado.  Tiene una novia rubia. 

 Son novios por 10 años y Chip no sabe la verdad.  Son esposos por 30 años y Chip no sabe la verdad.  Los amigos de Chip no saben la verdad.  Un día cuando son muy viejos, la peluca se le cae de la cabeza de Betty.  Chip está sorprendido y enojado.  Grita, “Tú no eres rubia.  Eres morena.  Mentiras.”  Saca un cuchillo y lo tira a Doris.  Ella está muerta. 

el hombre rico no sabe la verdad

el hombre rico PQA

Posted in Stories/Storytelling | Leave a comment

Los chistes

Posted on September 5, 2013 by bryankandel

About 6 years ago, I was teaching English in Costa Rica.  One day, something came up in class that made me think of a joke.  I think we were talking about animal paws, and it reminded me of the joke about the dog with the bandage on his foot that walks into a bar looking for the man who shot his paw.  I told the joke to the class, and they loved it.  From then on, I started telling more jokes until I was doing one per day.  The students looked forward to the jokes, and I was amazed at their attention.

Now that  I’m teaching Spanish, I’ve been coming back to jokes as a way to sneak in some highly interesting input at the beginning of each class.  Last year, I told a joke per day all year. It is not easy to come up with a joke each day that is:

1. funny in Spanish

2. comprehensible

3. appropriate for school

Despite some groaning at the bad ones, most students enjoyed the jokes.  My biggest regret was that I did not make a list of the jokes as I was telling them.  I had no record after the year.  So this year, I am keeping track of the jokes to use them again in the future.

Here is a link to the jokes I’ve used so far.  I will continue to upload throughout the year.

Los chistes

Posted in Classroom activities | 5 Comments

Freeze Frame

Posted on September 3, 2013 by bryankandel

The following activity was used today as a transition between two main vocabulary sets.  Last week, we watched and discussed the paperman video.  During the discussion, I focused on three terms:

estaba enojado – was angry

no quería trabajar – did not want to work

tiró un avión de papel – threw a paper airplane

After our discussion, we had a day in the library for SLO “I can” statements and a long weekend.  I felt like I needed to re-visit the structures before moving on, so I decided to try “Freeze Frame”.

First we read this story about a man who did not go to work and made his boss angry:

Paco no quería trabajar

Then I asked for two actors to come to the front of class.  All other students were directors and were given a slip of paper with one scene from the story.  Each director had to position the two actors to fit his/her scene.  After each scene was set, I narrated it and a student photographer snapped a photo.   Tomorrow, we will use the photos as a basis for retells and/or free writing.

*This activity may work better if each group acts as director and actors, forming a freeze frame themselves.  I used the same two actors for each scene because I wanted consistent characters for the retells.

Posted in Classroom activities | 1 Comment

Google voice for participation makeup

Posted on September 2, 2013 by bryankandel

After a couple weeks of getting settled into the school year, we are ready to begin tracking participation points.  Again this year, I will be using class dojo.  I am at a new school now, so the process will be new for all of the students.  We will do a two-week trial run for students to get a feel for how much they need to speak.  After the two weeks, I will start entering points into the gradebook.

One issue that always comes up with participation points is what to do with students who miss class.  I am sticking to my stance that students are responsible to make up what they miss in the same way they would be responsible to make up a math worksheet if they had missed math class.  Last year, I used Michigan State’s RIA website to allow students to complete video interviews to makeup points.  My new school does not have the same amount of access to computers with webcams, so I have developed an updated plan.  Below is a word document to download and the text pasted.  I have decided to use Google Voice as an option.  I will update the sentence starters as we progress through the year.

Participation Point Makeup

Participation Point Makeup

*When you miss class, you are responsible for making up participation points.

*There are 3 ways to make up points:

1. Participate a lot the following day(s), enough to cover the day you missed.

2. Set up a time to talk with Profe.  You will have a Spanish conversation.  Each Spanish statement you say is worth a point. You can schedule a time before school, after school or mods 1,2,17 or 18.

3. Leave a Spanish voicemail.  You can call XXX-XXX-XXXX and record a voicemail.  Each statement in Spanish is worth a point.  Use any of the following sentence starters to form statements.

  1. Ayer, yo . . .
  2. Mañana, yo voy a . . .
  3. Estoy . . . porque . . .
  4. Durante el fin de semana . . .
  5. Yo quiero . . .
  6. Mi familia es . . . (describe)
  7. Mi mejor amigo es . . . (describe)
  8. En el tiempo libre, me gusta . . .
  9. Una persona muy especial es . . . (y describe)
  10. Mi héroe es . . . porque . . .
Posted in Participation, Technology | Leave a comment