Thursday, November 12, 2015

The Yellow Brick Road Discussion

I caught a glimpse of someone's blog post that referred to an activity called the yellow brick road. I think it was Grant Boulanger; correct me someone if you've read it and I'm wrong. There were yellow papers on the floor and students were discussing. Unfortunately I didn't read closely enough about that activity but it did spur an alternate idea for discussion.

We were about to embark on a new reading, albeit brief. I also wanted to go back and review the "Super Seven" verbs and the "Sweet 16" verbs. These became the focus of our review in Spanish I yesterday. The reading had a picture of two women meeting at a street corner. I copied this to the center of yellow paper bookended it with a verb. I placed these up and down the aisles of desks and directed students to stand, with a partner, at each paper. They had to discuss the picture on the paper for 2 minutes with their partner, focusing on the verb given on the paper. They then moved one brick to the right, one to the left, to find a new verb and discussion partner. They continued the descriptions of the same two women, but using different verbs.

There were other activities that were included in this lesson, but I loved this one as it gave them a different way to achieve the same goals. Speaking of goals, I wanted the students to:
1) communicate in Spanish
2) negotiate meaning with a partner
3) review the core verbs
4) front load what may happen in the story to better anticipate what will be coming
5) have fun

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