Seeking out new ways to educate students and expand the learning environment. Looking for out-of-the-box ideas for 21st century educational exploration.
After viewing a blog post from Profe Tauchman, Running Dictation, I wanted to replicate the game with my students. We had to review another chapter from our book. This seemed like a great way to get in more reps in an active way so that students couldn't be complacent and take a back seat. It was also a game that I had not played with them yet.
The desks were arranged in pods of 4. As students entered the room, they were instructed to choose a seat with students they could work with productively. One we got started, students were explained the jobs of each person and they could choose which job they wanted. Each pod had one individual marker board and a marker.
El corredor - this person runs to me at the front of class to see the sentence. He can return to see the sentence as many times as necessary to get it correct. El secretario - has the marker and board, writing exactly what the corredor tells her. She can ask questions, ask for clarification, or for the corredor to return to the front to see the sentence again. El dibujante - takes the marker and board from the secretario to draw an obvious picture of the sentence. All parts should be included and clear visualization of the sentence. El maestro - is in charge of being sure that everything is spelled correctly, and eventually raises the board for affirmation of answer.
Once a board was raised, I would indicate to each group if they had a typo or needed a clearer picture. No specifics were given about where the typo was or what needed to be added or changed about the picture. The first correct answer was awarded a point for their team.
Once a team won a point, we discussed additional information about the sentence, including as many structures as possible.
What a beautiful day we had last week! It was time for a walking lesson.
I first heard about doing this about 15 years ago when I attended a conference that I don't remember or even where it was. However, the underlying theme of the session was wellness: students need to move to get their blood pumping so that the brain is active and responds more quickly. Yeah, that made sense to me and I love being outside and not cooped up in a room for an extended period of time. I can only imagine what our students go through as well. They definitely need a change of environment, too.
We have been reading a novel (only into the second chapter), so I thought this would be a great way to review the events and structures that they have been struggling with in the reading. I usually retype the novels and add links to cultural topics, translate some FYI words, and add comprehension questions and ancillary activities at the end. The students can also take their own notes directly in their book, too.
Preparation
Using the comprehension questions already created, I copied them onto a new document and labeled two identical lists with "A" and "B". Before school I drive the route that I will be taking the students on and use sidewalk chalk to mark numbers randomly. For example, if I have 8 questions, I randomly write the numbers 1-8 along the route on the sidewalk.
Rules
Students need to have the expectations set out ahead of time to be sure this activity runs smoothly. Most of these are intact in the physical classroom, but once the classroom becomes mobile, kids tends to throw out the rules.
1) Respect:
-respect the community - stay on the sidewalk, don't run through yards, pet dogs or other animals. This gives us good relations within the community.
-respect each other - we have a social contract in our classroom and they need to be reminded that this is still in effect even though we are not in the physical classroom; when we are together, it is our classroom and the contract is still in place with our group.
-respect other classes - students get very excited for this activity and are very chatty as we head out the door and through the hallways to get outside. Reminding them that this is a privilege that they have earned to do this activity and we need to respect the other classes that are still "back home". There should be silence in the hallways, just as if they were going to the restroom.
2) All in target language: Again, although we are not in the classroom, the expectation that we are still practicing our skills. The best way to do that? Use it!
3) Observe the silence: Sometimes we get so involved in pushing the language, but honestly, just listening to nature can go a long way to igniting energy and excitement. Introverts love this rule! Also, it is very rare that no one is talking so they do get some additional listening practice as they are observing silence.
4) Stay as a group - 1/2 block: Although we are on a walk, it is important to stay together, within a half block between the first person and the last person. I usually don't have a problem with students escaping or taking a longer or different route than planned, but it is important to stay as a group to keep a head count. Also, if they are all together, additional listening practice is built in and there is collaboration if they forget how to say something.
Walk Before heading out the door, I draw a simple map on the board so that they know the route. They also need to know that the questions will be along the route in random order. Once they pass over a number, it corresponds to a number on their list and should be discussing it with their partner until they get to the next number. It may be that they are not able to discuss the entire question before getting to the next one - they can continue it later when they get to a question that is shorter and run out of something to say.
Students match up, using the A questions and the B questions. They do figure out pretty quickly that they are the same, but this helps it be a little more random. Some walks I will create different questions between A and B lists. I make the students stand at the door next to their partner and I quickly glance that there is an A with a B. This becomes their conversation partner on the walk. A quick reminder to be respectful in the hallways and we are off!
As we are walking, I moving forward and back, listening to students. I also engage them in random conversation when they are done answering the question, sometimes before they even start the question. The real goal: conversation, right? Who cares what they say as long as it's in the target language!
Processing
When we get back, we process the walk. First, we analyze the rules and how well we did with the expectations. I call out the rules, one-by-one and the students rate themselves 1-5 with their fingers. For example, one class had an overall rating of 5 fingers (max) for respect and staying together, but next time we will have to work on staying in the target language (2 fingers) and observing silence (1 finger, contributing to lack of TL).
Then, as a group we went through the questions again. Yes, it was another way to get in more reps! It also clarified the chapter content for the students.
In the end, they really enjoyed it and wanted to do this at least weekly. Hmmm, I think I'll keep that tucked in my back pocket for novelty. :)
One of the main premises of TPRS/CI is that the students hear the structures multiple times. How does this happen? Using as many repetitions (reps) as possible in novel ways, circling the structures. While we can all improve our trade, I always felt this was one area that I needed to focus on...until last week. It dawned on me that students receive reps in ways that I didn't think about before, using strategies that I knew worked. In reflection, I see that there are numerous reps they hear each class period.
Last week we started a new book, El viaje perdidoby Lisa Ray Turner and Blaine Ray. The vocabulary structures we focused on were:
El vocabulario útil:
le encanta(n) - s/he loves (likes a lot)
mareada - seasick; dizzy
ni siquiera - not even
tenían vergüenza - they were ashamed
se dio cuenta que - he realized
a pesar de - despite
prodrido - spoiled
una bruja - witch
una broma - joke
Gramática importante:
había robado - he had robbed
había leído - he had read We took no more than 2 structures a day, and slowly reading the chapter, circling content that was important and using the vocabulary. I chose a couple vocabulary words that we would be using in the reading that day. Here's how this played out: Opportunity #1 Bellringer When students enter the room, they see these super mini stories with their picture that I find on the Internet and pasted onto situational pictures also pulled from the Internet, like this one using some of our structures. Some are old, most are recent. Some are words that they struggled with the day before. Either way, they can't wait to get into class to see who is next on the big screen. Once attendance is taken, and other book keeping activities we do as teachers, we translate the story as a class. They see the vocabulary used again in a different context and we circle the information and elaborate the story using additional reps. I have also been known to use parallel characters (a flipped idea of a parallel character to the actual story) that uses the characters in the novel we are reading. Sometimes I will stretch their problem-solving skills by adding in a new word to see if they can understand it through context. Usually they can!
Opportunity #2 1, 2, 3, ¡YA! Using the vocabulary structures from the previous day and adding additional vocab from the part of the novel we read the day before, or any previous structures. I call out a word from the list and say, "1, 2, 3, ¡YA!" On ¡Ya!, students hold the corresponding number of fingers to "post their answer". There are always 5 words to correspond to their 5 fingers so they don't need both hands. It's a quick check of their language acquisition, based on our previous learning.
Opportunity #3 New vocab & PQA To introduce new vocabulary, a few at a time, students repeat the vocab with me as I repeat it at least 3 times, more if they are struggling with the pronunciation. This means they hear it up to 6 times between me and the student repeating it. Then we enter into PQA conversation using the given structures. I try to give them possible other vocabulary that may come into conversation as we begin discussing. I am always amazed how kids will retain even this FYI vocabulary later and use in their retells and writing (output), even the traditionally "low" students. Pull out grammar is vital in this stage as they need to be aware of está podrido/a/os/as using the different foods mentioned. Lately, I've been able to even keep this in the target language. Now that we are in the middle of the chapter of the novel, the students are familiar with the characters and basically what's happening in the storyline, we can start to make predictions about what the characters will be doing based on the new vocabulary.
Opportunity #4 Character retell When we start any novel, it is uber important to understand the characters and some background on them. This is an opportunity to Q/A characteristics of the main characters. I first allow students to volunteer any information they may know/remember about them and I will repeat the statements - yep, there's more reps! Then I will ask additional questions to engage them in focused structures through additional brief circling of content and structures. Pull out grammar is ideal here, too, to be sure they are understanding basic ideas of the language. This book gives great physical descriptions of these characters so earlier the students drew pictures of each one, adding to their collage of drawings every time a new character was introduced. Using their pictures, they partner with another student to describe each character. This gives them good listening (additional input reps) and speaking (output reps) practice. After the students have an opportunity to retell all they know or can about the characters, we come back together and I ask... Clase, ¿quién es alto? ¿quién está mareada? ¿quién es una mujer hermosa? etc so that they get additional reps of current and past vocabulary.
Next part of the novel We are now able to enter the novel again. In a 90-minute class period, we are now down about about the last 30 minutes of the block. Wow, that has been a LOT of reps up to this point. This is why if they don't completely have the structures acquired during the reading I know they will get more the next day. This will give them additional, novel information to add to what we are talking about so that we can expand their conversation.
Once we start into the novel again, we first have to review what we know so far, right? Yep, more reps at this stage.
We will continue reading where we left off the day before. As we read, I continually circle the content and vocabulary that they struggle with to better understand it. Just as proficient readers continually ask themselves questions like:
Does this make sense?
How does this new character relate to the other characters?
Why is this character doing/say/acting this way?
Is this in check with the storyline? Is something not logical here?
_____?
Proficient readers also take notes, summarize, review, reread, look up words they don't understand, and discuss what they have read. This is why when we teach reading in another language we have to directly teach students to do develop these skills. This pushes teachers to ask all kinds of higher order thinking skill questions. Acquisition plus HOTS? Woah. It also allows for more reps to be included! How cleverare language teachers, right?
Opportunity #6 Quick Write At some convenient stopping point, usually 5-8 minutes before the end of class, students do a quickwrite. The goal is 100 words in 5 minutes. Again, this gives them additional reps using the language and the new vocabulary. Sometimes I allow them to use their notes, vocabulary structures, or whatever they have at their disposal (just not their book because I don't want them to copy the book onto paper!). Other times, for the challenge, I will have them put their notes away and just go from memory. It is truly amazing what they can do; some will even surprise themselves!
Opportunity #7 Acting When there is time and we have a shorter chapter with lots of action, students will help the class visualize what is happening while someone narrates the story. This could be a Reader's Theater style, a skit, based on the novel, or simply me doing Q/A while the students act. I did not do this last week, but it is definitely in my toolbox to get more reps into the class period. The reading of the novel is what I have traditionally called the "meat" of the lesson since this is my goal is to have students read in the target language, seeing the vocabulary in context, and having impromptu conversations with the vocab and content. I was elated when my students last year no longer had formal structures "taught" because all we had to do was read and they understood the structures, using the aforementioned strategies. They just picked up the content and vocabulary because the learning was uninhibited and natural. That was some really fun teaching! I hope to get my new students to this level, too. Giving students as many reps of the vocabulary as possible is the surest way to give the gift of acquisition. When they have truly acquired the language, know what "sounds right", and can output the language they need, when they need it, we have accomplished our goal of language learning. It's not about the stories, it's about the learning and acquisition. OK, I'll also throw in, having fun too. This was just one lesson on one day, but gives a structure to how I plan my lessons. I certainly do many more activities than just these. This was meant to be a reflection on how I (we as CI teachers) naturally incorporate reps into our lessons. It wasn't until I looked outside my "meat and potatoes" that I was able to validate the quality that I did have in my lessons even though we spent so many days on one chapter. What are some ways you get additional reps in your lessons? Please share in the comments below.
The Easter season brings cascarrones for those in Mexico so it is only natural that we celebrate this in class. I love giving students experiential opportunities and this is a great activity to not only show them then tradition or simply read about or discuss the tradition, but they actually get to role play and act out the custom.
About 20 years ago I came across this reading, but do not recall where it came from or where I found it. If anyone recognizes it, please let me know and I will give credit to the source. José is a young student who finds himself in an American school for the first time and regularly messes up his words, trying to accurately get the customs figured out. By spring time he is feeling quite discouraged that he will never get it right. Finally, the Easter traditions so prevalent in US schools opens a door to sharing his Mexican heritage and ultimately gains newfound friendships.
Yes, you can imagine the numerous themes in this short bilingual reading!
As the students enter the classroom, I hand them a copy of the script on colored paper. Each paper is color-coded:
N Narratorwhite
MM Miss Martinpink
J Joséblue
MMamáred
SStudentgreen
TTimmytan
José’s family yellow
CLASSMATES purple
Once the students are in the room and settled, they learn what the colors of the papers mean. They are then instructed to move to a side of the room that corresponds to José's home and the school. The narrator and José are in the middle to start the role play. The narrator begins reading the text and the students act out the story. At the moment that it says they go out to the playground, we all leave and go outside. At first the students look rather perplexed until they figure out that yes, indeed, we are going outside! The story continues as they act out the smashing of the eggs on each other's head. Before returning to class we brush off the confetti from each other so as not to upset the custodial staff when we return to the building.
[This was first period of the day so we got the early morning sun in the photos, too.]
After returning to class and finishing the role play, the students watch a brief video of a woman making and selling the cascarrones in a market. We then discuss some of the themes: immigration, seclusion, religion, language barriers, exchange program experiences, etc.
I have been on a quest to create as many different activities for reading comprehension as I can. I have stolen many great ideas from some amazing CI educators. At the iFLT conference last summer in Minnesota, someone presented an imposter activity. While I don't remember the exact details of what was presented without referring to my notes, it sparked an idea for an activity that I needed.
I took small details from the chapter we were reading and grouped them into lists of four. The students received four papers, each on different colored paper, numbered 1-4. One at a time, they saw each list and raise the paper corresponding to the numbered engañabobo. Here's an example from chapter 7 of La Hija del Sastre:
1.Emilia
pensaba
mucho en Ignacio.
2.Emilia
estaba con muchailusión del regreso de
Ignacio.
3.Emilia
usólasfantasíasparatrabajarmás.
4.Emilia
queríabesarle a
Ignacio.
It was easy to quickly assess their understanding of what they read. A few questions revealed some misunderstandings that the students had so we were able to discuss these and get them back on track. It was really a fun activity for both the students and the teacher.
Being new to Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW), I brought instruction to my team for the first time this past week. It has been an great experience getting feedback from colleagues outside of my content area. Their passions are in social studies, special education, family and consumer science, English language arts, and science. Having someone provide feedback that is truly objective, through a lens that may mimic a student's innocent eyes is a fresh perspective.
The lesson I chose to use was a reading lesson in which my Spanish II students were reading Piratas. I condensed a 90-minute lesson to about 5 minutes so these are pieces of the lesson. I tried to help my team by titling the chunked lesson. This also assisted them in understanding better what was happening in the lesson. At the end, one thing a colleague said was, "It has been [cough] a few years since I sat in any language class, and it wasn't Spanish. Just the little bit I heard here, with all the repetition, I was starting to pick up what the words meant." Hallelujah! This is the power of TPRS/CI.
One of my goals is to really push students into higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), going beyond the circling of information using LOTS. I try to pull information not just from the sentence, paragraph, or even current chapter we are discussing; questions come from previous chapters to establish why the characters are doing or saying what they are, and also making predictions of what may come in future chapters, even after the end of the novel.
So, here comes my very vulnerable side. I am posting this to the TPRS/CI world in hopes of getting some content area feedback from my peers. I know this is not a perfect lesson, so please poke holes into this, contact me directly if you prefer or post in comments below. I would love to hear your feedback. A script follows.
Kim: OK, number 1, Why did Antonio abandon Raquel?
Student: in the market
Kim: huh? Yeah, in the market, but why? Why did he?
Student: because Raquel doesn’t want to go
Kim: yeah, because Raquel doesn’t want to go with Antonio,
yeah and Felipe, Felipe gave to a….
Student: note
Kim: note from Antonio and gave it to …
Student: Raquel
Kim: Raquel, and Raquel responded to him…¿no?...What did she
respond to him?
Student:
Kim: No, Raquel didn’t respond to Antonio wrote the note to
Raquel and Felipe gave the note to Raquel…and Raquel told him… Nope, I don’t
want to go.
Exploring theme in
chapter - Secrets
Kim (while writing): Feminine secret
Kim: It’s Raquel, but there are many secrets in this novel,
right? One secret is… (writing on board) Raquel is a woman.
Student: Raquel’s boyfriend is Antonio.
Kim: Yeah, Raquel’s boyfriend is Antonio. Excellent! Another
secret?
Kim: Yes, Raquel is a pirate. In reality, is Raquel a
pirate?
Student: no.
Student: She has pirate clothing.
Kim: Exactly! She has … What does she have?
Student: clothing
Kim: Yeah, right. She has a jacket, …
Student: pants
Kim: Pirate pants; she has…
Student: hat
Kim: Pirate hat; she has…
Student: shoes
Kim: shoes, boots of a pirate
Kim: but, in reality she’s not a pirate; she’s a fake [new
word] pirate. Right? She’s a fake pirate.
Reading the chapter
with visuals
Student: CARLOS!
Kim: Carlos is there and the pirates capture him. Antonio
escapes with…
Student: Felipe
Kim: Yeah, Carlos and Felipe escape. The pirates speak with…
The pirates speak with…?
Student: Raquel
Kim: …with Raquel, and now her name isn’t Raquel. What is
her name?
Student: Santiago
Kim: Santiago. Exactly! …and all of them…leave to the south.
What does south mean, class?
Student: south
Kim: South, yeah. They escape to the south to the pirate
boat. Henry (listen up boys), Henry goes to the south. Antonio goes to the
north. Look, Antonio’s boat..
Acting out the
chapter
Kim: “Antonio thinks a lot… Antonio thinks a lot…”
One of the goals of any great language program is for the students to develop an ability to listen to and understand the native voice. This is a skill building activity that occurs over time with numerous interactions with a variety of speakers in different contexts.
In my Spanish IV class, students jump on the elevator of listening starting at the ground floor. While this is something that is scaffold, starting in the lowest levels, it truly is like getting on an elevator: The elevator goes up (skill building), pauses at floors (plateaus), continues up (with additional, deeper skills), and sometimes goes down a level or two before proceeding up again.
Some of the first voices they hear are from cartoons and children's TV shows, such as Pocoyo and Fifi y los floreguitos, easily found online shows. This is meant to be easy as it usually involves simplified speech with lots of visuals to aid comprehension. This moves to a baseball game commentated by natives with some Spanglish. Eventually students are watching news reports, some of the fastest speech out there, and comprehending.
To assist in comprehension, students don't simply listen and *poof* they are great listeners. There are scaffolding activities that happen. For example, in the baseball video, students have a guiding worksheet of items they are looking for while watching. Some of these include listening to the speech of the commentators, but others include nonverbals like identifying the names of products on the signs in the outfield.
This particular guiding worksheet prioritizes what they are looking for as they listen to the video. Some teachers could use this for standards-based grading, but I prefer to use it more as a personal challenge for the students. The top part is obligatory - everyone must get those, then the English words that are used. Finally, at the bottom, are a list of words that are the biggest challenge and require deep listening to the commentators and commercials.
The first time students hear the native voice, it can be a very intimidating experience. However, I explain to them the analogy of a ceiling fan. When you first look at it spinning on high, it appears to be a large disk. If you continue to watch it, you eventually see that there are blades and not one solid disk going around. With additional concentration, one can pick out and follow an individual blade all the way around, without adjusting the speed of the fan. This is all true of language, too. At first it just sounds like one big word and they're all talking way too fast. However, after some training of your ears, you will start to pick out individual words. Eventually, you will begin to hear full phrases and be able to communicate with other people.
As we all know, this is not an overnight process and it takes time and intentional effort to make it happen. Small steps and guided activities such as these can make a big difference in building confidence with students.
The desks were arranged in pods of 4. As students entered the room, they were instructed to choose a seat with students they could work with productively. One we got started, students were explained the jobs of each person and they could choose which job they wanted. Each pod had one individual marker board and a marker.
El secretario - has the marker and board, writing exactly what the corredor tells her. She can ask questions, ask for clarification, or for the corredor to return to the front to see the sentence again.
