Silly Stories in Spanish!
1/30/2018
The SetupMaking up a silly story with students is one of the easiest, most powerful tools a teacher can use in a language classroom. It allows for movement, humor, tons of opportunities for students to speak confidently, and myriad spinoff opportunities for readings, writings, acting, and more. However, if you don't start with one very special thing, your story is going nowhere fast, and the students are coming out at the end with a whole lot of nothing to show for their time. That one special thing? Comprehensibility. The setup for a story HAS to begin with very clearly defined target vocab. Whatever the curriculum calls for, whatever the zeitgeist has led to, those words or phrases which will form the backbone of the story MUST be written large and clearly in Spanish AND English on the side of the board, visible to all students at all times. They need to be reviewed. Movements should be attached to them. A short quiz can check who remembers the words well. If the target terms are easily understood by everyone in the class every time they're said, the story has legs. If there's doubt, confusion, difficulty . . . time to circle back. The BuildupOnce you've established your target terms and made triple-sure everyone understands them, it's time to make a story. The elements of a great classroom story are pretty simple - there needs to be action. It needs to be repeated by various characters. There need to be variable outcomes for the characters. Something wacky should happen. This week's story with the 7th and 8th grade had four target phrases: ESQUIA: he/she skis RAPIDO: fast MONTA: he/she rides CHOCA CON: he/she crashes into We associated movements with these words and quizzed ourselves on them, making sure every student understood every time they heard them exactly what was going on. Then we made a story. I drew a ski mountain on the board, and told the students (all in Spanish) "This is the mountain" (esta es la montaña) Then the fun part. We need some characters. Again, 100% in the target language, I ask, "who skis? Mickey Mouse skis? Moana skis? Tyrannosaurus Rex skis?" With the presentation of silly options, it is clear and comprehensible what I'm looking for. Students fill in the blanks, and each skiier has a different experience. We throw in shapes and colors (green circle, blue square, black diamond) and circle back to vocab we've covered in conversations previous (easy/hard, is scared, etc.). As this is all review, it is 100% comprehensible and it is 100% delivered in the target language. Eventually the story is complete: Hello Kitty rides the lift up the mountain. She skis on the blue square. She skis very fast. Oh no! A rock is on the blue square part of the mountain! Hello Kitty crashes into the rock. An ambulance takes Hello Kitty to the hospital. Then, Steve and Dustin from Stranger Things ski. They ski on the black diamond. They ski very fast! It is very difficult. Oh no, Eleven is on the black diamond! But, Steve and Dustin do not crash into Eleven. Steve and Dustin are very talented. This is done 98% in the target language and all details come from the students. The CheckupTelling a story is one thing. ASKING a story is another. It's at this point in the process that class might end, and tomorrow when the kids show up, the mountain is there, but I have a terrible case of amnesia. I cannot recall who skis where, what happens to them, or basically anything. I now ASK the story, using TONS of repetitions of our target phrases (Who skis fast? Does Mickey Mouse ski fast? No? Mickey does not ski fast? Who skis fast? Does Eleven ski fast? She does not ski fast. Does Hello Kitty ski fast? Yes, Hello Kitty skis fast. etc.) The opportunity for MAXIMUM comprehensible input is very high. The students are engaged as they made up all the details and are inexorably proud of their decisions on who crashes horribly and who skis flawlessly. The WorkupNow there are myriad opportunities to work this story into other activities and fluency areas. Type up a version of the story with words/parts missing. Read a new version of the story. Write your own version. Read a different version and act it out. Narrate a group acting out a version they made up. Present the story to another class. Listen to a recorded version of a similar story and draw the action. The possibilities are nearly endless, as is the depth to which students can become acquainted with new terms and put them into their permanent vocabulary. Below you can see some 7th and 8th graders doing the motions for the target terms, then creating and re-telling the story. Another big success! Comments are closed.
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