There is an elephant that is small, fat, purple, and blue...

TPRS with my fifth graders was fun this week. Due to assemblies and a few missed classes, we will be finishing up the cuentos next week but overall it was awesome. I am very happy with how the stories came to life! The students were very excited and had lots of good ideas. Here's the process I used in class. There are a few things I'd tweak and couple things that need improvement but overall this process worked out pretty well.


First, I told the students that we were going to be creating a cuento fantástico. Since cuento is a new word, I told them what it meant in English right away. (It means story for all you non-Spanish speakers.) Then, I introduced 3 new vocabulary terms. Now, these vocabulary terms are not what we are currently studying in class but are necessary words in order to create a story. These words are va a ... (he/she goes to ...), le da... (he or she gives ... to him/her), and dice (he/she says). I put the words up on the board with the English right next to it. After pairing each phrase with a gesture, I had the students translate what the words meant. (side note: Sometimes I like the immediate translation from Spanish to English because then you know for sure if the students are understanding or not, but that also takes away from teaching students how to think in Spanish. I flip flop back and forth from what I think is most beneficial so for now, it depends on the activity but I provide both methods at some point in my class. Most often, I choose to provide picture translations so the students can see the picture and interpret the meaning from there. However, pictures aren't always as clear as I want them to be so that can sometimes be more confusing. It all depends.) Getting back to TPRS... after practicing saying the phrases with the gestures, I said the phrases and the students just did the gestures. We practiced groups of 3 phrases in a row (for example, dice dice le da or le da va a dice) with open eyes so students could still see the board. Then they closed their eyes and had to do the gestures without any hints and just from memory. Everyone did really well! This was all I did to practice the vocabulary. My cooperating teacher from last year would have a bit more practice before eyes closed. He split the class into to groups (boys/girls) and would have one group perform while the other group watched. Then they switched so the other group could perform. After all that, they did the gestures with eyes closed. Since I don't have as much time with my elementary students, I decided to take away that step.


Finally it was time for the story. Yay! Since this was the first time with my students, we talked in English a little first about what is important in a story... a problem, a setting, and a character. After discussing (briefly) these story elements, it was time to create the character in Spanish. They could chose person or animal, what type of animal, the name, adjectives to describe it, any colors, etc... That is how one class came up with Hay un elefante. El elefante es pequeño, gordo, morado, y azul. (There is an elephant. The elephant is small, fat, purple, and blue.) Since we're currently studying tener expressions, the elephant's problem was that he was scared since he was so small. So he decided to eat a lot of food in order to get bigger and be less scared. 


One huge part of TPRS is circling the vocabulary with lots of questions. It takes a very long time to build this skill and practice only makes you better. However, taking a year off really lowers your skill level.... as it has done to mine. By the end of my student teaching, I could circle the vocabulary quickly, with lots of variety, and make sure all of my students could answer every question. I am still trying to get back into that mindset so my circling questions aren't as great right now. That only improves with time :) I'm already way better today than I was at the beginning of the week.


After the story was finished the students then read (out loud and in Spanish!) their story that I had typed out and projected onto the board. Each student read one sentence (and did a fantastic job I might add!) then I handed out a paper with three boxes. Since each story is 3 paragraphs, students needed to draw one paragraph for each box on their paper. They really enjoyed this part. I'm looking forward to doing more stories with my students! I know I'll post again about TPRS soon, so keep your eye out if this topic interests you. If you're interested in reading one of my class's stories, It's below this post, entirely in Spanish, and in the words of my students.

Hay una persona. Es una chica. La chica se llama Selena Gomez. Es baja y bonita y gorda. Tiene mucha hambre.

Selena Gomez va al restaurante. El restaurante se llama Scooters. Justin Beiber trabaja en Scooters.  Justin Beiber es feo y gordo. Justin Beiber le da el plátano con chocolate. Selena Gomez dice <¡Qué asco!> y está enojada.

Selena Gomez va a un restaurante diferente. El restaurante se llama The Melting Pot y está en Lake Forest. Justin Timberlake y Maroon 5 trabajan en The Melting Pot. 6 personas trabajan en The Melting Pot. Justin Timberlake y Maroon 5 le dan el sándwich de helado chocolate. Selena Gomez dice <Mmm delicioso> y está feliz. Está feliz porque no tiene hambre. El fin.