Showing posts with label TPRS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TPRS. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
So much to do... so little time...
As I have posted about before, I am currently doing a mini TPRS unit with my fifth grade classes. The creating of the stories went really, really well and I was pleased with the end results. As a follow up, I wanted the kids to draw pictures about the story that their class created to make sure they understood what it was about, translate a new (but similar) story with a friend, and then read some of the stories that other classes created. I had hoped this would take just over a week... about one activity per lesson. However, I quickly realized that my goals were too ambitious with the time constraints of my class and so I eliminated the last step. However, it has taken 2 weeks (6 classes.... about 3 hours of Spanish time) and I still have students that aren't quite finished. I don't know if I made the story too difficult to translate (although my higher-level students finished it quickly--probably means I need to differentiate more) or if I let them spend too much time drawing their pictures when that was supposed to be something quick, or if the interference of never-ending assemblies at my school have messed too much with my schedule and I didn't have my classes as long as I thought. I believe it is probably a combination of all 3 factors, and more that I cannot think of. I do not differentiate nearly as much as I should for my classes and that showed with this activity. However, there are some things that I cannot control so I need to be flexible. All this comes with experience and I am definitely on a learning curve right now. On a positive note, I was able to change and adapt my lesson plans based on the circumstances, which is step one to developing an appropriate curriculum. I am learning every day what it takes to be a great teacher and this learning process will never stop. Even though I do get frustrated sometimes, I am very happy to be where I am and doing what I'm doing. I am learning on the job every single day and I like to think that I am improving every single day as well. We all have good days and bad days, good lessons and lessons that need improvement but so far, I've had many more good days and good lessons than not, so this year is going pretty well.
Friday, February 10, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Storytelling
I had a different student teaching experience than most people for two reasons. First, I student taught not only Spanish, but also math (both at the secondary level). My minor is in mathematics and when searching last year, I always found that there were more math jobs available than Spanish jobs. However, teaching math allowed me to fully realize my passion for teaching Spanish. I discovered that while I enjoy doing math on my own and love the challenge of solving a difficult problem, I do not enjoy as much teaching other people how to find that joy in solving a difficult problem. My passion does not lie with mathematics... my true passion lies with the teaching of world languages and making the world smaller by helping people to communicate with each other.
The second reason my student teaching experience was different is because I did not teach the "traditional" method... i.e. out of a textbook. Instead, I learned how to teach using Blaine Ray's TPRS: Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling method. I love this method! I taught the first semester of Spanish 1 and was amazed by how much my students grew in such a small amount of time. By the end of the first week, the students had created a short story, retold the short story, and written a different short story entirely in Spanish! Now, by short story, I do mean SHORT story. It was a small paragraph with no more than a few sentences. However by the end of the semester, my students could easily write over 100 word stories in under 8 minutes. The first rule of TPRS according to my cooperating teacher is that normal is boring. So, my students could never create a story about a brown dog that is thirsty and searches for water. Instead, they came up with ideas to make stories more interesting (ie a short, fat, purple dog searches for chocolate milk); they added twists to the stories to have something unexpected occur (the dog drives a car in his desperate attempt to find said milk); and always, ALWAYS, something exploded at the end of the story (possibly the car... but luckily the dog was in the school getting his chocolate milk from a fifth grader so he was safe). That last bit was my cooperating teacher's touch to TPRS: teach the kids how to say something explodes and before you know it, at the end of every story their rival school gets blown up. That, I must say, was very entertaining to me.
Now, there are a few things that I dislike about TPRS (for example, the books that go along with the curriculum are repetitive with a plot that leaves much to be desired and the movies are very clearly independent films that were not very enjoyed by my high schoolers) but overall I think that it is a fantastic method of teaching. I've really missed it this year with teaching elementary students, so I am actually trying it out with my 5th graders this week! It's going to look very different though for a couple a reasons. My class time is bumped from 70 minutes/day to 27 minutes/3x a week. So last year while I was able to complete a whole cuento in one class from start to finish, I think it will take me a week with my schedule this year. I have been doing some research in a book I found called ¡Hola niños! by Carol Gaab. (Her blog is here.) This book is very comprehensive and specific and gives units, vocabulary, and actual day-to-day lesson plans easy enough for anyone to follow. In order to use these exact materials, I think it is necessary to start from the beginning so that the students have the same vocabulary as the curriculum and can follow the curriculum the way it is laid out. Since this is the first time my students have been taught using the TPRS method I am instead looking at her general lesson plans and adapting those activities to the vocabulary that I am currently teaching (tener expressions). However, her lesson plans are for 5 day weeks and I only have a 3 day week so I am adjusting the activities there as well. I'll write again at the end of the week and let you know how it went! If anyone has any tips or advice for using TPRS with a younger audience, please let me know!
The second reason my student teaching experience was different is because I did not teach the "traditional" method... i.e. out of a textbook. Instead, I learned how to teach using Blaine Ray's TPRS: Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling method. I love this method! I taught the first semester of Spanish 1 and was amazed by how much my students grew in such a small amount of time. By the end of the first week, the students had created a short story, retold the short story, and written a different short story entirely in Spanish! Now, by short story, I do mean SHORT story. It was a small paragraph with no more than a few sentences. However by the end of the semester, my students could easily write over 100 word stories in under 8 minutes. The first rule of TPRS according to my cooperating teacher is that normal is boring. So, my students could never create a story about a brown dog that is thirsty and searches for water. Instead, they came up with ideas to make stories more interesting (ie a short, fat, purple dog searches for chocolate milk); they added twists to the stories to have something unexpected occur (the dog drives a car in his desperate attempt to find said milk); and always, ALWAYS, something exploded at the end of the story (possibly the car... but luckily the dog was in the school getting his chocolate milk from a fifth grader so he was safe). That last bit was my cooperating teacher's touch to TPRS: teach the kids how to say something explodes and before you know it, at the end of every story their rival school gets blown up. That, I must say, was very entertaining to me.
Now, there are a few things that I dislike about TPRS (for example, the books that go along with the curriculum are repetitive with a plot that leaves much to be desired and the movies are very clearly independent films that were not very enjoyed by my high schoolers) but overall I think that it is a fantastic method of teaching. I've really missed it this year with teaching elementary students, so I am actually trying it out with my 5th graders this week! It's going to look very different though for a couple a reasons. My class time is bumped from 70 minutes/day to 27 minutes/3x a week. So last year while I was able to complete a whole cuento in one class from start to finish, I think it will take me a week with my schedule this year. I have been doing some research in a book I found called ¡Hola niños! by Carol Gaab. (Her blog is here.) This book is very comprehensive and specific and gives units, vocabulary, and actual day-to-day lesson plans easy enough for anyone to follow. In order to use these exact materials, I think it is necessary to start from the beginning so that the students have the same vocabulary as the curriculum and can follow the curriculum the way it is laid out. Since this is the first time my students have been taught using the TPRS method I am instead looking at her general lesson plans and adapting those activities to the vocabulary that I am currently teaching (tener expressions). However, her lesson plans are for 5 day weeks and I only have a 3 day week so I am adjusting the activities there as well. I'll write again at the end of the week and let you know how it went! If anyone has any tips or advice for using TPRS with a younger audience, please let me know!
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