We did our first ever story in Spanish 1 and it was awesome. I was nervous trying a story for the first time with a new group, but once again Martina Bex’s detailed plans helped lay a solid foundation. After our week 1 focusing on procedures, proficiency and positive people, week 2 we did a variation to Martina’s Dice (says) unit.
It was very helpful to actually go through the expectations for story asking in advance, so that everyone was on the same page. We started with just 3 basic expectations: use confused signal when they do not understand, respond when a question is asked, and respond appropriately as a class when a new detail is introduced (ooo, ahhh, ect). Last year I jumped straight into novels, and we kind of missed the story asking basics, so this year we are trying to take it a little slower.
Also, last year as a newbie, I used to cling to the story outlines, poorly forcing stories in a certain direction. For our first try I really let the kids take the reigns in leading where it would go, while just trying to get in repetitions of our target structures (this is, a girl, a boy & calls him/her self). They Loved having control and really surprised me with their creativity and enthusiasm, even the quiet early morning class. I think the secret weapon that really helped was I got out a prop to start with, a cape. In both classes the enthusiastic boys embraced having a new identity with the help of their cape.
1st hour used the cape and came up with the story Jared el vampiro. I need to start having class jobs, but for that day once we finished we had a couple minutes left of class, so I asked everyone to write down as much as they could from our story, both for themselves and for me to remember what happened. I happen to have prep right after that class, so I quickly compiled a simplified version of their story into a typed document. We went a little too far out of what we have studied so far adding in descriptions, but since we used cognates, it stayed comprehensible. I then put it into a storyboard to use the next day as reading practice. You can download the storyboard here – Jared el vampiro.
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| Jared el vampiro & Taylor Swift |
The other class decided that the caped muchacho was Batman and came up with an equally entertaining story Batman y Rachel. I created a storyboard for them as well. Feel free to use theses stories for emergency Spanish 1 sub plans! In this class we did not have any girl volunteers, but instead a boy who wanted to play the girl (who then got a wig, which actually completely made the story). Both classes flew through the storyboards the next day since they knew the story so well already. I also printed the other classes storyboards for extra practice, and so they could see what the other class came up with. Their reading confidence has gone through the roof!
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| Batman y “Rachel” |
