Authentic Resources and TPRS

Just read a great blog post from Kristy Placido on the use of authentic resources in a TPRS curriculum.    Without repeating too much of what she had to say, I wanted to express my thoughts on the subject.

I believe that authentic resources in a language classroom is important - inasmuch as they are comprehensible.  Bottom line is that students won't learn anything from something they cannot understand.  To promote language acquisition, I use my leveled readers as the core of my curriculum.  This upcoming year, we're going to use the Pobre Ana series along with the New LICT extended readers to form our curriculum.  These contain the most important words and structures need to learn to get started, and giving them materials that they can fully understand - mostly on their own - is a powerful learning experience.  In the end, Spanish is still Spanish, whether it comes from me or an "authentic" material.

Because students are learning the most common and important structures and phrases, they should be able to find them in authentic resources as well.  Ultimately, students should be ready to read and listen to these resources in a comprehensible way.  At first, that may include authentic stories that I present, as Kristy described:

For instance, if I want to discuss a news story, I might show my students an article or a short video about it (in Spanish). However, if the items are incomprehensible, I might use them primarily as a visual and speak about them myself in simpler language, focusing on a small amount of new vocabulary, relying on cognates, visuals, and previously-acquired vocabulary, and using very natural grammar and syntax. For higher-level classes, I might even type up an “embedded reading” in which I simplify the story for reading/discussion prior to delving in to the authentic resource.

I'm lucky enough to be working in a school where students have more than the "usual" amount of Spanish instruction and will be beginning high school with already three years of daily Spanish instruction with a CI curriculum.  I believe this will enable me to take the highest level classes another step forward and use authentic resources as the core of my curriculum, similar to the literature books we used in my college-level classes.  Of course, this will often have some sort of scaffolding to prepare the for the structures and vocabulary used in the material.  It'll be a few years before we have students at that level, but I'm very excited to see where this might lead in the years to come!

Just *little* overwhelmed

My goodness, so many things have happened in the last week!  I found out that I'll be teaching the Latino Culture class for the Boise State TRiO Upward Bound program and am putting together a curriculum for it, am getting ready to move, and accepted a long-term subbing position until the end of the school year at a local middle school.  At least now I'll have some consistency on a daily basis.  It's not Spanish, but I've subbed for the class a few times before and have a good relationship with the kids and other teachers that I'll be working with.  That's one less thing to worry about while I try to get this house sold and work on the curriculum for TWO classes!

Thought it's not until fall, I'm still trying to figure out how I want to go about my curriculum this fall.  At the heart of my curriculum will be my structures - what tools am I going to give my students to communicate?  I think I'm back to pulling my structures from the LICT books because they offer the most repetition and consistently build upon one another.  One of the reasons I love this book is because it uses the most common words and structures.  Moreover, the Pobre Ana series, also written by Blaine Ray, uses many of the same structures, so doing stories based on the LICT extended readers should enable students to read more and more of the Pobre Ana series.  Mostly, I just want my curriculum to be consistent and provide my students CI through repetition and spiraling!

That seems to be the direction I'm going... but I might have to put it on hold for a while I get this house ready to be sold and plan my Latino Culture class!

Finally, after logging into twitter simply to follow #manhunt yesterday for hours straight, I finally decided to get going with this Twitter thing - so good so far!  What an incredible thing technology is :)  Follow me there!

Latino Culture

I just found out I'll be teaching a class titled "Latino Culture" this summer for the TRiO Upward Bound program this summer!  This is a huge program as working with this program as an undergrad is what inspired me to become a teacher. I have a few ideas for where to start, but I'd really like to get ideas and suggestions from others for how to structure this class or activities we can do. I just got my certification this January, so this is my first official class and I'm completely new to planning and implementing my own curriculum! Plus, rather than being a Spanish class (which I'm much more familiar with), this will be taught entirely in English. An overall theme that I'd like to tie the class together is that each country and its culture is unique, but that we are all tied together by common themes and elements.

The class is 1.5 hours/day for 24 days, and I have free reign for what I want to do. Moreover, I have a lot of resources at my disposal that I wouldn't usually have in a regular classroom, such as the ability to take students to local restaurants and businesses. For example, I'm hoping to take the students to lunch at a local empanada shop run by this wonderful Mexican and Argentine couple as well as having a day of dance instruction by a ballroom dance studio.  The sky is the limit! If you have any ideas, resources, worksheets, etc. that might be helpful, please let me know!

As I come up with ideas, I'm going to update here to keep this all together.

Materials: I want my students to keep interactive notebooks, though these will be pretty basic.  Here's the structure for as far as I've planned:  They should have a "housekeeping" section in the front where they can put the syllabus, track their grade, etc.  The bulk of their binder will be a section for the countries, with a few pages dedicated to each country.  Finally, I imagine there will be a few things that don't fit into a specific country or civilization, so a "misc" section is appropriate.

Curriculum: 

• Given that my expertise is in Spanish, I think we'll mainly focus on the Spanish-speaking countries and I can pull from much of the material I'm used to teaching.  I think I'll spend the first week giving students an overview, talking about our own cultures (many of the students will likely be Latinos, so this should be interesting!), and covering ancient cultures and general history of Latin America, such as the Mayans, Incas, Aztecs, and Spain's conquest up to where the individual countries started gaining their independence.  From there, I'd like to dedicate each day to a country or cluster of countries that we can talk about in more detail.  Though I think a brief history of the country is appropriate, I'd like to dedicate the majority of the class to modern cultural elements and symbols of the country.
• UPDATE: Another way to structure this would be to choose a "theme" for each day or a few days, such as art, music, food, holidays, and religion, as well as heavier topics like oppression, revolution, and immigration.  I think this would end up being a lot more meaningful for students, especially since there are many themes that are common through all the countries, and, instead of having some repetitious things come up over and over again, using those commonalities to emphasize how much countries do have in common.  Of course, throughout the course, I can point out specific things that stand out from various countries, but I think this structure would be much more powerful and endurance than covering each country in an isolated way.

Evaulation: 

•  Since the general theme of my class will be how each culture is unique but we're all tied together, I think I want my final to be a project or essay demonstrating what students found most meaningful from other countries and how it relates to them.  For example, they could do a poster or essay that shows in-depth knowledge about a (or a few) specific cultural element, and then draw connections and distinctions between it and their own lives, possibly even identifying how it changes how they view their culture and the "new" culture and any ways that might affect them.  (For example, learning about the Day of the Dead had a profound effect on how I want to try and remember my loved ones that have passed on). 
• UPDATE ON FINAL: I want my students to produce a poster showing their culture.  I really like the instructions given here, with a few modifications.  For example, I want them to include some of the themes covered in our class as well as draw connections between their culture and the Latino culture.  Throughout the course, I'll have students reflect in their journals about their own culture as well as similarities and differences between what we discuss in class and their own life.  This should give them a jump start on their final collage.  When they present their cultural collage, I may require them to identify a few things they have in common with Latino cultures.  In fact, they could write a one-page explanation highlighting 5 things, but only identify 2-3 when they present their collage to the class.
• The other main part of their grade will be maintaining a complete and organized notebook, showing evidence of their participation and learning.
• Finally, it would be easy for students to do mini-presentations about countries that they choose on the day that we talk about that country.
• Some questions I want my students to be able to answer:
• What is culture?
• What is my culture?
• What are some similarities and differences between my culture and Latino Culture?

Other resources:

• A general worksheet like this, comparing the similarities and difference of major cultural elements, might be great for students to complete about each country.
• A great breakdown of what culture is and its features.
• A worksheet from the Peace Corps listing many different cultural features encouraging students to evaluate their own culture and another culture.
• Peace Corps resources and lesson plans for educators to teach about culture.
• Naza Naza game, adapted from Bafá Bafá, which teaches about the importance of cultural rules and adaptation to a new culture
• Say what you will about Wikipedia, but it has a great "Latin American" article!

Plan:

1. Intro to class; What is culture?
• Put together interactive notebooks
• Essay Pretest: What is culture?
• Discuss what culture is
• Material v. non-material culture
• KWL for Latino Culture
2. NaZa NaZa game
3. Latinos in the Treasure Valley
• documentary
4. The Latino world
• Countries and capitals
• Languages spoken
• Geography, Weather, and the Environment
5. Pre-Columbian History
• Aztecs
• Mayans
• Incas
6. Conquest and Modern World
• Conquest
• Colonialization and colonial life
• Revolutions and independence
7.  Language
• Spoken Languages
• Dialects and colloquial words
• Indian languages
8.  Religion
9.  Holidays and Festivals
• Día de los muertos
• La Navidad
10. Education
11. Sports
12. Food
13. Communities
• Role of the family
• Education
• Social norms and customs
• Gender Roles
• clothing
14. Government and Oppression
15. Modern Revolutions
16. Immigration
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE
17. Art
• Fine Art
• Dramatic Art
• Architecture
18. Music and Dance
19. Dance Instruction
20.  Wealth and Poverty
• Problems
• Drugs
• Products
21. Work Day
22. Work Day
23. Question and Answer presentation - Humberto Fuentes from Hispanic Cultural Center
24. "My Culture" presentations

Syllabus:

• Objective:  After taking this class, students will be able to answer the following:
• What is culture?
• What is my culture?
• What are some features of Latino culture?
• What are some similarities and differences between my culture and Latino culture?
• Topics to be covered: A variety of cultural themes will be discussed and experienced.  In general, each day will have a "theme" and we will explore many aspects of that theme in Latino culture.  In addition to identifying what culture is and why it's important, other topics may include:
• Countries, Geography, Weather, Environment, History, language, holidays and celebrations, religion, sports, food, community features, politics, immigration, music, art, dance, and other topics as they relate to Latino Culture
• Assignments and Grading: 
• Interactive Notebook (50%): You will be required to keep an Interactive Notebook, which we will discuss in class.  Having a complete and organized notebook is a major part of your grade and will enable you to be successful in this class.  Nearly everything from this class will go in this notebook, including any handouts, worksheets, and activities we do.
• Reflections (25%): Each day, you will need to write a reflection in your notebook.  These reflections will compare and contrast your culture with the Latino culture features we discuss that day.  Completing these reflections thoroughly will prepare you for your final project.
• Final project and essay (50%): Your final will consist of two parts.
• Collage (25%): You will create a collage representing your culture and present it to the class on the last day.  More details about this collage will be given in class.
• Culture Essay (25%): You will write a 2-page culture essay and turn it in with your collage.  Your essay must discuss what culture is and why it is important and then  choose 5 features of Latino culture to draw connections between it and your own culture.  Completing your daily reflections will prepare you for this essay.
• Rules and Expectations: The following are the rules I expect you to follow at all times:
1. Follow directions.
2. Be ready to begin when class starts.
3. No put downs, name calling, or hate speech.
4. No swearing.
5. Bring your pencil and notebook every day.
6. Be respectful in the classroom.
7. No electronic devices unless I permit it.

Chapter Glossaries

Many of the novellas from Blaine Ray and TPRS publishing have glossaries in the back.  One interesting feature of these glossaries is that they are often arranged by chapter, enableing teachers and students to review any "new" words before reading the chapters.  Unfortunately, the Pobre Ana does not come with glossaries arranged by chapter - so I'm going to make my own!  Before reading each story, I'll hand out a packet with the chapter glossaries for the entire book, and we can review each chapter's "new words" before reading each time.  I plan to put "fair game" words that may show up in context on future assessments - such as the common "little" words like "todos" (all/everyone) and "cada" (each) - in bold, so students can focus on these first.  This works especially well for me since I can draw attention to the most important words as well as work around structures students should already know.

More curriculum Ideas

I'm trying to figure out what and when I want to do certain structures and readings, and how it will all tie together, so here is my current plan...

Structures:

• Week 1
• Structures:
• había
• era
• quería
• fue
• Reading:
• LICT 1.1
• Week 2:
• Structures:
• vivía
• estaba
• tenía
• Reading:
• LICT 1.3
• Pobre Ana Ch. 1 (pages 1-5)
• Week 3:
• Structures:
• le gustaba
• le dio
• le dijo
• Reading
• LICT 1.2
• Pobre Ana Ch. 2 (pages 6-9)
• Week 4:
• Structures:
• quería tener
• buscó
• elefante con Jacuzzi
• Reading
• LICT 2.1
• Pobre Ana Ch. 3 (pages 10-14)
• Week 5:
• Structures:
• sabía que
• vio a
• lo llevó
• Reading:
• LICT 2.2
• Pobre Ana Ch. 3 (pages 14-18)
• Week 6:
• Structures:
• no sabía hacerlo
• podía
• no hicieron nada
• Reading:
• LICT 2.3
• Pobre Ana Ch. 4 (pages 19-21)
• Week 7:
• Structures:
• tan rápido como
• buscando
• tenía que
• Reading:
• LICT 3.1
• Pobre Ana Ch. 5 (pages 22-25)
• Week 8:
• Structures:
• decidió comprar
• pasaba tanto tiempo
• sabe bailar
• Reading:
• LICT 3.2
• Pobre Ana Ch. 6 (26-29)
• Other:
• directions
• Week 9:
• Structures:
• le parecía
• tenía que
• lo encontró
• Reading:
• LICT 3.3
• Pobre Ana Ch. 7
• Week 10:
• Structures:
• iba a bailar
• para hacerlo para ella
• pensaba mucho en
• Reading:
• LICT 4.1
• Pobre Ana Ch. 8-9

Patricia Va a California

• Week 1:
• Structures:
• creía que debía entrar
• sigieron buscando
• salieron
• Reading:
• LICT 4.2
• PVaC Ch. 1 (p. 1-3)
• Week 2:
• Structures:
• estaba muy preocupada
• había buscado
• llegó
• Reading:
• LICT 4.3
• PVaC Ch. 2 (p. 4-8)
• Week 3:
• Structures:
• tenía que hacer un plan para conocerla
• si tuviera lecciones, podría bailar bien
• si bailara bien, iría a Las Vegas
• Reading:
• LICT 5.1
• PCaC Ch. 3-4 (p. 9-13)
• Week 4:
• Structures:
• se los dio
• le importaba mucho
• volvió
• Reading:
• LICT 5.2
• PVaC Ch. 5 (p. 14-18)
• Week 5:
• Structures:
• iba a costar
• conoció a una chica
• me gustaría comprar
• Reading:
• LICT 5.3
• PVaC Ch. 6 (p. 19-23 )
• Week 6:
• Structures:
• tomó otra decición
• se puso muy contento
• le encantaría
• Reading:
• LICT 6.1
• PVaC Ch. 7 (p. 24-28)
• Week 7:
• Structures:
• se ensució
• lo dejó
• no observaba lo que estaba haciendo
• Reading:
• LICT 6.2
• PVaC Ch. 8 (p. 29-33)
• Week 8:
• Structures:
• no podría venderselo por poco dinero
• volvió a casa
• podría ganar dinero
• Reading:
• LICT 6.3
• PVaC Ch. 9-10 (p. 34-39)
• Week 9:
• Structures:
• None - Review
• Reading:
• PVaC Ch. 11-12 (p. 40-45)

The Importance of PQA

Here's an insight that took me a long time to realize:

Students acquire structures during PQA.  It's easy to "go through the motions" with PQA and move straight into the storytelling (that's what TPR Storytelling is all about, isn't it?), thinking the students will learn the structures as long as you use them and circle them enough within the stories.  However, the stories work best when they're seen more as the application of material already learned through PQA.  Previously, I've primarily focused on the stories and the result was that, while students could tell stories and personalize them, they still couldn't communicate with one another through asking and responding to questions in a conversation format (they also didn't know the structures as well as I wanted them to, which is related but wasn't my main concern.  I was most concerned that, even though they knew all this Spanish, they couldn't carry on a conversation!).  I thought that they would learn the "yo" and "tú" forms through my dialogue with characters during the story but later realized that, if I was doing PQA effectively, they would recognize all the conjugation patterns to some extent before we even got to the story.  Moreover, that's why parallel characters are important - they arise through PQA and we're able to see the same structures in many different ways through the development and description of the parallel characters.  It's a Bloom's Taxonomy-like principle: First the students hear the same fairly isolated structure the same way in the same context (establishing meaning through translating and possibly TPR), then in different ways in the same context while still semi-isolated (circling), then different ways in different context and still semi-isolated (parallel characters, and, finally, in different ways in changing contexts (during the story).

One of my goals this year is to make sure I have my students solid at each step before proceeding to the next step - in other words, I need to make sure my students have the PQA phase of a lesson down before venturing into the storytelling phase.  In fact, I'll be setting aside an entire day for PQA now - it'll be interesting to see the results!

Pobre Ana: Story 9 - A New Family

Structures:

• New Structures:
• podía vivir con una familia mexicana
• le dijo
• no comprendió nada pero sonrío y les dijo "sí"
• Recent Structures:
• Story 8: Making an Impression
• Story 7: Transportation in Africa
• Story 6: A dress for Helga
• Story 5: A boyfriend for Linda
• Story 4: Chucky's Chocolate
• Story 3: Frederick's Marvelous Hat
• Story 2: Tiny the Elephant
• Story 1: Maria the Thief
• TPR Words

Story:

Había una chica que se llamaba Jessica.  Jessica vivía con una familia mexicana y hablaba español.  A Jessica, no le gustaba su familia.  Jessica quería una familia nueva.  Podía vivir con una familia Klingon o una familia de elfos.  Fue a su mamá y le dijo, "¡Adios!"

Podía vivir con una familia de Klingons.  Vivían en la planeta Kronos.  Hablaban Klingon.  Jessica fue a la familia y les dijo, "¡Hola!"  El papá le dijo, "nuqneH", pero Jessica no le comprendió.  La mamá le dijo, "jIajbe," pero Jessica no le comprendió.  El hijo le dijo, "tlhIngan maH!" pero Jessica no le comprendió.  No comprendió nada, pero sonrió y les dijo, "sí."  No podía vivir con una familia Klingons porque no les comprendió.

Podía vivir con una familia de elfos.  Vivían en el centro del mundo.  Hablaban la idioma de los elfos.  Jessica fue a la familia y les dijo, "¡Hola!"  El papá le dijo, "Quel fara", pero Jessica no le comprendió.  La mamá le dijo, "Vanya sulie," pero Jessica no le comprendió.  El hijo le dijo, "Lissenen ar' maska'lalaith tenna' lye omentuva" pero Jessica no le comprendio.  No comprendió nada, pero sonrió y les dijo, "sí."  No podía vivir con una familia de elfos porque no les comprendió.

Fue a su casa.  Fue a la familia y les dijo "¡Hola!".  La familia le dijo "¡Hola!" y Jessica les comprendió.  Podía vivir con una familia mexicana.  Estaba contenta.

Pobre Ana: Story 8 - Making an impression

Structures:

• New Structures
• tenía que hacerlo
• estaba (-a/iendo verb) bien
• estaba sorprendida
• Recent Structures
• Story 7: Transportation in Africa
• Story 6: A dress for Helga
• Story 5: A boyfriend for Linda
• Story 4: Chucky's Chocolate
• Story 3: Frederick's Marvelous Hat
• Story 2: Tiny the Elephant
• Story 1: Maria the Thief
• TPR Words

Story:

Había una chica que se llamaba Isabel.  Quería un novio.  Le gustaba Brad Pitt, pero a Brad Pitt no le gustaba Isabel.  Isabel tenía que hacer algo.

Isabel fue a la casa de Brad Pitt.  A Brad Pitt le gustaban chicas que bailaba.  Isabel nunca bailaba.  Pero, tenía que hacerlo.  Isabel bailó mucho en la casa de Brad Pitt.  Brad Pitt la miró.  Brad Pitt estaba sorprendida porque Isabel estaba bailando en la cabeza.  Isabel no estaba bailando bien.  A Brad Pitt, no le gustaba Isabel.  Isabel estaba triste.  Tenía que hacer algo diferente.

Isabel fue a la casa de Brad Pitt.  A Brad Pitt le gustaban chicas que cantaban.  Isabel nunca cantaba.  Pero, tenía que hacerlo.  Isabel cantó mucho en la casa de Brad Pitt.  Brad Pitt la miró.  Brad Pitt estaba sorprendida porque Isabel estaba cantando como Shakira.  Isabel estaba cantando bien.  A Brad Pitt le gustaba Isabel.  Isabel estaba contenta.  No tenía que hacer algo diferente.

Pobre Ana Series

I just finished reading the Pobre Ana series for Spanish 1! 

I really like the Pobre Ana series for "required" reading that we do as a class because it sticks to common phrases and vocabulary that I can easily teach through telling TPRS stories.  Since they're all about life in general, they stick to the most common words, getting progressively more complex which each level.  Moreover, it brings in a lot of culture - each book takes place somewhere different and has a lot of really good themes we could focus on.  These are books I could easily center a curriculum around!

"Amigos Detectives" is a little different as it focuses on a science and biology theme.  I found myself stopping more frequently to look up words in it more than any of the other books because I didn't know words for animals and other specific vocabulary.  I think it would be a good "extra" book that uses the most frequent vocabulary and structures in new ways.   If we had time, or we just wanted to read a book "for fun" I would use it, but feel that teaching the vocabulary needed to read the book without looking in the glossary often would be difficult.  If it was read out loud as a class, this wouldn't be so much of an issue since I could just translate those words for them, but I feel there's power in reading a book that the students feel they can read without my assistance, especially if it's a central part of our curriculum.  Plus, I will likely want to vary how students are reading, including independent, and I don't want them to get discouraged or frustrated.  Checking the glossary every now and again is ok, but I felt I had to do it so much that it disrupted the flow of the book.

Just my two cents so far.  I'm excited to read the other books - 6 down, 14 to go!

The power is in the logic

I made Inklewriter story one for my Pobre Ana: Story 2 structures and I feel like I finally figured out how to best use it for my needs!

While Inklewriter is brilliantly simple to use, figuring out how to use it to its full potential is quite the learning curve.  I guess this wouldn't be such an issue for most people who are actually writing stories that branch off different directions, but mine frequently give the reader small options that are incorporated into the story, but don't change the story (like names) and it's a hassle to create two parallel stories and keep them straight.  In addition, many of my questions are comprehension questions that incorporate these details, so I have a number of tiny questions before the next part of the story is added.

However, I think I finally have the trick figured out, and the secret lies in the logic functions of Inklewriter.  By adding logic functions to the text, I only have to write one paragraph that can customize itself based on the previous choices of the reader.  In fact, I can even elect to show entire paragraphs based on what decisions have previously been made.

So then, I was having trouble with the options customizing themselves to fit the paragraphs, and having incorrect options loop back to where the correct answer was, especially since the correct answer is sometimes different depending on those decisions.  That is, until I realized I could hide/show the answers just like the paragraphs.  Thus, on one question, I have something to the tune of 12 possible answers for all the possible scenarios at that point (8 wrong, 4 correct), but only 3 will be shown to the reader based on what they've chosen so far (two wrong, one correct).  You can do this by saying to only show the option if choices "X", "Y", and "Z" were made.  There's no "or", but I don't know that you need it because you can also say to only show the option if choices "X", "Y", and "Z" were not made.  Thus, you should be able to logically get the correct options to appear.

At first, I thought this was more of a dichotomy.  For example, you could input:

• If "Choice X", then "Option X", but if not, then "Option Y")

But then, falling back on my discrete math class of which I only ever completed the first lesson, I realized I could use this dichotomy to logically pick one from any number of options.  I tested it out, and it worked!  For instance, you could input:

• If "Choice X", then "Option X", but if not, then if "Choice Y", then "Option Y", but if neither of those, then "Option Z".

Of course, if we really wanted to get complicated, then I could offer 5 choices by inputting: you could input:

• If "Choice X", then "Option X", but if not, then if "Choice Y", then "Option Y", but if none of those, then if "Choice Z", then "Option Z", but if none of those, then if "Choice N", then "Option N", but if none of those, then "Option P".

It's only logical!