[ola] Re: Students constructing understanding of grammar
- From: Lori Leedy <lori.leedy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2014 11:57:04 -0700
I agree completely. It's so very interesting that each class gets to
different concepts in grammar at different times. It is imperative that we
attempt to give our classes freedom to get there when they get there, and
then to give them what they need to challenge just enough, and then give
them ample opportunities to practice authentically. The struggle comes when
we want all of our classes to be doing roughly the same thing, for prep and
organization. I teach ELD and Spanish 2,3 and 4... so my prep is mainly to
choose a game, a speaking strategy, a writing activity and to do 'circle'
(vocab and community). Then I can just tweak those based on each class for
grammar, needs, etc. Specific reading and practice is the only thing I
change for each level and language. Hope this helps someone out there! :)
On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 9:46 PM, JoAnna Coleman <joannac@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> That's awesome! I think one of the most difficult things as a teacher is
> to wait until THEY are ready and, at the same time, to just give them what
> they need, and not everything! and to remember that their learning is a
> much longer process than just your year long class - I catch myself trying
> to force feed too much sometimes, and have to step back and then other
> moments it's so cool when kids are at that point when they are ready for
> the next step (as your student below) and they're like "profe, como se dice
> 'yo voy' ayer? or nosotros fui?
>
> JoAnna Coleman
> Spanish Teacher
> Wilson High School
> 503-916-5280 ext. 75231
> joannac@xxxxxxx
> http://profecoleman.wordpress.com/
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of
> Ruth Whalen Crockett <rwhalen@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 1, 2014 5:45 PM
> To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ola] Students constructing understanding of grammar
>
> Yesterday my Spanish five kids were engaged in an activity where they took
> on a secret role of a famous person and their peers asked them questions
> about themselves working to guesses who they were. I went into the
> activity hoping they would practice the present perfect and was quickly
> reminded that they weren't ready for this forced grammatical goal. As I
> stepped back from MY goal and listened carefully, I was struck by how much
> difficulty they were having with Ser and estar. They were making a mess of
> this. I just listened and asked them to do some investigating before
> today's lesson. My goal for today was for them to teach me when to use Ser
> and when to use estar.
>
> I ended up getting a fierce cold yesterday afternoon and I was in no shape
> to teach this morning. My sub plan, look over our last four short stories
> and using examples from the stories, teach me the rules or Ser and Estar.
> I got this note from one of students this evening:
>
> "Hola,
>
> Estaba buscando ejemplos en clase del uso de ser y estar hoy, y me duve
> cuento que nunca vio un uso de estar con un sustantivo (como en "estoy un
> pianista" debe ser "ser") y no puedo imaginar un caso en cual se use
> "estar" así ¿Es verdad que siempre se usa estar con un adjetivo y nunca con
> un sustantivo?
>
> (También, me pregunto si siempre use "estar" con los participios pasados -
> como "está muerto" o "estoy asustada" - pero, no estoy muy seguro en eso)"
>
> This email got me really excited. I feel like I can see that this student
> is ready for this type of grammatical understanding. He was a student who
> was most surprising me by his mistakes because he makes many fewer mistakes
> than his peers but frequently makes mistakes with over using estar. It
> looks like he was ready for this lesson.
>
> I'm interested in harvesting more examples of readiness as this is exactly
> what I need in helping nervous parents to understand what we are trying to
> do.
>
> What do you think? Does this jive with your practice? Am I way off the
> mark? Please weigh in.
>
> Ruthie
>
>
> Ruth E. Whalen Crockett
> Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School &
> Theodore R. Sizer Regional Teachers Center
>
>
>
--
*Lori Leedy*English Language Development/Spanish
Crater Renaissance Academy
541-494-6329
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