[ola] Re: ideas on conversation...

  • From: Darcy Rogers <rogersdr25@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 15:01:55 -0800 (PST)

This is sooo cool! I have soo many 'cop stories' that I share with them...they 
always seem to eat it up ;) It always seems like the best convos come from a 
personal experience..

-d :) 


________________________________
 De: Kate FriendlyJones <kate.friendlyjones@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Para: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Enviado: Martes, marzo 6, 2012 12:52 P.M.
Asunto: [ola] Re: ideas on conversation...
 

Today in class we talked about car accidents.  One of our students hit a person 
with their car and drove away so we talked about, what would you do if that 
happened, they asked each other in partners, then shared out what their partner 
said.  We made a list of vocabulary, they wrote down the words and then 
explained them in Spanish to each other and in the journals.  Their homework is 
to write a half page story with the words using details and description.

It made for fun conversation!!!!


On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 9:38 AM, Caleb Zilmer <caleb_zilmer@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Ditto.  I really like how you adapt to need and make changes as necessary, and 
individualized too!  Awesome.
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>Caleb Zilmer
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>________________________________
> From: Lori Leedy <lori.leedy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
>Sent: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 8:23 AM
>Subject: [ola] Re: ideas on conversation...
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>YEAH NANOSH! Thank you for being so open and honest with us about your 
>classes. 
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>On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 9:13 PM, Nanosh Lucas <nanoshlucas@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>¿Cómo estás? is such a great question for Spanish 1.
>>
>>¿Qué pasa/Qué honda? is a great question for Spanish 2.
>>
>>I realized that with these two starter questions, I can push students to 
>>converse for a long time about almost anything.
>>
>>Here is what happened today:
>>
>>1st per: Spanish 1 - I asked students: ¿Qué pasa/Qué honda? Algo interesante? 
>>Blank stares. Horrible. Wrestling with the class all period. Wrong question 
>>for this class, at least for now.
>>
>>5th per: Spanish 2 - I asked students: ¿Cómo están/Qué pasa? Algo 
>>interesante? Some students participated; others didn't. After a few minutes, 
>>I asked who was speaking Spanish - students raised their hands. I told them 
>>to make a new circle in the middle - the rest could watch. The middle circle 
>>went on almost oblivious of the outside observers for a good while. Then, 
>>pockets of outsiders spontaneously began conversing in Spanish when they 
>>realized I and everyone else was going to ignore them until they 
>>participated. I invited those groups to join. After a while, I had almost 
>>everyone from the outside observers. I kicked out two of the outsiders for 
>>speaking English and told them to sit in the hall until they were ready to 
>>observe again. The principal walked in 5min later and let me know that the 
>>two gentlemen were speaking 100% Spanish in the hallway. I invited them back 
>>in. After we pulled back to the big circle, I noticed students were looking
 emocionados and others were looking aburridos/miserables. We switched spots in 
the circle and put the tired ones in the office next to my room. The emocionado 
circle kept going, and the bored/miserable ones I worked with. One student 
talked about how his dad was making him angry because he was so strict, and how 
he used to be a drug addict. Another student jumped right in with how strict 
his dad was. Another student was doubled over in some kind of physical agony, 
so I asked her what the matter was. She explained (in Spanish) how she didn't 
have a phone at home and the stupid office wouldn't let her go home because 
nobody answered. I told her I appreciated her doing her suffering in Spanish, 
but that she could lay down in the school's office until she felt better.
>>I asked them if they could keep going on their own, and they said yes. So, I 
>>went back into the main room. One of the two or three circles in the main 
>>room had stalled, so I told them what we were talking about in the other 
>>room. They went crazy after that; talking about their crazy parents, etc.
>>We pulled everyone back into the big circle, and people talked about their 
>>crazy parents - students had funny crazy stories and not-so-funny crazy 
>>stories. It was loads of fun.
>>As the 1.5 hour class came to an end, I had students divide themselves into 
>>those who had enjoyed the class and those who hadn't. There was a 
>>considerable minority of students who sat themselves in the side that hadn't 
>>enjoyed it. So, I began asking them about why. I queried one student, and she 
>>said, "Oh.. No! Me gusta!" Once the other students realized they were on the 
>>wrong side, they moved. I believe there was only one person who didn't enjoy 
>>himself.
>>This was probably one of the most successful conversation classes, with 
>>almost 100% Spanish in the room for almost 100% of the time.
>>
>>Per 7: Spanish 1 - I asked ¿Cómo están? I asked people why they were in a 
>>good mood or why in a bad mood. Smooth class. We had a couple of 
>>presentations about self, family, friends, food, etc. I couldn't help 
>>thinking about how differently I view the presentations now - where I honed 
>>in so meticulously on grammar/verb conjugations/general perfection and 
>>considered students'  creative effort and ability to communicate an idea an 
>>irritating irrelevancy.
>>
>>Thanks for your support, everyone. See you on Thursday.
>>
>>Nanosh
>>
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>-- 
>Lori Leedy
>English Language Development/Spanish
>Crater Renaissance Academy
>541-494-6329
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