[ola] Making up absences
- From: JoAnna Coleman <joannac@xxxxxxx>
- To: "ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:31:15 +0000
Hola OLA - I am looking for some good ideas for students to "make up" an
absence with the OLA method. I feel very strongly about the fact that they
should be held accountable for the lost time somehow, but making up the HW
assignment is not really enough. What do you offer to your students? I was
thinking of giving them a list of options for outside of class practice with
Spanish.
Watch 3 music videos of Spanish music and compare them (maybe give them a list
of questions)
Watch a movie in Spanish
I don't want to make more work for myself, however, and I want it to be a
meaningful experience with the language/culture
Gracias!
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 Thomas
Hinkle [thinkle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 4:47 PM
To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ola] Re: Preterit vs. Imperfect... seeking advice
On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 6:51 AM, Stel Schmalz
<sschmalz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:sschmalz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
You can show a crime (from one of the MANY crime shows on TV or a movie scene)
w/o volume and have them describe the setting- all the details- "set the
scene", and then have them watch it again, this time describe the main action.
Note: a variant of this I used to like to do is to imagine a scene with two
different actions happening. First, we describe a scene in a bar -- there's a
couple in the background talking, music playing, etc., and suddenly a bar fight
breaks out. Next, we describe the same scene only focused on the couple --
there's music playing, people drinking, a fight breaking out, etc., and
meanwhile the couple is in the midst of a horrible break-up, the key action
coming in a series of devastating "le dijo"s. The point is to see how the verbs
shift depending on what story you're telling, so that the very same actions
that feel like the "event" in one moment can be the "background" in another.
I've always just done this with my fine board-drawing skills as the only
visuals, but I'm sure it would be stronger with good photographs (and a shallow
depth of focus to make the "focus" metaphor literal). Largely, the point of
this lesson has always been to try to un-teach everything kids have usually
learned, which tends to make them think they have to look at the action itself
in order to determine the tense (is it repeated? is it finite? is it repeated a
set number of times? is it over? wait, isn't everything in the past over?).
I final note -- the way I've tried to integrate this in the "OLA" classroom is
more to teach tenses as vocabulary -- so that we might learn a few stock
"setting the scene" phrases in the imperfect -- "Era una noche tormentosa...",
"Había una vez" and so on -- and have the kids practice using these long before
they ever get introduced to any explicit notion of how the different past
tenses work. Another way I've often done this is as a correction of the
attempts of English-speakers to over-use the progressive tenses, so that
students get used to hearing the teacher model correct imperfect uses as an
echo back to English-modeled attempts to overuse the past progressive.
That said, the most important thing is that none of this matters until kids are
really trying to narrate in the past, which mostly happens way after we
typically try to teach this stuff in the first place.
Tom
Again, you can then turn it on them and have them videotape their own crime
scenes (not too gruesome) and either ask the kids to describe their scenes
aloud, while it's happening, or have the class do it for each scene. Haven't
done this one yet, but have often thought it would be fun.
Stel
On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 12:38 AM, JoAnna Coleman
<joannac@xxxxxxx<mailto:joannac@xxxxxxx>> wrote:
I introduce the imperfect with childhood - the kids bring in a picture of when
they were 5-10 years old and bring in their most loved possession from their
childhood and then we ask questions about both - how old were you in the
picture? what were you like? what did you like to do? describe your lovey, your
family, where you lived, what was your favorite music? did you like boy bands?
etc... I also show them ridiculous pictures of me in high school and as a
child and tell them my childhood story. They have a lot of fun with this. :)
Telling stories they already know in English, such as the fairy tales you
mentioned, is really great. We will be reading Ferdinand the Bull next week -
it has really beautiful illustrations, it's set in Spain! and the text is very
simple and comprehensible but a perfect example of how to use the preterite and
imperfect together.
JoAnna Coleman
Spanish Teacher
Wilson High School
503-916-5280 ext. 75231<tel:503-916-5280%20ext.%2075231>
joannac@xxxxxxx<mailto:joannac@xxxxxxx>
http://profecoleman.wordpress.com/
________________________________
From: ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>] on behalf of Emily
Gerstner [emilygerstner@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:emilygerstner@xxxxxxxxx>]
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 5:14 PM
To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [ola] Preterit vs. Imperfect... seeking advice
Hello all,
My Spanish II students are at a point where they can recognize and use, though
without much accuracy, verbs in the preterit tense. I'd like to begin to
introduce verbs in the imperfect, but I don't want to resort to English to do
so. Any ideas for keeping preterit/imperfect content super communicative and
not overwhelming for students?
My best ideas right now are:
-telling a familiar story (such as Goldilocks and the 3 Bears)
-using imperfect to talk about childhood
Advice, resources, lesson plans would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much!
Emily
--
Thomas Hinkle
English & Spanish Teacher
English Department Coordinator
Innovation Academy Charter School
Extra help: Thursday 3-4pm
Other related posts:
