Lori - that's a really good idea - thanks! How do they respond to that? What are some things they come up with? 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 Lori Leedy [lori.leedy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 11:45 AM To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [ola] Re: Making up absences I make students come up with a plan that can make up for the time they missed solely in Spanish. Then you just take a quick peek at the work or parent signature, etc. On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 11:31 AM, JoAnna Coleman <joannac@xxxxxxx<mailto:joannac@xxxxxxx>> wrote: 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<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 Thomas Hinkle [thinkle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:thinkle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>] Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 4:47 PM To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto: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 -- Lori Leedy English Language Development/Spanish Crater Renaissance Academy 541-494-6329