[ola] Re: Preterit vs. Imperfect... seeking advice
- From: Thomas Hinkle <thinkle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:47:52 -0400
On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 6:51 AM, Stel Schmalz <
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> 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
>> joannac@xxxxxxx
>> http://profecoleman.wordpress.com/
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] on behalf of
>> Emily Gerstner [emilygerstner@xxxxxxxxx]
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 10, 2013 5:14 PM
>> *To:* 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
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