Day 2: Reading with Carol Gaab

How do I begin? Carol is probably the most unique presenter that TPRS has. She is simply amazing: she has a story to tell, and she prefaces it by saying that she really doesn't have a story to tell.  She fell into TPRS in a search for good teaching, and it has led her to be a publisher, a presenter, a coach, and a teacher to the MBL.  She works with the San Francisco Giants, and she has the world series rings to prove it.  But when she speaks, her humility shines through. She talks about being caught by surprise, being in the right place at the right time. More than anything, she talks about grace.  A higher power led her here, and that higher power blesses her with what she has. As she speaks, you realize that she never forgets that, not for one minute.  I'm glad to count her among my friends.

Carol gave a session on reading. I thought that this was going to be another review of a subject I knew super well. Reading is my forte. I write stories, and my students read more or less effortlessly. I thought I would know everything that was going to be said. (By the way, that is something really great about NTPRS--you do happen on workshops where you already know the material presented. Believe it or not, that is a great feeling. It's called affirmation, and we teachers need it.)

Well, I was right. I knew reading. I knew the basics. I was comfortable in what I did. But Carol took us from the basics and far beyond.  I was grateful at the end of the session for what I had learned.

Now I have to start with a reminder: this was an all-day workshop. I can't possibly show you everything I learned. I can only show you a few things. For more, go to the ntprs.org website.

Carol began with reminding us of the five C's:  communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities.  Right away I realized that I have been good at some of this (communication and cultures) but sadly lacking in the others.  She illustrated different ways to make reading workable for our students. One of those ways was also demonstrated by Blaine and Von on Monday--I think it's called "volleyball reading". You seat your classes in groups of two (a class of 30 would be split up like this:
ONE           TWO         THREE
x x              x x             x x
x x              x x             x x
x x              x x             x x
x x              x x             x x
x x              x x             x x

I have individual desks, so that's not hard to do. When you start, you read to the students in Spanish and then the students read to each other. The first student reads a sentence in Spanish. The second student reads the same sentence in English and then reads the next sentence in Spanish. This continue for (I think) two minutes, at which time, the students make a change. The "outside students" (for me, the ones on the left) move forward while the other students stay where they are.  You tell the first students that they are moving to the back of the next row, so the first student in row one will go to the back of row two, the first student in row two will go to the back of row three, and the third student will go to the back of row one.  That way everyone sits with someone new.

Now up to that, I'd already done. What I hadn't done was this next bit. You find out where each person had left off, and you start where the person who had read less finished. This assures that everyone will read everything, and it also provides extra review for the person who read faster. What a simple and effective idea! You get the students up and moving around, you keep them both focused, and you give everyone a chance to read with everyone.  From time to time you ask if both partners had finished both stories, and you stop when everyone has read them both through at least once.

Carol also showed us how to use culture and comparisons together. This is one of those times when I really wish I took notes (we were told that it wasn't really necessary--that there were handouts available online.  There are--go to ntprs.org/downloads and you can find them all). Unfortunately, that meant that I didn't bother to write down exactly what I learned. So I'm going to give an example from my sieve-like memory, and I invite anyone who remembers differently to write a comment so it can be cleared up.

Culture and connection is actually pretty simple if you stop and think about it. I did it without knowing that was what I was doing on the Pobre Ana PowerPoint (available through both Blaine and Carol's websites, and soon to be available on lasirenbaila.com!).  I showed the house that Ana lived in--a normal house in Tepic--and then I showed a house a little distance away--quite different, a hut with no electricity and a 3-stone fire.  It's the same concept here.  You take something from the reading--John's dad is a doctor--and then you compare a doctor in the US to a curandero in Mexico. You can do this most effectively through photos.  You can talk about how they are similar and how they are different.  This lends itself to pretty much everything you read. For example, a boy wants a dog. Why would a boy in the US want a dog? As a pet (picture). Why would a shepherd boy in the Basque Country want a dog? To work with the sheep (picture). Why would a boy living on the street in Guatemala want a dog? For comfort and for protection (picture). The students are immediately given understanding of the way dogs are treated in different cultures within the L2 countries.

Now, this next lesson didn't come from Carol. It came from a Coaching for Coaches workshop that I attended on Sunday. But the lesson is important, and it falls under "cultural nuances".

At this workshop, there was a group of military teachers from Turkey. As the day progressed, I noticed that one of the teachers was becoming more and more irritated. Finally, someone asked him what he thought of the coaching so far.  I don't remember the exact words, but the meaning was very clear:  we were being offensive to him because of the way that we were offering advice (we meaning the various coaches). In his culture, you never offered up criticism to an elder or someone in charge in a group. You did it person to person, and with respect.

I know, you're thinking 'When will we ever have Turkish military in our classes?' Let me ask you this: do you have students from the Middle East in your class?  Do you have students with Hispanic or Eastern culture, even if those students don't speak those languages? If you do, you need to watch--you might be in danger of treading on culture there.

An example:  I used to teach in Bakersfield, CA, and I had a friend who taught in Wasco. Wasco's school system is so heavily made up of migrant workers that they take a month off for Christmas to allow the students time to return from Mexico. This teacher was a sub in primary, and one of the students was misbehaving. She called him over and started to talk to him. He stood in front of her, head down. She was used to respect meaning looking the teacher in the eye, so she called him on it. He said, "But Teacher..." "My name is Mrs. B-----!  Call me by my name!" So the student looked her in the eye and called her by name. He did it through tears.

My friend knew that I was a bilingual teacher, and she was still disappointed in the lack of respect shown her, so she told me about it that night. I told her what had happened:  the student comes from a culture where you show respect by looking down when you're being chastised.  You call a professional by his title because that is more respectful than his name. So in essence, she was telling that student to treat her with disrespect.  To her credit, she sought him out the next day and apologized.

So anyway, these are my ah-ha moments in Carol's class.  I really suggest you go to the ntprs.org website and look at her download. It's worth a read.

Tomorrow--Romanian!

Spanish 1--PQA for those who don't do PQA

Okay, first of all, this isn't "official" PQA.  It's more along the lines of getting the kids used to answering and volunteering.

I am in chapter 2 of LICT.  My words were "he is walking in the street" "the cow is happy", and "he is sleeping in the street".

I start out by having the students draw a 6-frame cartoon on the top half of their paper and then numbering 1-6 below the box.  I start by drawing a cow in the first box.  Then I get my victim cards.  I ask some questions whole class--Class, what is in the cartoon?  A cow.  Is the cow happy? etc.  Then I go to a victim.  One by one, I ask the following questions to victims--one question per victim.  What is the cow's name? Where is the cow (I give them lots of examples from the place cards that are around the room--the city, the country, the store, etc)?  What is the cow doing (easy--look at the vocab list--walking.  Is the cow walking in the street?

We go to the second frame and I draw the cow with a thought bubble.  Victim cards:, what does the cow want?  A friend (these are the answers that were given).  Does the cow have a friend?  Yes.  Is it a giraffe or a burro?  A burro.  Draw a burro in the thought bubble.

Next frame.  Where does the cow go?  To the burro's house.  Where does the burro live?  In the country (notice that there was nothing in the frame--they are filling it in).  Where is the burro?  In his house in the country.  Draw it in.

Next frame.  Where is the cow walking? (This is similar to the last frame.  In the last frame, the cow began to walk.  Now the burro walks to the house.)  Where is the burro?  He is sleeping.  Where is he sleeping?  In the street.

Next frame:  the cow is beside the burro.  What does the cow want?  He wants a friend.  Does he have a friend?  Yes, the burro.  Is there a problem?  Yes, the burro is sleeping.  What does the cow do?  He says, "Hi burro" (talk bubble with Hola Burro).

Last frame:  How does the cow feel now?  Why?  She is happy because she has a friend.

After this, I ask questions such as, Class, where is the cow?  What is she doing?  Where is she walking?  etc.  Then I go to the first frame and ask the students to work with their partners and write a minimum of one sentence per frame.  Then I call on individual students to read their sentences.  I write them down.  Then I ask for volunteers to add on if they have something different.  When that's done, I ask them to remember back when they did their placement writing sample.  Remember when you said you couldn't write any Spanish at all?  Wasn't that less than a month ago?  See big smiles all around.

The thing that's nice about this is that it gives them ownership of the story, while at the same time allowing me to guide it.  Plus, you get reading and writing and speaking all for the price of admission!

spanish 2 story--se llevaban bien etc. eng and sp

I've been asked to list my stories in English as well as Spanish.  I'm wondering if that wouldn't be the best solution to my Spanish as well.  Also, if you teach, say, French and translate an English story of mine, would you mind including the translation in the comments, on Sirena baila on fb, or by email (meggiev777@yahoo.com)? That way I can include it here and others will profit from it.

le invitó a cenar = Pat invited him to eat dinner

se llevaban bien = They were getting along well

le quitó el $ =        Pat took $ away from him/her

dejó a su novio = Pat dumped her boyfriend

¡Oye!                    Listen up!

There was a couple named Marcos and Celeste.  The boyfriend and girlfriend were getting along well, although Celeste always paid the bill when they went out.  One day, Marcos forgot his wallet on the dresser.  Another day, it was the day before payday.  When Celeste didn't pay, the couple had a day in the park with a picnic.

Había una pareja llamada Marcos y Celeste.  Los novios se llevaban bien aunque Celeste siempre pagaba la cuenta cuando salían.  Un día, Marcos olvidó su cartera en el ropero.  Otro día, era el día antes del día de paga.  Cuando Celeste no pagaba, la pareja tenía un día en el parque con una comida campestre (picnic). 

One day, Celeste decided the she was using too much money, and things should change.  She decided to talk with Marcos.  "Listen, Marcos!  I have a problem.  Marcos wanted to know what his girlfriend's problem was.  She told him, "When we go out, I always pay the bill.  I don't like to always pay the bill. I get embarrassed paying the bill.  Marcos smiled.  "Not a problem.  I'll pay the bill.

Un día, Celeste decidió que estaba usando demasiado dinero, y las cosas debían cambiar.  Ella decidió hablar con Marcos.  --¡Oye, Marcos! Tengo un problema.--  Marcos quería saber que problema tenía su novia.  Ella le dijo: --Cuando salimos, siempre pago la cuenta.  A mi no me gusta siempre pagar la cuenta.  Me da vergüenza pagar la cuenta.--  Marcos sonrió.  --No hay problema.  Yo pago la cuenta.--

When Marcos and Celeste went out again, they went to a very elegant restaurant.  Celeste was very excited because she knew that Marcos was going to pay the bill. She ordered expensive food.  When the couple finished dinner, Marcos asked her, "Do you have $100?"  Celeste did have the money.  She showed it to Marcos.  Marcos took the money and gave it to the waiter.  Celeste was furious and dumped her boyfriend.

Cuando Marcos y Celeste salieron de nuevo, fueron a un restaurante muy elegante.  Celeste estaba muy emocionada porque sabía que Marcos iba a pagar la cuenta.  Ella pidió comida cara.  Cuando la pareja terminó la cena, Marcos le preguntó, --¿Tienes $100?-- de Celeste.  Celeste sí tenía el dinero.  Lo mostró a Marcos.  Marcos le quitó el dinero y se lo dio al mesero.  Celeste estaba furiosa y dejó a su novio.  

Different ways to tell a story

Okay, this isn't a story, but I think that it's something that is worth saying.

I used to always follow the same format:  Day one--PQA, then a mini-story with actors, then review, then retell.  Day two:  written story and retell, Day 3 (and sometimes 4) extended reading and written summary.  Day 5 could have been anything.  Then I moved to a different school, and things changed slightly.  Day one:  mini-story with actors, review, etc.  Day two:  written story and retell.  Day 3-4:  repeat days one and two with new vocab.  Day 5:  catch up if necessary, otherwise start a new story.  This is basically what I still do.

However, I have gotten away from stories with actors.  I still think that way is best--it allows more focus, it gives the students more opportunities to create the story themselves, and so on.  My colleague in 2H does acted-out stories every day with great success.  His students are motivated and love what they do--or at least they realize that their grades rest with comprehension and proficiency, and so they're willing to play along.

Other classes, on the other hand, do not do as well with actors.  It can become disruptive, there are classes in which nobody has the desire to act (and I think that it's important for them to at least be okay with coming up), or it simply isn't in the nature of the teacher or the students.  For these classes, you are faced with the decision:  do you continue to insist on acting and then spend time cleaning up the messes that ensue or do you try something different.

For those of you that have decided that acting isn't working out for you, here are some suggestions.

1.  Story boards.  You can start the class with an empty cartoon box with six squares.  Ask a story, filling in the squares as you go. Here's an example:
Clase, hay un chico.  El chico es alto o bajo--flaco o gord--tiene pelo largo o corto--qué color de pelo tiene--.  Then draw the boy with a thought box.  ¿Qué quiere hacer el chico?  Answer goes in the box.  Second box continues the story.  Third thought box contains the problem.  Fourth box--solution one. Fifth box--why it doesn't work, next idea  Sixth box-- solution.  As you can see, you're still asking the story, the students are still giving you information, and you still are getting lots of ci.  You can also have the students fill in their own storyboards and then use them to retell the story to their partners.

2.  Telling the story and acting it out yourself.  I sometimes do this, especially if the story I'm telling doesn't have a lot of q and a.  I know it isn't "real" tprs, but I will sometimes modify the idea and retell a legend or fairy tale in Spanish.  You still can have q and a, but it's more retelling of info (or them giving you info that they know about the fairy tale) instead of making up the story.  I think that this is doable in Sp 2 and above--not so much in Sp 1.  If you know how to tell a story well, you can keep their attention even without actors.  For example, I recently told a story of a girl who loved to dance, so she went to a hotel where there was supposed to be a dance. Nobody was there, but there were a beautiful pair of shoes.  She couldn't stop herself--she had to put them on.  The minute she did, she began to dance and couldn't stop.  As she was getting sicker and sicker, a handsome man came into the hotel.  She thought he was going to help her.  Instead, he asked her how she liked the shoes--he was the devil. She danced until she died.  I told the story in small chunks and retold it by questioning the studnets.  The students also retold it to each other.  They loved it and keep asking me when they're going to hear another legend.  It's also a good way to bring in culture.  Note--I did do this with a story board.  I like story boards because it gives them something to relate to if they get lost in the story.

3.  Using puppets or dolls.  I have lots and lots of props, enough for everyone in class to have two.  I give them the toys, GIVE THEM TIME TO PLAY WITH THEM (they get 5 minutes--that allows them to get it out of their systems.  After that, if they play instead of work, they get to use their hands as puppets), and then they use the puppets as actors.  I ask the story and then tell them to retell with changes for their animals (había una chica con pelo azul becomes había un perro con pelo blanco y negro).

4.  Skip the story--do a short reading instead.  This is tricky--you are teaching vocab and reading the vocab at the same time.  I gesture the vocab and then when reading, I do the gestures.  That helps.  I also use fairy tales or contemporary people for this, and I make a cartoon with captions, not a real story.  The captions are very content-driven, and it allows me time to ask a bunch of ci-related questions.  I recently did one of these on Snow White.  I was surprised at how easy it was to set up--I simply did a Google Image search for the parts of the story that I was telling--all the photos were there!

5.  Use real stories instead of weird ones.  Last year I did a story on Karen Carpenter for the vocab dealing with gorda, flaca, and gaining and losing weight.  I had photos of Carpenter at different stages of her life--the kids really understood, and they also learned about the problems of anorexia.

Those are just some ideas.  If you have an issue you want to discuss or would like to see more of this sort of post in this blog, please let me know by either commenting or emailing.  This blog is for you, and I'm happy to do whatever you want.  I want to see you succeed!!