Field Teach 1 Activity Plan

Lauren Kelly

TE 408

Field Teach 1 Activity Plan

Type: TPRS (Storytelling)/ Grammar Activity

Date of Field Teach: February 4th, 2009

Language: Spanish

Level: High School, 2nd year Spanish, Ranges from grades 9-12.

Theme: Introducing the “Yo” form of both the imperfect and preterit past tenses.

Content Objectives: Students will be introduced to the “Yo” or “I” form of the past tenses inductively, through the storytelling method.

Language Objectives: Students will first be using their listening skills as I go through a story with them that is familiar to them and they have worked on before. They will then be using their speaking skills to discuss what they notice is different about the story this time. Finally, students will be using their writing skills, as well as their speaking and listening skills in order to work through a “Two truths and a Lie” activity within a group context.

Context: This activity is being done in the 5th month of a Spanish 2 classroom. Recently, the students have been learning the different forms of the verbs in the past tense. Since this is a TPRS classroom, this is something that students don’t really start to learn until the 2nd year of the language. Last month, students went over the 3rd person singular and plural forms of the past tense. They have not yet been introduced to the “Yo” or 1st person form in the past tense, which is what I will be be introducing in this lesson. The way in which they learned these different verb forms is a bit different from a traditional classroom in that they do not learn the verbs in their infinitive forms. Instead, these students have learned every verb they know initially in the 3rd person, because of the storytelling, and are now learning to change them into the other forms. This presents its own challenges because students have to learn to conjugate from the 3rd person to the other forms rather than from the traditional infinitive form to each of the other forms. My mentor teacher has asked me to do this activity because she has already taught them the 3rd person forms of the past tense, and would now like to move on to the 1st person. In her TPRS classroom, the students are not explicitly taught to differentiate between the imperfect and preterit forms of the past tense like in traditional classrooms, but rather the two are taught at the same time in conjunction with each other. Also, the story I am using is one that the students are already familiar with and the verbs are just modified. Finally, the storytelling is a great way to teach this grammar point inductively because I can show the story, go through, and then have the students decipher what the differences are in the story and why they are there.

Standards:

ACTFL:

1.1- Interpersonal Communication: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.

1.3- Presentational Communication: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

3.2-  Knowledge: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the world language.

Michigan:

1.1.A.SL.a- Use the target language with culturally appropriate gestures to greet one another and engage in conversations about past and future activities such as weekend plans, vacation, jobs and travel

1.1.N.SL.h- Exchange information in the target language on familiar topics such as personal interests, memorable experiences, school activities, and family life

1.3.M.S.c- Present brief oral reports about personal experiences, school, and community happenings in target language

3.1.N.a - Reinforce previously learned content knowledge through the target language

Materials:

·  “Fish” Story on computer to display

·  Blank paper for activity

Procedure:

1.)  I will begin by showing the text of the “Fish” story that the students are already familiar, however the verbs will be changed to first person past tense. These verbs that were changed will be underlined and bolded, and the story will be shown on the SmartBoard in front of the class. I will read the story to the class.

2.)  After reading through the story, I will be asking the students if they remember the story from a previous lesson and if they notice anything different about the story this time. I intend to use this part to inductively teach the past tense “yo” form. I will be scaffolding the students through this part, asking them questions and pointing out the underlined verbs to get them to notice that they are different and to see if they can figure out why.

3.)  The students will guess or be guided to the conclusion that it is past tense and in the “yo” form. I will then go back to the verbs to show them the endings in the story. When doing this, I will be sure to point out that the imperfect verbs (or the ones that happened multiple times in the past) are exactly the same in the “yo” form as they are in the 3rd person. I will then show them the pattern for the preterit “yo” verbs.

4.)  After I have made the students aware of the rules, I will be moving on to the “Two Truths and a Lie” activity. I will begin by giving my own example of how to do the activity. In giving my example I will write it in English and ask the students for how to write this out in Spanish in the past “yo” form, in order to reinforce the rules that we just learned.

5.)  For this activity, students will be asked to form groups of 3 to 4. Students will be instructed to write down three sentences on a piece of paper about their past, two being true and one being a lie. When they write these down, they should not show their paper to their neighbor, they should be all in the “yo” form past tense, and I will instruct them to only use the preterit form, to focus in on just one concept at a time. Then students will be instructed to verbally share their three sentences with their group members using the TL, and their group members will try to guess which sentence is not true about the person’s past. This will continue with each of the group members.

6.)  After the students have completed the activity with their group members, I will be wrapping up the activity by asking for individual volunteers to come up and write their three sentences on the SmartBoard (so that we can check for spelling and accents with the new verb forms).

How This Activity Supports My Objectives:

This activity supports my both my content and language objectives for this lesson. The activity supports my language objective by using the story, and examples, as well as the activity in order to inductively teach the past tense “yo” form. The students will be learning this form for the first time and getting contextualized, real-life practice using it by writing about themselves. The lesson also supports my language objectives by having the students read the story in working with the “Fish” story. The students will also be explicitly writing, speaking and then listening in order to prpoperly complete the “Two Truths and a Lie” activity.

Use of English: I intend to do this activity about 75% in the TL, as I feel the students have a good grasp on the basics of the TL. Also, Mrs. Etheridge does this class in about 50-75% in the TL, so I felt I should follow this model in her classroom. I will definitely be using the TL in explaining the story, talking about the past tense, and for giving directions for the activity. Some places where I will definitely be using English are in repeating the directions that I have just given in the TL and for explaining or answering questions for anything the students don’t understand. The writing/speaking activity that the students will be working on will be completely in the TL.

Visuals/Learning Aids: In this activity I will be using the story displaying the SmartBoard so that the students can view the text, which will include these new past tense “Yo” form verbs underlined and bolded. I will be using the classroom space by standing in front of the classroom for the beginning part of the lesson in order to tell the story and inductively teach the grammar point. I will then be walking around the classroom as the students work on the “Two Truths and a Lie” activity.

Class Management Issues: I can foresee some class management issues simply because I know that this is a talkative class. They are fun but sometimes challenging. It will be a challenge to control them and keep them interested. I will need to keep them engaged during the often dreaded grammar lesson. Also, I will need to make sure they respect me as a new person in their classroom. Finally, I will need to make sure they are following directions, as this keeps them in check and also is a crucial part of the final activity. I don’t foresee participation though being much of a problem with Mrs. Etheridge’s peso system in place.