Most language teachers at some point need to delve into the past tense. While this 3-day lesson is not the first exposure my students get with the past, it is the first time I clearly outline the imperfect past tense.
DAY 1: We start the day with a partner chat in English about what activities students did as children. It is okay if they also do the activity now. Then I randomly call on students to share with the class. I ask students to 1) repeat the action/verb the student said in English 2) tell me what that verb is in Spanish. I then wrote it on the board in black. We repeat it and talk about how it is what a person does now in the present. Then I write the past tense underneath it. We all repeat the word various times, then I repeat the student’s original childhood activity in Spanish.
This is the time for circling with questions. Ask “Who else did this action?”, “Did you do this action?” “Class, did Sue do this action?”, “I did this action, too!”
We work on this for 30-40 minutes. I have students pause and talk to each other about what they do in Spanish and we do a lot of questioning and circling. For the last 10 minutes of class, we do an inside-outside circle of students sharing what they used to do as a child.
DAY 2: Now that I have explicitly shown the difference between the present and the general past, I tell the students a story of sorts. I draw a line across the middle of the board and write “Ahora” (now) above the line and “De niñ@” (As a child) under it. We start by creating a character and describing him/her. Then we describe what s/he does on a typical day. My first class made her a boring person with boring activities. My second class made her much more interesting.
Once the present activities are decided, I have students switch seats and tell their new partner about our person’s present day.
Now it is time to switch it up. We go through the same verbs, but now change them to the past. Our boring person, it turns out, was an interesting child. Our interesting person was a boring child. We have a lot of fun with it!
Once we have determined the childhood of our character, students once again change seats and tell their new partner what our character used to do in the past. Once conversation dies down, I throw a ball or stuffed animal to one student who starts the retell of the story. I help by pointing at the verb and giving prompting when needed.
Now students move one last time. After the last move, they compare our character’s present and past. The sentence stem is already on the board to help them along. “Now Debrah is…, but as a child Debrah was…”. I walk around and make sure students understand and are getting it. If time allows, we go over it again as a class.
DAY 3: Today is a writing day. I have the students make a line from tallest to shortest and then I fold the line to pair them up. Each group gets a paper and writing utensil and then sits on the floor (I am *mostly deskless). I show the students how to fold their paper, one step at a time. The goal is to have 2 columns with 8 sections. (Fold long way once, then fold in half 3 times). The first column is labeled “Ahora” (now) and the second is labeled “De niñ@” (as a child).
I make an example of what I want with my students. The goal is for them to make a story like the one we told yesterday.
After writing a few lines to get the students started, I have them continue in their pairs. I have verbs on the wall to help them out as well.
Once most groups are done, it is time to move on. I combine the pairs and have them read their story to the other group. Once that is done, I switch up the pairs again. This time, they take turns reading one of their sentences (without the “ahora” or “de niñ@”) and the other group needs to determine if the sentence is in the present or the past.
During the last 10 minutes of class, I give an assessment. I am required to enter 1 data-based (non-participation) grade per week. This listening quiz should be rather simple for them with our practice. For the quiz, I chose sentences from the stories my students wrote. I read a sentence and the students need to indicate on their quiz sheet if it is in the present or the past. Then they need to draw a small picture of what the sentence represents. I am sure to choose sentences with verbs we have practiced extensively in class.
This was a fun, interactive 3-day lesson with my students. During this week, I also had them email me a childhood picture. Come back next week to see what I did with them!
