Tag: TPRS

Teaching Language With the Simple Novel “Soy Carlos”

“Soy Carlos” is available on Amazon and also through Bryce Hedstrom. You can get a digital classroom subscription through My Generation of Polyglots.

I first had the idea for a simple graphic novel while drawing out a story in class. I had a story template and drew a picture in each block with a caption underneath. I keep my drawings very simple because, well, that is about all the drawing I can do! But, my students had a great reaction to my simple drawings, which made me think there might be something special there.

Un cuento de hadas

Shortly later, my sister informed me that her husband was trying to learn Spanish. Language teachers know that language is best acquired through reading, so I began to think about how I could make the language as accessible as possible. These two instances led to the birth of “Soy Carlos”.

My first drawings for “Soy Carlos”

I had the remarkable opportunity to hold a virtual conference, hosted by the one and only Mike Peto, to share how I teach using “Soy Carlos”. You can watch a recording of that conference here!

So, here is a breakdown of how I teach: Class begins by making predictions about Carlos. I let them share ideas in English, but I also guide them in Spanish with multiple gestures towards descriptions they will see later in the book. (alto/bajo, gordo/flaco).

I go through each page line by line:

  1. I start by saying “Carlos dice: ” and then I read the line.
  2. I then compare myself with Carlos, followed by re-reading the line to describe myself, instead of him.
  3. I continue by comparing the line about Carlos to students.
  4. I then re-read the line and as students to respond to the line with “Soy similar” or “Soy diferente”.
  5. I move on to the next line.

When I finish the page, I read the entire page again as written, and repeat it, personalizing the page to describe myself.

Here is a short clip of me teaching “Soy Carlos” from one of my classes.

Moving along this way, it can take up to 30 minutes just to get through one page, but this slow pace is important as it provides multiple repetitions, which are so essential to language acquisition.

To break things up, so the process doesn’t become too repetitive, I may sometimes change things up by having students read the entire page silently first or afterwards, the students may read individual lines out loud, we may all read together or we may “ping-pong” read (read the line in Spanish, and then repeat it in English).

I have also chunked the book into sections:

  1. Pages 1-5 (physical description and personality traits)
  2. Pages 6-8 (personal information)
  3. Page 9 (favorite color)
  4. Pages 10-17 (likes and dislikes)
  5. Pages 18-20 (activities and more information)
  6. Pages 21-23 (family roles)
  7. Pages 24-27 (mom)
  8. Pages 28-31 (dad)
  9. Pages 32-35 (sister and pets)
  10. Pages 36-41 (brother)
  11. Page 42 (family review)
  12. Pages 43-45 (friends preview and predictions)
  13. Pages 46-47 (Marco)
  14. Pages 48-49 (Leanna)
  15. Pages 50-51 (Nalini and Chris)
  16. Pages 52-53 (Friends and instruments)
  17. Pages 54-60 (Group activities)
  18. Pages 61-62 (Review)

After each section, students re-read the section silently and then we review it. One way we review it is by writing about Carlos in paragraph form. Another way re review it is by personalizing it. To this end, I created a document for students to make their own drawings. Feel free to download the document and use it in class! You will notice that every other page is upside down and the page numbers are not in order. However, when you print it, all you have to do is fold it in half and everything lines up!

Jake-student-templateDownload
Soy-Carlos-student-templateDownload
Je-suis-Pierre-student-templateDownload

For those of you teaching virtually, I have a Google Slides document (Soy Carlos student activity book) (Je suis Pierre student activity book) that provides students a digital way of creating their book. I still make my students draw, they just have to take pictures of their work and upload it into the document. In the “Speaker’s Notes” there are directions for each page and examples from the book. Feel free to make your own copy and personalize the activity for your own students!

One fun thing I do with the student template is give a little lesson (all in Spanish) about how to draw dynamic stick figures. I make it really simple and move step-by-step (This is how I draw a head; these are the body types I use; let’s talk about hair options!; eyes, nose and mouth; etc). The simple drawings lower the stress on students to be perfectionist or “good” artists.

Here is a clip of how I taught my students to create their cover picture for their own book:

I would love to hear from you! Are you teaching with “Soy Carlos”? How can I support you? What ideas do you have for teaching?

Describing Childhood with the IMPERFECT

Childhood goes hand in hand with the imperfect tense. Here is a spin on the typical classroom activities!

Last week I explicitly taught the Imperfect past tense to my Spanish 2 students. It was not the first time they had been exposed, but it was the first time I explained the various verb endings.

This week was a difficult one with state testing. I needed something light and entertaining. Over Spring Break, I gave my students the homework of sending me a picture from their childhood. So, this week, I put those pictures to use.

My goal for this activity is for the students to be able to answer the questions ¿Cómo era? and ¿Qué hacía? (What were they like? and What did they do?). So, to start the activity, I write those two questions on the board. Then I ask students to Think, Pair, Share adjectives that especially describe childhood personalities. After time to think and time to share with a partner, I tell students to just shout them out and I write them on the board as fast as I can.

The next question pertains to activities in the past. Once again, students Think, Pair, Share childhood activities. I tell them to keep the activities in the past, and they do well remembering what verbs in the imperfect should sound like based on last week’s lesson. I also write these on the board.

I use the @ symbol to remind my students that these adjectives will end in ‘o’ when describing a boy and ‘a’ when describing a girl.

Now comes the fun part. Remember those pictures of my students? I organize them in folders for each class period. Then, I project them on the board.

First we try to guess who it is in the picture (some are obvious and some are more difficult – especially the baby photos). Then, I start describing them. I completely make it up, flying by the seat of my pants. If you have trouble improvising on the spot, you may consider writing a short description for the pictures you want to spotlight.

Project the photo and make up a story about it! Write words on the board that the students might need to make your story comprehensible.

I like to have fun with it. If I have a shy student, I talk about how social she or he was as a child. Her parents had to tell her to be quiet so often that now she is just quiet! If I have a loud student, I expound on how annoying he or she was, how they stomped and yelled all the time.

In the pictures, I try to take the opportunity to teach words like pesad@ (annoying), mimad@/consentid@ (spoiled), egoísta (selfish), and bien/mal educad@ (well/poorly mannered). I add these words to the board as I use them.

After each story, I would ask students to answer the two target questions of the day. Then I would ask the whole class the questions and get a choral response from them. To keep students awake, after each picture, they had to change seats and sit by someone new.

My students were impressed at times with how spot-on some of my impromptu stories were and they laughed at the ones that were obviously out in left field. At the end of it all, the most fun part was seeing classmates as kids and remembering our childhoods.

I did this lesson for two days that were divided by a day of state testing. It was a nice break from sitting and testing. I got through 8-10 pictures each day, depending on how much I elaborated. I didn’t get through all of the pictures, but that’s okay! Next week I will use them to review the target questions and possible have them as options for a timed write.

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