Organizing Ideas During Movie Talk

One of my favorite activities in class is the use of short films, commercials or animations to provide comprehensible input and lots of repetitions to my students in a very compelling and engaging way.
The technique is called Movie Talk. 
Basically, you choose a short video (preferably no longer than 5 minutes) that contains the vocabulary or structures that you are interested in.  Then you play it in class, pausing when the image shows what you want to describe, and providing the repetitions that your students need to acquire the structures, TPRS® style.  This is beautiful because it is totally in context, the images are entertaining and students are following very attentive, because they want to know what will happen next. 
When I first began using the technique I would play it all first for students to enjoy, and then replay it to pause and talk.  This year, I modified it after seeing Cynthia Hitz's blog posts on the same topic.  It did make a difference, because students' attention is not the same when they have already seen the end of the story.  Duh! :) Martina Bex has also a very resourceful blog, and she has been posting a lot of ideas on how to use Movie Talk.
In my opinion, based on my own experience, the key to Movie Talk is to have very clear what your targets are for the lesson.  It is easy to go crazy on details! You still will describe and talk about many other things that are shown, but it is crucial to focus on a limited amount of vocabulary.  The rest is the "frosting on the cake", it is what provides the context for the comprehensible input that your students receive.  This is a great way to differenciate: according to their level and abilities, students will get just the right amount of that "frosting", and still you will have the whole group meeting your target.
After collecting the writings of my level 4 class this week, I saw that many students were making the same mistake when using imperfect, specifically the verbs "era" and "estaba"  (was).  I thought that was a done deal! So, I decided to use Movie Talk to address the issue once again.  I am preparing a lesson using "Chicken or The Egg" , a fun animation about a pig who falls in love with a hen.  This time I made a graphic organizer (see below)to help students land all those ideas, and clarify their confusion.  It has two columns to categorize era/estaba, (target) and two other columns for the other preterite and imperfect verbs that we will include as the "frosting".
Students will have their handout, and I will have it on my white board as well, adding as I go through the video.  I hope this organizer will make a difference in facilitating the acquisition of these complex verbs and structures for my students.  What ideas do you have to improve this activity?

Evaluating Reading and Listening Skills

I am reading Felipe Alou by Carol Gaab with my Spanish 4/5 class. I got also the teachers guide from the

 website, which has helped me a lot with ideas and more!

This has been one of the most fulfilling units I have had since I switched to Comprehensible Input.  The book gives you the opportunity to truly reach  across curriculum and get into social studies, physical education, health, even current events! Before starting chapter 3, I had to introduce and practice "Deber" (must) using comprehensible input.  I used the power point to first get through some verb-conjugation for those students that need all the forms at once, however, I introduce them still using comprehensible input.  That part takes just a minute or two.  No explanation, just quick references such as:  what is the "N" in "DEBEN" doing?, pop-up grammar style.  Then, we go over the rest of the slides developing conversation:  I ask the question, and they discuss it with the student next to them.  Then, we discuss it as a whole class.



We have read 3 chapters so far, and watched the movie "En el tiempo de las mariposas"  , which is the real story of three sisters who suffered through the dictatorship that our book talks about.  So, my students have had the opportunity to really study the topic in depth, and now I wanted to test them in their writing, reading and listening skills. This time, I tried to do something simpler to test them.
1) For the reading part, I had ten questions based on the story that they had to respond using either English or Spanish.  The focus here is to test them on their understanding of my questions, not their writing. Most students responded in Spanish because "it is harder to switch back and forth!" :)
2) For listening, I read ten statements based on the story that they had to translate into English. (You will find the statements on the third page of the document).


3) For writing, they had to use past tenses and (for differentiation purposes) choose between three options:
        a) write a summary of the book (minimum of 100 words)
        b) Make a "hybrid": tweak the story introducing original parts
        c) Make your own original story with characters living in Dominican Republic during the dictatorship.
What do you do to test these skills in your classroom?

Make it relevant: Interviews to develop conversation.

In my search for helping my students make connections with the "real world" and apply their learning in context, I decided to begin student interviews in Spanish 4 class.  I found that activity in Cynthia Hitz's blog.  What makes student interviews great, is that they bring relevance into our classroom.  Do you remember the feeling when you could hold your first conversation in your target language?  Personally, that is what encouraged me to continue my English studies.  That "this works!" feeling is indescribable, and I really want my students to experience it.  As a first interview to set up guidelines and also to get students motivated, I invited my niece Isaura.  She is from Mexico, but right now is studying in Germany.  She is 19 years old, and obviously interested in languages, which made her a perfect prospect for this activity.

There was some preparation to make sure that our time was used efficiently, and to avoid the risk of the the activity turning into an improvised and chaotic session.
Before connecting through Skype:

1.  I asked my niece to write some questions that she could ask my students.  I gave each student a number, so she would call on a specific one to respond and engage in conversation.
2. I gave my students 15 minutes to write questions for Isaura.  I told them they could ask anything they would like, and also wrote on my board the following question words for them to have a start:

•¿Quién…?

•¿Qué…?

•¿A dónde…? (To where…?)

•¿En dónde? (in where…?)

•¿Cómo?

•¿Por qué?

•¿Cuántas / cuántos?

•Do you think that…? (Piensas que…)

I decided not to force students to participate, but all had to write their own questions anyway.  Forcing them would have taken away the fun and relaxed environment of a real-life conversation. Besides, it is all about the comprehensible input, isn't it?
So, students AND guest had questions to ask each other.  The conversation began.  Students had to introduce themselves before asking their questions.  After the natural nervousness of the beginning, they all relaxed and had a great time! I was making comprehension checks and other comments to make sure that every student was following, and also that the conversation had a natural flow.  When there was a pause when I asked for the next volunteer, it was Isaura's turn to ask them a question. No dead time at all!  Having students and guest ask questions helped the interview turn into a conversation. My niece was impressed with the ability that my students have to communicate, and students were thrilled to test their skills with a native speaker.  I believe that this activity gave them that "this works!" feeling I was talking about! Now we are all set for student interviews in our classroom.