Tell To Teach
New Vocabulary Known vocabulary:
Hay se llama
Vive corre
tiene miedo para
ve
un día
la gatita
el oso
casa, casita
escucha
STEP 1: ESTABLISH MEANING
Hay - there is, there are. This is a fun word, and I always tell them it is one of
the most important words in Spanish. I write it along with its meaning (with a
different color) on the blackboard; then I start asking, pointing to a boy: ¿Hay
un niño? ¿Hay una niña? If they were my class in the previous year, I will have
taught hay before, but it is always good to recycle. First I do it just orally, and
then I can start using props, for example, in this way: Bring a basket with a
small stuffed cat inside, and cover it with a silk. Go around the first row and
show them the cat (don’t let anyone else see), while you ask ¿Hay un gato? and
they will say Sí. You quickly cover the cat, and repeat the process with the next
student. Then, after three or four children, when you uncover the cat, you grab
it along with the silk (making believe you make it disappear) and the child will
have to say: No! Then you show the basket to the class and repeat: Clase, NO
HAY un gato... Next, it appears in the basket again, and you say: Sí hay un
gato!
You can also take the opportunity to circle the structure by asking:
Hay un gato? Hay un gato o hay dos gatos? Hay un perro? No, no hay un perro,
hay un gato, por supuesto (point at por supuesto on your poster of useful
expressions if they don’t know it)... Hay un gato o hay un ratón? Qué hay? etc.
For hay, I usually gesture with my two hands to one side, palms towards the
audience, as if I was presenting someone to them.
Vive - he/she lives. Translate on the blackboard. The best gesture I have found
has been to make the shape of a roof with my two hands on top of my head,
meaning something like “house.” In this case, gesturing is easy but not very
practical. It is easier to start a conversation, as Steiner would suggest, to form
conclusions. We can use the PQA technique and start by saying: Clase, Antonio
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vive en Cotati. (class responds) Aaaaah!, Clase, Antonio vive en Cotati? Antonio
vive en Cotati o vive en Summerfield? Antonio vive en una casa o en un árbol?
Quién vive en un árbol? Quién vive en una casa? Dónde vive Antonio? Etc.
Tiene miedo - he/she is scared. Another fun structure. Finding the gesture is
easy. You can actually make a combination and assess their comprehension by
combining corre (he/she runs), vive, and tiene miedo. You can give a sequence
of commands, and tell a student to walk to the closet, open the door, and be
scared. You can play endlessly with this one! Some questions might include:
Hudson tiene miedo? Nina tiene miedo? Hudson o Nina tiene miedo? Quién
tiene miedo? Clase, Hudson tiene miedo de... los ratones. (Class says:
Ooooh..!) Clase, Hudson tiene miedo de los ratones? Hudson tiene miedo de la
Señora Nora? Hudson tiene miedo de... qué? etc. If you let them add their own
detail to the questioning, they will feel even more engaged. Let’s say they
suggested los elefantes, the elephants. You could say: Clase, Hudson NO tiene
miedo de los elefantes, es ridículo! Hudson tiene miedo de Nina!
It is important to remember to go slowly when you are asking these questions,
and always to point at the structure on the blackboard, so that it remains fully
comprehensible and nobody gets lost.
It is always very practical in the beginning to have a card with all this questions
written down to guide you in those moments of truth!
Once you have practiced gesturing, PQA, etc., and assessed that they have
internalized these structures, you can start with the next step.
STEP 2: ASKING THE STORY
Bring a stuffed cat to class. Show the cat and say Clase, hay un gato? (Is there a
cat?) They will say yes (Si!). You say: No, no hay un gato. They will be puzzled.
Pull out a pink ribbon and tie it around its neck and say: Hay una gata. (There is
a girl-cat). Then you can say, “Is it a large girl-cat, or a small girl-cat?” They
will say “Small”. Then you say, Ahh... es una GATITA. That way they will
understand that the ending –ita means small.
Choose an volunteer. Give her the stuffed cat (la gatita). Start your story by
saying:
T: Clase, hay una gatita!
C: Ooooh!!
T. Clase, hay una gatita o un gatito?
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C: Una gatita!
T. Hay un gato grande?
C. No!
T. Claro que no! No hay un gato grande, hay una gatita pequeña! (there you
have two repetitions of hay in just one sentence)
T. Clase, hay una gatita negra o hay una gatita gris (try to say the right answer
in the end, so that they remember it)
C: Gris!
T: Correcto, clase! Hay una gatita gris. Y la gatita, corre? Corre despacio?
Corre rápido? Correcto, clase, la gatita corre rápido. (have the student run with
the cat from side to side.) Clase, la gatita corre rápido... o MUY rápido? (have
the student run even faster). Sí, la gatita corre muy rápido!
You could add a new character, like a turtle, to compare and contrast. This
brings fresh air to the circling. After circling tortuga, you can continue asking:
“Clase, quién corre más rápido, la tortuga o la gatita? La tortuga corre?
Antonio corre? Clase, Antonio corre más rápido o la gatita corre más rápido?
etc.
Bring out a drawing of el bosque. Use it to circle La gatita está en el bosque.
T: Chicos, la gatita está en el bosque. (Ooooh! say the students)
T: Chicos, la gatita está en su casa? No
T: La gatita vive en el bosque? NO
T: No, por supuesto que no vive en el bosque, la gatita vive en Sebastopol
(here I use the name of our hometown, so that we don’t need to learn or
translate a new location, such as the school, the store, etc.).
T: La gatita vive en una casa grande
(that is a line I use from a poem that I usually teach, so as they recognize
it they feel more connected to the story and most importantly, they feel
safe, they know what is being said and that gives them a great sense of
relief).
T: Clase, hay un problema...
T: Chicos, la gatita ve su casa?
T: No, la gatita no ve su casa, chicos! (They express sadness: “AAAAHH!”)
T: Chicos, la gatita no ve su casa! Es un problema?
C: (si)
T: Es un problema pequeño o grande?
C: (Grande)
T: Es un problemita? (gesture “small”) No, claro que no chicos, no es un
problemita, es un problema grande!!
T: La gatita, está contenta?
T: Está enojada? (here you are recycling known vocabulary)
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T: La gatita... tiene miedo?? (gloomy voice)
T: Sí, chicos, la gatita tiene miedo!
T: Tiene miedo o tiene mucho miedo? Chicos, Izzy tiene miedo? No, es
ridículo! Izzy no tiene miedo.
You can keep going with the asking, recycling, retelling, and embellishing with
more details as you go. As long as you have the interest of the children, you will
know your story is developing well. If you feel they are losing interest, change
the location, add a character, or maybe it is time to finish the story and do a
retell.
STEP 3: READING
An example of what the written story would look like is below:
The dialogue phrases are taken from a story my students know from first
grade, La Casita, a version of The Mitten. They love to identify things they
know from previous years. You are free to use it as is or edit it.
As you read, stop frequently and relate the story to the students too. If it says,
Gaby corre muy rápido, you can start asking, ¿Quién corre muy rápido en la
clase? ¿Jeremy corre muy rápido lo Jeremy corre muy despacio? ¿Quién corre
más rápido, la tortuga o el conejo? ¿Quién corre más rápido, Jeremy o Gaby la
gatita? and so on. In this way you can spend a good 15 minutes with this
relatively short reading. Then they can illustrate the story in four frames, which
will later help them remember the story and practice retelling it themselves.
Hay una gatita. La gatita se llama Gaby. Gaby corre muy rápido. Está
en el bosque. Tiene miedo. Gaby ve una casita y para. Gaby grita:
“Casa, casita, ¿quién vive dentro?” Gaby escucha una voz: “Yo, el
Oso zarposo”
¡Gaby tiene mucho miedo! Gaby corre a su casa en Sebastopol.
¡Qué suerte!
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Cuento 1
La gatita Gaby tiene miedo
Hay una gatita. La gatita se llama Gaby. Gaby corre muy rápido. Está en el
bosque. Tiene miedo. Gaby ve una casita y para. Gaby grita: “Casa, casita,
¿quién vive dentro?” Gaby escucha una voz: “Yo, el Oso zarposo”
¡Gaby tiene mucho miedo! Gaby corre a su casa en Sebastopol. ¡Qué suerte
Hay una gatita. Se llama Gaby. Gaby está en el bosque. Tiene
miedo.
Gaby ve una casita y grita. Gaby escucha una voz y tiene
miedo.