Language Resident Name: Rosina Desimone
Day and Date: Monday, September 22nd
Language and Level: Spanish Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: How to advice and recommend effectively in Spanish
Goal of the class: For students to effectively give recommendations, advice and even convince in Spanish
How did you structure the class:
Ice-breaker: “Why do you have a bear in your bag?” The teacher gives a student an empty bag and asks, “Why do you have (a bear, a monkey, etc.) in your bag?” The students invents answers and throws the bag to a classmate, asking the same question, but only changing the object “inside” the bag, for instance: “Why do you have a bed in your bag?” The game finishes once everybody has answered the question.
Warm-up: The teacher shows a comic on the TV set about friends giving each other advice. The students have to infer what is the problem in the comic and create an advice to that problem. (The dialogue bubbles in the comic are empty.) Then, the students discuss what kind of problems do they usually have and request advice on.
The teacher draws a ladder on the board. She writes at the beginning of the ladder “Definitivamente, no deberias…” and at the top of the ladder, “Creo absolutamente que vos deberias…” Then, she asks the students to infer what is the ladder going to be about (Recommendations.) The students have then to fill the ladder with expressions to give recommendation.
After that the teacher gives the students flashcards with typical expressions on how to recommend in Spanish. The students have up to 3 minutes to study the cards and give it back to the teacher.
After that, the teacher divides the group in 2 teams. Each team has to choose a number from 1 to 3 and, according to the number they chose, invent a practical piece of advice for a problem mentioned by the teacher. They have to use the structures that the teacher requests.
If the answer is correct (i.e. correct use of structures and vocabulary for a certain problem) the team gets a point. The winning team is the one with most points.
What technology, media or props did you use?: TV set, my laptop, flashcards, handout with situations.
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The students really loved the game! The comic activity took more time than I had anticipated. Maybe, time was not enough to acquire certain structures in the flashcards used when recommending at the final game.
How could this class be improved/modified?
Game: The teacher draws a dartboard on the whiteboard. Now, instead of giving a point for each right answer, the team that answers correctly may get a chance to throw a paper ball to the board and get a certain amount of points. Students loved this variation of the game!