Felipe Alou, adding, round 2

Last year I used the book Felipe Alou: Desde los valles a las montañas by Carol Gaab for the first time. I blogged about it here. However, I only covered the first 7 chapters in that post, and since I am now working with the book for the second year, I thought I would add a bit more to it.

Updates from the second year:

Chapter 5

I like to use the audio CD for variety.  For this activity, the students do NOT have their books as they listen to the audio.  They have this: Capítulo 5 Obstáculos to complete during listening. This takes them to page 24, stopping where “Felipe esperó y esperó. ” Once they had listened, they had 2 minutes with their books to go back through and read to verify their answers. The map can be used through the end of the chapter and into chapter 6.

Based on Carrie Toth’s explanation of Quiplash from Wooly Week, I made a similar activity for chapter 4 and halfway through chapter 5 (chapter 5 is a very long chapter and I divided it into two parts).  In my adapted version, the sentences being used may be actual quotes from the characters, quotes that they could have said, or just descriptive sentences.  I chose Felipe, los entrenadores, las personas negras, las personas blancas, José/padre and el taxista as my characters.  I ran 6 sets on card stock and divided my classes into groups of 4 – 6 students.  Each student had at least one character.  As I read the sentence or quote, they had to determine the character and rush to stand on their spot with the appropriate answer. Quiplash after 4 and halfway through 5

Last year I wrote about a timeline activity to set the stage for what was happening in the United States when Felipe arrived in 1956.  It included events prior to 1950, during the decade of the 50’s and after 1960.  Based on the work last year, I knew that it was really important to spend more time this year so that students have a better understanding of what Felipe encountered when he arrived.  But, even more importantly, their own knowledge of our history is very minimal.  This is definitely a cross curricular activity as my students struggled to identify even when Martin Luther King gave his most famous speech, or was assassinated, when desegregation happened and how slowly it happened, and even, most appallingly, when the Second World War occurred as opposed to the Korean War or Vietnam!

Chapter 6

Based on the original idea from Carrie Toth, I adapted “La Idea Central” (from Vida y Muerte en la MS 13) for Felipe Alou.  Chap 6 La Idea Central

Chapter 7

Quizz Quizz Change:  The activity where each student has a question card with the answer on the back.  All students are up, find a partner, ask the question, listen to the answer (or help with the answer) and exchange cards with the partner before moving to another partner.  This can be done with students wandering around (in a class that can handle that) or with inner/outer circle (for classes that need more structure).  I ran the question/answers on cardstock, folded them in half and taped them.  Quizz Quizz Change

Chapter 8

My partner in planning (Megan Matthews) adapted the Picasso Plates idea which was originally described by Kristy Placido or Cynthia Hitz (HELP!?).  We ran off the restaurant scene from this chapter. Each student received a paper to place on his/her head (or do with eyes closed).  The directions, script and restaurant scene are: escena del restauranterestaurant scene directions and script

Adapting again from Cynthia Hitz, here is the marker game PLUS for chapter 8. Marker Game Plus for chap 8

Sometimes, some repetitive practice combined with a familiar game is a good idea.  Here is a link to a classtools.net database for chapter 8.  I had the students play PacMan with this, although Wordshoot is also a good option.

Chapter 9

Word Sort: Use these words to have students begin to think about chapter 9. Student in groups of 2- 3, each group has a baggie with the words.  Each group sorts the words into X number of categories. Students can make predictions for what they think will happen.  Word Sort to open chap 9

Dustin Williamson shared a sound effects activity for this chapter that my students really enjoyed. I added one sound effect for jonron.

Years ago, and I do mean years ago, I saved a powerpoint game template called CARAMBA! from someone, somewhere.  I regret that I do not know to whom to attribute it, but it has been a well played game for many years! It is a game of both knowledge and chance…..and it always delights some students and makes others upset! I can’t upload the file here, but I am willing to share.

Chapter 10

Conversation Circles end of book is another idea from Carrie Toth that I again adapted from Vida y Muerte en la MS 13. 

Need to focus on numbers? Here is a good review of numbers and info/stats from chapters 9 and 10. іNúmeros! chap 9 and 10

Slam It! Students are in groups of two (or three, if necessary).  Read or project a statement/question.  Each student writes the answer as quickly as possible and SLAMS his paper down on his desk (key to the fun!). If the student is correct when the answer is uncovered or stated, he scores a point.  If incorrect, the partner scores the point. 

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 is a longer chapter. I wanted to divide it into sections and keep the students actively involved while we were reading it (example below).  So I created 3 sections with three different games.  Capítulo 11 during reading   

A culminating activity to summarize the “highs” (montañas) and the “lows” (valles) de Felipe.

I hope there is something that you may find useful.  I also would love to see what you are using/creating.  Felipe Alou is one of my favorite books to teach!

Disclaiming again:  I’m not a native speaker.  I’m sure there are errors. Please correct as necessary.

 

Noche de Oro, a work in progress

As I mentioned in my last post, this is our first year working with Noche de Oro by Kristy Placido, so I’m on a learning curve with my students.  My awesome colleague, Megan Matthews, and I have discovered that this book is a more challenging read for many of our Spanish III students.  We have worked hard to come up with a number of reading support activities that will help our weaker readers and still engage the stronger ones.

Chapter 3

1. We took several sentences from the chapter to work with before reading. We asked students to try to determine the meaning of the underlined sections based on context.  It was a struggle at first, and so we did what they could the first time through.  The second time, I added English suggestions to choose from.
   1. Carolina se dio la vuelta y se encontró cara a cara con un hombre joven y guapo.
   2. Era un buen indicio de que él estaba tomando su posición en serio.
   3. Ella dirigió al chofer a una de las casas que no estaba ocupada.
   4. Creo que no pudo resistir mi increíble personalidad.
   5. Ella no conocía a él.
   6. No sabía si le gustaba la idea de confiar tanto en él.
   7. Jacques la saludó con dos besos.
   8. El chofer dejó las maletas hace una hora.
   9. Los ojos le brillaban con la sonrisa.
   10. Me avisó que él iba a vivir con su hijastro.
   11. Carolina se preguntaba cuántos años tendría este hijo…..
2. We spent some time talking about judging people by their appearance.  I googled some images to show the same people from different perspectives and we had some fun, useful conversation.
3. We also used the Venn diagram from the TG.
4. We played Kahoot for chapter 3 only.
5. If you use gimkit, here is one I made for Chapters 1- 3.

Chapter 4

1.  We listened to chapter 4.  I strongly encourage the purchase of the audio CD if your funding allows for it. It is a nice change and can be used with or without the book, depending on your purpose.
2. We prepared a list of statements that we used for two different activities.  First, in small groups of 2-3 students, the students received all of the statements and the following categories:  Martin, Jacques, Carolina, las cajas, la casa. The task was to match the statement to the category.  For the second activity, only the teacher has the list of statements.  The students had the category cards. I would read a statement and they grabbed or touched the appropriate category.  Each group kept their own score.  For my class that was still encountering difficulty, I turned this into at third activity with 4 teams (this is my smallest class).  Each team sent a member to the front of the class to sit with a whiteboard and marker.  I read the statement and they wrote the appropriate category.
   1. Le gustaba mucho la mirada misteriosa
   2. lo que dejó el chofer
   3. no está muy limpia
   4. Era una sorpresa para Carolina
   5. hablaba de una manera informal
   6. tenía 20 anos
   7. tenía cabello desordenado
   8. dirigió el chofer hacia una de las casas que no estaba ocupada.
   9. eran iguales
   10. tenía una sonrisa genuina
   11. Tenían una palabra extraña estampada en un lado.
   12. Estaba sonrojándose un poco al ver a Jacques.
   13. Tenía una mirada misteriosa y peligrosa
   14. Eran grandes y nuevas
   15. Era joven
   16. Iba a llamar al servicio de limpieza.
   17. tenía tres tatuajes
   18. Saludó a Carolina con dos besos.
   19. Hablaba de una manera informal.
   20. Donde puso el chofer las cajas.
   21. Oyó la discusión entre Jacques y Martín
   22. Caminó a la casa de Jacques y Martín
   23. Sentía una intensa curiosidad sobre las cajas
   24. Dijo que su madre era una tica tonta
   25. Tenía papeles, CD’s, una laptop, memorias y la palabra OROTEC
   26. Dijo que si quiere el dinero, tiene que cerrar la boca y trabajar.
   27. No quiere que Jacques la vea y esconde detrás de una caja.
   28. Está 15 minutos de la oficina de Carolina.
   29. Donde están las cajas
   30. Donde Jacques hizo las llamadas telefónicas

   Carolina
   Jacques	Martín
   Las cajas	La casa

   3.  We used the star puzzle as well as the prueba in the TG.

Chapter 5

1.  To prepare to read Chapter 5, we developed these five “mini stations” to use.  Students were working with a partner with this document: Chap 5 mini stations. About every 5 minutes, I called “time” for them to move to a different part of the document.  I also spent 5 minutes with each of my desk pods (I have 5 pods of 4 – 6 desks each) to do the oral piece (station #1) with that group.  On each pod of desks was a laptop so that they could watch the assigned video.  The entire activity went very well and really prepared them for what they would encounter in chapter 5.
2. As we read chapter 5, each student had a copy of this document: student copy for chapter listening.  On the board, via a SMART presentation (which I can’t upload on wordpress) were projected questions and possible answers. They read, listened and selected answers as we read.                                                                                                   Samples:                                                                                                                                    In response to the question  ¿Cómo era Gabriel?                                                        1.  Hay 3…
   amable bruto moreno rubio
   cómico joven misterioso alto
   peligroso aburrido inteligente divertido                                                                                  In response to:     2. ¿Qué lo llamaron los estudiantes de Gabriel?                                   a. Señor Ording b. Gabriel c. Profesor                                                                                   In response to:  3. ¿Que estudiaron los estudiantes que llevó Gabriel a la hacienda?   a. El impacto de las actividades de los humanos en el medioambiente
   b. El impacto de temblores en Costa Rica y la necesidad para reforestacion.
   c. El impacto de las aves y iguanas en el medioambiente

3.  We used the TG assessment pictures as practice and I added some matching statements to the 6 main characters.

4.  We did a free write on Jacques/Martin.                                                                                        ¿Qué sabes sobre Jacques Mauvais?
¿Cómo es?
¿De dónde?
Descripción física
Descripción de su personalidad/carácter
Su familia
¿Dónde vive?
¿Qué quiere? ¿En qué tiene interés?
¿Qué sabes de Martín?
¿Cómo es?
¿De dónde?
Descripción física
Descripción de su personalidad/carácter
Su familia
¿Dónde vive?
¿Qué quiere? ¿En qué tiene interés?

Chapter 6

1. We used the audio guide again with this chapter.  Students used this document:  ch 6 worksheet for audio guide with SMART  to answer these questions (projected on a SMART presentation)                                                                                                             Párrafos 1/2
   1. ¿Qué pensaba Alex sobre Martín?
   Párrafos 3/4
   2. ¿Cómo estaba Martín cuando vio el microbús?
   Párrafo 5
   3. ¿A dónde fueron para comer?
   4. ¿Quién era el mejor bailador/bailarín?
   Párrafo 6
   5. ¿A dónde quería ir Makenna?
   6. ¿Cómo estaba Makenna después de bailar?
   Párrafo 7
   7. ¿Dónde decidieron sentarse?
   8. ¿Quién pensaba en besar?
   Párrafo 8
   9. ¿A dónde tuvieron que ir Makenna y Martín?
   10. ¿Cómo estaba Makenna?
   Párrafo 9
   11. ¿En qué pensó Makenna?
   12. ¿Cómo fue Martín cuando su padrastro le gritó sobre el trabajo?

By this point of the book, two of my three sections did not need to be so “guided” during reading, but my third section, the group with the greatest range of abilities (from exceptionally weak to above Spanish III), really appreciated the additional support, as indicated by asking them to respond anonymously to the question “Did this help?” student response to working through chapter

2.  We used the Reader’s Theater in the TG.

3.  We did an “order the chapter” activity in groups of two (each group had sentence strips on cardstock to order). Additionally we read them aloud and I had random groups do some translating of the sentences. Chap 6 order the chapter  

4.  We played Kahoot for chapters 5/6.

Chapter 7

1.  We spent some time talking about “Odiar” using a detailed SMART presentation.  Here are some samples from it:
   

   

2.  We explored some of the vocabulary in the chapter

and we made some predictions based on these words:

3.  We played the marker game (Cynthia Hitz). I used the true/false statements from chapter 7 with an additional 15 that I wrote.

4.  We used this  Review through 7  twice.  The first time, in small groups of 2 – 3, they sorted through all of the cards placing them in categories of their creation (I had 8 or 9 sets printed on cardstock and cut out).  The second time, in teams of 4-5, we played the Reading Game. I read a statement, the team member wrote the answer, and if correct, drew a card.  See the post for scoring information.

Chapter 8

1.  Chapter 8 is a short, fun read.  I assigned each of my desk pods a sound effect to produce as we read.                                                                                                         Sonido: make sounds
   Moto: Vroom Vroom Vroom
   Cataratas: Swooshhhhhhh
   Martín: ¡Pura Vida!
   Makenna: ¡Bésame!
2. If you have gimkit, here is a gimkit I created for chapters 5 – 8.

Chapter 9

1.  We used the suggested “emoticon” activity in the TG. I projected 9 emoticons, we practiced the pronunciation and generally had some fun with them. We then took 3 sentences from the chapter (this is prior to reading chapter) and determined meaning and pronunciation.  I then passed out an “emoticon” card to everyone (yes, there were duplicates and triplicates). We practiced reading the sentences with our seat partners. Then, we got up inner/outer circle and  I then said “Sentence 1”. They read the sentence based on the emoticon and their partner guessed which emoticon it was. They exchanged emoticon cards and the outer circle shifted one person to the right. This was a FUN activity.
2.  We played charades/pictionary with short sentences and vocabulary from chapter 9.
3. We used the suggested assessment in the TG with some additional questions.

Chapter 10

1. We used the TG powerpoint (with additional images) to talk about our fears. I also added many slides of dangerous bridges to our SMART presentation for this chapter (with appropriate scary, anxious music).
2. As we read chapter 10, I used lighting and music to amplify the “drama”.
3. We used the suggested post reading questions in groups of three.

When our break is over, we still have 3 chapters to read.  I’m a bit apprehensive that the students will have forgotten some of what we have done, but we are determined to wrap the book up in the first week after break.  We then will move on to Felipe Alou!

I’m really interested in what you may have created for this book by Kristy Placido.  Also, if you use any of these activities, I’d love to know how they go for you. Finally, I conclude this post by saying I am NOT a native speaker.  I’m sure there are errors which I will gratefully correct if pointed out!