Cultural input: the prisons in Bolivia (or how to engage Spanish learners)

How to get students engaged and producing a lot of language???? Well…. I recommend purchasing Martina Bex 7-day lesson plans about Los niños prisioneros de Bolivia as it is truly worth the investment! Not only did it save me a lot of prep-time, it also made my students had a meaningful discussion in the target language!

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a favor1 Bolivia1 comprehend52 comprehensible100 comprehension250 conversation311 culture246 debate11 debe2 discuss30 discussion39 Education20 effort1 en contra1 engage150 family164 high interest7 input47 interest10 interesting23 issues1 key structures8 listen283 listening52 lo que hace1 meaningful15 output44 performance2 prison2 read40 reading252 reflect17 reflection20 skills26 social relationships7 South American3 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 structures7 target9 target language12 TPRS71

Spanish story script: se vende

This story comes from the wonderful Martina Bex who posts so many brilliant ideas and resources on her blog. I started a new unit with my grade 6 class which is about going shopping and this story fitted perfectly!

Speaking/vocabulary: I first started by introducing the different shops to my students using this slideshow: SHOPS.

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acquire50 acquisition65 comprehensible100 comprehension250 creative13 expression21 flashcards8 key structure10 language45 pattern1 quizlet9 repetition42 se vende1 sell6 selling1 shop9 shopping13 skills26 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 target9 TPRS71 writing55

Another story script in Spanish: ¡No es aceptable!

Following my first story script in Spanish to practice classroom instructions, I have just finished creating another one which reinforces classroom intructions and which introduces one important question word: ¿Por qué?. It also introduces other key phrases from the Michel Thomas method such as es así and lo.

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classroom9 commands12 demo5 Education20 game21 instructions6 key structure10 method20 Michel Thomas4 play27 questions74 script201 Simon says1 Spanish33 story46 storytelling39 TPRS71 video350 words18

Story script in Spanish

I am huge fan of the Michel Thomas method. The only thing that is bothering me is that it hugely relies on translation. I was trained to use the target language as much as possible in the classroom and my mentor taught me a few tricks to get the students to understand me in the target language like using lots of cognates.

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acquire50 acquisition65 circle3 circling5 classroom9 cognate1 command11 connection105 customized2 Education20 high frequency217 instruction5 items1 key structure10 language45 method20 Michel Thomas4 moods16 personalized16 PQA8 proficiency12 proficient9 questions74 read40 reading252 script201 Spanish33 story46 storytelling39 structure10 target9 target language12 target structure20 TPRS71 translate7 translation4 verbs7