This week we are back in school after two weeks off, and we have several new students in middle school. I put together this rompehielos (icebreaker) to help those kids get to know their classmates a little better, while reviewing and introducing some new vocabulary.
I focused on the verbs tener and gustar. We've used both verbs before, but haven't had a lot of practice fully conjugating them.
Here's the document as a PDF and as a Word document, if you would like to make some changes.
I did this with 7th and 8th grade, and it worked out well. It was a way to channel the just-back-from-break chatter into some authentic communication.
- Briefly review the verbs. I gave students this cheat sheet on the back... including some corny memes.
- Let students preview the vocabulary. For my more basic classes I starred some boxes I wanted them to start with (that used familiar vocabulary or cognates.)
- Model how to ask for the necessary information. Many kids will try to just ask "¿Tiene un gato?" since that is how it is written on the paper, instead of using "tienes." (When I pointed this out one bilingual student theorized that they were just using the Usted form... so maybe they were just being super polite?)
- Model how to negotiate meaning without translating. I showed examples of how to give hints without switching to English: If your partner doesn't understand the question, try pointing out the word on the paper, acting it out, etc.
- Grab a paper and participate yourself. You will find out some things about your students, and can provide a model for students.
- Ask follow up questions. It was fun to see which categories were the hardest to find. (¿Nadie tiene un hámster?)
No comments:
Post a Comment