I've been thinking about how we do activities in the Spanish classroom, and today (Friday, 4/27) seemed like the perfect day to think about it. Fifth and sixth grade are working on their Se Busca (Wanted) posters, and 7th grade are working on their preposition posters. Neither project is groupwork, but I want students to collaborate as they work on their individual assignments.
One thing I like a lot right now is how student desks are set up. We have six groups of four desks each, turned to make tables. With a configuration like that, students are forced to look at each other and I think they get into the habit of sharing ideas and information (mis estudiantes, am I right about that?). Even when they're working on individual assignments, they seem to be comfortable sharing books, handouts, supplies, and pointers for how to do things. I find that I'm repeating myself less because someone in the group has heard me and repeats what I've said for the other group members. So far, the groups seem to be keeping a pretty positive dynamic.
So the younger students are working on Se Busca posters. They make up an imaginary person (or flesh-eating animal, or space alien with tacos for hands, or whatever), they draw and color it, and then they write a detailed description of their character in Spanish that they will share with the class. It's a fun, visual way to get students to do a writing sample (most of them don't even consider it a writing assignment), and I'm always thrilled with students' imaginative ideas. This nine weeks, I've seen a number of mustachioed unicorns, two drawings that incorporate monocles, a one-eyed green farmer, a rainbow-haired ballerina, and a "man-eating flying squirrel with vampire teeth that sparkle" (Rico's words, not mine). Yes, to answer your question, my students know how to say unicorn, mustache, monocle, cyclops farmer, rainbows, flying squirrel, and sparkly in Spanish. And I didn't have to look up a single word. That's the scary part.
The cool thing about the Se Busca posters is that most kids really own the project. They take an idea and they run with it for two or three days. This group in particular, though, has been very group-oriented. When I walk through the room, I hear things like "I know where to find that word--look at your adjectives handout on the left-hand side," "I think you need a different verb," or "Wow that looks really cool, will you show me how to do that?" I love how they collaborate on the simplest tasks, making language learning easier for everyone. I'm not sure how we got to this stage of collaboration, but I have to figure out how to make it happen with every class! Fifth and sixth graders, if you're reading, you guys are awesome. Keep up the good work!
Seventh grade is working on preposition posters. The textbook we use pushes us through eight rather mundane prepositions as soon as we learn the verb estar ("to be," used for changing conditions such as location). As soon as the book presents the prepositions (under, on top of, beside, inside of, in front of, behind, close to, far from), it expects students to know all eight and it immediately moves on to other topics. Memorizing eight prepositions is an exercise in futility. They're very similar-sounding and memorization is boring to begin with. To make things a touch easier, I have students create a poster illustrating all eight prepositions using two objects of their choice. Students pick interesting object pairs, like a worm and an apple, a rock and a snail, a spider and a web, a brick and a spider, a penguin and a cookie, a dragon and a turtle. The girl who chose a rock and a snail drew a power drill in one of her illustrations. "It's for the snail to get inside the rock," she said. Brilliant.
The cool thing about the 7th grade class is that they're starting to feel like a team. They had a rough start to the semester, but from what I saw yesterday and today, they're learning to trust and rely on each other. That kind of trust and reliance is crucial in a language class--you learn language in order to communicate with others; you can't just sit around talking to yourself! We were able to joke around a little in class today and still reach our goal for the period. That felt great because sometimes I feel like I can't afford to joke around with them, or things will get out of hand and we won't get our goals done for the day. I can't wait for Monday, when they'll give their poster presentations and share their work with each other. That's my favorite part of this assignment, watching them talk about what they've done and laugh with each other.
I like walking through the class, seeing what students have chosen to work on, watching their decisions in action and listening to the learning conversations that happen. Certainly, silly things go on. When you put 20 13-year-olds together, silly things are destined to occur. My classroom is noisy. Between the student chatter and the Spanish-language music that I subject them to, my door is often shut in an effort to spare the rest of the school the insanity. When I see the kinds of ideas that students develop as they work together, I wonder why lecture and teacher-led instruction is the traditional method of education. I could never in a million years come up with the questions that my students ask--who am I to lecture them when I can't even predict the questions that they want answered? I like to give them the information they need to create something and then watch them create it.
Sometimes I think I might be having more fun than my students. Where else in the whole world could I speak Spanish all day long, guide students through the creative/language learning process, and then celebrate their achievements with them? The best part of my day is sitting at a table with students who are working hard at something and just talking to them about their work. They have so much to share, and they want to do and say everything in Spanish! They make my job easy.
