I finally remembered to do the awesome activity that Betsy shared at our last monthly TPRS gathering, and it was incredibly successful! Here are the steps that we completed leading up to the re-tell:
- We created a class story (one class did ¡Siéntate! and another did ¡Saca el boleto!)
- I typed an abbreviated (bare bones) version of the story on the Promethean Board. (If you don't have a projector, you could always hand write it on poster paper or whiteboards.) While I typed, I paused whenever we came to a target structure or key detail in the story and solicited it from students.
- Students read the story out loud in Spanish to their hands (they put one hand in front of their faces and talk to it).
- Students closed their eyes, and I read the story aloud to the students, again pausing for target structures and key details and waiting for students to say the answers chorally.
- Students did the blind re-tell with partners, and I circulated with my seating chart to assess their speaking.
This was grossly successful!! The kiddos had so many repetitions of the story leading up to the blind re-tell that they did a fantastic job with the re-tell. Many of them added in the extra details that I eliminated for the abbreviated version on the board (additional things that the characters said, for example). Thanks, Betsy, for this fabulous activity!!
