Laura Masci, who teaches Spanish at the elementary level, emailed me to share a few of the ways that she has adapted the 'Dice' unit, and specifically the teaching of the song "Los pollitos dicen" for her young students. Laura just began her TCI journey, and she wrote, "These elementary students are more engaged in the last two weeks than in the whole earlier part of the year". This is the same thing that I experienced when I made the switch to TPRS®/CI! For the first time, all of my students were engaged and building fluency--not just the upper echelon of "studious" students!
The "Dice" unit is the first one that I teach with my Spanish 1 students, and I love the additions that she has made while using it at the elementary level. The first one is by turning my "Campanadas" into Comprehension pages that the students can complete. The second is adding a craft for the song "Los pollitos dicen", because let's face it--an elementary school unit is not an elementary school unit without a craft! The dozens of boxes in my parents' crawlspace will bear witness to this fact. I love how she wrote out the instructions in a PPT with pictures to support the students' understanding of the instructions. As always, circle, personalize, and check for comprehension while giving the instructions, just as you would during story asking.
Click on the image to download everything that Laura created:
