One of the first TPRS® stories that I did with my students back in 2010 was "La novia ingrata" (the ungrateful girlfriend), which was a script shared on Ben Slavic's blog by *I believe* Anne Matava. I ended up purchasing Anne Matava's Scripts (Volumes 1 and 2, and there is now a Volume 3 available!), and I think that they are an awesome resource for teachers that want to make storyasking a regular part of their classes! They sure helped me when I first started TPRS® and did purely story asking for two full semesters before branching out into other forms of CI!!
La novia ingrata was a very simple story that the kids had a lot of fun with, and it is a great fit for Valentine's Day!! Instead of looking for a gift for a significant other's birthday, have the main character look for a gift for Valentine's Day. If you are unfamiliar with how Matava style scripts work, please read this tutorial. Please note that I did not identify any specific target structures for this story (usually, they would be in bold).
While I no longer have the original script that was shared on Ben's blog, this is the script-ified story that one of my classes came up with during storyasking:
Click on image to download PDF of Spanish scriptENGLISH VERSION
Jared and Matysha are boyfriend & girlfriend. Sunday is Matysha's birthday. She is going to turn 16 years old. It's an important birthday and Jared wants to celebrate her birthday all week because he loves her a lot.
Monday, Jared looks for a gift for Matysha. He goes to Value Village. At Value Village, he finds the perfect gift. He buys her dirty diapers. They only cost $0.50! Tuesday, Jared gives her the dirty diapers. She is angry and throws them at Jared.
Wednesday, Jared looks for another gift for Matysha. He goes to Tesoro. At Tesoro, he finds the perfect gift. He buys her a liter of gasoline. It costs three dollars! Thursday, Jared gives her the gasoline. She is mad and dumps it on Jared's car.
Friday, Jared looks for another gift for Matysha. He goes to Clark Middle School. He goes to his Spanish class. In Spanish class, he finds the perfect gift. It's Temar! Jared asks his Spanish teacher, "I want to buy Temar and give him to Matysha for her birthday. He's very handsome. How much does he cost?" His Spanish teacher says, "Temar is very handsome. He costs five dollars." Jared says, "Perfect!" and he buys Temar. Saturday, Jared gives him to Matysha. Matysha opens the gift and exclaims, "He's so handsome! Jared, Temar is the perfect gift. Tamar is going to be my boyfriend. Goodbye, Jared...and thank you!"
Click on image to download printable storybook Valentine's Day Storybook
After we asked the story in my class, I used the storybook activity that I learned from Michele Whaley to simultaneously create a picture book for our class library and to review the story. I have tweaked the story book frame that I used for my class a little so that it works for this Valentine's Day, and you can print it out for your students to complete and illustrate their own version of the story.
More Valentine's Day ideas
My all-time favorite Valentine's Day activity comes from Bryce Hedstrom, which has students create an alternate version of Eres tú.
Elizabeth Dentlinger put together a tournament-style Valentine's Commercial viewing and discussion activity that you can download here. (She also shared some Piropo signs.) I've been trying to trace the March Madness idea back to its roots; I think that Jeff Klampka originally shared the idea on Ben Slavic's blog in 2010, and then I read about it when Nathan Black posted it on Michele Whaley's blog in 2011...as the tournament of awesomeness and then perhaps Dustin Williamson took it from there and turned it into the March Music Madness and Christmas Commercial tournament? Or maybe it was Teach Like a Pirate that inspired Bethanie Drew? Or maybe those things were all happening simultaneously? If anyone can help me figure out the genealogy of this idea, please help! It is important to me to provide credit where credit is due, and it is fascinating and inspiring to watch how ideas 'catch' and, spread, and change!
I have a few storytelling units that work with Valentine's Day; notably, my Cortejo unit which looks at dating customs in Spanish speaking countries (purchase JUST the reading here) and my Piropos unit that works with the song 'El chico del apartamento 512' by Selena. (You can purchase JUST the piropos reading and not the full unit here.)
Click on image to download printable storybook I also just added this 'girl power' Valentine's Day logic puzzle that features four girls that are not waiting around for guys to buy them roses for Valentine's Day because they are too busy being awesome in their communities and their schools. Logic puzzles are great for Fast Finishers or for homework if you have to give it (I never gave homework). Or just for fun if your students are totally addicted to them like I am :-D.
Cindy Hitz has shared this Valentine's activity that works with the song 'Mi Princesa' and targets the subjunctive.
Here are some songs that would be fun for Valentine's Day:
- Te Amo by Nota
- Me gustas tú by Luis Fonsi
- Tú no eres para mí by Fanny Lu (for some anti-love!)
- A puro dolor by Son by Four, which is of course by all-time favorite heartbreak song
Also, YOU COULD DO NOTHING TO RECOGNIZE VALENTINE'S DAY IN YOUR CLASS, and the world would keep on turning. We don't celebrate Valentine's Day in our family, and most years I have ignored it in class altogether. You do you ::insert fist bump emoji::.
All story scripts shared on www.martinabex.com are licensed under a CC-BY-SA-NC 3.0 license:
You are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and remix, transform, and build upon the material under the following conditions: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
