About 3 years ago I started teaching grammar very differently than it is presented in the text book. It frustrated me that basic verbs were not taught until chapter 2 and er and ir verbs were not introduced until chapter 3! No wonder kids ended every verb with the ar verb endings. How strange I thought is was to start student with gustar (irregular) and ser (irregular) and have them get many verb that are irregular in that chapter 1 infinitive list: Ir, jugar, dormir, etc. This makes no sense!
So... I started teaching verbs (yes all verbs, ar, er, and ir) in the Para Empezar chapter. That's right I give a list of 20 verbs and the very first thing we learn (even before numbers and days of the week) are verbs and subject pronouns!!! How they conjugate, what all of the endings are...EVERYTHING!!!
What a difference this makes to students. They are able to communicate more authentically. Write better, speak better and most importantly understand the language better. Students now understand regular verbs and how they work in Spanish before they are exposed to irregular grammar concepts. In addition, by teaching all verbs at the same time, students don't overuse the ar verb endings!
Do many of you do the same thing? What are your thoughts on this?
6 comments:
My focus on year 1 Spanish is for students to be able to communicate quickly and without apprehension. I like initially for students to be able to talk about themselves with basic phrases regardless of whether or not they know the grammatical aspect in each phrase. I think it is important for them to feel comfortable speaking the language aloud in front of people they don’t know to seem as if they were in a real life situation. (traveling and meeting new people, asking for help, answering questions, etc.)
I agree about the introduction of verbs and don’t think the organization of the text is best for teaching regular present tense verbs. So I do teach ar/er/ir verbs together so they can see the endings of all of the verbs at the same time.
I agree, the problem I have, is many students get stuck with only those expressions and phrases that they memorized and because they don't know how the language/grammar workds, they cannot form questions and generate/create their own sentences and ideas, they become very limited in the amount of language they can produce. I am not speaking of your students, just year 1 students in general :)
Just for the sake of "conversation": :) What about how we teach our own children how to speak? I mean, when both my son and daughter (and still son because he seems to be behind with verbal skills) were learning how to speak I taught them the same way. Phrases, sentences, and questions they could use to express themselves, rather than throw tantrums, while they had no idea the grammatical concept nor did they ask why they said something the way they did. Do they seem limited in the amount of language they can produce? I don't think so. They start to invent ways of using the language using what they already know and what they hear and mimic. I guess I would like to think the older kids learning the upper levels would do so as well. But I've only taught level 2 once... And again, hoping for more feedback from our friends with this...
To keep the conversation going... However, in learning English, your kiddos were not just exposed to common expressions. They were also exposed to verbs, questions, vocabulary, multiple teneses, pronouns, etc. I wonder how well your kids would speak English if they were only exposed to very basic phrases and conversation pieces and not to English as a wholistic language. I think we are comparing apples to oranges. Your kiddos didn't just learn "I like" They learned you like, he likes, she likes, we like, they like. Yes, emersion is the best way to learn a language, but since that is not possible in our current educational system, I would like to get students understanding the language to be able to create it on their own.
To go back to your original question, I do not agree with the textbook either on when to teach the regular present tense conjugation. As a group, all Middle school teachers believe we should teach the three endings at the same time. I do it, and most of us as well on chapter 2A. I do not see it as much of a stretch to add er and ir endings. We are on the 10th week of the year and most of my students are able to apply these concepts.
In my opinion, this is not too late. As a middle school teacher, (and again, all M.S. teachers pretty much agree on this) I have no problem with the students memorizing certain phrases and uses of the language. The main reason is that the first two chapters students get to talk about themselves. They may not be able to express everything they would like express, but in a few weeks they are able to describe their likes and who they are. We are able to engage the students in the classroom, have them use the language, speaking with each other and even joke around in Spanish in the first few weeks talking about what they like the most… themselves! It is a proven fact that is easier for students to be more engaged when you make it more relevant and they can talk about their own personal experiences.
This has worked for me and it helps retain and motivate students. In our school retaining and motivating students is a huge issue. Starting the year with a complex grammar content that students do not understand in English would not be beneficial for my program.
I must say the textbook is not perfect, but it is way better than other resources I used in the past. Again, to focus on the original question, we, as middle school teachers, do not agree that teaching the conjugation part in the "para empezar" chapter is in our student's best interest. Hey, at least we all agree we do not wait to teach ar, er and ir separetly. We all agree we teach them at the same time, but definitely not so early for us.
Yes, yes, and yes. At our last middle school PLC we talked about how at the various schools we all teach AR-ER-IR endings together, and we also teach the entire verb and not just the singular. I agree that students need to begin with some phrases and greetings that they can use to converse immediately, and to get them interested and feeling confident in the language. I also think it is important to start verb endings as soon as possible, which may be slightly different for each school/program. To me, creation of language is the most important part, and student can not get there without verb conjugation, so the earlier we introduce it, and the more time they have to figure it out and practice with it, the better.
I think Jorge has a good point in saying that the text book is not perfect, but there is never going to be a text book that is perfect for every teacher, in ever program, in every school. I agree that the book is better than some others I have used, and that as teachers we need to remember that it is a resource, and not our curriculum. It is up to us to do things like teach all verb endings at once if we think that is better for our students.
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