Sometimes the smallest things…a Spanish story in English

Went back to school today.  I have been fighting the thought for the last several days, but the day finally came and back I went.  I surprised myself, though--I had a great time!

I teach high school Spanish using TPRS.  I teach 2nd year, so the thrill has pretty much worn off for my kids.  First year is a lot of fun--they are thrilled to be learning, excited that they understand so much, happy because they're being taught while participating in skits and reading silly stories, and just overall having a good time.

By second year, though, the thrill, if not gone, has diminished.  They are wise to the skits, know a lot and aren't nearly so excited about the vocabulary gains, and are pretty much jaded.  Or at least that what was I've been thinking all year.

But over the break, the smallest thing happened.  My friend, Robyn, who teaches in Phoenix, went home to Indiana over Christmas break, and she was able to go to a TPRS workshop before she came back.   She was so excited--it was catching!  My brain seemed to catch the energy by osmosis, so today I decided to do a skit, just like the old days.  I'm sad to say that I've pretty much stopped doing them--they seemed like more trouble than they were worth.

Not today.  Today we were learning "he hit him/her", "again", and "he had the urge to" (le pegó, de nuevo, y tenía ganas).  I gave it about 2 minutes' thought and then remembered Gladys Ormphby and the Dirty Old Man on Laugh In!  Remember?  This old man comes up to a park bench, sits beside Gladys, Gladys scoots all the way over to the edge, and he follows.  The old man offers her a candy for a kiss.  She hits him with her purse.  He then offers her a candy for a hug.  She hits him again.  He then falls off the bench and offers her a candy for calling an ambulance.  She gets up and goes away.  Short, to the point, and funny as anything when you see two high school kids in costumes pretending.

Afterwards, we wrote the story on the board.  The students then wrote the story on a paper, skipping lines.  We then rewrote the story, changing it from the "él" form to the "yo" form.  Perfect!

So thanks, Robyn!! My first day back was a success thanks to your enthusiasm.