Unlock with PatreonThe Problem with CI
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Questions
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13 thoughts on “Questions”
Have her read Pobre Ana and Patricia va a California
I agree with Sr. Wooly too
And Piratas, because of the glossary. Great idea. This child will arrive in Spanish 2 in good shape after having read those books.
Aren’t there also CD’s of those books? If she could read them and listen to them at the same time, and then get herself to the point where she could understand as she listened, with or without the book, the pronunciation would come without any difficulty.
If she has favorite movies that she knows inside and out, watching the movie in Spanish (with and without various subtitles) is a possibility. But she has to know the English version cold. (My niece and nephew can quote from memory the entire dialogue of their favorite movies; seeing them in Spanish or French would pose no problem to understanding for them.)
Same thing goes for any songs that exist in both languages.
Bilingual books with the languages on facing pages are a possibility. If she is religious, then parallel translations of the Bible/Tanach/Quran might be a possibility.
El nuevo Houdini (from Carol Gaab)
I often suggest this to students and parents who want to improve. Pick your favorite movie and watch it in the target language with subtitles in the target language. Since the kids, as Robert says, know the dialogues backwards and forwards, they have no trouble with meaning. I think seeing the subtitles as they hear the words is the ideal way to get written and oral CI at the same time.
When you couple target language speech with target language subtitles, students really do get a lot. I was at SWCOLT and left a film for my advanced students to watch. When I returned they had just a few minutes left, so we watched it. One of my students asked why the spoken words didn’t match the written words. I was able to tell her that the words were for hearing impaired, so sometimes they say it a little differently. But I was very pleased that she could tell the difference.
Great suggestions and a vivid reminder of how, when the child is motivated, we can actually do our real job of just being the one to open the doors, and not have to go through all the emotional stuff that we actually go through every day, where many of our students suck energy from the class and appear to be mere cardboard cutouts of human beings (not that that happens to anyone else in the group here, but I am sensitive to it).
Dang, sometimes things go by so fast I miss them. I will try to get back to this tonight. I’m already late for school lol
with love,
Laurie
I agree with you all , movies, music, and bilingual books are great ideas. However, I am just trying to imagine a kid trying opening a Piratas book or Pobre Anna to read for the first time with no previous knowledge of Spanish. Wouldn’t that be a little difficult? I see my kids who hear and are exposed to reading the language all the time, asking basic questions about word meanings . So cold turkey reading may be hard, and isn’t there a rule of thumb of 80% comprehensibility before someone can read and enjoy?
Absolutely yes, Sabrina. My thinking was that this student was enough of a superstar to learn first via reading. Very rare, that.
But your point needs to be made. We hear it in big amounts and thenn our brains can read based on all that auditory input.
Motivation is a huge word, though. Like that woman in a prison somewhere for twenty years who learned 12 languages just from reading it. Can’t verify the details but heard it once at a national conference.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
I really appreciate your help. Your suggestions were super helpful
skip
Listening to a CD of the reading has been really helpful, but the reading goes at speed and the reader does not. And Robert pointed out when the language of a subtitle doesn’t match the speech being spoken by the actors.
Perhaps Spanish doesn’t have those trip ups.
What I think may be most important Skip is to talk with the student about how glad she is coming to you, that you realize she is motivated, suggest that she watch Spanish television, movies, or listen to songs with an eye and ear for listening. Tell her that next year when she comes to your class that you work to create conversations with students about them and make up stories. Let her in on what the other students know already about your teaching style. And tell her not to worry, she will be fine. Build relationship with her for the few minutes you have her before the school day ends and enjoy.