I got this question:
Q. I’m going to do the “Lazy” story this week (Matava SS Vol. 2). Any tips on PQAing ‘lazy’? I’m thinking that ‘works’ and ‘the boss yells’ can easily be PQA’d to get a lot of reps, the ‘yells’ one can turn into ‘mom or dad yells’ as well and with ‘works’ we can make things up about where these middle schoolers work or want to work. But how can I get a bunch of reps with ‘lazy’? We can call people lazy but how do we extend that?
A. First don’t get into home stuff with the kids. If their moms and dads really yell (they all do) then the kids get taken into an area that is not fun for them and “too close to home”, as it were.
The question on how to PQA “lazy” is kind of a breakthrough question for someone still in those first few years of learning how to PQA. It is a question that can reveal a lot. In my view, “lazy” is the easiest of the structures to PQA, and it is also by far the most fun of the three potentially. Why?
Because with lazy we can make stuff up! Because there are so many places we can go with that word. After translating it and coming up with a gesture for it with the class, ask a kid if he is lazy. He usually says no, because he doesn’t yet get that the game is about laughing and having fun and poking humor at oneself or others, at no one’s expense. If the kid says yes you are, of course, off and running into some fun stuff because a student has agreed to be the object of some ribbing by the class.
But when the kid says no, as is typical with shy, defensive middle schoolers, you smile, wait a moment, and say, “Yes, you are!”. It’s that little twist in the questioning that nobody expects that Blaine is so good at. Then you ask him where he is lazy. Only accept funny answers from the kid or, if he is a dullard with no sense of humor (luckily we don’t have any kids like that in Colorado), try to get some funny answers from the class, who are now poised to really get into the game.
Then ask the kid when he is lazy, and, again, only accept funny answers. Don’t ask why because that is too hard for first year kids. You end up with Jay being lazy at school in Spanish class. Jay has to smile, because he’s been the victim of a playful joke by the class.
Of course you gauge the kid’s reaction to all this with great care. If any little look in his eyes reveals that he has been brought out of his comfort zone, you immediately go to another kid, in a flash. This would only usually happen at the beginning of the year, though, because once the trust is built into the fabric of the class, all the kids like to play the game, make up funny stuff, but again, the humor created must be at the expense of no one.
This kind of structure is where YOU are in charge and YOU get to say who is what, all in a playful way.