Question

Stephanie has a good question for us:

Hey Ben –

Perhaps you can recommend something to help me with a huge dilemna I have right now.

I teach in a very small school. I have been using TPRS for seven years and am totally sold on it. However, we have had some serious enrollment declines and I currently have 3 students in Spanish. One is a weak Spanish 2 (the reason I say weak is that she takes a long time and doesn’t learn at all independently — ie. reading easy novellas without a partner is too much for her.) However, she is really ready to work with more variety of verb tenses and other complex structures. One is Spanish 1, also a slow-to-pick up type. The third is Spanish 1 but misses class 50% of the time (and has very low skills academically, period). However, all three want to learn (and the two Spanish 1 kids have a Hispanic parent — who they don’t live with and who won’t speak Spanish to them.

So, I have 2 consistent students who are at dramatically different points. The Spanish 1 materials are all repetition for the upper student (and trying to simultaneously enrich things for her confuses the newbies.) So, I need some materials that will have vocabulary that is new for the upper student but will be structurally manageable for the newbies. I could probably develop this myself — but I also have 4 other preps, so . . . time is a missing commodity.

Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

Stephanie Harold

My response:

I personally would do Matava stories. I think that they would address this:

…I need some materials that will have vocabulary that is new for the upper student but will be structurally manageable for the newbies….

I think they are the only materials, and this is just my opinion, that would meet the wide range of needs these three kids have since they are in such different places with the language. The problem is the small size of the group. Look for other answers from the group here.
Ben