[I got this from K a few days ago. Installment 15 of A Blow To His Confidence. If you remember, in installment 14 K told us that she was going to tell a story to her class. I thought to myself, “Sure. As bright as K is, she certainly could never do TPRS with a class full of kids! She IS a kid.”
She sent two emails. I’ll just put them here exactly as she wrote them to me.]
Here is the first:
“Aujourd’hui, j’étais très excitée de raconter une histoire. Je suis donc allé à la salle de français. Il n’y avait personne. Alors je suis allé à ma salle de classe pour demander à mon professeur pourquoi il n’y avait personne. Mais il n’y avait personne dans ma classe, soit. [Ed. note: I see evidence of an Anne Matava story in that last word, soit. It is so cute when they make such mistakes. In Anne’s story the structure was either/or and I had taught soit/soit as a conjunction, and, in her mind, K naturally thought that soit meant either. For the French speakers reading this, isnt’ that just cute? Such grammatical innocence!] Puis j’ai entendu mon nom sur l’interphone. On m’a dit d’aller à la salle donc je n’ai. Je suis entré dans l’auditorium Il y avait des enseignants dix-neuf. J’était très nerveuse. Les deux ont été phrses: Il/Elle veux et Il y a.
“Notre Histoire:
Il y a une fille. Elle s’appelle Lindsey Vonn. Elle veut un chien. Son ami, Shaun White ne l’entendait pas. Il dit Que veux-tu? Je veux un chien dit Lindsey. Quel type de chien? Un chien petit et noir. Alors, Ils vont à Pet’s Mart. Il y a beaucoup de chiens à Pet’s Mart. Mais, Il y a un problem. Les chiens sont de grands et Il n’existe pas de chiens noirs. Lindsey est triste. Nous pourrions continuer la planche à neige, dit Shaun. Je ne veux pas aller planche à neige! Je veux un chien! Alors, Ils vont à Pet Co. Un femme voit Lindsy. Lindsey Vonn! dit- Elle. Je veux un chien Lindsey dit. Vous ne voulez pas aller faire du ski? dit la femme qui s’appelle Lisa Simpson. Ils arrivent à Pet Co. Il y a un chien noir et petit. Le chien s’appelle Paprika. Tout le monde est content parce que Lindsey obtenu ce qu’elle voulait. Fin.”
Here is the second email, again just as she sent it to me. The second paragraph below describes – in English – a scene that is really unbelievable involving 19 teachers and a lot of kids:
“Ok, wow- i just sent you an e-mail in French. My mom asked me a question just now and I answered in French. She stopped me and said “English please” . Then I realized that I sent you an e-mail in French. It probably won’t make sense because, even though I’m getting better, writing is still the hardest thing for me in French. I guess I understand what you meant last year when you said your brain functions in one language after you have been using it for a while, because I didn’t know I was writing French. Here’s the English version of my e-mail:
“I was very excited to tell a story today. So, during French, I went to the other IB teacher’s room. There was no one there, so I went to my French class to see what was going on. There was no one there either. Then, I heard my name being called on the intercom. I went to the auditorium like I was told on the intercom and to my surprise, there were 19 teacher’s there wanting to hear my story. The 2 phrases were There is / there are and He/ she wants.
“Our story:
There is a girl named Lindsey Vonn. [Ed. note: I’m a bit puzzled by K’s use of the present tense here – it seems to have stuck in K’s mind as the tense for stories. I changed to the past – which now I clearly know must be the tense for stories, with readings in the present – about four years ago under pressure from Susie (now I get it!) – anyway, kind of weird…] She wants a dog. Her friend, Shaun White didn’t hear want she said. What do you want? asks Shaun. I want a dog says Lindsey. What type of Dog? asks Shaun. A small black dog. So, they go to Pet’s Mart. There are lots of dogs at Pet’s Mart. But, there is a problem. What problem? All of the dogs are large and there are no black dogs. Lindsey is sad. We could go snowboarding says Shaun. I don’t want to go snowboarding. I want a dog! says Lindsey. So, they go to Pet Co. Along the way, a woman named Lisa Simpson sees Lindsey . Lindsey Vonn! I want a dog says Lindsey. You don’t want to go skiing? No, I want a dog! They arrive at Pet Co. There is a small black dog. Everyone is happy because Lindsey got what she wanted. The End.
“By the end of our story, everyone was smiling- most of them said they would be back for my reading lesson. YEAH!!!!!
“On another note, I’m glad you enjoyed the two songs. They are great!!!” (K had sent me a few songs for my classes, one by Carla Bruni – L’Amoureuse, the other by Tiken Jah Fakoly called An African In Paris. Both really are great songs!
K
[The comment I won’t make here – because it is a dig at teachers who get upset when verbs don’t agree with subjects – is that K wrote il veux as a structure above. It should be il veut. But, given that K got voulez with vous and a ton of other verbs correct in various tenses above WHILE COMMUNICATING IN FRENCH kind of makes the subject verb agreement point minor. Honestly, is it about spelling verbs right or about communicating ideas in the target language? So I won’t’ say that. My only comment on all of this, then, is that here is a kid I taught in 8th grade now asking stories in front of large groups in French. Yet last year she probably said maybe 20 words in French all year. That just supports the idea that output comes later. I know how much French K heard last year and it was a lot. I did less reading than I probably should have – I never get my kids to read enough, and last year it was mainly stories. What an interesting story this one is! I hope that K keeps sending us updates on what all started out with her running down a hallway in her high school, just steps to her, even falling, in an effort to prove a point to a friend, but what are turning to be monster steps that are actually shaking up the concrete of entire buildings! K I am so proud of you!]