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Bio – Carmen Suárez (and a Question for the Group)
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9 thoughts on “Bio – Carmen Suárez (and a Question for the Group)”
Hi Carmen and welcome and thanks for the introduction! Yes I love it here, it is kinda like Cheers.
That slide show is just SO CUTE! How did you make those pictures? So adorable.
I would myself just go on to another story. But if you want to use the slide show maybe you could do some of Ben’s reading options (they are in the Easy Way book) to use the story for literacy work. You could easily do two days of them especially considering the work that must have gone into making that slide show.
You said:
“It is like magic when you just tell them a good story with a slow pace in your speech, simplified in a way that is comprehensible for them but still compelling, and then when you ask them questions related to what they have listened to or watched they can answer accordingly. It is amazing and I am very happy but I am pretty sure I am not doing TPRS as the Green Bible recommends.”
I agree, yes, it is like magic. I love the cozy feeling of telling stories to them. I feel like a librarian. When I was a little girl I loved the library and sometimes I think I just narrowly missed the Librarian Boat. I love books and story hour! But hey, I guess I have the best of both worlds, huh – French, Spanish, AND books and stories!! I have even started reading story books to them, like Kindergarten Day but not really, more just like Story Time, without all the kindergarten theatrics, just plopping a cute book on the overhead and going fer it.
Hey, just between you and me, and anyone reading this, I (and many others) have not been doing TPRS as the green book recommends for quite some time. I do not even think Blaine does TPRS as the green book recommends. I think TPRS as the green book recommends is somewhat clunky and puts fences between you and the kids (as per the “Fences” post which is currently still hanging around in the “Recent Posts”) because of all the focus on target structures and circling. I just thought, man, these kids are in SECOND GRADE. Why not just let go of all that and just be with them in L2 and make it comprehensible?
I have been processing a lot as of late. A lot. A real lot. And one thing I am really getting clear on is that we have, all of us, truly made this all so hard. Whatever the reason, CI, Krashen’s pure vision, the Natural Approach, the human instinct to communicate with the young, that comes natural as rain to every mommy and daddy, has been twisted and warped into a method, a package, a system. When in reality, it is a mindset, a skillset, and a way of setting your heart to be with kids.
For God’s sake, these are eight year olds! I would tell them stories, and more stories, and read with them like in the Language Experience Approach. I would tell them stories about their cute characters (maybe they draw them, maybe you create them in class together using the OWI process) or just regular old stories like honest to goodness bedtime stories.
The important part, and this is what is really, really gelling for me right now, this last couple of weeks, and I have actually had some pretty emotional moments over these realizations, they are so big for me: what matters is your heart, and your intention to COMMUNICATE WITH THE YOUTH.
This means that you have to find something that the youth enjoy talking about. BUT also something that conveys values that you want to transmit as the adult. So, the Invisibles and One Word Images transmit creativity and collaboration and problem solving and listening to each other and I find that the Invisibles, through their back stories and even the pictures themselves, reveal kid concerns and so we get to touch on issues that come from the kids’ hearts. And stories, just telling stories, well, I was chatting with Beniko at length last night and she was saying that she loves traditional/folk tales because they transmit deep truths and are often about good and evil. There is a reason certain tales stick around – they touch us in a deep, human place. And there are so many possibilities, even just from history and the traditional tales of the cultures we teach the languages of.
All summer Ben was going around saying to people (with me tagging along) that they need to love what they are talking about. The target structures/celebrity suggestions from the kids, it was fun for me for a few years, but I had a hard time mustering the love for them. A diet of stories based on the popular culture (by its very nature vapid and ephemeral and shallow) falls far, far short of a steady diet of Meaning. Real, true stories transmit both the whole, unsliced, artisanal loaf of the language as well as deep, nourishing values and kid interests, which because they are from kids are most likely of a deep nature. Kids are just like that. They are fresher and deeper than the green book gives them credit for!
And are we not lucky to spend our days with them? If only we can learn to relax and not impose the language on them like a dictator. If only we can channel the naturalness of a librarian at story hour, of a parent at bedtime, of a storyteller enchanting the audience with a gentle spell of language.
Once we give up the idea that we are there to teach something, and surrender to the idea that we are there to transmit messages, we will finally reach the Pure Land that Ben write about so long ago. We will finally be free to BE you and me, together, just letting the miracle of human intelligence unfold before us.
All this to say, Carmen, just tell them another story is my advice. Then tell another one. And then another one. This is Beniko’s advice, and Ben’s. And, I guess mine too. 😀
Thank you Tina for your thoughtful comments, I will continue making stories and work more on co-created stories. I was going to wait until summer to buy and read Ben’s book, but I am afraid to say it is going to happen before too long.
I feel so connected to what you say here: “The target structures/celebrity suggestions from the kids, it was fun for me for a few years, but I had a hard time mustering the love for them. A diet of stories based on the popular culture (by its very nature vapid and ephemeral and shallow) falls far, far short of a steady diet of Meaning.” Maybe because of my background and readings, I don’t know, when I see teachers in the demos doing a lot of reference to mainstream cartoons or pop culture I think to myself I would like to try that without the Disney reference and so and so. I haven’t said this before because I thought it was me trying to push my bias onto the kids. I am glad to find that there are more teachers like you out there who are not comfortable doing stories and making references to the celebrities lives and names. Certainly, there are other ways to connect with students. As you and Ben said a lot here in PLC, opening your heart to really BE with your student and share moments with them.
Hi Carmen,
I agree! Just tell more stories! Then you can always go back and revisit the stories and characters.
One little thing I love about your story is that you start with the woods and then tell who is there. It’s so much more natural than starting with “There is…” And oh yes, I too am wondering how you created the illustrations.
Ruth and Tina: I did the slide presentation in Keynotes, I bought a bunch of clipart images and then played with them in very basic ways to get images that matched the sequence of the story. For instance, for the pizza-bone, I took a pizza picture and edited it to crop the bone shape that I wanted it.
Carmen said:
…I have being doing a mix of things….
As long as it is a mix of CI things it’s great. If it is stuff that forces kids to ouput in a way that is uncomfortable for them because it is too early, then I would recommend staying away from it.
…I have tried to use more and more CI just by telling stories to the students and they really enjoy them. It is like magic when you just tell them a good story with a slow pace in your speech, simplified in a way that is comprehensible for them but still compelling, and then when you ask them questions related to what they have listened to or watched they can answer accordingly. It is amazing and I am very happy but I am pretty sure I am not doing TPRS as the Green Bible recommends. I have to read your book soon to learn how the Invisibles work. Just by reading here and watching Tina´s videos I have tried to grasp the idea but I need more input….
The Invisibles may not be as valuable as what you have been doing. Just read what you said above. It sounds perfect!
Hi, Carmen,
I teach grades 1-4 Spanish in Winnetka, IL and would love to collaborate. I invite you to come visit and observe in our district. We teach Spanish in 1-8 and French in 6-8. All are CI instructors! I am glad to host you, any time, and send you to my colleagues. We love to have observers – it helps ‘pay it forward!’
I also do more of a mix of CI rather than follow Blaine’s Bible. His work is intended for fluent readers (in English) who already have a lot more vocab and experience with text, in general. We have to do a lot more transitions, movement and shorter ‘sets’ to keep our kids engaged. Don’t feel bad about that – sounds like you are intuitively trying to meet their developmental needs!
I have found that holding back on the written stuff til at least near end of 2nd grade, when I feel more certain that everyone is decoding more effortlessly, works best. I do put captions up with my powerpoint slides, say when we’re doing a Movie Talk, but if I don’t for the wee ones, that’s fine too! Story listening is great – I recently retold a version of the 3 bears by setting up a ‘stage’ with props – 3 bears/chairs/bowls/beds and walk through and touched/pointed to the objects, and asked about them, as the story proceeded. Then they acted it out – and wanted to act it out again n again w/different actors for several days! I wasn’t working from a script – it was all extemporaneous – that’s part of the beauty of working with young kids – the familiar isn’t necessarily boring when there are new props, names, locations – you can get a lot of bang out of familiar tales!
They were mesmerized -I think the tiny detail adjustments made it novel and compelling.
If there are any specific questions I can answer as an elem teacher, please ask: alisashapiro@winnetka36.org.
This PLC has been a lifeline for so many of us! Welcome to the group.
Thank you for the invitation. I definitely would love to observe you. I have a week-break in February, we could exchange some emails and plan a day of that week.
Yes, it is so true about applying SLA principles and CI in the elementary levels, as you reference we need more transitions and movements. A lot of tweaking here and there. I have being making mini-books out of the stories we create in class and started to use them for reading time with second grade. No writing yet, I think that will come later. Eventually I want to have a map of core things to do in each grade, with enough open spaces for students interest. In other word, that students shape the look of the content but I also want to have a consistent general outline of things to do. I will look for the story of 3 bears that you mentioned and try it. It is so nice to have this community to collaborate. I am learning a lot every day here.
My unsolicited advice. If you are both in Chicago, and you have a chance to see one of the great TPRS/CI teachers in the world, and you have a week off, and Alisa would I am sure say yes, then I would consider this very rare opportunity a free personalized national conference and I would go every day that week. You will see in five days things you couldn’t possibly see in one day. You will be saving literally thousands of dollars in doing that. Instead of hoping you get a good session at a conference, getting pot luck on what you wold see, you are guaranteed being able to observe one of the best all day. Sorry to be so direct, but Alisa holds big keys to elementary education. And she communicates so well with other teachers in terms of ideas.
Thank you Ben, I will start to work on your advice. You and this space have become the bridge that fills the gap in my PD journey.