Here are three versions of the five Laurie wrote (five is just too much for me as I learn this) that I publish here so that I can categorize them under the Readings Based on Matava/Tripp Scripts – French category. My thinking for anyone who wants to contribute your own embedded readings for Matava or Tripp scripts is that you just send me, in one email, however many versions you want, and I will do what I am doing with this Matava reading – publish it and link it to the category. Over time, we might get a good collection of instant readings that we can tweak with our own personalization needs to reflect our own classes. That is the goal, anyway. And don’t worry if it’s not perfect grammar – we can fix any errors as we go along. Get over your four percentageness. We need versions sent in. Laurie I moved that other version to the trash. You are right – it is just a complex text that most kids won’t get. I sure am glad that you got in on this thread. I’ll publish much of what you wrote as comments here in the next few days as per Kate’s request. Here are the three in French for He Talks Too Much:
Version 1:
Il y a un garçon. C’est Max. Max parle trop en cours de français. Il n’arrête jamais de parler. ll parle à Diana. Diana est très fâchée. Elle veut écouter le professeur. Elle lui dit, “Max, arrête de parler en français. Le professeur parle français, mais vous ne me permettez pas d’écouter.” Diana frappe le pupitre. Max lui dit, “Je m’en fiche!” Puis Max quitte la salle de cours et il va au cinéma. Il commence à parler à Jaime. Il parle trop. Jaime lui dit de s’arrêter, mais il dit à Jaime, “Je m’en fous!” Jaime dit, “J’aime ce film et je veux le voir!” Le patron dit à Max, “Vous parlez trop”! Max rentre à son cours, en disant à son professeur qu’il veut apprendre.
Version 2:
Il y a un garçon. C’est Max. Max parle trop en cours de français. Il n’arrête jamais de parler. ll parle à Diana. Diana est très fâchée à cause de Max. Elle veut apprendre le français. Elle veut écouter le professeur. Elle lui dit, “Max, arrête de parler en français. Le professeur parle français si bien que je veux le comprendre, mais vous ne me permettez pas d’écouter.” Diana frappe le pupitre et casse sa main. Max rit. Il lui dit, “Je m’en fiche!” Alors, je ne vais pas l’écouter. Puis Max quitte la salle de cours de français et il va au cinéma. Il commence à parler à Jaime, qui veut regarder le film. Il parle trop. Jaime lui dit de s’arrêter, mais il dit à Jaime, “Je m’en fous!” Jaime dit, “J’aime ce film et je veux le voir!” Le patron arrive et il dit a Max, “! Vous parlez trop!” Max rentre à son cours de français, en disant à son professeur que maintenant il veut apprendre.
Version 3:
Il y a un garçon. C’est Max. Max parle trop en cours de français, mais pas en espagnol ou en anglais. Il parle toujours et il n’arrête jamais de parler. ll parle à Diana, qui est assise devant lui. Diana est très fâchée à cause de Max. Elle veut apprendre le français. Elle veut écouter le professeur quand il parle français. Mais Max n’arrête pas de parler à l’oreille droite de Diana, ce qui la rend encore plus fâchée. Finalement, elle se tourne et regarde Max droit dans l’oeil et elle lui dit, “Max, arrête de parler tout le temps en français. Le professeur et très intelligent et il parle français si bien que je veux le comprendre, mais vous ne me permettez pas d’écouter le professeur parce que vous parlez sans vous arrêter!” Et Diana frappe le pupitre dur avec la main droite et casse sa main. Max rit. Il lui dit, “Je m’en fiche si vous ne pouvez pas apprendre! Je veux parler parce que le professeur a peur de moi et je lui dis qu’il ressemble à mon chien et il pleure quand je le dis. Alors je ne vais pas l’écouter et je ne vais pas t’écouter non plus! Puis Max quitte la salle de cours de français et il va au cinéma et commence à voir le film, Fake Steel, et il commence à parler à Jaime, qui veut regarder le film. Il parle trop. Jaime lui dit de s’arrêter, mais il dit à Jaime, “Je m’en fous!”. Jaime dit, “J’aime ce film et je veux le voir. Je vais appeler le patron!” Le patron arrive et il dit à Max, “Vous parlez trop!” Max pleure et rentre à son cours de français, en disant à son professeur qu’il a appris une leçon au cinéma et que maintenant il veut apprendre le français.
The Problem with CI
Jeffrey Sachs was asked what the difference between people in Norway and in the U.S. was. He responded that people in Norway are happy and
8 thoughts on “He Talks Too Much (Matava) – French – Ben Slavic”
I did “talks too much” today in front of my Department Chair. I didn’t even have to ask a question before everyone started fighting about who talks too much (in Spanish of course).
Golden script. Golden structures.
Ben, These look infinitely more do-able. Let me know how it goes with your kids!!!!! I know that you love to free flow….and this might make you feel “tied down” so I would love to know how your kids respond to it. I’d like for us to find ways for all kinds of teachers to be successful with Embedded Readings. So speak for the free flow-ers!!!!
with love,
Laurie
I did this yesterday. The thing I noticed was exactly what you would want and expect. The bottom half of the class was able to read the third version better, not perfect, than they would have without first having read the first two versions. We got crimped on time for spinouts, but it was worth it because the repetitive reading of the same text, that movement towards unconscious CI via reading, happened a lot more than had I just had the one version. I was able, when working with the kids, to see how much you had done in terms of adding in certain words through the three levels. For example, the word “now” was the only addition from version 1 to version 2 in one sentence. I guess that’s why you call it scaffolding. It’s not that the kids were wonderfully impressed by the level of personalization – it wasn’t very personalized – but it was very effective all the same. It’s just a more user friendly and effective way to read, in a word. Thank you for your work in developing this.
Some thoughts: Maybe I’m responding to the age of my students (younger than yours), but I find it difficult to do more than one or two embedded readings in one day. If I do the third version the next day, after their brains have had time to do their “din” work (which Krashen talks about), I think we get more bang for our buck. I have more time to do the personalizing in class, too. The kids don’t get bored with “doing the same thing” all on the same day. I believe that brain research might fall down on the side of revisiting the material after 24 hours or looking at it intermittently. I do this, of course, because I follow an order of presentation but not a strict schedule of days–so I don’t try to pack everything into a five-day schedule. I just do the next activity on whatever day it hits. Does that make sense?
Yes Jody and I felt that but I really wanted to experiment yesterday. I easily could have held back the third version for today and spun a parallel story or two out. As it happens, I will present the third version today, again, then spin out a bit and then give them 15 minutes to translate a paragraph into English for a grade.
Makes sense.
Ben, just to clarify, I have a few questions about this translation assessment:
1. can they use their copy with notes on it? if so, what limitations do you give them for the notes?
2. can they choose which level of story to translate?
3. do they choose the paragraph, or do you?
4. What do the students do who finish in less than 15 minutes?
Thanks
1. I don’t give them copies. I know that Susie says to do that, but I find that a single focal point for the reading keeps us together better. So obviously they can’t take notes or anything.
2. No, we do the levels in order and I choose what paragraph we will do for the actual test. I chose from the Version 3 text today, enough to require about 15 min. on their parts at the end of class. Not surprisingly, the kids who came to class every day and paid attention had flawless translations, the others tanked their grade. The absent kids got zeroes, which are already in the book, and will have to produce an excuse to have the zero expunged and then I will make it a “no grade” since I never have kids make up tests.
3. I choose it.
4. Sit around.