Mark promotes my books. Thanks, Mark:
Hi Ben,
I recently got your books on PQA and TPRS from Diana so that I could get some more ideas for my Spanish classes. I’m about half way through “PQA in a Wink” and I have already found countless applications in my classroom. This week I’ve had two very different, and very successful, PQA sessions in my level one classes around the same structures (“is hungry” and “wants to eat”). I am amazed at how much more fun we all have when incorporating the kids input and names in the session.
In one class we started out with a kid who was hungry because he didn’t eat lunch, which evolved into a long and amazing story about how he wanted to eat a Chipotle elephant burrito… and on it goes. I was able to get in so many reps of the vocab structures by just parking them and circling away on the personal details until another student became the elephant burrito who was also hungry and wanted to eat Kentucky Fried Parrot. I don’t know, it was so random and nonsensical, but I got in a ton of reps and they were all able to follow along and pass a little t/f quiz at the end.
Another cool thing I got from your book was the idea of coming up with meaningful names. In that same session we ended up with a Profe. de Comida when a student told the subject that if he was truly hungry he needed to get a burrito and not a bowl at Chipotle. From that point forward all food decisions were made by the Profe! So fun and the kids just loved it. I can’t wait to do it again.
I know I’m rambling now, but I just really appreciate the books and I look forward to digging into them and continuing the evolution of my skill. You have brought a lot to my practice and I greatly appreciate you and am glad that you are in DPS with us now!
Cuidate,
Mark Owen Mallaney
Spanish Teacher
Thomas Jefferson High School