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PVA – Power Verb Activity – 3 – Catalogue
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9 thoughts on “PVA – Power Verb Activity – 3 – Catalogue”
I’m trying to do this once a class for 5-10 minutes (as long as it stays fresh). I will throw in some TPR if the verb is TPR-able. Here is my example:
Corre-runs
Clase, Andrew corre.
¿Andrew corre? (Sí)
¿El profesor corre? (No)
¿Andrew o el profesor corre? (Andrew)
Correcto, Andrew corre y el profesor no corre.
Andrew corre, ¿no es cierto? (Sí)
Andrew—¿corres? (Do you run?)
Andrew says: sí, yo corro (yes, I run)
Clase, ¿Andrew corre rápidamente? (They say sí)
No clase, Andrew no corre rápidamente. Andrew corre lentamente (es obvio)
¿Andrew corre rápidamente? (No)
¿Andrew corre lentamente? (Sí)
¿Quién corre lentamente? (Andrew)
Etc. until it loses steam. I also add another person from time to time to make comparisons.
(Jane corre rápidamente y Andrew corre lentamente. Andrew corre más lentamente que Jane, etc. )
The TPR is really important for beginning learners because it really helps with processing the message carried in the audible words. So if I say “Andrew corre” and he runs, students can quickly attach that meaning to the new sounds.
Can I humbly request that we exchange these PQA tips via English examples?
I’m not sure if this anecdote fits neatly in the category of the power verb activity, but I’ll post it here anyway. It worked like magic in two of my classes today, and I’ll keep it in my pocket now to start classes sometimes and/or as a bailout. I suppose it’s a cross between power verb and sentence frames (By the way, I can’t find the comment that mentions this idea but I’m almost certain someone mentioned this in a recent comment yesterday or today. If so, thanks! Does anyone know who mentioned this and where?)
The “activity”, followed by an anecdote about how it played out in one class:
1. To start each class (high school junior/senior equivalents), I wrote “I’m going…” on the board in the TL.
Sidenote: I’m finally getting used to speaking English VERY slowly to these French students, but it’s hard and I still go WAY too fast. On top of that, all of my students have learned British English, so I’m constantly having to try British equivalents to get them to understand me. Also, I’m amused that they understand my much more easily if I pronounce all of my “t’s” instead of turning them into “d’s”.
2. I asked for a translation to clarify that everyone understood and wrote the translation on the board as well.
3. I told the kids to continue the idea however they wanted to and gave them about 5 minutes to write. I gave no indication of length. I also didn’t tell whether they should be truthful or fictitious, but many student chose to by fictitious, with amusing results.
4. No names on papers
5. I collected the papers and shuffled them dramatically, just for effect.
6. I looked through until I found one I liked and then read it aloud.
7. Students guessed who wrote it.
8. PQA starting with the student who wrote it, with questions to the rest of the class.
9. When the PQA ran flat, I picked the next card.
(10. After about 4 papers I began asking the kids if they wanted to hear another “I’m going…” or if they would rather watch the 4-minute short film I had geared up for movie talk. In most classes, they kept saying they wanted another “I’m going” until I had to stop to allow enough time for movie talk.)
An anecdote:
One student wrote, “I’m going to fly, like a bird.” This was my favorite one of the whole day and I was especially amused that the student used a comma.
Once the author was determined, I started the PQA:
Me: You’re going to fly, like a bird?
Student: Yes
Me: You can fly?
S: Yes
Me: When are you going to fly?
S: Euuuhhh, today after school. In the moonlight.
Me: In the moonlight?
S: Yes
Me: How often do you fly?
S: Every night.
Me: Can you wave at me tonight when you fly by the moon?
S: Ok (laughing)
I then circled about this student for just a few moments. Next, the magic began. The flying thing was getting a lot of laughs, so I decided to continue it:
Me (asking a different student): Baptiste, can you fly?
Student: No
Me: You can’t fly?
S: No
Me: How do you know? (For some reason, this turned out to by the magic question. There was lots of laughter after this. I think I’m going to start asking this question a lot. Did I maybe unconsciously remember this question from one of Ben’s books or a post on here? Just think of the possibilities with this question)
S: (confused)
Me: How do you know that you can’t fly?
S: Euuhh, I just can’t
Me: Have you tried to fly?
S: Euuuh, no (laughing)
Me: Maybe you CAN fly!
S: Mmm, yes….maybe…
Me: Maybe you can try to fly tonight!
So you see this isn’t really “power verb” because the structure “going” didn’t really come up in conversation, although I did try to throw it in a few times (i.e., Are you going to try to fly tonight?). I continued with this question about flying with several more kids and it was magic. It seemed like magic question was “how do you know?” We discovered, for example, that one kid knew he couldn’t fly because he already tried two times when he was little. Once with just his arms and once by jumping off a car with a tarp. For the third time he was building a wing (yes, just one!), but he never finished it. And of course we discovered that several other kids had never tried, and that maybe they could in fact fly.
Anyway, I just wanted to share how the simple idea of “I’m going…” took up more than 30 minutes of each of my classes today. And also how the question “How do you know?” turned out to be my magical ingredient today.
Hope this isn’t distracting from the “power verb” thread.
How fun! Cool.
^ awesome ^
For me, these anecdotes are windows into the heart of the work. Thanks!
I now have a video demo of 4 sessions of PVA done with a 7th grade class.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3rwpK8tPEY&list=PL8JqpkCp61R4zRltQHINdM-Mhl5b4gZhZ&feature=share&index=9
This link should bring you to my entire playlist of demos of various steps of CI methodologies.
And I will post this as an article so it can be tagged to the videos category here as well, Eric. Thank you!