Deciding which tense to use when in the Three Steps has caused confusion over the years and many of us do it differently. Remembering that there is no wrong way to do comprehensible input instruction as long as the comprehensible input part is there, I nevertheless feel that there is a “best way” on this topic – my own opinion of course.
Here is the question I got:
Hi Ben –
I was trying to sketch out my curriculum and stories that I thought would fit and I remembered in my Beginning TPRS workshop (Chicago) that Donna Tatum-Johns had mentioned that it was better to tell a story in the past and have the students read in the present.
So my question is, doesn’t the present tense of said verb forms look like new structures to the students, thus causing frustration?
I was going to do PQA in the beginning with name tents and Jim Tripp’s Nice To Meet You. (Below) If I change the target structures (Spanish) for the reading I feel like the students would just get confused. What is your experience?
Nice to Meet You
Structures: Meets/ My name is ____ / gets really nervous/ nice to meet you
Jonah meets Adrian Peterson. Jonah says to him, “Hi, my name is Jonah.” Adrian Peterson gets really nervous. He says, “My name is Tony, Tony Danza.” Jonah says, “Nice to meet you Tony.”