Simon’s Cat – Screen Shots for "Snow Business" (Fleishman)

2 thoughts on “Simon’s Cat – Screen Shots for "Snow Business" (Fleishman)”

1. Steven Ordiano

   November 4, 2015 at 2:22 pm

   Thanks Ruth. I more or less did the same for “the box” clip. My presentation has many screen shots. I thought about adding in the words of the story (kinda like a kid’s story book). I see it in yours and I will probably do the same.
   How do you present your lesson to your students?
   I’m adapting my TPRS skills into it — the few that I have.
   1) I gesture the main vocab (or tprs it) (3-4 words/expressions)
   2) I assign a timer for blurters, a rep counter
   3) I prepared a simple text that served as a reminder. I glance at it and circle in different ways.
   4) I stop during circling to do PQA (this I need to work on).
   I’m still thinking about how to go about this. I may have students read at the end. They do not have a text in front of them now. I’m thinking of providing it BEFORE I play the clip.

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   1. Ruth

      November 4, 2015 at 3:54 pm

      Hi Steven, One nice thing about these and other short video clips is that we can try all different ways at different times and see what works. Below is what I wrote up last winter so I wouldn’t forget what I had done. It worked well for me. I haven’t done any this year yet but am just about to.
      I am intrigued with Ben’s idea of writing it up as a story first. I think I might try that.
      By the way, I hesitate to say anything, but I am having some good improvement using the big online timer and class competition.
      Anyway, here’s the Watch and Discuss thing I wrote:
      One Possible Routine for Watch & Discuss
      Day 1 prep:
      Choose short clip with repetitive action (3 +/- min)
      Make a list of all the verbs used in the clip (acquired, familiar, new)
      Choose screenshots and create a presentation if you want (no text at first). Screen shots take time.
      I did not use screen shots on Day 1 this time. But now I have them.
      Day 1 in class:
      Establish meaning and TPR or whatever the new verbs
      TPR all the verbs for this clip, extra practice with the new ones (“Snow Business” is all about TPR)
      Establish meaning of any new nouns if not obvious.
      Brief comprehensible introduction to the story in TL
      Show the clip (all, part, or screen shots depending on you, your classes, and the clip)
      Sometimes it’s good to not show the end at first.
      Always show with sound off if there is speaking or you can have sound on if it’s just music and sound effects.
      Show the clip again, stopping to ask questions (1-2 word answers), circle, and narrate. Get in as many reps as possible. They’ve already seen it so they won’t be so impatient.
      Show the clip a third time straight through while students call out words, phrases, whatever they can as they see things happen. THIS IS A WINNER THING TO DO. THEY LOVE IT!
      Day 2 prep:
      Create presentation with screenshots if you haven’t already – This takes time.
      Add text to screen shots (Example in French: Simon’s Cat – Snow Business)
      Alternatively, write up the story. Takes less time than screenshots.
      Follow-up activity idea (parallel story, act out, Textivate, cooperative “mural”, sentence frames…)
      It’s great how you can use and reuse the same clip, same screenshot PP at different levels; just change the targets, the discussion, and the text. The screenshots take a lot of time, so it’s good to be able to reuse. Of course, you can also just make fewer of them! I got a little carried away perhaps with my newfound skill.
      Day 2+ in class:
      ROA the story with the screenshots or the reading – Include as much circling as possible.
      I sometimes forget to work the story as much as I should.
      Follow-up activity if time (parallel story, act out, Textivate, whatever works for you and your kids)

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