domingo, 4 de noviembre de 2018

A BVP-style "Task": Weekend Talk Task

Resultado de imagen para while we're on the topicI am finally reading Bill Van Patten's book While We're on the Topic and it is excellent and making me think a lot! I highly recommend it. It is definitely a paradigm shift.

Reading this book has been good for two reasons: 1) it is reaffirming a lot of what I do in my classroom and 2) it is challenging me to think deeper about some of the things I do... and make some changes. I am about 87% through the book. I have highlighted a ridiculous amount of passages and will go back and reread those!

You can purchase the book here from ACTFL. (Note: the eBook .mobi version is a not easy to actually get it onto a Kindle, so I would buy the print version.)

One thing that I read about, and have been thinking a lot about, are Exercises, Activities, and Tasks. BVP defines them as the following:
  • Exercises: Not communicative. There is no focus on the interpretation and expression of meaning. The purpose is to practice language.
  • Activities: Partially communicative. Seems to have a focus on the expression of interpretation of meaning, but it lacks purpose other than to practice language.
  • Tasks: Communicative. Tasks involve the expression and interpretation of meaning. Tasks have a purpose that is not language practice.
So, with that in mind and following his "Active or Sedentary?" Task, I am going to have my students do a similar Task, but to talk about the weekend.

Here are the Tasks (see this document for what students will have):

  • Students read 20 activities (in the first person) that they may have done over weekend (I got these from this presentation from Christy Lade) and put a check or an ✘ o ✔ in the column next to each one. Note: This is an input activity. Novices could not do this Task without the input.
  • Then, they will ask their classmates if they did some of the activities. They will have the questions (in the second person) in front of them on the paper. I will set them up in lines or a circle facing each other and then rotate on a 10-20 second timer. They will write down the names of people who did certain activities. I will encourage students to ask a variety of questions throughout this process. Note: This is also an input activity. Novices could not do this Task without the input.
  • Then, I will project the activities (this time in the s/he form) students will share the information about their classmates. We will discuss what the most popular and least popular activities were. We will discuss what type of activities are most popular (tech, active, or sedentary) We will also discuss certain activities and people, including myself, in more detail. Note: This is another input activity. Novices could not do this Task without the input.
This could also be considered Input flood, in which you "saturate your input with whatever you want to push along." As BVP writes, "We know, for example, that the internal mechanisms for language partially respond to frequency... One way, then to push past along is simply to use it more."

And, if use the version with the endings bolded and underlined (see doc), this could also be Input enhancement, which draws the learner attention to more difficult aspects of language by manipulating input. BVP states that one way to "manipulate input is to bold, color code or otherwise "highlight" articular things in written text."

Here is another similar Task:

  • Students will read 20 sports and mark if they if they have never done it ✘, used to do it o ✔P (en el pasado), and/or still do it ✔T (todavía
  • Then they will interview a classmate or classmates. 
  • Then they will share their information and we will discuss and answer the question: ¿Jugamos más deportes ahora o jugábamos más cuando éramos niños? I am interested to see if they are more active now or when they were kids! 
  • This will also be the first time they see and hear the imperfect. You will notice the Input enhancement with the imperfect in italics.
Here is the template in case you want a time saver.



8 comentarios:

  1. Thanks so much for this! I have used this two weeks in a row (only with different questions each time). Do you have another activity that you would suggest that does the same exact thing but feels like a different activity to them (for the sake of novelty)?

    Again, thanks so much for the activity!

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    Respuestas
    1. You're welcome! Thanks for commenting.

      I have also used this slideshow from Angie Dodd: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Jw12Tz_yCf3SdOeb5Pw_Hw8eSRtR7F_p-A_mA6fOfsQ/edit

      And I have written a list of things on the board (yo form verbs) that students could have done and they write their names under each thing they did. Then I ask questions about what they did.

      Also, I have had students draw something they did and then we talk about that.

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    2. Thank you! Those are all great ideas. I have done the Card Talk activity, but it would be a good one to do again. I like the white board idea because it is simple, yet there is something novel about having permission to write on the white board.

      Unfortunately, when I used the link it said I needed permission. Is there any way I could see it in View Only?

      Thanks again!

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    3. Hi Christy,

      I opened the sharing settings so you should be able to view it now.

      :) Kara

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    4. Kara! fantastic. Thank you. I just finished BVP's and Hawkins&Henshaw's books It would be cool tohave a database of TASKS by theme like the one people did with the movietalk info.

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    5. Profe L-J - That is a great idea! My colleague has made a few more too. If I have some time this week, I will put it together.

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    6. Done! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K3pb0_H8LmHkfNF3Claang7G3GKwA7XUDG8tyJM4UTQ/edit?usp=sharing

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  2. Hi there! I'm loving this idea! Could you send some tips for how you facilitate the 3rd person part when you talk as a class? I'm going to use the daily routine talk task and am wondering about what the "Pregunta para discutir?" and "¿Cuántas personas? ¿Quiénes? ¿Más información?" parts would look like. Gracias de antemano.

    PS- For now, I'm going to use this just with my in-person students, but any thought for how you'd utilize in a cohort hybrid situation (1/2 on Zoom, 1/2 in person)?

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