A parallel story is a powerful tool that language teachers can use to engage their students and reinforce language learning. By taking an existing story and modifying it slightly, teachers can create a new and exciting experience for their students that still retains the language patterns and vocabulary of the original story.
After using the book “La vaca que decía oink” by Bernard Most in class, I decided to create a parallel story for my kindergarten students. Though I worried they wouldn’t enjoy listening to a similar story, my students surprised me by engaging with it and recognizing familiar language patterns. I made some modifications, such as shortening the story and changing characters. We even plan to act it out and sing “La granja” to accompany it.
Parallel stories offer a time-saving approach, allowing you to reuse language patterns and recycle familiar vocabulary with minimal changes. Revisiting the same story also gives students an opportunity to process and predict what comes next. Occasionally, I like to add a surprise by altering the ending.
To create a parallel story, find a story familiar to your students and adjust it to their language level. Use props or Story Listening to tell the story, then create the parallel story by changing the characters, setting, and adding your twist. Finally, share the parallel story and prepare for your students to make connections!
Parallel stories are a fantastic way to engage language learners and reinforce language learning!
Spring is here! The season of colors, butterflies, and also allergies, but it’s nice to feel that the heat is gradually coming on. If you have the chance to get outside with your students, nature walks are a great way to spend time outdoors after a long winter. You can use this walk as a space to continue giving input to your students. Simple activities like talking about colors, animals, counting objects in nature or just reading a story outdoors. Talk to your students as they walk and point out things they see or may not have noticed before. It is an opportunity that really helps to clear your mind and relax.
If it is not possible for you and your students to have this opportunity at your school, give your students a copy of the “Una caminata en la naturaleza” page and invite your students to look around their home or community to find some or all of the things on the list. Invite them to take the sheet back to Spanish class and use it to talk about what they saw on the walk. Use questions to motivate your students to participate. For example, what color was the butterfly? how many butterflies did you see? who found a squirrel? Your students must answer according to their language level. This can be done orally or in writing.
Invite your students to participate through the movement. For example, jump if you see a yellow butterfly or run if you don’t see a butterfly.Use this page to create a survey. Ask them about their favorite animal and write down their answers. Share the answers and talk about the animal that had more or less votes.
One last idea is to invite your students to look at the clouds and draw what they see in them. Use these drawings to continue giving input and also to generate interaction in your classes. Talk about the different shapes, shapes, colors, etc. Your students can also collect materials from nature to create their own. Depending on the language level of your students, you can invite them to describe their art orally or in a written composition. Display their work around the round and do a gallery walk with your students. I hope you and your students enjoy these activities to welcome spring.
Looking to grow your library with easy readers? Here is an idea!
You can use “story asking” to create the stories along with your students. The sample you see in the video was done with a second grade class. In this case my role was to guide my students with the story. I asked questions such as ¿Qué animal hay? Two students proposed the animals, we voted , chose an answer, and then moved on to the next question. The last part was to come up with a title for the story, which we also did together.
There are different ways to ask your students details to add to the story. You can use images, story dice, story mats, and so on, but the basic way I described above has worked just great in my second grade classes!
Writing the story only took about 10 minutes. I read the final story to my students and then asked questions about it again.
In preparation for the next class I typed the story on different pages and printed it out. I asked some students to volunteer to read the story. Students chose the part of the story they wanted to illustrate.
In this case I only had ten students, but if you have more than ten, my suggestion is to print two sets of the same story and have your whole class illustrate the same story.
I also took a picture of the class, and I added it as the last page of the story which says “Autores,” and each student got to write their name in the picture.
Last, I laminated, bound the story, and added it to our small classroom library.
A quick note! The video is set at a faster speed so I could show you the process.
Nothing like welcoming the spring in Spanish class! After the long winter months everyone is looking forward to all the beautiful things the spring brings with it.
This game is an adaptation of the Responsive Classroom game called “Just like me” – (see my post about it!).This game is simple, and can be used with any age group and in any setting. Students can sit in a circle or in rows, however works best for you and your students. You can either project these slides or print the cards. Talk to your class to get into a common agreement of what action or movement they should do whenever they identify with the cards. For example, in my classes we jump and raise our hands while saying “¡A mí también!”.
Once you and your students know how to react to a card they identify with, you can begin by showing and reading a card aloud to your class. Whoever identifies with the card should say ” ¡A mí también!” and use the gesture or movement you agreed on. After reading one of the cards, you might pause and ask your students more information about it. For example, if you show the card that says “En la primavera me gustan las flores” and some of your students identified with it, you may ask questions such as “¿De qué color te gustan las flores?” or “¿Qué tipo de flores te gustan?” and so on! You and your students can decide when you stop the game.
Click on the pictures orHERE to download the game.
Would you love to play this game at different times during the school year? I’ve go you covered! Click on the links below to download the versions for different seasons!
For some reason I feel that 2022 has been the fastest year in my life. I partly attribute this to spending too much time on social media and not being fully present. I’m not a person who likes starting the new year with goals ( I used to!) because I strongly believe that setting goals and having a new beginning can be done anytime during the year, but I have decided to start 2023 with the commitment to spend less time scrolling through social media, blog more of my own ideas, and see my friends and family in person more often.
With this being said, 2022 wasn’t a bad year. I’m lucky and privileged that I got to go to my home country (Colombia) at least twice during the year, and this year I went to see places that I have never been to in my beautiful country. And the best part of it is that I got to do it with the loves of my life! ¡Mi familia!
I’m always grateful for all the support I get from readers and teachers in different parts of the United States and the world. I love the connections I have been able to make through this blog and also the friendships that have come from it! I’m grateful for you taking the time to stop by and connect here. I wish you the best in 2023!!!
And to keep my virtual tradition alive, here are my 5 most visited blog posts this year!
¡Hola! I am Carolina, a Colombian elementary Spanish teacher based in Boston, MA. Fun for Spanish Teachers is the result of my passion for teaching Spanish to children and my desire to inspire collaboration and creativity in a vibrant teaching and learning community. It’s the perfect stop if you are looking for songs, games, teaching tips, stories, and fun for your classes.
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