One of my Spanish classes just finished the novel "Brandon Brown Hace Trampa" and they're going to take a test on it soon. I like to test my classes on all four modalities as much as I can: speaking, read, writing, and listening. Their assessment will have a component testing them over each of those skills. I made this assessment for my students based on the book.
We spent today's class reviewing for their assessment, and I was trying to come up with a way for them to practice for the listening assessment portion specifically. Some of the things I might typically do are have students listen to me read a quote from a book or story and draw a picture of what's happening on white boards. I like that activity, but I can never look at each students' drawing for more than a second or two. Plus you really have to have a small class for that to even be moderately feasible. (Side note: Kagan's Heads Together structure is great for this kind of thing!) So I was trying to think of something different that would have the kids interacting more.
Insert Listen and Draw.
I went through the entire book, and took a few sentences from each chapter. I ended up with about 30 sentences. I numbered them and typed them out in Spanish. I chose a few numbers to assign to each student, and then let them choose two more to do. This way, I had a little bit of diversity in what sentences students were working with. Otherwise, they probably would have gone through and all done the shortest ones.
First, I had students translate their 3 assigned sentences into English, and then 2 of their own choosing. (I personally didn't even check these. My students have been working with this book for weeks, and I trust them to ask if they're unsure of anything at this point.)
In addition to the sentences I took from the book, I also gave each student a set of boxes that look like this:
Click here to access the google doc that has a template with these boxes.
I modeled on the board for students what to do. I called on one of my students and asked him to read me one of the sentences that he translated (in the target language). Let's say he read me number 6. I would write the number 6 at the top of my box, and then draw a picture that demonstrates whatever is happening in the sentence he reads to me. Once I'm done, I show him my drawing. If I drew an illustration that accurately depicted what he read, he signs my drawing at the bottom of the box. Then, it's my turn to read to him and let him draw. Below you can see a sample of how some of my students drawings turned out:
Reasons I liked this activity:
This was much more interactive than an activity where students would just be sitting and listening to me. I made them get together with a different student every time, so they were moving around and working with different classmates.
Students may need to hear the sentence a few times, especially if it includes details that students put in their drawing. This forces the reader to be speaking (which is not always easy to get the kids to do) but in a much more low-pressure situation than reading in front of the class. The drawing forces the listener to demonstrate their comprehension.
Students get a sense of someone having checked their work, because their classmate did!
Because the kids were checking each other's work, I was free to walk around and listen to students pronunciation, be available for questions they had, etc. Students were able to do this pretty independently.
Tips and Suggestions:
Model to students before they begin, including checking the partners work! You want them to take that seriously and make sure that their classmates understand the sentences.
If you have a big class, assign each student 1-2 numbers to translate, and then let them pick the rest! I would have them choose at least 3-4 to translate so that when they partner up with someone and read to them, they have options to give their partner if they've already done certain sentences with another partner. (For example, if I partner up with someone and they try to read me #8 and I have already done that one, I can ask them to give me a different one).
Do this with a story or vocabulary that students are mostly comfortable with. The occasional mispronunciation of a word isn't going to destroy the kids' Spanish. But if students are guessing on pronunciation a lot, they're not getting good input. I also corrected more than I might just in normal questions and answers with students because I wanted them and their partner to hear the correct pronunciation.
I asked my students at the end of class, and they said that they were fans of the activity. I also observed them throughout, and I felt really good about what it was doing for their communication and comprehension.
If you use this activity, let me know! I would love to hear how it went, and if you have any suggestions or questions for me.
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