Story asking 101: getting student "buy in" from day 1

Before I knew that CI/TPRS was a thing, I tried to teach my class in a similar way. I saw through my own small children at home that direct correction hardly ever changed my son's usage of "runded", no matter how badly I wanted him to use "ran". My kids would stay with me for an entire Walmart or Target trip if we made-up stories about the things we saw in the store. They would talk to me if I added sound effects to their stories. *Bing*, "Maybe I should teach Spanish this way. It's a whole lot more fun and my son's speech is improving by leaps and bounds."

That said, I had a HUGE amount of learning to do (and still do!) to really help my students. Trying to get random stories to flow in a way that promoted grammar intuition, that met my district's vocabulary standards was really hard. Thank you IWLA for having a conference to make my world complete.

Story Asking

In TPRS, we often "tell" stories, out loud, to our language students. We find tons of cognates, slowly introduce new vocabulary (that is clearly defined by writing on the whiteboard), and repeat ourselves until we are blue in the face. This can be very difficult to do on a whim and it can be difficult to "stay the course" and not let our enthusiasm take us astray.

Instead of truly telling a story, we actually make statements (There was a girl). Then we ask our students to confirm, deny/change, or add to the story.There lots of great resources, including the Green Bible, that explains this in detail.

My Struggle

I knew this wasn't going to go as well as I wanted the first few times. I didn't know how to circle "correctly" and I wasn't sure I was going to remember to hit the key grammar points like I needed to.

Spanish 1 was easy, describe a person, short interactions, problem, resolution. They had limited vocab so it was easier to manage.

Then I bought the "Look, I can talk" series from Blaine Ray and realized that scripting wasn't really for me. I LOVED the student workbook for reading and organizing my focus for the day.

What I did about it

I told my students what I was doing

I teach high school now, so my kids are old enough to have a good conversation. I told them about my textbook Spanish class in high school. They looked at me in horror. I told them:

"So here is my idea. I think it would be fun to make-up stories in class. I will be the crazy charades lady, and you will participate... and be patient. We are all new at this and I think it is going to be a ton of fun, but I am learning too. So if you promise to give it your all, to listen to me repeat myself a bajillion times, I promise not to give you grammar worksheets. If you stay focused, roll with me when I need to regroup, I promise not to give you a textbook. Deal?"  (They all agreed enthusiastically every time.)

I told my principal what I was doing

I told my principal that I was trying something new and would like a few days to practice it. He asked if I wanted him to stay out of my room. I almost said yes, I'm glad I didn't. I gave him a "this has research, this is best for my kids- promise, and I need you to come in and tally mark my questions, please". So he did. It was great. He saw me learning, he saw students learning, and the most important part: he saw a community of learners supporting in each other in a committed and focused manner.

 I found a flow that worked for me

I do not follow the "script" 100% and I deviate a little from the "core principals" on occasion, but it works for me. I am happy, my students are happy, and it flows. I would rather be a bit off-center and still be on the path than on the path filled with pain, self-doubt, and crabbiness.

Especially in my upper levels, I circle a lot less. They really want the story line to move along and see the character development. I still ask for them to change the story around, but not as repetitive. **I do some direct grammar instruction with my levels 3 and 4 (dual credit) so they develop not only an "intuition" but also a deeper knowledge of the "why".

How story asking looks now

It is my second full year into TPRS (with knowing it exists). I had my first day of classes today with my B day students. I have a large Spanish 2 class (for our school size) and was worried with going semi-deskless and full into flex seating that it would crash and burn. It was great.

I did my required syllabus stuff and then said, "Let's do a story". They cheered and adjusted to look front and center. I front loaded the vocab, gave a note sheet (this class is odd in that they want to write everything down, it works for them and I'm glad they know themselves well enough to communicate that), and then paused to review expectations.

Me: "Clase, what are my expectations of you during this story?"
Collective group: "Focus, no English, answers- the weirder the better!"
Me: "Prefecto mis estudiantes inteligentes. Una mas cosita. You need to tell me to slow down if you are sinking. Be clear about it (giving samples of hand signals) so I know you are confused and not simply gassy."
Collective group: *Giggles* "Deal."
Me: "Clase. I am trying a new story today so I have my paper out. You may need to remind me where we are at in the story at any moment. Clase, listos?"
Collective group: "Si, estamos listos."

It doesn't get better than a male-dominated class, filled with "too cool" football players, getting excited for story time. Not just excited, but active.

When it bombs

What happens when a story flops. You get nothing from the kids, you feel it not going well, you get a quiz back showing no growth, what then?

I try to stop when the class disengages. There are three options that work: when the kids are tired, there is either 1) pause for continuation next class, 2) the story quickly ends, normally very tragically, or 3) I stop and ask the kids.

Sometimes you just feel that today really isn't the day for story telling, for whatever reason. Listen to your gut and flat out ask why they aren't into it (kindly and inquisitive, never attacking). Sometimes you learn the home game ran real late and they are tired, and sometimes you learn you accidentally skipped ahead in your lessons and they are lost.

Ask, reflect, plan better next time. Use a back-up activity or lesson plan to fill your time with valuable input.

Major Take-Away

Be authentic with your class. Communicate with them the way you want them to communicate with you. It builds community, an understanding of the learning process, highlights that they aren't the only learners in the room, and you will be amazed how empathetic and kind they can be!