Bob and Fred died while in my CI/TPRS classroom

If your CI/TPRS class is like mine, students seems to always want to name our characters/monsters "Bob" or "Fred". My Spanish 1's (first exposure to Spanish, period) just seem to get stuck. I don't want to discourage them from providing answers, but sometimes we need to mix it up. My solution: accept if for a month, then kill Bob and/or Fred. Slightly morbid but all in good fun... and to maintain my sanity. PS- it also plays beautifully into a lesson plan the kids won't forget.

Encouraging creativity without squashing participation

This is a key concept if you have "routine" characters that keep making appearances in your class stories. During the last couple of years, I have noticed that Spanish 1 students try to stay within a very routine and predictable story telling pattern. I believe this is due to their middle school English composition classes; not sure if this is it, but it makes sense to me. For the first month or two I let this continue without much pushing for several reasons:

• If I know what they are going to add to the story, and I want something a little different, I either 1) tell them something different or 2) ask a dichotomous question with "strange" answers
• They are yelling out what is comfortable because it helps move the story along= evidence of comprehension and engagement
• They are still young and in the mindset of a "right answer" instead of exploration and risk-taking behavior
• They are new and have limited exposure to Spanish culture and norms, they really may be at a loss to throw out "abnormal" names (compared to classmate's names, etc.)

Example (in English)
 After asking about and circling day of the week and location:

"Class, it is Tuesday in the cafeteria at High School Name Here. AND, there is a boy."
class response: oooOOOoooh
"Class, is the boy's name Oscar or Antonio Banderas?"
class response: Antonio Banderas!
"Yes! Of course! It is obvious that Antonio Banderas is in our cafeteria on Tuesdays."

Then I circle what Antonio Banderas looks like (with a handy pre-printed picture of Antonio Banderas... because everyone should have a picture of Antonio Banderas in their desks and planners and cars, and family tree). Then we continue on with why he is there. Again, trying to direct the story and hit key structures:

"Antonio is in the cafeteria at High School on Tuesday because he is hungry or because he has blue shoes?"
class response: He has blue shoes!
"Oh no, Class! Because he is hungry. Antonio is in the cafeteria on Tuesdays in High School because he is hungry." *Start circling "is hungry".

Bob and/or Fred show up unwanted... and stay too long

Sometimes when I plan the story to go as mentioned above, and I have a fast processor and/or a very linguistically gifted student, I will say "The boy is Antonio." Then, out of no where it happens: the unsolicited blurt of perfect Spanish from a student that is super-invested in the story.

"Oh no, Profe! Es obvio. Se llama Bob!" (Oh no, teacher. It's obvious. His name is Bob.)

How do you squash that!?!? I don't, I let it ride, I often high-five the kid to reward the risk taking behavior in order to show other students this is not only okay, but expected.

Bob and Fred show up everywhere, if not a main character, it's a pet. If not a pet, a street name... and so on. Also, it isn't just one of your Spanish 1 classes... it's in all of them. Sigh.

It's time for Bob to leave and never return.

I lost it last year. I couldn't take it any more. Every. Single. Class. had Bob in their stories, in their drawings... it was a "thing". So, I plotted the death of Bob. Then successfully carried it out in public without anyone protesting. Here is how I got away with murder (and made students learn at the same time).

Hint for success: Get a stuffed animal (ours was a pig last year) and use that stuffed animal to represent "Bob" every time he shows-up in story asking, story telling, movie talks, etc. Students should see that stuffed animal just laying around and make a comment like, "There's Bob" when they see it. "Bob" becomes real.

Materials Needed

I labeled left and right on the scene so kids weren't trying to figure out
"his left or my left?" Also, yes, that is a fake knife in the back of Bob.

• Dollar store magnifying glasses
• Pre-organized note sheet to keep students focused (I will try to remember to post what my kids use... If October shows up and it's not up, someone tell me!)
• Space in the classroom to "tape off"
• Caution tape or you can use masking tape on the floor
• A sheet or tarp
• An assortment of classroom objects
• Plastic knife
• Red construction paper (as fake blood)
• "Bob" 

Most people have seen Pinterest-worthy classroom crime scene pictures. This is what my lesson was the week before Halloween. Not only did this help Spanish 1 get over using "Bob" in class, but I recycled it between all 4 levels of students.

Spanish 1 used the crime scene to work on 1) identifying vocabulary, 2) using "is" and prepositions to describe the scene, 3) descriptions of objects and the victim (Bob), and 4) investigative skills to look for clues, I give my students magnifying classes to really sell the set-up. They need to focus on reporting the facts. They work in detective pairs to fill out the "crime report" with as many facts and descriptors as possible.

Spanish 2 used the crime scene and Spanish 1 notes to evaluate the scene. Then they focused on working on 1) logically sequencing events and 2) describing the who the victim was, my advanced kids will write Bob's obituary and then plan a funeral service.

Spanish 3 used all of the above information to draw a reasonable conclusion on their top three suspects. They are using interviewing skills, synthesis skills, logic and reasoning. This is more of a student-generated story at this point. I am really looking at their habitual grammar errors to know what to focus on moving forward.

Spanish 4 draws the conclusion of who the murder was and they review all materials. Then they write how they would have committed the murder to get away with it based on the scene. A little dark but it is great to see their usage of the conditional, subjunctive, and the past progressive during this activity.

Services for Bob

Normally the students leave it alone and move on, without Bob. Sometimes they reflect back and see exactly was I was doing and refer to the first quarter of the school as the WB (With Bob) time and then second quarter as PB (Post Bob) time.

Occasionally one student tries to resurrect Bob and I remind them that Bob is dead.

Two or three years ago the students insisted we have a memorial service and burial for Bob. Bob's casket was a shoe box, we buried him in my cupboard, and all the students shared their favorite thing about Bob or something they liked about him. (using "gustar" and "favorit@" at this point).

Take aways

Help students get out of a rut and teach them to think outside the box. Some kids don't even know they are in a box. Show them the path, bury the past, and lead them to a great adventure of exploring language and new things. Help students be risk-takers.



Sam