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| Donkey-Jote listens for students that don't speak TL |
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| Donkey-Jote was cold :-) |
I liked this strategy as soon as I heard it and planned on implementing it with my Spanish 4a & 4b* classes. Our classes started on Monday (Aug. 24), but I hadn't mentioned the frog to my students, until the third day of class when I heard more English from my students than I cared to hear. In the middle of class, I stood up and walked to my closet that has stuffed animals, and a variety of other handy items used in class, and started searching for a stuffed frog. I found a stuffed bird, a stuffed turkey, and then, ahhhhhh I saw him - Donkey-Jote. Donkey-Jote is a stuffed donkey (from Shrek) that I used about nine years ago for a special project when we read Don Quijote.
I put Donkey-Jote by my chair (we sit on chairs in a circle, without desks) and explained the "rules". The expectation in Spanish 4 (4a&4b*) is to speak in Spanish unless the student has asked for permission to speak in English. If a student speaks in English without permission, Donkey-Jote sits on their lap or by their chair. Donkey-Jote remains there until another student speaks in English without permission. The student that has Donkey-Jote at the end of the class period earns a point. After earning 3 points, the student needs to make an appointment with me during academic prep (study hall) or after school, to talk to me in Spanish for 10 minutes and at the conclusion of the 10-minute conversation, the 3 points disappear.
There are several beautiful benefits to using Donkey-Jote or La Rana de Vergüeza:
1. The students have an extra incentive to stay in the TL.
2. The students, not the teacher, are the ones listening intently for someone to slip out of the TL into English.
3. To clear the points, the student speaks with me in Spanish for 10 minutes, about whatever we choose: what's happening in the news, what's happening in school, the college the student plans to attend, the student's pet, etc, .... which is real, normal conversation in the TL.
After two days of Donkey-Jote joining our class, two different students each have 1 point. Interesting enough, I think both of the students were the first ones to talk in English and after Donkey-Jote moved to sit with them, no other students "slipped up" the rest of the class. Small donkey - big impact.
Thank you DARCY PIPPINS!
This is Haiyun Lu's Shameful Caterpillar (see her blog post HERE for more information)
This is Kristy Placido's "el chavito". He is "the tattle tale. He has been trained to sniff out use of English and alert on the person who uses it."
Hey!! A little off topic here, but what version of Don Quijote do you use in 4?? We've thought about incorporating it in our curriculum as well. Thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteWe used to read an old version that was published in the 1970s (I think). Each year I tried different ways to make it click with the students and I was never happy with the results of the actual reading. For the last two years, we didn't read it. However, Karen Rowan recently published an easier to read version of Don Quijote. Google: Karen Rowan Don Quijote and you'll find information on the book.
DeleteI really love this idea! It seems like a light-hearted way to resolve a prevalent problem that exists in many language classes. I have found that even though I teach in the target language, students still talk amongst themselves and with me in English. I have an alpaca llama that I have been wanting to incorporate in the classroom—I think I will try this one out!
ReplyDeleteOver time, did you find that students would speak less in English after implementing Donkey-Jote?
I really love this idea! It seems like a light-hearted way to resolve a prevalent problem that exists in many language classes. I have found that even though I teach in the target language, students still talk amongst themselves and with me in English. I have an alpaca llama that I have been wanting to incorporate in the classroom—I think I will try this one out!
ReplyDeleteOver time, did you find that students would speak less in English after implementing Donkey-Jote?
Yes, the students' use of English decreases, but be forewarned, it takes discipline on the teacher's part to make this successful and buy-in from the students. The teacher also needs to present this in a way that conveys to students that it is in place to create a classroom filled with the second language and the opportunity to "erase" the negative points is ALWAYS available (by coming after class to speak in the TL with the teacher).
ReplyDeleteDo you still use Donkey-Jote in your classes?
ReplyDelete