Share Fair 2013: Technology in Moderation

Share Fair 2013: Technology in Moderation

“Garfield’s (Im)perfect Day: Practicing Aspect through Storytelling”

Presenter: Kelsey Treusdell

• Aim of activity: to contextualize the difference between the preterite and imperfect aspects in Spanish

• Activity description: create and describe a timeline built around events from a day in the life of Garfield.

• Intended level: introductory Spanish class• Procedure for activity:

Students in groups of four are given a set of nine cards and they collaborate to write a sentence in the preterite for each card. Meanwhile, the instructor puts print-outs of these same images on the blackboard, and volunteers write their sentences below them. A volunteer then reads all of the sentences narrating the day, and the instructor draws attention to aspect by pointing out that the events are all discrete points on the timeline that represent finished actions with a beginning and end. The instructor gets another volunteer to tell three things that they did yesterday and writes them on the board in timeline form, then tells the students that they can elaborate on these events by describing general conditions or things in progress by using the imperfect form. He/she shows the forms and adds examples to the student’s timeline, visually highlighting aspect by drawing arcs on the timeline by these descriptions to show that they are overlapping conditions. Finally, the instructor passes out slips of paper to each group with an idea with an unconjugated verb on it, and the groups have to conjugate the verb in the imperfect and decide which image of Garfield’s day it goes with. Volunteers go up to the board and add these imperfect descriptions to the timeline, drawing arcs as the instructor did in the example. The instructor then narrates the now completed story, encouraging the students to say the verbs aloud when he/she comes to them. This way the students appreciate the difference between the aspects and see how both are necessary in telling a story.

EL PASADO:Pretérito & imperfecto

Introducción: La rutina de Garfield

Grupos de 4Usar el pretérito para describir la rutina de

Garfield

¡OJO! You will have some

situations that require a reflexive/reciprocal pronoun

and some that will not.

Pretérito: CaracterísticasCompleted, finished eventsThey have a beginning and an endThey can be marked on a time line

Me desperté Desayuné Vine a la universidad

Me duché

Imperfecto: CaracterísticasIndefinite time frameGeneral description“Set the stage” for actionsTo say what was happeningTo say what someone used to do

Me desperté Desayuné Vine a la universidad

Me duché

(estaba cansada) (nevaba)(el agua estaba caliente)

(tenía hambre)

Pretérito vs. ImperfectoIt was a dark and stormy night. I was alone at the bus

station where I used to wait after work. As I was waiting, all of a sudden I heard a loud noise. I turned around and saw a mysterious man step out of the shadows. He was wearing a long trenchcoat and dark sunglasses hid his eyes. When I saw that he was approaching, I decided to try to run away…

Identify: “setting the stage” “general description” “was/were –ing”

FORMAS DEL IMPERFECTOVerbos –AR: cantar Verbos –ER/IR: comer

(yo) cantaba comía(tú) cantabas comías(él/ella/Ud) cantaba comía(nosotros) cantábamos comíamos(vosotros) cantabais comíais(ellos/Uds) cantaban comían

¡SÓLO TRES IRREGULARES!SER

Era Éramos

Eras Érais

Éra Eran

• IRIba ÍbamosIbas IbaisIba Iban

• VERVeía VeíamosVeías VeíaisVeía Veían

Repaso: el día de GarfieldAhora vamos a contar el cuento (tell the

story) con más detalles.

Grupos de 3 –Papel con una descripción general 1) Conjugar el verbo2) Emparejar (match) la descripción con la

foto

imperfecto