My Spanish teacher… yes… MY Spanish teacher…  (We used stone tablets and chisels!!) and I had lunch this week.  Although he was quite a grammarian, somehow he managed to get us really excited about speaking our new language.  He told me that as an ESL teacher at a university in Korea, he has discovered that his novices benefit the most from hearing and speaking the language in context and his teacher candidates from the explicit grammar rules.  It makes a lot of sense!  I feel the same!!  He also shared some activities he, as an old dog, has learned!  He wants to get his students communicating in the target language.  One was so good that I had to share!  “Storytelling Dominoes”

Chuck makes approximately 20 pictures that represent main events or characters of the story (now remember, this can be a TPRS story OR a retell/summary of an authentic text) into rectangles of equal size.  He makes one copy per team of 4-5. Students cut apart the “dominoes”, put them in the center of the table face down, and draw until the pile is gone.  Their hand will contain 4-5 dominoes.  These pictures should be familiar to students.  (He recommends using them in class as a review before asking them to complete this assessment.) The student with the first event in the story should lay down the first domino and tell the first part, the second event second, and so on until all the dominoes are laid side by side on the table and the story has been retold.  What a great (and interactive) way to have students revisit ANY type of story!!