Pam,
I only have a copy printed from the archives as submitted by Pam Kaatz on
4/30/98. I have copied and pasted the appropriate part of that email which
I found by searching on Bricklayer and crashing around in a few of the
messages till I found it. My kids think it's great and it really helps them
get the difference between passé composé and imparfait:
I came across a funny story about 10 years ago. Actually Carol Stacy found
it and rewrote it a bit to fit our needs. It struck us that this story,
written in English, was full of P-I situations. I wanted my students to
just get a FEELING of the contrast between these two tenses. (Here is
where I may need to dodge bullets) I feel that getting across this FEELING
is best done in English--because I am trying to get across an abstract
concept. REWIRE, if you can accept that explanation. Dealing with the
LANGUAGE and the CONCEPT at the same time can be overwhelming. I have
shared this story with hundreds of teachers over the years in my workshops
and have had very good reports on its success. In fact, I get calls and
letters, "I misplaced my BRICKLAYER story, HELP, send me another copy!!!"
I have no idea who wrote this originally, it's one of those things that
gets sent from office to office, school to school, etc.
My students are certain that LA MAESTRA is off-task, so naturally that
increases their interest. I tell them, "I just came across this funny
story. I know it really has nothing to do with Spanish, but I wanted to
share it with you. I hope I don't get in trouble with the office for
copying something that is not really part of the curriculum." They all
receive a copy. We read it first just for context. Then I tell them,
"Let's go back to the beginning and read it again. Each time we come to a
highlighted verb, you will notice that it is describing action in the PAST.
Some of the actions are finished/done others are unfinished/on-going. I
want you to react in one of two ways. If you have the feeling that the
action is FINISHED, snap you fingers. If you feel like it in UNFINISHED,
tap you desk with your fingers, like a light drum roll."
Let's practice:
I WAS WALKING down the street... (SNAP? or TAP?) they say tap and tap the
desk when I SAW a car coming toward me. (SNAP? or TAP?) the say snap and snap
their fingers
While I WAS WATCHING the car, (tap)
I FELL in the street. (snap)
While I WAS LYING there in the street (tap)
I REMEMBERED my whole life in one split second. (snap)
The car MISSED me (snap) and I STOOD UP (snap).
I CONTINUED on my way. (snap)
Or anything like that for a short PRACTICE
Then you read this story and have them react with snaps and taps:
(Remember you have already read it one for meaning)
Dear Sir:
I am writing in response to your request for additional information. When
I WAS FILLING out block number 3 of the accident reporting form, I WROTE "working alone" as the cause of my accident. You SAID in your letter that I should explain more fully, and I hope these details will be sufficient.
I am a bricklayer. On the day of the accident, I WAS WORKING alone on the
roof of a new six-story building. After I had completed my work, I DISCOVERED
that about 500 pounds of bricks WERE LYING on the floor. Rather than carry
the bricks down by hand, I DECIDED to lower them in a barrel, using a pulley
attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor.
I TIED the rope at ground level, and I WENT up to the roof, SWUNG the barrel out and LOADED the bricks into it. Then I WENT back to the ground and UNTIED the rope. I WAS HOLDING it tight to assure a slow descent of the 500 pounds of bricks. You will remember that in block 11 of the accident reporting form I WROTE that I weigh 135 pounds.
Due to my susprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I LOST my
presence of mind, and I FORGOT to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I
ASCENDED at a rather rapid rate up the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, as I WAS GOING up, I MET the barrel as
it WAS COMING down. That is how I FRACTURED my skull and BROKE my collarbone.
I CONTINUED up rapidly, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand
ENTERED two knuckles deep into the pulley.
Fortunately, by this time I CAME TO , and I MANAGED to hold tightly to the rope in spite of the pain I WAS SUFFERING .
At approximately the same time, however, as I WAS HANGING by my hand, the
barrel of bricks HIT the ground, and the bottom FELL out of the barrel.
Empty, the barrel now WEIGHED approximately 50 pounds.
You recall that I weigh 135 pounds. As you might imagine, I BEGAN a rapid
descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, as I WAS GOING down, I MET the barrel as it WAS COMING up. That is how I
SPRAINED my ankles and RECEIVED lacerations on my legs and lower body.
Because of the encounter with the barrel, I WAS GOING slowly enough to
lessen my injuries when I DROPPED onto the pile of bricks and fortunately,
I only CRACKED three vertebrae.
I am sorry to report, however, that as I WAS LYING there on the bricks, in
pain, unable to get up, I WAS WATCHING the barrel six stories above me, and
again I LOST my presence of mind. I RELEASED the rope.
Sincerely,
The Bricklayer
By building in the physical response--snapping or tapping, the students are
better able to internalize the contrast between these two tenses. I DO
tell them the real names later, but meanwhile they are the "snapping and
tapping past tenses." I realize that there is a lot more to teaching this,
but it does give you a start. I find the students snap and tap during
tests.
One student reported that the students in her college Spanish class were
having difficulty understand the P-I contrast. She told them to meet her a
few minutes before class the next time it met. She copied this story and
did the same lesson with them that I had done when she was in Spanish II.
She reported great success. The professor was a bit confused when
everybody was snapping and tapping to express to themselves which tense to
use. She tried to explain it to him, he more or less "pooh-poohed" the
idea, but everyone told her that was what finally made them understand.
(She is now a Spanish teacher, by the way.)
Another thing I do is take cash register tape and write several imperfecto
verbs horizontally. Then I write several preterito verbs vertically. I try
to find atwo words that have a common letter so they can be overlapped like
a crossword puzzle. I give two different verbs to each group and ask them
to write a sentence that uses both words. They then tape the verbs on the
board with the pret. crossing the imp. This shows that the imp. was
progressing through time and the pret. happeded at a certain point in time.
I think that's it for now.
Pam
kaatz@airmail.net
Lynn Dosch
John Marshall High School
Rochester, MN
ldosch@home.com
lydosch@rochester.k12.mn.us
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