I recently released four packs of rejoinders – short expressions that we use in natural conversation to keep the flow of communication moving forward. There are 16 per pack, 64 total. They include a wide variety of natural, authentic expressions selected to empower students to demonstrate their comprehension and contribute to conversation with confidence, style and personality. I’ve color coded them to correspond with the time of the school year that I typically introduce them. During this school year, I’ll be adding posts to the blog to describe I implement rejoinders at these different times.
First up, examples from the green set. This set contains staple expressions you would hear in any TPRS® classroom from early on.
They’re exclamations, mostly, designed to give students rudimentary options to express a variety of emotions.
Here are a few of them.
¡Qué ridículo! / How ridiculous!
¡Es obvio! / It’s obvious!
¡Imagínate! / Imagine that!
¡Qué asco! / Gross!
¡Qué bonito! / How cute (here in MN we translate it as “Oh, fer cute!”)
¿En serio? / Seriously?
¡Qué interesante! / How interesting!
Pues, no lo sé / Well, I don’t know
What’s the big picture? Our goal isn’t the quiz.
While rejoinders, and learning how to use them, would be great for any level language learner, I teach level 1. The perspective I offer here will be presented in the context of classes of true beginners.
You can view these expressions as “vocabulary”. However, I prefer to take the long view. I believe that one of the most powerful catalysts that drive people to intermediate levels and beyond is a sense of identity and belonging. Students need to see themselves as language learners. And they need to belong to a community that values language learning. This starts in level 1 as we learn to have mini (but genuine) conversations with each other in the target language. I’m training my students to be polite humans. I’m training them to interact empathetically and conversationally with me and their peers by hearing and understanding what’s being said and responding with appropriate, authentic expressions in the target language. I believe that acquiring a variety of situationally appropriate expressions empowers them to more readily transition from interacting with their initial school-bound classroom community to communicating meaningfully with native speakers.
100% Organic, or is it?
I hope, as I share with you how I present these sample rejoinders, that you’ll get a feel for the organic nature of their introduction and the intentional nature of their repetition and mastery. Some of you may be inclined to plan out how you introduce these – four at a time, a poster per week or two. If you do, that’s great! Teach me how! I can’t do it that way. I thrive on the spontaneous, organic nature of human interaction and I try my best to respond in the moment to the moment’s demands. But, that’s not to say I’m unprepared or that my approach lacks intentionality. I’ve done this enough to know that all of these expressions will come up in conversation in the first few weeks of school. So, since that’s the case, we could say it’s a bit of planned spontaneity. I know I’ll be teaching them, I just don’t know exactly when.
By having this kind of approach, I like to think that I’m preparing the class for – sewing the seeds of – serendipity. They don’t know what’s coming. I do, but not exactly how or when. As a result, the genuine nature of my response is real and students read it as such. Having a teacher that goes with the flow, instead of cramming a hidden agenda down a student’s throat, engenders excitement, joy and plenty of good will.
Harness the Honeymoon
There’s an excitement inherent in the first weeks of school that makes it easy as pie to introduce many of the green rejoinders. I’m quick to present ¡Es obvio! and ¡Qué ridículo! in the first week, if not the first day!
I have to learn kids’ names, and learn them fast. On Day 1, I like to approach one kid and ask her name. I don’t say, “¿Cómo te llamas?” yet, I just look at her, point to her and say, “Beverly?” She shakes her head and says “Mary”. I give a great big, genuine “Oh!”. I walk to the board, commanding the students attention, and write “Se llama Mary / Her name’s Mary”. I turn, look at the class, point to Mary and tell the class, “Clase, se llama Mary!”. At this point, because I’ve failed many times before to make it a requirement that students respond to what I say, I’ve learned I have to demand a response from them that demonstrates comprehension EVERY TIME. Perhaps an ‘oooooh’ or an ‘aaaaaah’ or maybe a ‘si’. A brief clarification in English is OK here, IMHO. I’m training them. I use English for two purposes: to clarify meaning when needed and to make crystal clear my expectations of students.
When I go to the next kid, I’ll look for sparkling eyes. I’ll look for a kid who’s inviting me, nonverbally, to address them. I’ll approach, looking him in the eyes, stop, point and ask, “Virgil?”. He shakes his head and says, “Tristan”. I respond with amazement. I turn to laser the words on the board. I say, “Clase, se llama Tristan” in a tone of near disbelief. Again, I demand a response from the class. “Se llama Tristan, clase. Es obvio.” After this first use, because I’m training them to let me know when they don’t understand, someone will give me the signal. I’ll thank them, genuinely, for stopping me. I’ll walk to the board and post the ¡Es obvio! card and write it’s meaning. I face the class, hand near the Spanish and say it for them. “Clase, ¡Es obvio! Se llama Tristan.” Demand a response. I’ll check for comprehension by asking someone to verify what I just said, then continue.
I point to Mary. “Clase, se llama Mary?” Class responds, “¡Sí!” I pause, smiling and nodding. I turn and touch “¡Es obvio!” I take a slow breath and count to five in my mind to give them a chance to focus on the card. I say, “Sí. Es obvio.”
I walk to Tristan and put my hand on his shoulder. “Clase, se llama Tristan?” Class responds, “¡Sí!” I pause, smiling and nodding. I turn and laser the card, pausing but not for processing time. After a second or two, a couple real go-getters will say it. I applaud! The class applauds! Still touching Tristan’s shoulder, “Clase, se llama Virgil?” Class shouts, “¡No!” I smile, nod, and say “Correcto, clase. No se llama Virgil…” I draw out the final sound of Virgil while turning toward the board and lasering the card. This time, I only have to begin to turn to laser the board before the go-getters shout out, “¡Es obvio!”. I applaud! The class applauds! They’ve got it. I continue this course for a couple new students, adding in “¿Cómo te llamas?”, “¿Cómo se llama?”, “Me llamo” as I perceive the class can handle it.
I’ll establish a few more names, mix them up on purpose, playing the absent-minded professor a bit. Instead of asking if Tristan’s name is Virgil, I’ll state that his name is Virgil, or another name from class that I’ve recently learned. The kids will respond with a strong “¡No!” When that happens, I use the same process to introduce and elicit “¡Qué ridículo!” From then, when I say it wrong, I’ll slap my forehead, turn and touch that card again, triggering them to give me the expression.
Side note: Here I’ve used examples that suggest asking the class if Tristan’s name is Virgil. This is delicate territory. Our sense of identity is tied so closely to our names and we don’t know kids well enough to mess with that too much (yet). Kids need to see in our face, in our real, human face, that we are being kind and playful. However, if you teach adolescents, they’ll try to push your boundaries. They might try to suggest that Tristan’s name is Mary. If that happens, my suggested course of action is to stop class immediately, look at the offender, take a step or two in her/his direction and address the whole class saying “[Name of kid] suggested Tristan’s name is Mary. Class, we’re going to play with language in this class. We will use language to laugh together. But we will not use language to hurt. It is never OK in my class to use language as a weapon.” Notice that I’m not recommending you smile and nod. No smiling with this message. After the message, pause. As the class absorbs what you’ve said, bring the smile back and move on. Don’t do what I’ve done so many times and dwell on it. Don’t lecture them for 5 minutes. Short, sweet. Make your point then back to fun. Follow up with junior after class one on one to make sure s/he knows you’re in charge, you want him to be there, but that her/his choice of language will not be tolerated.
If only I’d seen this before the start of school. Thank you. Love the guessing game.
Thank you, Ron! This kind of post is really about process more so than any particular day or content. A person could do this anytime. It takes a long while to acquire me llamo. 😉
This post is fantastic Grant. So many gems that will help me be a better teacher come Sept 8.
My favorite quote from this post: “I like to think that I’m preparing the class for – sewing the seeds of – serendipity. They don’t know what’s coming. I do, but not exactly how or when. As a result, the genuine nature of my response is real and students read it as such.”
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Love it! It’s fits into any lesson & can help recycle materials! Thank you SO much for sharing!!!