5 ways to use stuffed animals in class

Here are some of the ways I use stuffed animals in class:
1) story props- especially if I need to limit suggestions for stories. My particular favorite animals are, of course, cognates. Pengüino, dragón, cangarú, jirafa, koala, llama, tigre, delfín, and so on, but since the visual of a stuffed animal is so strong they tend to learn the names quickly. I am always amazed at how quickly they learn words like bat and spider, because they want to!
2) Special day rewards- once a week, my level 2s listen to an audio book, and they get to sit with their favorite stuffed animal. It's so simple but it makes the day feel special. And these are 8th graders. When I do my version of Kindergarten day, everyone gets a stuffed animal friend.

3) Story retells- it's much more fun to talk to your favorite animal than it is to talk to the wall or to your hand. It just is. It makes retells feel special too.
4) A couple of stuffed dogs are great if you are teaching Brandon Brown Quiere Un Perro, for comparisons, for actors to use, etc.
5) Modeling and practicing indirect object pronouns- in The Comprehensible Classroom's ¡Siéntate! unit, students are introduced to the structure le grita. However, I want them to hear that structure in a variety of forms, and to try to use it in a variety of ways. One of the many ways we practice the difference between le grita and les grita, le gritan and les gritan, is by making stuffed animal tableaus. Because the animals are mostly cognates, groups of kids work to show different forms of the structure with their animals, then give me great sentences about them. In order to reduce confusion when talking about "I" and "you", I simply put name tags "yo" and "tú" on the animals and we use those forms as well.

Teaching formal language

When I started at my current job, I was surprised that little attempt had been made by previous teachers (or teachers of younger grades) to teach or use the formal, or Usted form. If you don't speak Spanish, all it means is that to refer to someone in the second person, the "you" form, you use either a informal tense or third person if it's formal. Ok, so it's a little confusing and we have no equivalent in English. The kids got the idea but couldn't apply it, and the lessons I found were, well, legacy teaching and had no sticking power at all.

Enter the great TPRS listserv and the Best Idea Ever for using Usted in context, every day, and making it a natural part of language. I wish I knew who to thank, but whoever you are, I am grateful.

The idea is that every day, you choose one or two kids to be the king/ queen (dictator, Jedi knight, principal, etc.) and as your are going through the normal day's activities of asking questions and eliciting opinions, you constantly refer to that kid in the Usted form. I make a big deal out of self-correcting (ok, sometimes I just forget who it is, then remember after the words have left my mouth) and rephrasing the question in third person.

When I started this, I would always stop and do a grammar pop-up: "why am I using this verb instead of that? What am I asking the king?" And so on. Very quickly it became ingrained in the students that there is formal language and that they already know how to use it.

How do I chose the kid? I read about having a thrift store tie or plastic crown, which are awesome ideas, but I just put a silly plastic toy randomly on a chair each day. That's it. Sometimes, if kids get it two days in a row, they give it to someone else, or if I know that it's someone's birthday, I hand it to them at the door.

Also, the king or queen does have some special privileges if the time is right. For instance, I often let them choose music to listen to, or whether or not we have a dance break, a game break, or a water and bathroom break.

The one thing that I want to improve over the rest of the year is getting the kids to refer to the king or queen in the force form, but I think that will come with time and lots and lots of modeling.

How do you teach formal language? Any tips or tricks left in the comments would be appreciated!

Letting them do the work and dealing with absent kids- updated

Updated 8/25/17: I added the paperwork that I actually use!

Update 7-12-17: I have heavily modified what I do for absent students.  While the overall system is the same, the actual activities I give my students are based on a series of co-created activities based on the SOMOS curriculum that a group of dedicated teachers (including myself) created. See more about that below. 

I teach 4 levels of Spanish and I also co-teach a service learning elective class. Keeping track of materials, absent kids, assignments...sometimes it's hard! Especially at the end of the day, when I am trying to find that one piece of paper that is tiny and probably buried under 100 other identical tiny pieces of paper.

One big challenge that I decided the kids could help me with is keeping track of what we do each day on a written form, and collect any assignments or notebook items for absent kids. Since kids are expected to come see me during office hours, (at the end of the day, before I get a chance to clean up and re-organize), this simple document has been a lifesaver.

I decided that students who are absent have 3 tasks:
1) Come see me during office hours and check what they missed and get any work that they need to make up.
2) Check the class web page for anything I might have posted.
3) Pick one (yes, just one) item from the Absent Student Make Up list that was recently shared to the TPRS Listserv.  Thanks to Ben Lev for generously allowing me to share this document! 
3) Pick one activity that the curriculum collaboration group created.  (These documents can be found in the Collab Drive, accessible for members of the [free] Somos Collaboration Group on Facebook.)

For tracking daily activities, I created a form called Absent Student Tracking (super original, I know).
Two kids get to trade off the work during class to keep daily notes in a binder, and when someone comes in to make up their absence, all I have to do is open the binder and the notes and handouts are there.

Each class has a section with a folder in the binder, and each section is color coded as well.  So far, it has worked incredibly well and the kids have really appreciated both the chance to have the note-taker job as well as my improved efficiency and organization.  Win-win.

Enjoy and modify. (Don't forget to attribute! See the fair use notice on the lower right hand side of my blog.)

Absent student tracking: a form for students to fill out during class


Click for an editable document.



Old Option:

Absent Student Make-up Work- 33 options
(Modified from Ben Lev's original document)
Click here for an editable word version.