“Time travel. Timey-wimey, weebly-wobbly, right? Now, let’s imagine traveling through space and time with dinosaurs. Is your spaceship big or small? What would that smell like? Would it be dangerous? Let’s find out!”
September 15, 2016
Una descripción general: The Doctor and his companions must re-home several homeless dinosaurs currently careening through space on a spaceship.
La Clase: This story was composed for Level 1 students grades 6-8. At this time they had received just five weeks of instruction in the target language. Our focus was on tener, hay, ser, estar, and gustarse, with others thrown in as needed. I also included some past tense, which I pointed out during the lesson and explained (in English) as needed. As always, our story relies heavily on cognates so we can spend our brain-power on recognizing verb structures.
El Disfraz: I printed out a bowtie on cardstock, added some masking tape to the back, and handed it to the student posing as the Doctor. S/He was also entrusted with my very own sonic screwdriver. The Queen of Egypt, here referred to as a The Princess of Egypt because the cognate was easier, was given a crown to wear. (I bought it from Dollar Tree.) The student portraying Amy Pond was given a red flannel button-up, from my very own post-college collection. I also appointed three students to be dinosaurs and gave them masks (also from Dollar Tree!). Their part mostly consisted of running around the room when directed and pretending to cause chaos.
Wait, did I say “pretending”?
“Dinosaurios en una astronave”
Había una vez…
El Doctor y sus compañeras están en una astronave con dinosaurios. Las compañeras del Doctor son Amy Pond y la princesa de Egipto. En la astronave, hay muchos triceratops, velociraptors, y también un pequeño T-Rex.
Pero, una astronave no es un buen lugar para los dinosaurios. Los dinosaurios necesitan su propio planeta. Entonces, el Doctor, Amy Pond, y la princesa de Egipto buscan un planeta para los dinosaurios.
Primero, ¡el Doctor tiene una idea! Hay un parque que tiene dinosaurios. El parque se llama el Parque Jurásico. Las tres personas y los dinosaurios se van al Jurassic Park. Al parque, hay un triceratops que está muy enfermo. También, los dinosaurios no están contentos. Los dinosaurios están muy tristes.
“El planeta no es un buen lugar para los dinosaurios,” le dice el Doctor. Y la astronave se va a buscar otro lugar.
El segundo lugar es una isla de unicornios. Los unicornios son muy bonitos. “¡Aquí está un lugar seguro para los dinosaurios!” exclama la princesa de Egipto. En este momento, las tres personas escuchan un estómago.
¡Es el estómago de un dinosaurio!
¡A los dinosaurios les gusta comer los unicornios!
“Este planeta es seguro para los dinosaurios, pero ¡no es seguro para los unicornios!” exclama Amy Pond.
Los tres compañeros con los dinosaurios se van otra vez.
El tercer planeta se llama “El Planeta Perdido”. ¡Hay otros dinosaurios! Hay muchas plantas para comer. No hay unicornios. No hay dinosaurios enfermos ni tristes.
“Finalmente,” le dice el Doctor. “El Planeta Perdido es un buen lugar para los dinosaurios.”
Y los dinosaurios viven felices para siempre.
And, that’s a wrap!
(Wondering what this is all about? See What’s a Teacher Story?)
storyteaching 
Okay, If I do this my Spanish will get un-rusty? I once worked for a distributor into Mexico where I learned to do a bang-up job of a synth clinic in Spanglish. With an interpreter right behind me. I’m down with time travelling dinos.
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Results may vary; class is more fun in person! However, I can say that most stories will revolve around the Super Seven verbs, and I use as many cognates as I can! For example, there are two words for spaceship, but I used “astronave” because I related it to “astronomy” in class. It’s all about connecting new information to prior knowledge…and having fun. Fun is important.
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