Introducing+conjugating+verbs+with+ser

//Kids already know: Yo soy de; ¿de dónde eres?; pronouns//

I modeled this after watching my mentor teach this to the class:

I began the class by asking them how we say where we're from in English. I wrote a verb chart on the board. I asked them "I //blank// from Michigan. What is missing?" They responded "am." I repeated this for "you are," "he is," etc. I explained that they know all three of the forms of the English word "to be" without thinking about it. Next to this chart was a blank Spanish verb chart.

If you Google "weird city names," you can find a list of funny, but real cities that exist around the country. This is a nice variation from using the usual Peru, Colombia, Mexico, España, that generally come with the early levels of Spanish. We used Crapo, Maryland; Gassaway, Tennessee; Spasticville, Kentucky; Buttsville, Pennsylvania; Boogertown, North Carolina; and then just the name of the city where our school is.

I asked the kids to "levantense" and go to the back of the classroom. The city names were written on manila folders and placed around the room: on the floor, on desks, etc. I explained (in Spanish) that our class was now the United States, and that these were the cities in the country. Then, I asked each kid individually, "Y tú, ¿de dónde eres?" They responded "Yo soy de..." with their choice of city. Then had them "sientate en el suelo, o en el pupitre" by the sign of the city of their choice.

I then walked up to a group and asked EACH student in the group, "¿TU eres de Spasticville? ¿Sí o no? Sí?" Then I filled in the "tu" section of the Spanish verb chart. After I asked the entirety of one group, I moved on to "vosotros." I looked at and pointed to individuals and said "Tú y tú y tú y tú...VOSOTROS soís de Spasticville." I repeated the "tú" and "vosotros" pattern with three of the cities, filling in the "vosotros" box of the verb chart.

After that pattern was established, I moved on to "ellos." I looked at the group while saying "vosotros sois de..." then turned around to address the class and say "Clase, Ellos son de Spasticville. Son de Crapo? No, ellos son de Spasticville." I repeated this, filled in the "ellos/ellas" section on the chart.

Then, I moved onto él/ella and repeated the pattern. Then I chose a city to be from for "yo" and then added "nosotros."

After this demonstration, they went back to their seats and had a chance to write. I switched to English to check comprehension of the verb chart. Then, we did example sentences to practice picking out a pronoun and matching it to the correct verb form. user:Katie23