IPA: I’d Like to Thank the Academy
The basic premise for this IPA is almost exactly the same as last year’s about this time (reality talent show video then writing an acceptance speech), BUT there are a few crucial changes:
1. I changed the video from Mexico Tiene Talento to La Voz Kids.
2. We’re using Vibby instead of EDPuzzle to demonstrate comprehension.
3. We’re doing the conversation assessment in groups.
Video Change
A) Prince Royce (even though the “Darte un beso” group did eventually have to dissolve into the “Te mueves tú” group)
B) A Pedro Fernandez song (even if it wasn’t “Yo no fui”–start at 6:50)
That way even if they didn’t know La Voz before, they were sure to get the idea if they took advantage of the system.
The video I selected, though, features pretty simple Spanish, including even some dates.
In retrospect, though, I’m pretty disappointed with how I tied this video in with the other two tasks. Yes, it was about a talent show, kind of like they’re working toward. Yes, it had lots of comprehensible Spanish. But was it really integrated with discussion about their progress on their own projects? No. Did that kid with the voice to rival Vicente Fernandez even really respond to the judges, much less with an acceptance speech? No, they were responding to him. I mean, they’re even called “coaches” instead of jueces.
Next year, we might have to forego Prince Royce and find another “Tiene Talento.”
BUT the video did work on students’ Chromebooks and with Vibby.
Vibby vs EDPuzzle
Even with EDPuzzle, interpretation had an extra step. Yes, they could answer my questions to demonstrate partial comprehension, but to be able to demonstrate more than, say, Novice Mid, they’d have to show more, larger chunks.
However, if they couldn’t interpret the WHOLE preceding segment, I’d need to know which part they thought they were interpreting. So I had them copy phrases they heard in Spanish before putting them in their own words in English.
With Vibby, though, THEY get to decide where the breaks are instead of having them pre-ordained from on high, and I can tell which part they think means what. With Vibby, they turn a video in to me with only the parts they think they understand, and I get a list of
I cannot stress how nice it is to just be able to click “play highlight” to check interpretations. See my little Vib guide below:
Group Assessment
- make groups based on proficiency levels.
- groups must have a common goal and/or experience. I polled my tweeps on how I should form the groups, and I decided that I would have BOTH mixed and project groups–it gave the 2 song groups a chance to compare experiences and think about combining into one act, and it gave the skit peeps much-needed planning time.
- groups of 2 or 3 can work fine–the important thing is balancing your talkers and your shy guys. That is to say, have someone who’ll keep the conversation going, encouraging their partner(s) without completely dominating the whole thing.
- conversations are going to run long. I had each student record themselves (we’ll have to do something about the up-the-nose camera work) to show them registering comprehension as others spoke. So they couldn’t use Seesaw to upload the 10-minute videos (sad face). We will definitely need to edit for portfolio day.
Moving Forward
I definitely need to pick a video that fits the process better–something they could refer to in their conversation and imitate in their own speech. The closest I’ve found is this acceptance speech from Los Premios Goya (can’t go wrong with Pablo Alborán, amirite? #losientodavidbisbal):
That’s a pretty tough one, so I’d probably want to Vib it before I gave it to them (like I did with the Honduran school video). I’m still collecting videos, though, on my Premios playlist, so hopefully I’ll have something that’s
- A) comprehensible for my novices AND intermediates and
- B) substantial enough to be worth interpreting (a LOT of <60-second Latin Grammy videos) and
- C) appealing–gotta make up for no Prince Royce or crazy cookie monster voice
