Suggested Teaching Sequence for KS2: Hombre De Color! Jérôme Ruillier

Suggested teaching sequence for KS2:¡Hombre de color! – Jérôme Ruillier

Pre-reading:

• Introduce yourself using ‘me llamo’ and encourage the children to introduce themselves using the same words. • Teach some key vocabulary from the book (possibly using some of the snapcards from the KS2 activities folder). Ask the KS2 children to repeat the words as you say them: nací; crecí; tomo el sol; tengo frío; tengo miedo; (use your professional discretion as to whether to introduce ‘muera’, checking with the class teacher first in case) • Write the Spanish words on the board and ask the class to remind you what they mean. • Give pairs or groups of KS2 children one snapcard each. Explain that when you say the word in Spanish, they should hold it up. Have a practice. • Ask the pairs/groups to think of a gesture or action to go with their flashcard and show it as you call out the words in Spanish.

Reading the book:

 Show the children the cover of the book and ask them what they think the title is? Who is the author? How do they know? Encourage the children to spot the similar conventions of book layouts. What do the class think the story is going to be about?  Do the class already know the colours in Spanish? Encourage the children to go through the colours and explain that these words as well as the ones on the snapcards will help them understand the whole story.  Tell the children that as you read the story you want them to listen out for the word on their flashcard. When they hear it they should hold the flashcard up for everyone to see and do their action.  Explain that you do not expect the class to understand every word but that this is an experiment to see if they can understand the story and tell it back to you in English at the end.  Read the book theatrically and clearly in Spanish without pausing to translate, possibly using a visualiser or a PowerPoint version for everyone to see the pictures. (Hants LA has obtained copyright permission for ppt copies of this book & some others that are part of the Catherine Cheater recommended book-packs to be used only in schools & where the actual book has been purchased. Please do not distribute the ppt or make available on a vle or website.)

After reading the book:

• Talk about the meaning of the book: What happened? Did it end as they had expected? Can they tell you what they think the phrase ¡Y tú me llamas hombre de color! means? Did they need to know every single word to understand the main story? • Have they heard people say things like ‘blue with cold’ in English? Brainstorm any phrases they may know. • Move on to similes – as blue as... as yellow as... Ask the children to try making some up in Spanish.

Extension activities: • Depending how much Spanish the class have done before, there are a variety of activities in the electronic KS2 folder with this pack, ranging from word to text level to try, including some simple poetry and text translation challenges. • If the class has already done quite a bit of Spanish, encourage the children to try combining nouns and adjectives, investigating word-order and agreement of adjectives: how would you say a blue dog? a black cat? Etc. • The obvious discussion to arise from this book is about race – I personally think it is an extremely valuable discussion worth having with the class in English, but it may be you feel uncomfortable leading such a discussion unless you are the class teacher.

Jo Rhys-Jones August 2010 http://primarymfl.ning.com