Lea writes asking about tying the “Persona Especial” activity to essential questions and specific parts of the curriculum. Good question, because defining a problem is the first step to solving it.
Hi Bryce! I was able to take part in your Persona Especial workshop at the NTPRS conference. I would like to take more of a get to know you focused approach with my level one students for the first four weeks of school. Right now I am working on creating essential questions and objectives for curriculum guides that we have to write. I am not sure what questions I should be seeking to answer. Do you have any ideas? We are a full TPRS school (very small, private Christian school), and I am free to teach what I want. Still new to teaching, I am learning what I should be covering within the course of the year. What do you think?
Thanks,Lea
Hi Lea,
I would really like to implement special person interviews with my students, but I have some reservations.
I teach at a K-8 Catholic School and am about to begin my 2nd year. My junior high students (7th grade and 8th grade) have known each other since kindergarten. (There are two sections of each grade level, so there is some variety in class makeup, but not too much. Except for the occasional new student, everyone has known each other for all the years they have been at the school.
I would like to do Special Person Interviews, but I am wondering how to keep them interesting for my junior high students, since they have gone to school with their classmates for 7-8 years now, and already know each other quite well? I’ve already had them last year, so I know them reasonably well.
Also, I will have 2 new 8th graders this year with no prior Spanish exposure. An interview with them would definitely have an authentic purpose in helping the students learn more about them, but I am worried about making them feel uncomfortable, putting them on the spot, or forcing them to answer questions when they are new to the language. Any suggestions?
For years I taught in a community where all of the students would have sworn that they knew everything about one another. They didn’t and yours don’t either. They are aware of superficialities, but not the important stuff: deep interests, hidden talents, hopes, dreams, goals, aspirations.
Students often think they know one another because they know shallow things like where someone lives, their sister’s name and what sports they like. That is where interviews start, but that is not where they can end. Start doing interviews and keep asking follow-up questions. Whole new worlds will open up to you and your kids as you develop your interviewing skills and the students begin to trust you at a deep level.
Ok, that makes sense. Yes, it makes sense that students wouldn’t talk about “deep” things with each other casually.
I’m wondering about the accountability piece as well with Special Person Interviews. It sounds like you have all the students take notes during the interview, and then quiz them every 5 people by having them write a few sentences about each person.
Do you model how to take notes from special person interviews for them? While the interview is obviously in Spanish, do you have them take notes in English, Spanish, both, or either/or?
I hope I can make the interviews feel really pleasant for everyone. I know Ss can feel shy and self-conscious when singled out, and some talk very quietly.
Here is how note-taking for Persona Especial interviews has worked best for me:
Students take notes on the interviews at the very end of the process. There is a lot of review built into it. Here is the basic format for an interview. All of it is in the TL in simple, comprehensible language:
–The teacher asks many questions of the student.
–The teacher verifies the information with the student.
–The teacher asks logical personal interest follow-up questions.
–The teacher may occasionally act like she doesn’t get it (the “Columbo technique”, which is acting like a dim-witted Socrates).
–The teacher “reports back” to the class (even though they have all been sitting there listening to the entire interview the whole time. This helps to get them hearing the 3rd person, rather than only the 1st and 2nd person in the intereviews).
–The teacher asks questions to the class about the interviewee.
–We see how many sentences we know about the interviewee.
–Then, finally, after all that oral input and review, students get with a partner and write down what they both can recall.
–After that, the class then goes over those notes. This is where the faster processing kids get to shine because they will have more sentences, but many kids will remember a detail and be able to share it with the class. The quiz is the next day.
Quizzes count for a formative grade and are based on two criteria:
1. Is the information correct? The answers must be factual and based on what was shared in class. Inaccurate details do not count. If the dog’s name is not correct, or they say they have 8 horses when they have 5, those are not correct answers. If they say she plays setter when she is an outside hitter, that is a wrong answer. This is important because we are finding out real information about a real student, not merely practicing the language.
2. Is it written in understandable Spanish? Not perfect Spanish. Most answers will be written in good Spanish because they have had so much input, but if we take off points for minor misspelling or missed accent marks, this living get-to-know-you process becomes the teacher’s boring agenda. That lowers student engagement because it then becomes not about them.
Also, keep in mind that the teacher only interviews students that want to be interviewed. Students may pass. Interviews do not go in lock step around the room. Most students that initially pass will consent to being interviewed when given another chance later because they see that the teacher has treated their classmates with respect and care.
And… the interview lasts only as long as the “mojo” lasts. If any of the stakeholders begins to become disinterested, the interview is over. This includes the interviewee, the class, and the teacher. Special person interviews become just another soulless school chore when pushed too far. The teacher must be sensitive and read the crowd.
Here is a chart of the process: https://www.brycehedstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/Steps-of-the-Process-Chart-for-Special-Person-Interviews.pdf
Let me know your further questions.
Another piece I left out after re-reading your post of August 31, is that very quickly the quizzes are over just one student. By week 3 or so, the class may well be to the point where they can write 20 or more sentences about the interviewee. Each quiz is not over 5 student every time. That is only at the beginning when students know very little language.
Hola Mr. Hedstrom,
So I have reviewed your blog posts about La Personal Especial, as well as your free resources, and I have several questions.
1.) How do you invite students to do La Persona Especial interview with you? Is it random? Do you pull popsicle sticks? Take volunteers? How do you choose the first one of the year???
2.) Do you give Ss a copy of the list of questions and allow them to contribute to interviewing their classmate, or is it just you asking the questions? Does the answer to this question depend on the time of year that you are doing the interview?
3.) When you do La Persona Especial interviews, do you always have a superstar “scribe” student who is recording the details of the interview as it unfolds? If so, is this student recording in English or Spanish?
4.) Would you ask the obvious “resumé” questions (name, age, grade, etc.) in a classroom where all students already knew each other by name, and where all were the same age and grade?
5.) Do you think it’s wrong to have the questions & their English translations, and sentence starters & their English translations posted on a Powerpoint? I think this could potentially help me and the student being interviewed, but of course I want things to unfold naturally and not appear contrived. I feel like the first couple slides with the resumé questions would be standard for all interviewees, and then I would need to jump around in the Powerpoint a bit, depending on the students’ interest.
6.) I’m still having a hard time understanding how you are able to do Persona Especial Interviews in Week 1 of Spanish 1, especially when you claimed in previous blog posts that you don’t really pre-teach the structures in the interviews. So Ss had no prior exposure to these structures, other than the interview itself?
I really appreciate all the work you do to help us newbies!
Señorita P
Señorita P, These are great questions and ones that I’m sure others have too. Here are some answers:
1.) How do you invite students to do La Persona Especial interview with you? Is it random? Do you pull Popsicle sticks? Take volunteers? How do you choose the first one of the year???
My classes have assigned seating so that I can learn the students’ names quickly. I go down the rows with the interviews. That way, I am in about the same spot in each class. Students may pass. I do not force them to speak, but I do not tell them this or else it can get out of hand and everyone starts passing. I let obviously uncomfortable or shy kids pass and assure them that we want to know something about them and that we will get back with them later. I ask them at a minimum to tell us their name and preferred nickname so that we can begin to get to know them.
2.) Do you give students a copy of the list of questions and allow them to contribute to interviewing their classmates, or is it just you asking the questions? Does the answer to this question depend on the time of year that you are doing the interview?
I used to give students an interview form to fill out but I found that it stifled conversations because students would just read off of their paper–even the top students. There was less natural flow to the interviews. It works better if starters for questions and answers are posted on the wall. Teachers from all over have made translations and posters are available on the “Free Stuff” page of my website in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Latin and Hebrew. Here is a link to the Spanish posters: https://www.brycehedstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/LA-PERSONA-ESPECIAL-CLASSROOM-POSTER.pdf.
Yes, the material in the interviews changes over time because we keep coming back and interviewing students throughput the year. Students know more as the year goes on. They get involved in different activities. Things happen in their lives that they want to share. They move. They have birthdays. Grandparents pass away. They get new pets. Pets run away or die. They try new hobbies or they feel more comfortable revealing the activities that they were hesitant to share earlier.
Students also become more competent with their language skills and more confident with speaking to one another, so soon enough, students begin to ask follow up questions, or even do entire interviews on their own. When students can do this it is a great activity for substitutes. The students know the routine and they ask and answer all of the questions.
3.) When you do La Persona Especial interviews, do you always have a superstar “scribe” student who is recording the details of the interview as it unfolds? If so, is this student recording in English or Spanish?
You can assign a faster-processing student to take notes, but it works better when the whole class has ownership. Each student in the class will write down notes about the interviewee, but not right away. After the interview, lots of follow-up questions, “reporting back” to the class, verifying the information, checking the entire class as well as individuals for understanding, and reviewing, then they will get with a partner and brainstorm all we have learned in the interview about the their classmate by writing sentences in a composition book to keep for the year. We then go around the room and students then share one sentence at a time with the class.
4.) Would you ask the obvious “resumé” questions (name, age, grade, etc.) in a classroom where all students already knew each other by name, and where all were the same age and grade?
It sounds silly, because they all probably already know this information, but yes, I would because they need to know how to ask and respond to these kinds of questions in the target language and answering the “resume” questions givings them the repetitions they need to acquire that language. I have seen transfer students from other schools in level 3 classes that were not confident about answering these simple questions. That will not ever happen if you are doing interview questions.
In a class where most of the students know each other it may seem like this can go faster, but even then, use caution. Go slow. Aren’t there occasional new students in your classes that do not know everything? Do YOU know everything about every kid? Do you want to give the impression that you are just quickly running through a list and rushing past the most beautiful sound in the world to them? Their name. “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People.
In level 2 and 3 classes, where students are accustomed to hearing language like this spoken fluently and can respond confidently, the “resume” questions can go much more quickly.
5.) Do you think it’s wrong to have the questions & their English translations, and sentence starters & their English translations posted on a PowerPoint? I think this could potentially help me and the student being interviewed, but of course I want things to unfold naturally and not appear contrived. I feel like the first couple slides with the resumé questions would be standard for all interviewees, and then I would need to jump around in the PowerPoint a bit, depending on the students’ interest.
Questions and sentence starters should be posted prominently. The faster kids will get them instantly. Average kids will get them in a few days. The slower kids may need weeks, but we want them all to acquire the language. And they will if they have the support they all need.
These posters are not the answers. This can be a difficult thing to get your head around. The information on the posters helps us to guide the interviews. The real answers are in the information that each student reveals. The quizzes check to see if students were understanding and engaged with one another by listening in the interviews. The language just tags along for the ride. This is natural language learning.
6.) I’m still having a hard time understanding how you are able to do Persona Especial Interviews in Week 1 of Spanish 1, especially when you claimed in previous blog posts that you don’t really pre-teach the structures in the interviews. So Ss had no prior exposure to these structures, other than the interview itself?
The questions and the answer starters are posted. The teacher highlights them with a laser pointer at first. The first interviewees are coached and helped. There is no failure. There is lots of review and repetition. In every interview there are always a couple of new words. Those are written down in both the TL and in English on the board. Translation is used for the new words. There is no guessing at meaning. Those new words are then re-used many times in the interview and the review. Writing down a list of new words and their translations in English on a big poster can be helpful.
Does this all make sense?
I really appreciate your answers to my questions about La Personal Especial. In regards to having the posters with the questions and sentence starters on the wall, I feel like I have no more room on my walls at this point. I guess I can see if I can take stuff down and replace it with some posters, blow that document you attached up into a full-size Poster that I can prop up against the whiteboard tray, or otherwise put those “resumé” type questions on a Powerpoint…
Another question if you don’t mind…I would like some concrete examples of how a personal interview might change throughout the year, based on students’ level of proficiency. Could you paint a picture for me of what questions could possibly be asked in a first interview ever in level 1, how those questions might grow and change by October, how this would look in a Level II class?
1. For example, for that first interview of the year with absolute novices, might you only ask for name, preferred name, age, grade? Possibly also where they are from? And then park the interviews at that point for awhile until Ss seem comfortable with those structures? Or else rely on easy questions with lots of cognates about what music they like, etc.?
2. My 8th graders have already had a year of Spanish, so while they would definitely review from the resumé questions (I bet some, if not many, have forgotten how to express age and origin in a complete sentence), they should also be able to talk about their likes, their weekend, their summer, etc. I assume I could also do ¿Dónde vives? to get them talking about where they live (that verb is new for them.)
You increase the complexity of the interviews as students acquire more language. With high school students you can park for a long time on the subject of cars. With pretty much just the verb “to have” and a few cognates or extra words written on the board you can talk on and on, and students will be into it. Here are a bunch of questions with “to have” that have worked well in my community. These questions use mainly high frequency verbs (have, be, there is, want, go, like):
–Do you have your permit?
–When are you going to have your permit?
–When is your birthday?
–So you are 15 years old now or are you 14 years old now?
–When are you going to have your license?
–There is a special class to have a license. Are you in the special class?
–Who in this class is in the special class to have a license?
–Do you have your license?
–Do you have a car?
–Do you want to have a car?
–What type of car do you want to have?
–Who has a car in this class?
–Who wants to have a car?
–What is the perfect car for a student that is 16 years old?
–Do you have a job?
–Really? Where do you work?
–Do you like the job?
–Is it a good job?
–Do you have enough money for a car?
–When will you have the money for a car?
In middle school and in a different community, you will need to ask different questions that will grab your students’ imaginations in a similar way that the rite of passage of getting a driver’s license does for high school kids, but you know your students and you will be able to think of something.
Here are some examples of interviews at different times of the year and at different levels:
This is an interview that level 1 high school students asked my student teacher in October:
https://www.brycehedstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/STUDENTS-INTERVIEW-THE-STUDENT-TEACHER.pdf
Here is one that I asked a reluctant Spanish 1 student in January:
https://www.brycehedstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/Some-Pig.pdf
Here is an interview with a Spanish 3 student that focuses on the present perfect construction. We learned a lot about him and his extended family history in our town:
https://www.brycehedstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/Special-Person-with-Traditional-Upper-Levels.pdf
The real question that gets things going is “What do you like to do?” and “What else do you like to do?” if you keep being interested in the kid and keep asking good follow-up questions, those two basic questions alone will do for just about the rest of the school year because kids will open up as they see that you can be trusted.
For example, at the beginning of the school year you would swear that the only activities any student does are football, volleyball or basketball, because that is all they mention at the beginning. Those are the popular sports, the socially approved sports, the ones that no one will find fault with or laugh at. Later, as students see that you honor everyone, no matter their interests or lifestyle, different and more fascinating nuggets will begin to emerge. They have to see that you control the class and allow no put downs, snickers or eye-rolling in order for them to venture out of their safe shells.
I just did my first Special Person Interviews today with each of my 7th and 8th grade Spanish classes!
I’ll admit I was a little nervous at first (since I have never done these before), but I feel like it went really well!
I don’t have room on my walls for more posters, but another one of my teaching role models, Martina Bex, has a Powerpoint on Teachers Pay Teachers called “La Persona Especial” where she has all the questionsl, the translations, and the sentence starters and their translations. I added a couple of your questions to Martina’s slideshow, and it was ready to go! She also has some great advice about how to introduce the activity to students and set the tone in the target language.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, MR. HEDSTROM! In class today, we just had time for the interview, and then I had the students meet up with a “map buddy” for about 5 minutes to quickly jot down all they could recall from the Persona Especial interview in a bullet point list in English.
There are some things I am wondering about, though:
1.) Do you think this was wrong to have them jot down some quick bullet points in English after the interview?
2.) We have no class tomorrow, so on Friday I was going to do Step #4: Check for understanding, where I ask the students questions about the interviewee and listen to the class to see what they can understand. Do you call on volunteers or let Ss answer all at the same time? I’m assuming choral response would be best…
3.) You said you shoot for 20-30 sentences generated by the class during this step #4: Check for understanding. Do you write these sentences on the board as students answer your questions? Do students just answer your questions with a phrase, or do they help to formulate those 20-30 complete sentences?
4.) If you don’t always write all of the 20-30 sentences on the board as students answer your questions, what factors determine whether you do or don’t write them out?
5.) For step #5, record, I see that you have students work with a partner to write everything they can recall in the target language about the interviewee. I feel like students might say…”But Señorita, we just did this as a class!” Do you tell them to treat it like a practice quiz?
1.) When your students quiz on La Persona Especial by writing about them, is the quiz timed? If the quiz is NOT timed, is there a time limit so that students do not drag it out too long?
2.) How many minutes do you allocate on average for the students to write their 10 sentences? Eventually, when students can write closer to 30 sentences, how much time would you give then?
3.) When done, I’m assuming you have Ss do FVR? I haven’t implement this yet and am just now beginning to build my classroom library…
Thanks so much,
Señorita P
Give them as much time as they need without allowing deliberately slow students to delay the entire class. They cannot use notes on the quizzes, so it is pretty straightforward–they either know it or they don’t. This is a more personal type of information that is deeper in their psyche than other school information–it is recalled more quickly because it is real.
Set them up for success, especially on the first quizzes. Review in different and fun ways. We want them to be saying to themselves, “I may not be good at math or English, but Spanish comes easily to me. I am good at Spanish.”
5 minutes is usually more than enough time, but see what your students need. There is usually not enough time for faster students to get a book before the slower students finish. Of course, allow more time for students with IEP’s.
1.) I know you said that you grade Special Person Quizzes using 2 criteria: 1) Each sentence is written in comprehensible Spanish and 2) The information is accurate and comes from the interview. But what about writing in complete sentences (meaning, every sentence has a verb?) I’m thinking that I should make this a third requirement, at least with my 8th graders who already had Spanish last year. There is no reason why they should not be writing in complete sentences. Do you deduct points if your absolute novices do not have a complete sentence (verb)? Or do you consider writing complete sentences to fall under the comprehensibility category?
2.) Do you make the number of points available on the quiz the number of sentences that students had to write? With my 8th graders, I was thinking of doing 3 points per sentence: 1 for comprehensibility, 1 for accurate info from the interview, and 1 for complete sentence (includes verb). So their first quiz of 10 sentences would be worth 30 points, then. And I would offer 1/4 point extra credit (I think) for each sentence beyond 10 that met the 3 requirements.
3.) For Step #4 of the interview process (Check for Understanding), I asked the class questions about La Persona Especial and used their answers to type up a 20-sentence biography of the person, which I projected and typed as they responded to my questions. For Step #5 of the interview process (Record), I followed your advice and had them write as much as they could in Spanish with their “map buddy”. Some partnerships reached 15+ sentences, whereas some had only a few. Do you assign Step #4 as individual HW if the partnership does not finish their 15+ sentences in class?
I really appreciate your help and support! I love these strategies and really want to do them correctly. :)
But what about writing in complete sentences
Thanks, this is very helpful. My absolute novices don’t know any infinitives yet, but on the first day of class, I did have them draw quick sketches of 4 things that they like/things that they like to do. Like you said, lots of the drawings were of “safe” hobbies like sports, videogames, eating, etc.
So I’m thinking that, after the several ” resumé” questions (what’s your name? what do you prefer? where are you from? where do you live? how old are you?), instead of asking the open-ended “¿Qué te gusta hacer?” I can project their drawing and ask yes/no ¿Te gusta _______?, pointing to their picture. And then I can ask simple follow up “¿Te gusta…” questions that don’t demand much language…
I’m excited to give this a try, hopefully this week! It sounds like a natural way to teach the Ss the introductory conversations that are always in the preliminary chapter of any textbook. I think reading some biographies of Famous Hispanics during Hispanic Heritage month would also help to reinforce third-person forms se llama, es de, tiene ____ años. I imagine the interviews starting out being kinda short and basic (under 10 mins) and hopefully getting a little longer with time…