illustrated by Maia Kobabe

To my friend and teacher, Martha Náñez

To all my dear students, present, past, and future.

 Introductory Verse for Classical
Language Lessons
 

To  the  one  who  understands  the  meaning  of  language,  

The  world  reveals  itself  in  pictures.  
To  the  one  who  can  hear  the  soul  of  language,  
The  world  unlocks  itself  as  a  being.  
To  the  one  who  experiences  the  spirit  of  language,  
The  world  bestows  its  strength  of  wisdom.  
To  the  one  who  can  love  language,  
Language  will  grant  its  own  power.  
So  would  I  turn  my  heart  and  mind  
To  the  spirit  and  soul  of  the  word;  
And  in  my  love  for  the  word  
Fully  experience  my  Self  
 
 
 
Given  by  Rudolf  Steiner  to  Maria  Roeschl    
November  26th,  1922  
 
 Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................ 7  
Acknowledgments ............................................................................... 9  
Background Considerations in Child Development in Relation to
Language Teaching ........................................................................... 10  
The First Three 7-year periods ....................................................... 10  
Birth to Seven ................................................................................. 10  
Seven to Fourteen .......................................................................... 11  
Fourteen to Twenty-one ................................................................. 12  
Rhythm and Language .................................................................... 13  
Use of movement and gesture ........................................................ 13  
Memory and language learning ...................................................... 14  
The Steps to Learning ........................................................................ 16  
Why teach Foreign Languages in a Waldorf School .......................... 17  
Why Spanish? ................................................................................. 18  
Current Language Teaching Methods in Waldorf Schools ................... 19  
What is a Fourth Grader like? ............................................................. 22  
Description and Teaching Methods................................................. 22  
Drama ............................................................................................ 22  
Literacy .......................................................................................... 22  
Singing and Recitation.................................................................... 23  
Vocabulary ..................................................................................... 24  
Work on their Spanish Books .......................................................... 24  
How to put all these together? ........................................................ 24  
The Storytelling Teaching Techniques ............................................... 27  
Acquisition vs. Learning ................................................................. 27  
Principles of Teaching with the Storytelling Methods (TPRS) ............ 29  
Input-based teaching ..................................................................... 29  
Comprehensible input: establishing meaning ................................. 30  
Repetition ...................................................................................... 31  
Student Engagement ...................................................................... 31  
Steps for Teaching with the Storytelling Method: ............................... 34  
STEP 1. Establish meaning .............................................................. 34  
STEP 2. “Asking” the Story .............................................................. 38  
STEP 3. Reading ............................................................................. 40  
4. Assessment ................................................................................ 43  
Final reflections.............................................................................. 43  
Special tips!.................................................................................... 43  
Resources. ..................................................................................... 44  
Comparison of Waldorf Principles with TPRS Methods ........................ 46  
From the whole to the parts ........................................................... 46  
Not teaching from a grammar-based syllabus ................................ 46  
Repetition ...................................................................................... 46  
 Personalization .............................................................................. 46  
Separate Reading and Grammar ..................................................... 47  
Circling .......................................................................................... 47  
Living Conclusions ......................................................................... 47  
Enthusiasm .................................................................................... 49  
Feelings ......................................................................................... 49  
Reading.......................................................................................... 49  
Use of translation ........................................................................... 49  
Thinking ........................................................................................ 50  
A Fourth Grade Curriculum Based on Storytelling .............................. 51  
Pre-requisites ................................................................................ 52  
How to select and adapt a story ..................................................... 58  
Sample Story: El osito ........................................................................ 61  
Mini Story 1 .................................................................................... 63  
Mini Story 2 .................................................................................... 68  
Mini Story 3 .................................................................................... 71  
Mini Story 4 (Review and Recycle) ................................................... 73  
Vocabulary by Thematic Units ........................................................... 82  
Samples of stories written for and by my fourth grade class .............. 83  
Final Remarks .................................................................................. 103  
Bibliography .................................................................................... 104  
Appendix 1 - Sample Lesson Plan ................................................... 105  
Appendix 2: Total Physical Response Phase (TPR) ........................... 106  
TPR Words To Gesture .................................................................. 106

© Nora Hidalgo, Sebastopol, California, 2012

Illustrations by Maia Kobabe

Maia Kobabe graduated from Dominican University of California with a BFA in
Studio Art and an minor in Art History in 2011. She is now working on her MFA
from California College of the Arts. More of Maia's work can be see online
at redgoldsparks.carbonmade.com.
Introduction

Back in 2003, when I first started teaching Spanish at Summerfield Waldorf

School and Farm in California, I felt lost. The typical methods of teaching
foreign languages, such as how I first learned myself, made no sense to me
after having studied child development and practiced Waldorf teaching. Rudolf
Steiner did not give many indications regarding how to teach foreign languages.
The methods proposed by Waldorf foreign language teachers made sense to me
for the first two years in Lower School, but after that, I was not completely
satisfied. It was hard for me to step out of my “grammarian” mind, and at the
same time, I felt I was swimming against the current.

I tried everything—I contacted everyone I could, I observed lessons, I practiced,

I tried to come up with my own ideas… nothing really worked well enough for
me. I was extremely frustrated. I knew that some children were “getting it”, but
they usually forgot by next month (or next week). I spent too many hours
preparing, and the results were not what I expected. Many alumni I met from
different Waldorf schools told me they had had Spanish, but all they learned
was a lot of songs and how to make tortillas! That was exactly what I didn’t
want for my own students.

I sat for long hours trying to fathom what my students were truly asking for,
what magic I needed to concoct so that they would easily and fluidly enter into
my Spanish-speaking world, a world that sounded and felt so different from
their English world, both worlds being deliciously enjoyable. All my attempts to
reinvent the wheel just took a toll in my health, my family life, my sanity. In my
desperation, I prayed. Soon after, a colleague introduced me to a technique
called Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS). It seemed
strange in the beginning, but a closer look showed me that many principles
were actually congruent with Waldorf education.

I want to share how the basic techniques and philosophy behind TPRS match
recent brain research as well as the principles that Rudolf Steiner laid out
almost one hundred years ago regarding foreign language acquisition. The
result is a holistic, new idea with techniques worthy of consideration for the
teaching of foreign languages in Waldorf schools.

I chose to focus on the fourth grade curriculum because this is where foreign
language literacy actually begins in Waldorf pedagogy, and for TPRS, reading is
a crucial component.

7
Through my Waldorf Teacher Training and my personal path to become a
language teacher I have also worked on my own individual challenges. This has
become a spiritual practice to me, a way of getting to know more closely my
soul, my countrymen, and my beautiful mother-tongue, Spanish.

I would like to quote Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, one of the greatest
contemporary Spanish-speaking poets and 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature:

Qué buen idioma el mío, qué buena lengua heredamos de los

conquistadores torvos… Estos andaban a zancadas por las tremendas
cordilleras, por las Américas encrespadas, buscando patatas, butifarras,
frijolitos, tabaco negro, oro, maíz, huevos fritos, con aquel apetito voraz
que nunca más se ha visto en el mundo… Todo se lo tragaban, con
religiones, pirámides, tribus, idolatrías iguales a las que ellos traían en
sus grandes bolsas… Por donde pasaban quedaba arrasada la tierra…
Pero a los bárbaros se les caían de las botas, de las barbas, de los
yelmos, de las herraduras, como piedrecitas, las palabras luminosas que
se quedaron aquí resplandecientes… el idioma. Salimos perdiendo…
Salimos ganando… Se llevaron el oro y nos dejaron el oro… Se lo llevaron
todo y nos dejaron todo… Nos dejaron las palabras.

Confieso que he vivido, Pablo Neruda, 1973

What a great language mine is, what a good language we did inherit from
the grim conquerors ... They went by strides over the tremendous
mountain ranges, over the curled Americas, looking for potatoes,
sausages, beans, black tobacco, gold, corn, fried eggs, with that
voracious appetite never to be seen again in the world ... They swallowed
everything, with religions, pyramids, tribes, idolatries, equal to those they
brought in their big bags ... Wherever they passed, everything was razed
to the ground ... But off the boots, the beards, the helms, the horseshoes
of the barbarians, the luminous words were falling, like pebbles, the
words that stayed here, shining bright ... the language. We lost…. we
won ... They took the gold and they left us the gold ... They took
everything and left everything ... they left the words.

I Confess I Have Lived, by Pablo Neruda, 1973

8
Acknowledgments

GRATITUDE is the feeling of a full heart. I would like to thank all my teachers and
colleagues who have offered me their time, wisdom, patience, and support in so
many ways to help me become a teacher, survive, and still love being one!

In the Waldorf world, my deepest thanks go to Don Basmajian, Karen Gallagher,

Elena Forrer, Nikki Lloyd, Kalen Wood, Saskia Pothof, all the teachers who
helped me and let me observe in their classes. To all my colleagues at
Summerfield Waldorf School, who have saved my life in multiple ways. ¡Gracias!

In the TPRS world, my thanks and appreciation go to all my extraordinary

teachers: Susan Gross, Blaine Ray, Ben Slavic, Laurie Clarcq, Joe Nielson,
Carmen Andrews, Jason Fritze, Carol Gaab, Jody Noble, Diane Grieman, and all
the teachers on the moreTPRS listserve.

My “second family”: my fabulous Spanish colleagues at Summerfield Waldorf

School: Ben Lev, my friend and mentor at any time of the day or night; Danielle
Delario, Molly Sierra, and Angela Garat, such true accomplices and trusted
partners.

To my family, sons Juan Pablo and Carlos, and husband Victor, for being the
motor and the compass of my life, as well as outstanding human beings.

Nora Hidalgo
February 2012
Sebastopol, California
[email protected]

9
Background Considerations in Child Development in Relation to
Language Teaching

The human being is the most evolved being in creation. However, the complete
unfolding of her or his faculties only occurs after a slow maturation period of
approximately twenty-one years, actually, the slowest of any other creature.
According to Anthroposophy, this development takes place in periods of
roughly seven years, which are characterized by distinct and characteristic
bodily developmental tasks and states of consciousness. Waldorf Education,
based on the awareness of these specific needs and capacities, offers a
curriculum that will not only teach but also honor and support the child’s
development.

The First Three 7-year periods

Birth to Seven

During the first seven years of life, the child is building its physical body, and is
strongly influenced by the outside. During this time, movement and imitation,
among others, are the main ingredients to right development. This is the time
when the young child learns by imitation, and its mother tongue is acquired
just by being fully immersed in it. Movement plays a major role in this period,
and we know this to be true as children never seem to get tired. They are
learning to live in the world and take hold of their physical sheath by moving
and experimenting with their senses. Everything they perceive from their
environment affects the child and actually contributes to shaping its body and
soul. Therefore, we endeavor to provide the child with wholesome, true
experiences of the world and strive to keep the media as well as synthetic
materials and foods, away from the child.

In the realm of language, the child starts connecting his or her impressions of
objects and inner experiences to the sounds that describe them, and slowly
learns to apply them accordingly. At first, the child spends life in a sort of
“silent period,” practicing some universal sounds but not yet words per se. At
this time, it is of utmost importance that we speak with normal and adult
language, so that the ear for language is able to imitate the correct
pronunciation and attach meaning to it without any confusion.

Language learning becomes a matter of course, never an intellectual endeavor.

Learning takes place in a pre-cognitive level; as we all know, we never need to
explain to the child the verb tenses, and, in some languages, the use of gender
and number. The sounds a child is learning to master not only make an
impression on its feeling life, but they also affect the specialization of the
speaking organs, like the larynx, the use of the tongue, our vocal chords, etc,

10
thus forming the characteristic accent of our language.

It is only after age one that the child starts saying its first words, and then,
within what seems an amazingly short time, he or she is able to begin forming
phrases, however grammatically incorrect. But we marvel at them and don’t
expect them to be perfect. We know he will get it with time. We wonder how
this incredible acquisition of the treasure of a whole language may be possible,
even before the actual cognitive faculties of the child have awakened. In some
cases, where a child is exposed to more than one language, it may take longer
to start speaking, and the child may mix the languages in the beginning. But
given enough time and exposure, the time will come when the child is able to
master the two (or more) languages and switch back and forth at will.

The culmination of this phase is signaled sometimes by the change of teeth, as

well as some other bodily changes like the elongation of the limbs in
relationship to the head, and more coordination and mastery of gross and fine
motor skills. Fantasy is now slowly transforming into imagination.

Seven to Fourteen

In the second 7-year period, the child’s body is now his own. The body has
become a true and unique home for the soul, and only needs to grow and
mature. The forces that had been active in the inner sculpting of the organs and
the intense growth of these years are now liberated for other uses, such as
memory, imagination, and learning. The child begins to show and experience
more clearly its soul life and personality traits. This gives the child new tools to
relate to the world around him. Always, but especially at this time in life,
rhythm plays a main role in a child’s life, giving a sense of security and peace. It
allows the child’s metabolism to find a healthy balance too. At this stage, the
teacher is mostly concerned about providing a healthy balance of “in-breath”
and “out-breath”.. and lessons at school should be designed accordingly.

The in-breathing of the lesson means everything that makes the child be
attentive, quiet, receptive, still, self-contained. It is the time to teach new items,
the time of concentration and discovery. In the out-breath, children experience
a kind of letting go, a time of more relaxation, of play, repetition, where in
foreign language lessons they can play with language, and through repetition,
assimilate it. The second 7-year period is the time of authority rather than pure
imitation, of rhythmical activity, rich imagery, musical development, etc.

During the first part of the second period, imitation and devotion to the world
start disappearing. There is a greater wakefulness and a growing sense of self.
Especially around the middle of childhood, namely in the ninth year of life,
there is an important milestone in the child’s consciousness, where she finally

11
feels more and more her own individuality. This is a great moment, as well as a
fearful one, since the child now fully realizes that there is a world outside and
that it does not revolve around her necessarily.

According to some researchers, this is the point up to which foreign languages

can still be acquired without an accent from our own mother tongue.1
Regarding language in this period, children enjoy word games, tongue twisters,
and rhymes. Secret languages can also be invented. The hearing element
becomes extremely important. Lessons must strongly engage the children’s
feeling life, which means that we bring to our lessons stories and examples that
move them inside, rather than teach with abstract concepts. Children enjoy
funny poems, rhythmical speech, surprises, etc.

Only after the age of twelve can the cognitive element, cause and effect, be
introduced successfully. And then, students truly enjoy finding the grammatical
relationships between the elements they know of the foreign language.

Fourteen to Twenty-one

The third 7-year period is a time of individuation, the time for critical thinking
and judgment. The student becomes more aware of self, discovering and
experiencing the deepness of his or her subjective world of soul and feeling. It
is also a time of ideals, judgment, practical life, real life facts, the purpose and
application of things.

During the first years of this period there usually is a turmoil in their inner
world, the soul becoming like a boat on a rough sea. The Waldorf curriculum in
the high school years addresses these needs by offering the students plenty of
opportunities for discovery of self and the world through the study of
technology as well as humanities, sciences, practical and fine arts, eurhythmy,
community service, sports, etc.

In foreign languages we are always keeping in mind the aesthetics and beauty
of language by teaching poetry, culture, etc., but also the more practical
aspects of real language. We still make use of rational, grammatical examples,
but we are aiming to a more logical and practical use of it. They are ready to
recognize differences and similarities, and they are eager to compare and
contrast expressions in various languages.

The way Johannes Kiersch, in his book Language Teaching in Steiner Waldorf
Schools, explains how we learn a foreign language differently at various stages
of life helped me to understand this even further:

1
Kiersch, Johannes, Language Teaching in Steiner Waldorf Schools, Steiner Schools Fellowship Publications,

12
 “In this way we can say that language is acquired during the first period
of life merely as a matter of what sounds right together (an approach to
the formative aspect); in the second period, it is the beauty of language,
the sound, rhythm and musicality that matter more (the descriptive
aspect); and in the third 7-year period, students are more interested in
the explanatory side of language.”

This understanding gives the teacher a starting point in the sketching of

language teaching methods and materials appropriate for each age group.

Therefore, a true understanding of child development is an invaluable and

indispensable foundation to creatively develop a successful curriculum, to
design healthy methods, and to choose the appropriate materials for our
teaching.

In the Christmas Course, Steiner makes an interesting remark regarding the

design of teaching methods and curriculum:

“It is much more important that the teacher become familiar with such
things (child development).... than that he be given some kind of ready-
made curriculum with fixed targets. In this way he will be able to match
his material and teaching style to the age of his pupils.” 2

Rhythm and Language

Use of movement and gesture
There has been research regarding the relationship between language and body
movement. From this we know that “…all speech acts are accompanied both in
speaker and listener by spontaneous, scarcely perceptible body movements
which are entirely unconscious and follow characteristic patterns.”3

Babies go through specific phases in the acquisition of language, the first being
a short “babble-phase”, where all possible combinations of phonemes are
experimented with; the next one is the “silent phase”, where the baby just
seems to keep quiet and may be intensely focused on listening. Steiner’s
observation of the child indicates that the child’s speech organs are activated
by the important process of listening.

Language cannot be reduced to tones or sounds, but it is a completely

different, more full and comprehensive sensory experience. The sense of
language, in Steiner’s description of the twelve senses, is part of the higher
senses, and is closely related to the lower sense of movement. It is recognized

2
Rudolf Steiner, Soul Economy and Waldorf Education, Anthroposophic Press, 1986, Lectures 10 and 12
3
Kiersch, page 44

13
that the “organ” for the sense of language is the voluntary musculature of the
body, as stated by Georg von Arnim, a pupil of Karl König.4

Steiner only made aphoristic comments about this. He did not point this organ
out directly, but rather described it as “the system facilitating bodily movement,
the human potential for movement.”

This takes us to the fact that we not only communicate through sounds, but
also through gestures, which are as important to communication as words
themselves. Examples of this are when we ask a child to be quiet by putting our
index finger on our lips, or motion them to come by waving our hand. In any
case, a movement comes to a pause for a short moment, and it is then that our
sense of speech is activated. According to Steiner, this is the process that
happens with all language perception.

This whole idea brings a question in Steiner schools about the correct use of
body movement and rest in language lessons. This speaks to me again about
rhythm, about a breathing in and out through movement. Johannes Kiersch
mentions in his book:

“A sort of “active relaxedness” in musculature and posture is the best way

of fostering the inner mobility that listening requires…. Take a thorough
look at the interplay of movement and rest in language teaching… It is in
the transition from “easy movement” to “relaxed alertness” that the most
fruitful moment for the shaping of a successful language lesson may well
lie.”5

This speaks of an interweaving of receptivity and activity on the part of the

student and the teacher, and is in opposition to the classical methods of
passive learning through drilling and repetition of grammar rules and the
conceptual aspect of language.

Memory and language learning

The human brain is not comparable to a computer, which needs only the input
of data for their later retrieval. Steiner pointed out that memory is not simply
the retrieval of stored data and impressions, but a renewed act of sense
perception. Remembering is directly connected to the etheric body, which
encompasses, as we said before, the forces of life, growth, and shaping. These
are the forces at work during the first period of life, when the child is intensely
focused on its physical body development. Their task is to help the body grow
and to shape the inner organs as well. Around the seventh year of life, once the
first stage is accomplished, part of these very forces are liberated and used for

4
Kiersch, page 43
5
Kiersch, page 45

14
memory and learning. This is the right time to begin with academic work, and
the right time for exerting memory.

“Memory must draw its strength from the realms of feeling and will, not
from mere intellectual exercises and the like.”6

In Waldorf education, we do not expect students to keep everything they have

learned in their heads and retrieve it at will at any point, but rather, we make
sure that remembering alternates with forgetting in a healthy rhythm. Steiner
made clear this connection by suggesting “to keep a proper pulse-beat in the
classroom between mere listening and individual work.”7

Memory is ignited by feeling. There needs to be joy, mystery, uncertainty, the

unexpected and the expected, humor and sadness, stress and relaxation,
tension and relief. “There are no better memory aids than such feelings.”8
Steiner also brings a concept of paramount importance:

“By bringing everything in the world into relationship with man you place
it in the realm of feeling. And that is so important.”9

In the Ilkley course of 1923 Steiner summarizes the application of the principles
of memory to teaching in three sentences:

Concepts burden the memory

The concrete and artistic develop the memory
Exertions of will fortify the memory.10

Thus we have seen that during the second 7-year period, memory is especially
linked to feelings (“into relationship with man”) and images (“the concrete and
artistic”), not yet to intellectual work. And one of the very best ways to impress
our memory is through the use of movement and gestures (“exertions of will”).
Once we have linked a word or concept with a characteristic gesture or
movement, we will recall one when we do the other.

There is another aspect to this discussion about memory: as much as memory

is not necessarily a matter of pure intellectual effort, whenever we apply our
ego, our genuine interest, into something, it seems to stay in our memory
much better. Whenever we are bored, we don’t even see the obvious because
our mind wanders and our ego is not present. Our attention, our interest, will
strongly impress our memory.

6
Rudolf Steiner, The Foundations of Human Experience, p. 136
7
Rudolf Steiner, High School Education (formerly: The Supplementary Course)
8
Rudolf Steiner, Education for Adolescents, Lecture 1 and 3
9
ibid
10
Rudolf Steiner, A Modern Art of Education, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1972

15
In this way, we are applying the three soul capacities to the learning of
language:

• Thinking - by engaging our ego with interest

• Feeling - engaging our feeling life with emotions and with rhythmical,
artistic experiences
• Willing - by engaging our body through movement and gesture

INTEREST STRENGTHENS MEMORY.- Rudolf Steiner

The Steps to Learning

In his book, Study of Man, Steiner characterizes the learning process in this
way:

Conclusion ----------> Judgment -----------> Concepts

A child needs to first be presented with the facts, with the so-called
conclusions. Out of these conclusions, the child will make use of his moral life,
his feelings, to make a judgment, to find the proper place of the conclusions in
his or her soul. Out of this work, the child is able to finally arrive at concepts,
his or her own digested version, which then becomes a part of his knowledge.

Translated into foreign language teaching, this scheme could look like this:

Perception Making Acquired

of new ------------> sense of them -----------> language
words in our feeling

This means that the introduction of new language needs to go through a

process of digestion before it is assimilated or rather, acquired. This digestion
takes place in the child’s feeling life, in the rhythmic sphere. The new
phrases/structures have to find a subtle place in our soul. They are linked to us
through experiences, feelings, objects, actions; they need to be given a proper
space within. Once they have been processed by the soul, they can be
integrated more easily by the memory, and will be available when the learner
brings forth the images and experiences connected to them.

If instead of allowing the child to acquire language in this way, we teach directly
to the intellect, through grammar rules, drills, vocabulary lists, we are seeing
language as algebra: we are trying to substitute one symbol with another one.
Then these will become concepts that “burden the memory”; they will not be

16
spontaneously available and will be easily forgotten. However, when in our
teaching we make use of images, songs, gestures, stories, we are applying the
artistic element to build up the memory, for we will be engaging their whole
being. And finally, after the child has had enough experiential, comprehensible
input, enough language in context, he or she will be able to apply at will that
newly acquired language in different settings.

If the work children are doing is a) comprehensible and b) compelling,

interesting enough, then they will learn effortlessly and effectively. The more
interesting, the more compelling the content can be, the better. In the teaching
of foreign languages, this means it is all about bringing meaningfulness to what
we teach. Not just an utilitarian usefulness, but a semantic meaning that makes
sense to them and engages their mind, so that they can forget about the fact
that they “are learning” and just surrender to the content of the conversation.
That is the best way for any of us to learn: when the meaning is so compelling,
that we feel connected and at ease with it. This is what happens when the
content is directly related to them. If the work we are doing is talking about
Dick and Jane all the time, there is no way a young child (or a teenage student)
will be truly engaged for a sustained time.

Why teach Foreign Languages in a Waldorf School

Rudolf Steiner often spoke about the mutual influence that language and the
people who speak it exert on each other. Languages tend to have certain
tendencies in their melody, their vowels, their consonants, etc, which are a
direct reflection of the personality of that particular group of people. At the
same time, people acquire a certain condition, a certain nuance by the way they
speak. How we see the world is manifested by the way we express it in
language, both by meaning as well as by the melodic, rhythmic element. In that
sense, we can say that languages and their folk have a determined
temperament, and in speaking it, we become “it”; its vibration permeates our
soul. When we speak only one language we only experience that one-sidedness
of soul, but when we learn a foreign language we greatly enrich our experience
of life and our world expands. This helps develop an understanding at the soul
level of other people’s ways, and we are more willing to see things from
different perspectives. How often have we not found that certain things are
more readily conveyed in one language than in other, even not in our own
native tongue? Language becomes the lens through which we see the world.
This makes us aware and tolerant of differences, and we find no fault or
advantage in one or the other. Through languages we round up our soul.

Why Spanish?

17
Rudolf Steiner recommended that two different foreign languages be taught at
Waldorf schools, three times a week each one. The choice of language is up to
the school, but it is preferred to have a language that is not too close to one’s
own native tongue, for the sake of bringing a richer variety to the soul’s
experience, as stated above. However, being practical is the next best advice.

Of the approximately 6,000 languages spoken in the world, Spanish is spoken

in 44 countries by almost 400 million people. Spanish is the third most spoken
language (by natives), only after Mandarin and Hindi, and it is followed by
English. In the USA there are about 45 million people who speak Spanish as
their first or second language, composing the largest Spanish speaking
community outside of Mexico.11

California is a state with a rich Spanish and Mexican heritage, and 35% of the
population speaks Spanish at home. It makes complete sense for schools in this
situation to teach Spanish as their first choice of foreign language.

11
http://www.waldorfspanishteachers.org/

18
Current Language Teaching Methods in Waldorf Schools

It is generally assumed that all learning has to be logic, and thus, performed
basically by the left side of the brain. However, we have seen thus far that
learning takes place when we are engaging our whole being. This happens
anyway, but in Waldorf education we strive to make proper, conscious use of
this knowledge

Steiner spoke little about methods of teaching foreign languages, and when he
did, he had in mind mainly the teaching of Latin or Greek. One of those few
occasions was in Practical Advice to Teachers, in Lectures 9 and 10. Here he
mentioned the importance of letting the children, especially between the ages
of nine and ten, speak to each other in conversations in the foreign language.
He also stressed the use of reading and not just translating back and forth.

Let’s not forget he is directing his comments to the teaching of fourteen and
fifteen-year olds, who have had at least seven to eight years of language
lessons. However, these recommendations are meant as an assessment of
where they are at in the very beginning of the school year. He basically speaks
about how much time is wasted in translation from Latin into German, and
back. He recommends there be more reading, focusing more on pronunciation
than on comprehension and then asking the students to render in their own
words what they understood from it. Of course, this is making the assumption
that the students have a fair amount of knowledge of the language.

Then he suggests to do it in reverse form. To discuss a subject in their mother

tongue, then asking them to repeat it in the foreign language.

He recommends the teaching of grammar after the age of twelve, but he

recommends that the teacher always present examples in which grammar is
linked with the practical logic of life, or we could say, to present it in context.

So far, we have gathered two very important elements in teaching foreign

language: the use of practical, conversational phrases and to use them to show
the grammar points in a specific context.

Steiner also suggests avoiding first working through a reading passage and
subsequently pulling the language to pieces. He suggests the grammar piece be
worked independently. He suggests we use examples to illustrate grammar
points, but not write the examples in the books. Rather, that the examples
could be left out, and only the rule would be written down:

19
 “Let grammar and syntax lessons be conversational; those every-day-life
sentences are living conclusions. The next day, you come back and ask
the children to make up their own examples of the same rule or example
you gave the day before (make them participate, let them own the
examples-story). This is a soul activity for them.”12

“There should be such enthusiasm in participation that children do not sit

firmly on their chair for the whole lesson!”13 This is every foreign language
teacher’s dream. However, how many times are we able to have the whole class
participate like this? Foreign language lessons need to be seen as an active
engagement where learning takes place in a realm other than the solely
academic.

There are also some observations that show how delicate it is to maintain the
balance in a foreign language class, and how complex it can become when
dealing with more than a couple of curricula: “Teaching in this way, the teacher
could later find the gaps and fill them.”

Steiner also suggests that several languages could be taught side by side,
meaning that the same teacher could maybe know, for example, Latin, English,
and French, and then have the children express the same sentence in the three
different languages. Of course this would be a rare case, but think about the
support one language can give to another, by using them to compare and
contrast. It gives the child the possibility to point in a number of directions. For
example, pointing out how in English we need to use the subject pronouns all
the time, while in Spanish we can omit them, because they are contained in the
ending of the conjugated verb.

Steiner makes several remarks which I have been able to successfully put
through the test of time:

“It is possible during a stimulating, living lesson, to develop in the

children the capacities you need for teaching. The children need not have
the full measure of capacities you intend to use; but you must have the
skill to call to life such capacities that can later fade away when the
children leave the classroom.”14

Heavy use of conversation, presenting grammar in context. Not to translate,

and not to be concerned with full comprehension. Reading, retelling, comparing
to native language; separating this work from grammar and syntax lessons,

12
Rudolf Steiner, Practical Advice to Teachers, Lecture 9, p. 134
13
Ibid, p. 136
14
ibid, p. 138

20
with rules to be remembered and examples to be forgotten. These are a few
suggestions for language teaching.

“Do not worry about lack of comprehension, even of whole sentences;

your expression and intonation, plus our hearers’ urge to sense the
meaning open up one half of what you say; and, given this, time will open
up the other. Intonation is for children, as for the Chinese and for
seasoned globe-trotters, the half of language….. Have trust in time, the
great code-breaker, time and the context.”15

Unfortunately, Steiner did not live long enough to be able to test these ideas
and give further suggestions. However, Waldorf foreign language teachers
worldwide have come up with creative and effective applications of this basic
format.

The intention of this work is to share how the Storytelling techniques can be
successfully applied within our work in Waldorf education to achieve a natural,
organic acquisition of a foreign language.

15
Rudolf Steiner, The Education of the Child, 1907

21
What is a Fourth Grader like?
Description and Teaching Methods

“Fourth Grade is the heart of childhood.”

Don Basmajian

A child in the fourth grade is between nine and ten years old. They have gone
through the important nine-year change, and thus they are now “Citizens of the
Earth.” They challenge authority, they are playful, fully present, eager to play
and discover their individual strengths. They love challenges. They like
experimenting with language.

Individuality is an important matter at this age. They are strong and eager to
work and learn. The fourth grade main lesson curriculum is designed to
address this joy and healthy fire.

It is very useful to know what they are working on in their Main Lesson, as this
will also create even more interest in the content of the foreign language
lesson. However, this is not always possible, and that is fine too. I also
introduce Hispanic culture, topics from their Main Lesson, festivals of the year,
or just whatever choice I have made for a main story (see ahead).

Some of the techniques and areas we cover in the foreign language lesson are
the following:

Drama
The use of drama and less so, the technique of role playing, is recommended
by Johannes Kiersch as an excellent way to raise language acquisition and
performance as the students get so involved in the situation, that they forget
they are actually speaking a foreign language.

Literacy
The usual practice is to introduce writing and reading in the later part of third
grade. Steiner mentioned, “In the teaching of foreign languages, turn to writing
as late as possible.” I have personally found this time to be rather the middle of
third grade. At this age their imitation capabilities are almost completely gone
and they are thirsty for learning the alphabet and discovering how familiar
words are written in Spanish.

I begin by introducing the alphabet, and we have fun with the consonants that
have a different pronunciation. Then we play a lot with the vowels, for they
definitely have a different sound in Spanish than in English. By April we make
drawings and begin writing of simple, well known vocabulary, such as casa, first
with easily recognizable phonemes and later on with the ones that are more

22
characteristic to the Spanish language, such as j, rr, ll, ch, que, and of course,
ñ, as in Español. Every letter is an amazing discovery, and they immediately
want to start writing their names “in Spanish”, such as Pétalo for Petal, Sofía for
Sophia, Juan for John, etc. It is a great moment of discovery because they
realize and observe the differences and peculiarities of each language. They are
intrigued by the sounds of vowels and have the overall feeling that writing is
enjoyable and easy. Beginning this way sets the stage for later writing and
reading in fourth grade.

In traditional teaching in Waldorf schools, it is also in fourth grade when

children write in their books what they have learned so far, as well as the new
material. Usually this is the time when the first grammar rules are observed and
recorded in their Spanish books, although some teachers prefer to start with
explicit grammar instruction and awareness in the sixth grade.

Singing and Recitation

Singing and recitation still play an important part in the fourth grade
curriculum. The educational benefit of combining music and poetry has been
well described by Steiner, in the book Balance in Teaching, with the description
of the Dyonisian and the Appollonian elements in language and music.

Tongue-twisters, riddles, limericks, are excellent speech exercises. The use of

poetry is always of great benefit, and as stated by Kato Lomb, polyglot and
teacher of foreign languages:

“Do not be shy of learning poems or songs by heart. Good diction plays a
more significant role in speech performance than the mere articulation of
individual sounds. Verses and melodies impose certain constraints. They
set what sounds must be long and which ones must be short in duration.
They rhythm inherent in them guides speakers and helps them avoid the
intonation traps of their native language.”16

Every time we teach children something to be learned by heart, they need to

understand its meaning fully and have a precise feeling for what they are
saying.

Our characterization of the poem should be full of pictorial images so that they
can be part of the scene and feel what the author is conveying.

16
Kató Lomb´s strategies for language learning and SLA theory, by Scott Alkire, San Jose State University
http://www.tprstories.com/ijflt/IJFLTFall05.pdf

23
Vocabulary
Their passive vocabulary is usually broad by fourth grade. Vocabulary is not
taught as isolated, thematic lists, out of context. We usually try to link new
words to real objects, new verbs to a gesture.

“Word and object become linked through an activity.”

An example of the vocabulary and grammatical expectations for this grade is

beautifully described by Christof Jaffke as follows:

“She has a command of the important phonemes of the new language

and has a sound feeling for its patterns of intonation. She understands
appropriately told stories and is capable of coping with a part in a small
play. She can take part in simple conversations about the weather, family
and school and has a store of rhymes, poems, songs, and games of
various kinds. She has an elementary active vocabulary, covering, as a
rule, the following areas: parts of the body, objects in the classroom,
spatial directions, prepositions, colors, numbers, time, plants and
animals, weather, days of the week, seasons and festivals, crafts and
professions. Grammar structures of varying complexity underlie all her
spoken language. Of these, a certain number are laid down through
practice; the children use them, but they are no more consciously aware
of the existence of grammar than they were while learning their mother
tongue. Among the most important elements of grammar in the first
years of school are: present, some past tense, singular and plural forms
of nouns, personal and demonstrative pronouns.”17

Work on their Spanish Books

The Spanish Main Lesson book may usually include beautifully written and
illustrated poems, riddles, songs, etc.

In our Student Practice Book we will have the stories we made up in class, any
drawings related to them, our vocabulary and structure lists, etc. We will use
them also to do some free-writing of original or reviewed stories and for
spelling practice.
Simple grammar notes are made in the simplest way possible, including only
the rule.

How to put all these together?

In Waldorf schools we follow the human being’s development in order to
answer all questions regarding methods.

17
Jaffke, C., Zur Begründung und Durchführung des Fremdsprachenunterrichts in den ersten drei Schuljahren,
Stuttgart, 1984

24
When we engage in learning, we need to first go through a threshold that gets
us ready for the subject matter; once we are “warmed-up,” there is an openness
to receive the new, in a more or less conscious manner. Then we need to
integrate the newly acquired into our being, a process that should happen in a
conscious/unconscious way when learning a foreign language. This can also be
translated as

1. working with the feeling/rhythmical,

2. the thinking/conscious,
3. and the willing/unconscious qualities of our souls.

In a foreign language lesson, this can take the following form, including one or
some, or all of the following:

Rhythmical section:
• Greeting
• Speech with movement
• Opening verse
• Tongue twister, speech exercise, song

Thinking section:
• Opening (some conversation about weather, latest affairs, etc.)
• Review of the last structures, items, etc.
• Introduction of new material

Willing section:
• Practice: reading, writing or oral re-telling
• Games (optional); some kind of unwinding, out-breath activity
• Good-bye verse, song, movement

These need not be strictly separated; for example, the “Thinking” section may
contain several elements of rhythm and movement, while the “Willing” section
may also contain a strong “thinking” component.

It is very important to maintain a rhythm and order in our activities, always

beginning and ending the lesson in the same way, as a ritual.

At the end of this work I have included a guide to plan a lesson in this way.
(See Appendix 1)

25
26
The Storytelling Teaching Techniques

Teaching through storytelling was always very appealing to me. After all, most
of what we learn is through stories, and we mostly communicate through
stories. When I heard about TPRS I was a bit skeptical in the beginning, to say
the least, but little by little I discovered the power of its core principles, truly a
natural approach to teaching languages. TPRS, an acronym for “Teaching
Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling” is an exciting, input-based
approach to teaching language.

In this method we use the whole body as well as our psychic and soul capacities
while we learn. We use movement, we use gesturing, we may use short
melodies, repetition; we create stories, and have fun in the process.

Students are presented with usually two to three vocabulary “structures” or

chunks of language, such as “there is” or “goes to”. They practice their meaning
through gestures and by hearing their use repeatedly in context, usually
involving the students themselves as the main characters. Then the teacher
guides the class to artfully craft together a short story involving those
structures, which will be easily understood and retold by the students by the
end of the class.

Magic? Yes, magic ... and so much fun!

This is how it works:

Language learning is not a set of rules; it is a skill

In using this method, we are not focused on having the students learn a
language in the same way we learn a math formula or a science concept.
Speaking in a foreign language is an acquired skill; it is not about simply
replacing each L1 (native language) word with its corresponding L2 (foreign
language) word and we are done. After all, we know well that we learn to speak
before we have the capacity to think, a clear proof that we don’t need to
understand the rules and mechanics of language in order to communicate.
Language fluency springs not so much from the head as it does from the
feeling realm. Thus, it requires some kind of conscious/unconscious training.
Just as the skill required to ride a bicycle, or play the guitar, is always takes
more practice than intellectual knowledge. What we are doing is helping our
students truly “acquire” versus “learn” to speak in a foreign language.

Acquisition vs. Learning

Stephen Krashen also states another interesting hypothesis, where he makes a
clear distinction between the terms “acquiring” vs. “learning” a language.

27
He says that acquisition is the natural, subconscious way of learning, such as a
child learns her mother tongue. When we acquire language, we are not aware of
all the rules to say something; we are so concentrated on communication, that
our analytical mind is left behind. That is the moment we feel the language; we
are able to tell if something is right or wrong by the way it sounds, by the way it
feels, and we acquire a higher competence.

By “learning” he refers to the conscious learning of how the language works,

that is, the grammar, the rules. This is “knowing about” the language, and in
the long run, it helps us gain accuracy consciously, but in the beginning we may
get lost in editing as we speak. Some theorists say that only young children can
acquire language, and adults can only learn languages, but TPRS has
demonstrated that acquisition is a powerful tool even for adults.

Acquisition Learning

• Effortless
• Study
• Understand
message • Understand
mechanics
• Subconscious
• Practice
• Feels like nothing
structures
is happening
• Know the rules

“…The result of language acquisition, acquired competence, is also

subconscious. We are generally not consciously aware of the rules of the
languages we have acquired. Instead, we have a "feel" for correctness.
Grammatical sentences "sound" right, or "feel" right, and errors feel
wrong, even if we do not consciously know what rule was violated.”
S. Krashen18

As we said before, language is acquired through comprehensible input. If

messages are not understood, nothing will make sense.

When we are teaching, our language should be repetitive, interesting, and

varied.

18
Communication during a TPRS Conference in Cancun, Mexico, June 2011

28
Principles of Teaching with the Storytelling Methods (TPRS)

To achieve this, we need to include a few elements into our lessons: clear
understanding of meaning (make it comprehensible), create confidence (lower
the affective filter), tons of repetition in context, personalization, continuous
assessment, reading and later on, writing and speaking.

The following explanation on the principles of the method comes from Carol
Gaab, another great teacher, writer, and presenter on TPRS:

1. In order for language to be acquired, it must be comprehensible

2. We provide interesting, compelling content
3. Strive for active, appealing repetition in context
4. Overt grammar instruction and/or correction has little impact on
language growth
5. Reading has a profound positive effect on language development.
6. We perform continuous informal assessment in different forms
For one of the very best summaries and clear explanation of what TPRS is and
the best practices to implement it, there are many outstanding resources on the
Internet (see the bibliography at the end, as well as later in this section). One
that I highly recommend is Susan Gross’ website, which is full of resources and
guides for novice and seasoned teachers as well. Susie is one of the very finest
presenters of TPRS and she also has a good understanding of Waldorf
education. There are a few more recommendations for websites of master
teachers, who provide all kinds of excellent resources.

Input-based teaching
By comprehensible input-based it is meant that the method focuses first on the
input that the students receive from the teacher, rather than forcing their
output in the early stages of learning.

We begin with the systematic teaching of vocabulary in logical, natural sets of

words (what we call “structures”), rather than lists of isolated terms out of
context. These structures are chosen because of the high frequency of their
use.

These structures can be either single words or more often, short phrases which
convey some meaning. These structures are usually expressions that make
sense together, such as “goes to Spain,” rather than just “goes.” Their
complexity depends on the level and the age of the learners. They should be
taught in a carefully graded sequence that makes sense and builds upon the
last lesson. In the beginning stages we might introduce “he or she is hungry,”
while in more advanced grades we will use “he or she used to be hungry every

29
morning”. We usually try to introduce at least two but no more than three
structures per lesson.

We teach the meaning of each one of the chosen structures (usually two to
three per lesson) by making sure first that the meaning is clear, in order to then
use it in many varied ways. The acquisition of meaning is achieved in a highly
comprehensible, personalized, and contextualized manner. This framework and
philosophy are based not only on classroom-proven strategies, but also backed
by the most recent research in second language acquisition. Its resemblance to
some of the basic principles of Waldorf teaching is remarkable, which include
repetition, rhythm, and creative expression.

Comprehensible input: establishing meaning

The way we learn a foreign language is similar to how a baby starts learning its
mother tongue: first by listening for a long period before producing any output.
It might sound as if we could just make sure that we are surrounded by
language to acquire it, but actually, there is a special condition to acquisition:
that the input be comprehensible. The actual meaning of the language needs to
make sense; messages need to be comprehensible, in order to be acquired.
This is fundamental: that we provide comprehensible input.

We achieve this by establishing meaning right from the start. This can be done
in several ways: with props, with drawings, through gestures, and in some
cases, with direct translation. Gestures play a significant role in the acquisition
of new structures. We come up with a specific gesture for each verb that lends
itself to it. After having agreed upon it, we repeat the gesture with the class
until they no longer need anything else but to see it in order for them to
immediately know what we mean. We also use direct translation, especially
when the gesture can be confusing or whenever there is no possibility for one,
such as with “there is.” The secret here is that our students need not hear it
spoken constantly, but we can say it once, write it on the blackboard and then
point at it when we use it, to ensure comprehensibility. Having the words
written up on the blackboard provides the students with a great support and
relief, since they can go back to check meaning at any given moment, without
having to actually say the work in L1 out loud.

This is also part of the important principle of creating a safe environment for
the students to feel confidence in applying the new structures learned. Steiner
said that if a student can love her teacher and the subject, she will show
eagerness to learn. When we help our students feel “at ease,” we speak about
lowering their affective filter, in other words, helping them to feel open and be
willing to participate and contribute. When there is comprehension, the
students will feel safe. When they don’t understand what the teacher is saying,
what is happening, they feel lost and unsafe.

30
Repetition
Repetition is key to learning a skill. We do this in Waldorf education too, and we
are experts at doing it in artistic ways. Most importantly, repetition of a new
structure should not be isolated, but rather in context, in a complete thought;
this follows the pedagogical principle “from the whole to the parts.” So instead
of drilling vocabulary as a list of words or verbs in “vertical conjugation,” we use
a short, complete sentence, such as “he eats bananas,” which would be
considered a single structure. The more repetitions we can provide of the
structure, the better it will be integrated by the students. According to the
theory behind this technique, the teacher needs to repeat each structure about
seventy times in a single lesson! But, how do we achieve this lofty goal without
having them bored to death at their seats? This will require careful engineering
from our part... and some magic.

Student Engagement
So now we know we want to teach structures, that is, more or less complete
thoughts. We start by establishing clear meaning for them. And we know we
want to provide tons of repetitions, making sure they are always
comprehensible.

Teaching in this manner seems a bit daunting. How are we to maintain that
high level of interest in our students?

TPRS instruction combines several different strategies aiming to provide an

abundance of repetition that is highly engaging and comprehensible, without
being predictable, boring or repetitious. The secret to this is to ask questions
relative to the students’ lives, something called personalization in TPRS jargon.

One way to do this is “Personalized Questions and Answers,” or PQA. This

allows the teacher to remain in the target language 95 to 98 percent of the
time. The idea is to maintain a protected amount of vocabulary, always making
sure it is comprehensible to the students, and we might eventually construct a
whole story with it.

When students become the subjects of our stories, especially when they are the
stars of some incredible adventure and when they are allowed to give input into
the details of the story, their interest soars. Interest -- the element that attracts
our ego and thus helps memory and retention through thinking/feeling. In this
way, the student acquires the language in a conscious-unconscious way, very
much the way we acquired our mother tongue.

31
If we further invite them to participate and we make up funny stories, this will
make the repetitions compelling, a term coined by Dr. Stephen Krashen, expert
linguist and language researcher.19

About compelling input, Dr. Krashen says:

“Compelling means that the input is so interesting you forget that it is in
another language. It means you are in a state of "flow" (Csikszentmihalyi,
1990). In flow, the concerns of everyday life and even the sense of self
disappear - our sense of time is altered and nothing but the activity itself
seems to matter.”20

Once they have acquired a few structures in this way, we are ready to put them
all together and create a short story. The best is to come up with a story that is
simple and fun at the same time. Introducing a few outrageous details to it will
help them open up. As we create it together, the teacher will make sure that
there is enough repetition and plenty of detail. The way we achieve this is by
asking basic questions: who, where, what, when, and later on, why. To
accomplish our goal of 75-80 repetitions of each structure we use these
questions repeatedly, in a technique called “circling,” which we will show later
in this text.

We as teachers have a basic idea of where we want the story to go, but by
asking students to fill in the details it becomes their story, and they like to own
it.

Instead of following a traditional grammatical syllabus, teachers are free to

choose the most important and/or useful sets of phrases to teach. This means,
one can choose right from the beginning, what one considers to be the most
useful and frequent structures that can build into a story or chosen text, words
that convey content and appropriate communication. We teach them since the
beginning, without having to recur to grammatical explanations, although we
will be doing “pop up grammar” parentheses as often as needed.

The teacher is able to thus create what is called a “Small Circle” of vocabulary
which will be gradually introduced and recycled, so that in the end the student
will feel at ease either listening, reading, speaking, or writing it.

According to Susan Gross, it is very important to stress an important aspect of

our lesson planning:

“Shelter the vocabulary; do not shelter the grammar” –Susie Gross

19
Dr. Stephen Krashen, Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California, linguist, educational researcher
and activist, has published more than 350 articles and books in the fields of second language acquisition, bilingual
education, and reading. He was the originator of the Comprehensible Input Hypothesis around 1975.
20
http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/The_Compelling_Input_Hypothesis.pdf

32
If the story uses too much new vocabulary it becomes too complex and the
mind cannot manage too many variables. We try hard to always stay
comprehensible, by always making sure we establishing the meaning of the
words we are using, but we limit the new vocabulary as much as possible. In
that sense, we shelter the vocabulary. However, if a different or a new grammar
concept needs to be introduced during either the questioning or the story itself,
(say, a subjunctive form) we go ahead and use it correctly. In other words, we
don’t talk “baby talk” to our students, we don’t dilute down the language.

Also, lessons are expected to spiral, as we introduce new vocabulary structures

and continue to recycle the old.

Through all this work of building a story together, and maintaining a high level
of gesturing, repetition, movement, personalization, asking for the story,
always making sure we are providing compelling, comprehensible input, we will
have prepared them to later repeat and retell the story orally. Once we have
heard the story spoken by one or several of them, we go on to writing it. We
begin by writing it together, and later on, they will be able to write it
themselves. Just as we teach reading and writing in the mother tongue by first
introducing the writing and then the reading, once we have done the writing we
will take them to the exciting phase of reading.

Reading is heavily used in TPRS techniques. The teacher goes home and types
up the story they made up in class, and the next day the children can read it
and go on with different activities according to age—they can illustrate it or
even make their own ending to it, etc. The beauty of reading is that through it
most of the gaps are filled, the students reinforce their acquisition and the
teacher has a new opportunity to provide repetitions. Once we finish teaching
all of the new structures we planned in the beginning, our students are ready to
read the original piece we used to plan backwards.

But more than anything else, the sense of accomplishment on their faces is
worth all the effort!

33
Steps for Teaching with the Storytelling Method:

Before we even start teaching, we need to design our lesson and know where
we want to get, what our goals are.

The best way to do this is two-fold:

1. Define the list of important, practical vocabulary to be taught; we will call

this our Small Circle, and it includes all the most basic, high frequency
words that we need to teach for storytelling and practical life, words or
structures such as there is, is called, lives in, goes to, wants, likes, has,
etc. This may vary depending on the criteria used by individual teachers.
There are many roads that lead to Rome. In Waldorf schools, the students
have already amassed a good amount of vocabulary during the first three
years, such as some foods, colors, animals, days of the week, family
members, several action verbs, etc.

2. Extract the vocabulary needed for the end result we want to achieve, the
final target story we want them to read. We can choose a nice folk legend,
a fairy tale, or just a story to work from. This vocabulary will include
many of the basic Small Circle, plus a few less frequent words, which will
be nonetheless a crucial part of that particular story.

Once you have chosen a story, write it in the simplest vocabulary possible.
Extract the important vocabulary to be taught for it. Start by choosing two or
three structures for each lesson. An example will be shown later in this book.

STEP 1. Establish meaning

This step involves several stages:

1. Define the meaning, as explained above, either with props, drawings,

gestures, or translation
2. Practice meaning, achieving tons of interesting repetitions, both by
personalization and by gesturing á la TPRS
3. Assess, do continuous on-site assessments. For example: 1) Do a
“comprehension check” by asking them to show you with their fingers if
they understood all (five fingers up), half of the story (two or three), or
nothing (no fingers up).

There are several ways to achieve this. It is highly advisable to vary the
technique used, so that it is always unpredictable and new.

34
For verbs with a clear motion, the TPR (Total Physical Response) method is
recommended. This consists of showing the motion or gesture as one says the
word, expecting the students to imitate it. Whenever possible, gestures should
be implemented, since we know quite well how movement and language are
related and how it helps the memory and the comprehension of the word itself,
without the need of direct translation.

Sometimes the word is an object for which we can bring a real example. This
creates great excitement in children. We prefer avoiding plastic and other man-
made materials as much as possible, and bring natural materials or real objects,
whenever possible. The use of simple disguises is highly recommended; the
simpler, the better. Using a disguise truly helps the child to “get into character”
and keeps the attention and interest high.

Illustrations, be it paintings or drawings, are another great way to establish

meaning. Again, we rely mostly on easy, simple illustrations made by the
teacher whenever possible, not using cartoonish drawings, celebrities, or any
media-related characters.

When teaching a structure that can be confusing through the use of gesture
alone, or for which there might be no pictorial image, such as abstract nouns,
or many kinds of verbs, adjectives, etc., we rely on translation. However,
translation is not used constantly out loud, but rather written on the blackboard
to point at it whenever we are saying the word in L2 (the target language).

According to Carol Gaab, introducing new vocabulary and establishing meaning

should include as many of the following strategies as possible:

• Attach a specific gesture (TPR) to verbs to make a kinesthetic and a visual

connection to the meaning.
• For nouns, use props and real objects to convey meaning. Use skits and
re-enactments to demonstrate meaning of longer phrases.
• Post an illustration or photo that depicts the meaning of the structure.
• Verbally tell students what the structure means (for the pre-literate
stages) and when appropriate, explain appropriate contexts or settings for
use.
• Write the meaning (literal and figurative) of the structure in L1 in a
different color on the chalkboard.

There are several techniques to practice and help the students acquire the
meaning of the structures. Some of my favorite have been developed by Jason
Fritze and are described in his book ¡En español!, edited by McDougal Littell.

Once we have established and practiced meaning, we can start developing

context for the new structures. This means showing and practicing how they

35
are used in common language. In order to do this in a protected, interesting
way, we develop a series of questions, always staying comprehensible, but to
make it not just interesting but compelling to the students, we ask questions
about them. We start by asking the obvious yes/no questions and then can
move on to more difficult ones, until we reach a point of truly having a
conversation and maybe making up a little funny story/fact about one of them.

Let’s say we want to practice the structure “he is always hungry.”

I will choose my student Cooper as my “volunteer.” He might come to the front
of the class.

On the wall I have a poster with the basic question words: what, who, when,
why, etc. I go S-L-O-W and point to the question poster every time I use it, so
that they know exactly what I am trying to say. We do this entirely in the target
language, but here we will share an example in English.
This is the technique called Circling.

Teacher: Class, WHO (point) is always hungry?

Teacher: Class, Cooper is always hungry! (a statement, I am pointing to the
writing on the blackboard)
Class: O-o-o-oh! (The class has to answer with either admiration or sadness, to
show they are participating. This also keeps them involved and their brain
active.)
T: Class, is Cooper always hungry? (a yes/no question)
C: Yes
T: Is Maria always hungry?
C: No
T: Is Cooper always hungry or is Maria always hungry? (an either/or question)
C: Cooper
T: Is Cooper always hungry on Sundays?
C: Yes!
T: Is Cooper always hungry at night?
C: Yes!
T: Is Cooper always hungry at lunchtime?
C: Yes!
T: Is Cooper always hungry in Spanish class?
C: Yes!
(Notice that I am not asking of them that they give me a complete sentence. At
this stage it is all about input, not yet about their output)

T: Class, WHO is always hungry?

(when I ask WHO, I point to the word or poster where I show my question words
with either translation or an image to clearly illustrate what I am saying)

C: Cooper!

36
T: Is Cooper hungry at 8 in the morning?
C: Yes
T: Is Cooper hungry during Main Lesson?
C: Yes
T: Is Cooper hungry after lunch?
C: Yes
T: Is Cooper hungry at 10 at night?
C: Yes
T: Yes, class, Cooper is always hungry!
C: Oh oh oh oh
T: Is Cooper or Señora Nora always hungry?
C: Cooper!
T: Is Cooper always hungry?
C: Yes
T: Is Cooper always hungry or is he always sleepy?
(I am assuming they know the structure “he is sleepy”, or I can easily gesture it
in situ)
C: He is always hungry!
T: Who is always hungry: Cooper or Señora Nora?
C: Cooper!
T: (to Cooper) Cooper, are YOU always hungry?
(notice how through dialogue I am introducing the first and second person)
Cooper: Yes!
(in a slightly more advanced setting I would spoon-feed him the answer by
saying: Yes, I AM always hungry, to learn the “I” form)

(alternate four group questions and one individual question to students who are
able to answer successfully)

T: Class, why is he always hungry?

(This is a higher level question. We only ask this kind of questions to students
who already have a higher knowledge of the language or when we have a
comprehensible answer for them. We allow them to contribute the details of
the story and move in their direction or we use an answer we have previously
prepared.)
C: Class, it is obvious…. Because he is 15 years old!
(from here, you could go on to see who else is 15 and is always hungry; in
Spanish, telling your age is a structure that needs tons of repetitions anyway!)

In this way, the students listen to the same structure, understanding its
meaning, in many different ways, collecting an amazing number of repetitions
by the end of the class. We keep asking and repeating for each new structure
just enough times so that they get a grip of the meaning. This is called
Personalized Questions and Answers, PQA.

37
We repeat this procedure of gesturing, moving, asking, etc. with each one of
the three structures. The gestures can be done first for all three, and the PQA
may be done for each one separately or maybe combined, as the case may lend
itself. A whole story might be developed from this.

Once we have done this exercise with all the new structures, we are ready to
start a whole mini-story. It is always advisable to have a plan about what our
mini story will be about, but keeping in mind that the class might take it to a
different place. This allows for the students to own the story and be more
engaged, since their contributions are taken into account to actually make them
part of the class.

STEP 2. “Asking” the Story

As we said before, sometimes PQA will lead naturally to a funny, spontaneous
story. However, when this questioning gets worn out without a story, it will be
time to start a class story.

Carol Gaab calls this section “Story-asking” instead of Storytelling, and makes
the following remarks:

“Unlike traditional storytelling in which students passively listen to the

storyteller, story-asking engages students by involving them in the story
creation process and giving them a sense of ownership in the story.
Asking questions elicits sustained enriching brain activity and it also
allows the teacher to achieve more repetitions than simple storytelling
affords. In a nutshell, story-asking provides a natural platform for
context and an endless stream of camouflaged repetitions.”21

Start building up a story by making an initial statement and then asking

questions to fill in the details of the character, the problem, etc., according to
the two or three initial structures that you taught in the beginning. The
students will feel that they develop the story with you. This story might be quite
different from your initial idea, or when you teach it to different classes, and
that is the beauty in the flexibility and freedom of storytelling. Precisely
because it is personalized for the students and by the students of a particular
class, it will acquire their own mood. By asking four or more questions for each
statement you will maximize the repetitions. It is advisable to use actors and
simple props, when possible.

21
Carol Gaab, www.tprstorytelling.com

38
Some recommendations to make up a story are: to have a character, have a
problem, go to location A and not get it solved, then go to location B and not
get it solved either, until he/she arrives at location C and the solution is found.

The choice of characters is up to the teacher. We usually have either the

students themselves or else someone they all know. Sometimes I use a student
as an actor and we make up a new name for him or her. The teacher need to
talk to the actors too. Introducing dialogue among the actors or between an
actor and the teacher gives an opportunity to introduce the use of the 1st and
2nd person’s point of view. As we said before, we do not encourage the use of
media, so we avoid using media characters or celebrities names, especially in
the early grades. Some can be used in the High School at the teacher’s
discretion.

There are many techniques to spice-up this step of TPRS. One of them is to use
simple props to simulate the characters, such as a moustache, or a hat, or a
stuffed animal in the lower grades. For further reading on how to enhance your
technique, I highly recommend Ben Slavic’s books (see the bibliography), as
well as the many resources available online. The art of storytelling is a critical
step and deserves a good deal of practice and understanding to really direct the
class into a healthy, repetitive yet compelling story. Also, there is so much to
learn on the websites of several wonderful teachers of TPRS. For more details, I
have added these links at the end of this section.

Once you feel you have a good piece of the mini-story, you can retell the story
to the class, maximizing the repetitions. You can make mistakes to encourage
them to pay attention and correct you. You can add more details, you can add
interesting questions.

When the story has been completed, you can have the students retell the story.
This can be done either by one or several students. This is a good opportunity
for an informal assessment.

Now that you have a story and the class knows it pretty well, you can also
revisit the story from a different perspective, meaning that instead of using only
the 3rd person singular, you can start practicing retelling it from the 3rd person
plural by adding another character to the main one, or the 1st person singular
by adding a dialogue format or telling the students, “You are now the main
character. Tell us the story from your point of view”, etc.

This is a very important step, since this is one of the times when we will be
introducing the grammar “subtleties” to the students, without calling it a direct
grammar instruction. This is in accordance with Steiner’s recommendations of
not making any demands on conceptual understanding before puberty….. “one

39
should use undefined, direct impression or the pictorial description, which can
grow into full understanding when the child is older.”22

The way we make clear the grammar points we want to develop, like different
verb endings, the change in gender, etc. is by writing them on the blackboard
and pointing them out in context, as we are speaking, and explaining it in less
than 15 seconds.

For example:
If I am teaching the structure “él come” (he eats), when I add a second character
(his brother and he…) I would add the ending “n” with a different color on the
blackboard and say something like: “When I add the “n” to come, it becomes
comen and it means they eat. The “n” makes it they.”

The next time I say it I will repeat the explanation. Maybe by the third time, or
the next day, I will ask: “What does the ending “n” stand for?” Later on,
meaning a couple of months later, I will bring to the class a chart with the
typical verb endings in the present tense, or maybe just the ones we are
starting to work on, to point at it and start making them aware of it. By the end
of the school year, or progressively during the year, we can have a “Grammar
Review” and they will already know it, because they heard it and practiced the
different forms throughout the year. They can write this piece in their books. In
this way they can understand it and master it from within, not only by
memorizing and editing every time they want to speak, but because they have
lived it, they have seen it, and they have heard how it sounds correctly.

STEP 3. Reading
Step three is literacy. We use reading in two ways. The first source of reading
will be a rendering of the story we did the day before, usually about half a page
long. By looking at the story in written form, the brain has a chance to cement
more strongly what it learned the day before. This is a powerful tool for all
learners, but specifically for the visual, especially if we combine the written
story with simple illustrations, or if we have the students illustrate the written
story. As we cover the totality of our target vocabulary, we will be reading more
short stories like this, until we get to read the original story that we chose for
our target. In the next section you will see a sample of how I chose and
adapted a simple story, and then wrote a series of mini-stories to use the
vocabulary we learned step by step.

After the first lesson with the new vocabulary and making up of a story, I bring
in writing the same story for the class to read. Even though the students are so
familiar with their own story, it will be a completely new experience for them.
22
Kiersch, Johannes, page 57

40
They feel successful. And truly, as Susie Gross always says, “Nothing motivates
like success.” In this way, reading becomes a discovery and they feel curious
and engaged. It also becomes a way of assessing their comprehension.

Again, from Carol Gaab, regarding this important step:

“Beginning students, who are in the process of learning new vocabulary,

are generally led through the reading process, as the teacher reads aloud
in the Target Language and then has students chorally decode the
meaning into their native language. The idea is not to translate; rather it
is to help students link the written word to the spoken work and then link
meaning to that word. Decoding the text allows the teacher to evaluate
just how well students have internalized the target language structures.”

Later on, it is advisable to add small nuances that will make it a little more
advanced. This can be just the use of the conjunction “and,” which sometimes
is overlooked, or a cognate (a word that looks the same in both languages, such
as “restaurant”). In his Comprehensible Input Hypothesis, Stephen Krashen
states that the idea is to teach CI+1, which means we will use all the
Comprehensible Input they are mastering plus one slightly more advanced
particle, so that they can make sense of that last bit through the context in the
reading.

This theory is in accordance with Steiner’s idea of offering reading that doesn’t
necessarily contain only well-known vocabulary, such as was mentioned earlier:

“Do not worry about lack of comprehension, even of whole sentences;

your expression and intonation, plus your hearer’s urge to sense
meaning open up one half of what you say; and, given this, time will open
up the other. Intonation is for children, as for the Chinese and for
seasoned globe-trotters, the half of language. Have trust in time, the
great code-breaker, time and the context.”23

We usually read these stories together, so that they can hear the right
intonation and pronunciation. Sometimes we ask a student to read out loud,
sometimes the teachers reads out loud, and sometimes we let them all read
silently on their own. Make sure the students understand the written story by
either asking them to give the gist of it in English, asking for direct translation
of one or two key phrases, etc. While doing these readings, it is a good moment
to stop and explain grammar points briefly, as stated before when we spoke
about “pop-up grammar,” so that grammar is first tied to context and later
understood in its more abstract form.

23
Rudolf Steiner, The Education of the Child, 1907

41
However, this is just one use of reading. The other use of reading is to offer the
students the opportunity of reading just for pleasure. This is also a very
important part of our teaching, since by bringing real literature to them they
can see true language at work and can begin to train their mind to overcome
the need to understand every single word, but rather to extract the main gist of
a paragraph and maybe guess the meaning of key words that appear
repeatedly. This will give them more freedom and a better familiarity with the
language, not so speak about the sense of accomplishment. It is highly
recommended that we build a carefully selected library of children’s books in
the target language, beginning with the very simple ones up to the level of our
most advanced students, and give them a weekly or bi-weekly opportunity to
sit comfortably and just read for their enjoyment, for what is called within the
TPRS community Free Voluntary Reading. You can make it accessible to them by
having it in their own classroom. Books with beautiful illustrations are the best
choice, and especially stories that they already know. We also promote reading
by bringing cultural readings regarding some special holiday in the country of
our target language, or a historical figure, etc. With upper level students we
can also write up a simplified version (adapted to their skill level) of any current
events, or even bring the news directly.

Dr. Stephen Krashen is a big advocate for reading as one of the most important
tools in language acquisition. He says reading "is the most powerful tool we
have in language education, first and second."

According to research by Dr. Stephen Krashen, 70% of adult lexicon is acquired

via reading. This concept is also in accordance to Steiner’s general indications
in Practical Advice to Teachers, Lecture 9.

Back to the teaching method: This whole process, from establishing meaning
to the reading of the mini-story, takes at least two days. One way to do this
would be to spend Day One on Steps 1 and 2, and then the Day 2 for Step 3,
Reading. Recently some teachers are advocating for taking much longer with
each step, sometimes as long as two weeks for the whole process. It is a
matter of mastering the skills, as with any art; the most important point here is
that the teacher feels confident and comfortable with the flow.

By repeating this process with sets of two to three structures, we will be

preparing the class for the reading of our final target story, which now can be
about something other than their class-made stories. This longer story is our
original target, from which we have derived all the structures that we have
taught. As we said before, this can be a cultural reading, a real story that they
know (like a fairy tale or a legend, etc.), or just a story written by their teacher.

42
4. Assessment
We do constant informal assessment of the students’ comprehension
throughout the lesson by asking questions and by choosing (without telling
them) specific middle-level students or students who struggle but are eager to
learn, to continuously confirm with them that the lesson is comprehensible.
However, we can also assess their comprehension, as a class and individually,
in many different ways:

• Frequent comprehension checks (finger checks)

• Write the story as a class
• Write the story individually
• Give unannounced vocabulary quizzes. Read a short list of structures
(maybe 5 to 10) and have the students write the meaning in English.
• Answer questions about the story
• Illustrate the story and then retell it
• Show them illustrations of the story and have them retell that part of it
• Give them a phrase and have them point at the right illustration
• Write or tell a new story using five vocabulary structures.

Final reflections
Teaching with the Storytelling techniques is an art. It requires many different
skills and practice. It cannot be learned by hearing or reading about it. The
teacher has to master not only the language being taught, but also the deep
meaning of what he/she intends to achieve with each step of the technique, the
clarity of mind to integrate the students’ responses without losing sight of the
goals for the day, the ability to keep their interest alive while still working
effectively with classroom management, the skill to scaffold chunks of language
in a logical, understandable way, constantly recycling the old with the new
structures, etc. And then, the teacher has to remember what was taught to each
class! The best advice I can think of is to attend a workshop and learn from
some of the skilled teachers who have implemented it and helped their
students acquire a foreign language with ease and joy. Then practice, observe
teachers, practice, keep learning every single day and observe your students’
progress and happiness.

One day, suddenly, the target language starts to flow from those students who
have been attentively watching and participating in your lessons. There is no
greater reward for a teacher!

Special tips!
Finally, I wish to include verbatim this wise piece of advice by Carol Gaab:

43
 “There are several critical success factors that help TPRS teachers to
maintain instruction comprehensibly in the Target Language and to facilitate a
language-rich environment that is conducive to developing lasting fluency.

These same success factors will help any language teacher, regardless
of methodology:

1. Use L1 (mother tongue) only as a means to help you stay in the L2 (target
language) or as a tool for assessment. Clearly establishing meaning before you
begin instruction will help you stay in TL once instruction has begun.

2. Go slowly! Beginners need extra time to process and make meaning

of new language structures. Speak slowly and clearly. Teach students how to
indicate “I don’t understand” with a simple hand gesture.

3. Satisfy literate students’ craving to see written words. Keep the

words posted until students have internalized them.

4. Implement wait-time strategies to prevent fast processors from answering

questions too quickly and subsequently interrupting the processing/learning of
others.

5. Limit the amount of language (vocabulary) you teach at one time.

6. Provide repetition of those new structures. Providing repetition of a managed

amount of vocabulary will help to keep input comprehensible.

7. Teach communicatively. Use gestures, voice inflection, body language,

context, pictures, props, re-enactments, and other visual clues to keep things
comprehensible in lieu of resorting to use of L1 (mother tongue), which should
be used as a last resort. Keeping input comprehensible will reduce/eliminate
the need for L1.24”

Resources.

Blaine Ray, creator of Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling,

http://blaineraytprs.com/

Susan Gross, teacher, teacher of teachers, and presenter extraordinaire!

http://susangrosstprs.com/
Great articles, handouts, explanations of the method

24
http://www.tprstorytelling.com/images/TPRS-Lang.Mag2011.pdf

44
Carol Gaab, who has edited and written several easy readers for beginner and
intermediate learners, and has great materials, articles, novels, as well
http://www.tprstorytelling.com/

Ben Slavic.- His website is full of great thoughts, advice, resources, etc. He has
two books, both excellent: TPRS in a Year! and PQA in a Wink! These books are
filled with practical skills that are of the upmost importance to master. He also
has a truly illuminating blog to help teachers find their way in this mysterious
and exciting TPRS-land. http://benslavic.com/

45
Comparison of Waldorf Principles with TPRS Methods

From the whole to the parts

In Waldorf education we strive to introduce every topic in a contextualized
manner, not in isolation. We start from the general to arrive at the specific, and
we center our teaching in the human being. In TPRS we are usually teaching
whole structures, not isolated words in the form of a list. Although in the
beginning, we are teaching and practicing each structure almost one by one, we
immediately bring them into context to help the student make connections and
arrive at a comfortable place where he or she can hear it and know what is
being said without hesitation. Context is as important as personalization and
comprehensible input.

Not teaching from a grammar-based syllabus

Using natural, every-day, practical language (the Natural Approach, Krashen), in
context. In this way, grammar use arrives naturally through hearing the correct
form, and it becomes a discovery rather than a mechanical, abstract rule.

One powerful truth: Giving our students direct grammar rules is like feeding
them stones instead of bread. They become dead concepts, and we want to
feed them living conclusions. Being aware of my grammarian side, I always
strive to keep in mind this recommendation of Rudolf Steiner:

“Too much definition drains the life out of teaching.”

Repetition
The use of repetition that is not boring, but always looking for ways to make it
interesting; not just interesting, but compelling. The element of surprise and
the unexpected should always be present in our stories, to keep them alert and
at the edge of their seats. This brings language to a different level, where
students are able to forget that they are supposed to be “learning”, but rather
they focus on communication and by doing so, they acquire the language. This
makes it compelling for them. In Waldorf teaching we use repetition to help the
student engage with her etheric forces and thus appeal to the forces of
memory.

Personalization
In order to make our lessons highly interesting and engage the ego in the
process of memory, we need to find ways to get the students truly engaged.
TPRS proposes a way to give them compelling input by using personalization,

46
making the speech or the story about them, and letting them add details to it.
The more you can personalize any situation, the more attention you will get
from the students. And, the class atmosphere will be enhanced, lowering the
affective filter (another interesting hypothesis by Dr. Krashen) and allowing the
students to feel at ease speaking and listening to a foreign language. Interest is
the best way to engage the ego in the learning process.

Separate Reading and Grammar

Regarding reading and grammar, Steiner suggests we don’t do this together.
When teaching through stories, it is recommended to not teach grammar per
se, but to use opportunities for clarifying and noting, in 15-second comments,
how it is used in context. Thus, the reading is barely interrupted, while they can
actually see the living usage of a grammar point. We do this often enough that
the students can integrate it into their understanding effortlessly. This kind of
short reading is not intended to be “cultural,” but it mainly has a pedagogical
purpose. As mentioned before, we strive to offer a separate time for silent
reading of their chosen books.

Circling
To teach grammar, Steiner suggests we use many examples to illustrate a point,
to use it from different points of view, giving it a similar use every time so that
the students can make sense of it. This now sounds so familiar and so logical to
me when I compare it with the technique of circling, which means using a target
structure in many different ways so that the students can get a feeling of how it
makes sense in context. It is the first “repetition” step in the process.

Circling is one of the steps we take when we are in the process of establishing
meaning, when we are asking questions, and an example was offered in earlier
in this paper. In this technique, we are creating repetitive questions that sound
slightly similar, by asking yes/no questions, either/or, who, what, where, how
many, and finally why questions. These are just an excuse to repeat the
structures as much as we can (our goal is to repeat each one about 70 times in
one lesson!) to help them internalize the structure and find its place in the
language syntax as well.

Living Conclusions
I had been wrestling for a long time with some of Steiner’s indications on
language teaching, especially trying to figure out what he meant in Practical
Advice to Teachers (Lecture 9) by “Let grammar and syntax lessons be
conversational; those every-day-life sentences are living conclusions.”25

25
“Let grammar and syntax lessons be conversational; those every-day-life sentences are living
conclusions. The next day, you come back and ask the children to make up their own examples of the
same rule or example you gave the day before (make them participate, let them own the examples-story).
This is a soul activity for them.”

47
Finally I was able to “connect the dots” when I saw that a TPRS “structure,” such
as the ones used in the process of PQA, can be considered an every-day-life
sentence in context, or a living conclusion. We make up interesting,
personalized little stories and situations with these structures, so that through
repetition students get ample opportunity to digest and make the new
structures their own, through a process that strongly involves their feeling life,
especially since it is about them. Plus, their own interest engages their ego
forces, thus reinforcing the memory.

So first, students hear the structures being used correctly over and over by their
teacher, and then, one or two students might be asked to retell the story, which
allows students who are faster learners to put it into practice and the others get
a chance to hear it again. Once we have taught in this way, Steiner suggests
that the next day we let them make up their own examples of the same
structure. This is exactly what we are doing by bringing in the next day the
same story in print for them to read this time. In many cases, we allow them to
write a different end to the story or their completely new, own story.

In light of these concepts I came to the following interpretation of the steps to

learning foreign languages. Steiner says in Lecture 9 of Study of Man, that the
teacher has to present living conclusions to the students, and they formulate a
judgment inwardly; next, they will arrive at new concepts:

Conclusion ----------> Judgment -------------> Concepts

As I mentioned on the first section of this work, in my interpretation for

language teaching, this same scheme could look like this:

Images or Making Acquired

words -------------->sense of them -----------> language
perceived in our feeling

Now, after looking at the methods of teaching through storytelling, a new

interpretation could be:

Introduction of Bring Review

new language them into read,
structures ----------> context (story) ------------> retell
(STEP 1) (STEP 2) (STEP 3)

48
Enthusiasm
Steiner also states that in a language lesson there should be such enthusiasm in
participation that children do not sit firmly on their chair for the whole lesson! I
really connected to this when I heard a master teacher at a conference say that
a language lesson should sound a bit like gossip, in the sense that everyone is
interested and enthusiastically participating in making up the story. Truly, with
this method I have experienced the most amazing involvement and excitement
by most of the students of a class, even in the middle school and the high
school level. Once I was teaching a Spanish II class in high school and I saw
some of the students giggling and passing something. I asked them to give it to
me, and to my surprise, they had made a “flying snail” (caracol volador) out of
aluminum foil, because that was the transportation means we always used back
when they were in sixth grade and the story of the day reminded them of it!
Talk about owning the story, making it funny, and memorable!

Feelings
For Waldorf education, working with the feeling realm (emotions, personalizing,
interest, affective filter) rather than intellectually is one of the main principles in
language teaching.

Reading
The way we “fill in the gaps” that Steiner mentions, as we said before, is
definitely through the practice of reading. Reading is what ties all the strings
together, what brings the language into context and allows the mind to finally
cement the use and meaning of the new structures.

Use of translation
In TPRS, direct translation and the use of L1 is kept to a minimum, especially
during the early stages. When we have to translate during this first phase of
establishing meaning, we usually do so on the blackboard, trying not to speak
in L1, but just pointing at the words that can otherwise not be taught through a
gesture, a prop, or an illustration. Once the story begins we usually switch to
no L1 spoken. In Spanish class we have a phrase that goes: “Uno, dos, tres, no
más ingles!” (One, two, three, no more English!”). In this way our goal is to stay
in L2 for 90% of the lesson while we are doing the Story Asking (Step 2).

Translation is used later on, when we start reading, fundamentally to assess

their comprehension. This is also what Steiner recommends as a useful
practice, not to necessarily translate every single phrase, but just to give a gist
of what has been said. It is specially relieving to some children who cannot
handle ambiguity and uncertainty very well. In TPRS, translation plays a bigger
role, since we aim at making everything as comprehensible as possible, so that
our students will not tune out because of the challenge of not understanding
what we are doing. The older they are, the more clarity they need.

49
Steiner also suggests that we may discuss a topic in the mother tongue and
then have the students repeat the discussion in the target language. This would
not be possible to do in a TPRS classroom, as we try to keep the use of L1 to
the minimum, plus, we try to keep it comprehensible.

Thinking
Steiner mentions that we should strive to create certain capacities for our
students that they will use in the foreign language classroom… My take on this
is that during class we are exerting the brain to think and react in the target
language only. This is only achieved when we are able to keep our use of L1 to
a bare minimum and thus our students will start thinking in L2. After a good
chunk of time of being immersed or “showered” in the language, the students’
minds really do go into a different state. This is, in a way, similar to the idea of
having them feel transported to a different country, at least for 45 minutes,
even twice a week.

50
A Fourth Grade Curriculum Based on Storytelling

After hearing from countless teachers who have successfully taught children of
all ages with the TPRS method, having attended a number of workshops and
conferences, and having proven it with my own classes, I can attest that it has
been the most successful, engaging, and enlivened method for teaching a
foreign language. After studying and reflecting on all the points of convergence
with Waldorf education, I created a curriculum and materials to accompany the
fourth grade class. I have also been able to apply it successfully in the seventh
and eighth grade classes, while my colleagues are also applying it in the rest of
the school. This has given me much courage and confidence in the work we are
doing.

The availability of materials for purchase in the regular market has been one of
the problems I encountered in trying to teach with the TPRS method. What I
mean is that I don’t always like the kind of stories or content other teachers
have written, which is also a natural aspect of teaching. Often the teaching
materials available may include influence from the media, from the culture,
celebrities, etc. Sometimes the stories themselves don’t make sense to me, and
in some cases, the illustrations seem appropriate for an older class. To teach a
fourth grade class, I preferred writing my own mini-stories and have my main
story illustrated by an artist. After all, Steiner’s idea was also that once the
principles of teaching have been given, each teacher would be free to develop
his or her own manner of presenting the curriculum. This has taken me quite a
few years to figure out, especially figuring out where to start, what I wanted
them to learn, and how to create it.

On the forming of the curriculum, I would like to quote once again Carol Gaab:

“While there is a predictable order of the acquisition of specific

grammatical structures (statistically speaking), TPRS practitioners use this
knowledge as a guide for instruction versus a rule for planning
curriculum or the order of instruction. It is understood and accepted that
learners will naturally and more easily acquire certain grammatical
structures before another, regardless of the amount of and the order of
instruction that is given. Therefore, lessons are not generally driven by a
grammar syllabus, nor are they grammatically-based. Rather, they are
grounded in language structures that will help students learn content
and/or communicate accurately and appropriately, considering the age
and the level of the learner.”

51
Pre-requisites
Based on the practical and excellent recommendations given by Christoff
Yaffke, by the fourth grade I expect my students to have a more or less
elementary active vocabulary relative to the following aspects of Spanish:

• basic phonemes (pronunciation) and patterns of intonation

• can hold a simple conversation regarding her name, age, family members,
pets, school, food, etc.
• expressing feelings, likes and dislikes, aches and pains, hunger, etc.
• weather conditions
• describe a simple nature scene
• spatial directions and prepositions
• basic food, likes and dislikes
• colors, numbers up to 100
• clothes, parts of the body
• objects in the classroom
• time, days of the week, months of the year, seasons and festivals
• animals

Regarding grammatical structures, the beginning fourth grade student might

also be familiar with a few basic verb combinations, such as I want to.., I like to
…., can I…? etc., plus basic understanding about the use of gender and number
as well as the most basic “movement” verbs.

In order to start the design of the fourth grade Storytelling curriculum, it is

useful to know the list of desired structures to be taught throughout the year.
We extract our curriculum from the children’s everyday lives. We look at what
matters to them and we go from there. We form a list of most commonly used
vocabulary and phrases, joining both general practical phrases and their age-
appropriate vocabulary. As we mentioned before, this is commonly called the
Small Circle. In the Stories section I added two examples of how my choice of
curriculum words matches what they need to express. Here are two examples
of Small Circles.

Sample 1 was offered by a colleague and Sample 2 was my actual list for my
students in the 2011-2012 school year. These are not recipes, only guidelines;
I offer both so that you may compare and come up with your own idea of what
you want or need to teach.

SMALL CIRCLE, Sample 1

hay there is, there are

está is (location, emotions)
es is (qualities)

52
le gusta he/she likes
tiene he/she has
no tiene he/she does not have
se llama he/she is called
quiere he/she wants
necesita he/she needs
le gusta + infinitivo he/she likes to (verb)

se levanta he/she gets up

se sienta he/she sits down
se lava he/she washes himself
se duerme he/she falls asleep
se pone he/she puts on
se quita he/she takes off
se mira he/she looks at him or herself

rápido quickly
despacio slowly
camina he/she walks
salta he/she jumps
para he/she stops
sube he/she goes up
baja he/she goes down
da una vuelta he/she turns around
grita he/she yells
corre he/she runs
mira he/she looks
toca he/she touches
señala he/she points
come he/she eats

la mano the hand

la pierna the leg
la cabeza the head
los ojos the eyes
la nariz the nose
las orejas the ears
la boca the mouth
la chica the girl
el chico the boy
el piso, suelo the floor
el techo the ceiling

escribe he/she writes

dibuja he/she draws

53
tira la pelota he/she throws the ball
atrapa, agarra, coge he/she grabs
corta con tijeras he/she cuts with scissors
toma he/she takes
pone he/she puts
le dice he/she says to him/her
sabe he/she knows
habla he/she
necesita he/she needs
llora he/she cries
escapa he/she escapes
escucha he/she listens
puede he/she can
va he/she goes (adding the I and you forms)
sabe he/she knows
llegar he/she arrives
pensar he/she thinks
pasar he/she passes
vive he/she lives
trabaja he/she works
entra he/she enters
sale he/she goes out
contar he/she counts or tells
dormir he/she sleeps

el pelo the hair

a la izquierda to the left
a la derecha to the right
el pie the foot
el reloj the watch
el brazo the arm
el hombro the shoulder
el lápiz the pencil
la pluma the pen
la cara the face
arriba up, on top
abajo down
debajo below
el papel the paper
el libro the book
vaso de agua glass of water
jugo de naranja orange juice
día day
noche night
tarde afternoon

54
hombre man
mujer woman
familia: hermano, family: brother,
hijo, abuela, etc. son, grandma, etc.
nuevo new
viejo old

entonces then
pero but
ahora now
ya already
después afterwards
antes before
cerca nearby, close
lejos far
temprano early
tarde late
siempre always
nunca never

cuándo when
dónde where
quién who
qué what
por qué why
adónde where to

animals animals

SMALL CIRCLE, Sample 2

hay there is
un chico a boy
una chica a girl
un gato a cat
un ratón a mouse
un problema a problem
se llama is called, calls him or herself
corre he/she runs
llora he/she cries
grita he/she yells
se ríe he/she laughs
escucha he/she listens

55
piensa he/she thinks
habla he/she speaks
le dice he/she says to him or to her
vive en he/she lives in
tiene una idea he/she has an idea
tiene miedo he/she is afraid
tiene hambre he/she is hungry
está contento (contenta) he/she is happy
está enojado (enojada) he/she is mad
a …….. le gusta he/she likes
dice he/she says
debajo de la mesa under the table
la silla the chair
la puerta the door
la ventana the window

se pone he/she puts on

se quita he/she takes off
se levanta he/she gets up
se acuesta he/she lays down
se sienta he/she sits
mira he/she looks
se mira en el espejo he/she looks at him or herself in the mirror

salta he/she jumps

escribe una nota he/she writes a note
lee un libro he/she reads a book
abre la puerta he/she opens the door
cierra la ventana he/she closes the window
camina he/she walks
para he/she stops
come he/she eats
le gusta comer he/she likes to eat
canta he/she sings
le duele it hurts him or her
pinta he/she paints
corta he/she cuts
señala he/she points at

rápido fast
despacio slow
regresa he/she comes back

quiere comprar he/she wants to buy

compra he/she buys

56
la tienda the store
la vieja the old lady
nuevo new
pobre poor
rico rich
el campo the countryside
la ciudad the city
el hombre the man
va a he/she goes to

entra a he/she enters into

ve he/she sees
un papel a paper
los lentes the eyeglasses
sabe he/she knows
sabe leer he/she knows how to read
puede leer he/she can read
puedo leer I can read
sabe escribir he/she knows how to write
por fin finally
siempre always
nadie nobody, no one
nunca never
pronombres: yo, tú, él, ella pronouns: I, you, he, she
se va he/she leaves
le pregunta he/she asks him/her
le contesta he/she answers
por eso that’s why
necesita he/she needs
la pelota the ball
el espejo the mirror
el reloj the clock, the watch

57
How to select and adapt a story

1. Choose the “target” story. It can be a fairy tale, a legend, a story related to
their class curriculum, or just a simple story of your own (see my sample story,
El osito). With beginners, it is best to stick to simple stories.

2. Re-write the story. Adapt it by using simple, high frequency language and
short, repetitive phrases, adapting it to your students’ proficiency level.

3. Extract the main vocabulary needed to understand and divide it in two

sections: Vocabulary they know and New Vocabulary. There will also be another
section of the words we don’t need to teach, like certain conjunctions, etc.,
which they will get from context.

4. Divide the New Vocabulary in sets of three (look for ways to make up
good combinations of words, instead of teaching isolated words).

5. Prepare lessons for each set of three structures as follows:

Day 1 - 2
• Establish meaning: use gestures, Total Physical Response (TPR),
illustrations, props, etc.
• Do PQA, (Personalized Questions and Answers) and circling
• Proceed to build a story; circle the structures, recycle vocabulary, do pop-
up grammar, retell the story
• End with either you or one or more students retelling the whole story in
the target language.

It might seem simple, but you will find that you will be actually using more than
those three structures. Along the way, in the same story, we will find it very
useful to weave in adjectives to describe the main characters and include facts
like colors, days of the week, numbers, cognates, etc. With more advanced
students it is also advisable to include some sort of dialogue to start making
use of the first and second person singular.

In my sample story, I have included the list of words that appear in each mini-
story, as well as some suggestions for gestures in the first section (Establishing
Meaning), and in some cases, some lead questions to develop a PQA
(Personalized Questions and Answers) section.

58
It is also good to include at some point a comment or expression such as:
What good luck! or That’s too bad! or I cannot believe it!

Day 2–3-4
• Reading
• Comprehension assessment
• Free writing

Once the story has been told, repeated, acted out, retold, etc., it is time to
bring the written version. This might be either on Day 2 or 3, depending on the
time we need to do the oral work. There is no set rule to time this. You can
move on to the next step whenever you feel that the PQA or the mini-story has
lost momentum.

You can write the story on the blackboard as the whole class contributes to
remember it and they can copy it on their books. You can also bring a printed
copy of the story for each student or write it on a large poster. I prefer to do
individual copies, and my students glue them to their book. Older classes get a
binder to collect their class stories. Discuss the reading as you go, compare it
to their own lives, ask more questions, circle, compare and contrast, do
grammar pop-ups whenever possible. Again, this is part of the art of teaching.

The written story can be read by you, the teacher, especially in the beginning,
so that the students can understand it better by focusing on the sound, and
also so that they actually learn how to read in Spanish, since they have had no
previous experience. As you read, you can translate or else ask for the general
gist of the story at the very end. It is always useful to translate slowly because it
is also a way to assess their comprehension. Sometimes there are things that
look obvious to us but are not to the students.

Another good idea is to have some volunteers act out the story as you read it.
You can also have the whole class do the TPR gestures of the main structures as
you speak.

There are several different activities you can do after the reading. Students can
draw the story in four to six frames and retell it. Or, if you bring the
illustrations, you can read random sentences and they have to identify to which
frame they belong. Or you can write several sentences in the wrong order and
they put them in the correct order, etc. You can also have them illustrate the
story, or you can bring the illustration and ask questions from it, etc. See the
samples.

59
At the end of the story, it is good to recycle all the structures, make a list of
them to review, and include any new vocabulary that showed up in the final
version. The sample mini-stories below will take us to our final goal, the
reading of the original target story, El osito.

This is a good point to have some or all of them practice speaking. Once they
illustrate the story, they can use their illustrations to guide them into retelling
the whole story.

They will be ready then to do a “Free Write”, which means writing the story on
their own. This is a great way for them to sit quietly and practice fluency in
writing. In this exercise we don’t try to correct their accuracy, it is merely an
exercise in fluency. We usually have them count how many words they can
write in any given time, say, ten minutes.

Next Day
Start all over with a new set of three structures with Step 1.

As you work through all the structures in this way, in the end the students will
be able to read, understand, retell, and enjoy your original target story.

In the following section we will explore the path from designing your target
story to creating your curriculum and working through it with your students. At
the end you will find the final rendering of the reader, beautifully illustrated by
Maia Kobabe, professional free-lance illustrator and Waldorf alumna from
Summerfield Waldorf School.

60
Sample Story: “El osito”

A. Write the final (target) story in simple language

El osito

Hay un osito que se llama Chiquito.

Chiquito vive en el bosque con su mamá y su papá.
Es otoño. Hay muchas hojas en el bosque.
Hay hojas rojas, cafés y amarillas. Chiquito ve una hoja amarilla.

A Chiquito le gusta el color amarillo. La hoja vuela y Chiquito corre tras la

hoja.
Chiquito mira alrededor
¡No ve su casa!
Hay árboles y hojas, pero no ve su casa.

Chiquito está solo.

Chiquito tiene miedo y llora.

De repente, Chiquito no llora.

Toca su nariz y piensa… piensa…

Chiquito grita:
---¡Mamá! ¡Papá!

El papá de Chiquito grita.

Chiquito escucha a su papá

Chiquito corre a su casa.

Chiquito corre y ve su casa
Ve a su mamá y a su papá.

Papá le dice:
-Chiquito, qué bueno que estás aquí!
Chiquito está muy contento.

61
B. Extract the vocabulary/structures to be taught

New Vocabulary

vive
vuela piensa
tiene miedo escucha
tiene una idea grita
hay (some words like this one might be
known aurally already, but need to be worked
on again because of their spelling or because
the students need reinforcement)

Known Vocabulary

el oso toca
la casa tiene
el bosque corre
para
la hoja se llama
el árbol hay
el aire ve
el arbusto llora
la nariz grita
escucha
está contento

Words that are understood or will be explained in context:

detrás su
por fin entre
pero la idea
ahora
es

C. Make sets of three structures

Once you have identified the New Vocabulary, you can make groups of three to
teach at a time.
Let’s begin discussing our first set of New Vocabulary words on Mini-Story 1:

62
Mini Story 1

New Vocabulary Known vocabulary:

Hay se llama
Vive corre
tiene miedo para
ve
un día
la gatita
el oso
casa, casita
escucha

STEP 1: ESTABLISH MEANING

Hay - there is, there are. This is a fun word, and I always tell them it is one of
the most important words in Spanish. I write it along with its meaning (with a
different color) on the blackboard; then I start asking, pointing to a boy: ¿Hay
un niño? ¿Hay una niña? If they were my class in the previous year, I will have
taught hay before, but it is always good to recycle. First I do it just orally, and
then I can start using props, for example, in this way: Bring a basket with a
small stuffed cat inside, and cover it with a silk. Go around the first row and
show them the cat (don’t let anyone else see), while you ask ¿Hay un gato? and
they will say Sí. You quickly cover the cat, and repeat the process with the next
student. Then, after three or four children, when you uncover the cat, you grab
it along with the silk (making believe you make it disappear) and the child will
have to say: No! Then you show the basket to the class and repeat: Clase, NO
HAY un gato… Next, it appears in the basket again, and you say: Sí hay un
gato!

You can also take the opportunity to circle the structure by asking:
Hay un gato? Hay un gato o hay dos gatos? Hay un perro? No, no hay un perro,
hay un gato, por supuesto (point at por supuesto on your poster of useful
expressions if they don’t know it)... Hay un gato o hay un ratón? Qué hay? etc.
For hay, I usually gesture with my two hands to one side, palms towards the
audience, as if I was presenting someone to them.

Vive - he/she lives. Translate on the blackboard. The best gesture I have found
has been to make the shape of a roof with my two hands on top of my head,
meaning something like “house.” In this case, gesturing is easy but not very
practical. It is easier to start a conversation, as Steiner would suggest, to form
conclusions. We can use the PQA technique and start by saying: Clase, Antonio

63
vive en Cotati. (class responds) Aaaaah!, Clase, Antonio vive en Cotati? Antonio
vive en Cotati o vive en Summerfield? Antonio vive en una casa o en un árbol?
Quién vive en un árbol? Quién vive en una casa? Dónde vive Antonio? Etc.

Tiene miedo - he/she is scared. Another fun structure. Finding the gesture is
easy. You can actually make a combination and assess their comprehension by
combining corre (he/she runs), vive, and tiene miedo. You can give a sequence
of commands, and tell a student to walk to the closet, open the door, and be
scared. You can play endlessly with this one! Some questions might include:
Hudson tiene miedo? Nina tiene miedo? Hudson o Nina tiene miedo? Quién
tiene miedo? Clase, Hudson tiene miedo de... los ratones. (Class says:
Ooooh..!) Clase, Hudson tiene miedo de los ratones? Hudson tiene miedo de la
Señora Nora? Hudson tiene miedo de... qué? etc. If you let them add their own
detail to the questioning, they will feel even more engaged. Let’s say they
suggested los elefantes, the elephants. You could say: Clase, Hudson NO tiene
miedo de los elefantes, es ridículo! Hudson tiene miedo de Nina!

It is important to remember to go slowly when you are asking these questions,

and always to point at the structure on the blackboard, so that it remains fully
comprehensible and nobody gets lost.

It is always very practical in the beginning to have a card with all this questions
written down to guide you in those moments of truth!

Once you have practiced gesturing, PQA, etc., and assessed that they have
internalized these structures, you can start with the next step.

STEP 2: ASKING THE STORY

Bring a stuffed cat to class. Show the cat and say Clase, hay un gato? (Is there a
cat?) They will say yes (Si!). You say: No, no hay un gato. They will be puzzled.
Pull out a pink ribbon and tie it around its neck and say: Hay una gata. (There is
a girl-cat). Then you can say, “Is it a large girl-cat, or a small girl-cat?” They
will say “Small”. Then you say, Ahh… es una GATITA. That way they will
understand that the ending –ita means small.

Choose an volunteer. Give her the stuffed cat (la gatita). Start your story by
saying:

T: Clase, hay una gatita!

C: Ooooh!!
T. Clase, hay una gatita o un gatito?

64
C: Una gatita!
T. Hay un gato grande?
C. No!
T. Claro que no! No hay un gato grande, hay una gatita pequeña! (there you
have two repetitions of hay in just one sentence)
T. Clase, hay una gatita negra o hay una gatita gris (try to say the right answer
in the end, so that they remember it)
C: Gris!
T: Correcto, clase! Hay una gatita gris. Y la gatita, corre? Corre despacio?
Corre rápido? Correcto, clase, la gatita corre rápido. (have the student run with
the cat from side to side.) Clase, la gatita corre rápido… o MUY rápido? (have
the student run even faster). Sí, la gatita corre muy rápido!

You could add a new character, like a turtle, to compare and contrast. This
brings fresh air to the circling. After circling tortuga, you can continue asking:

“Clase, quién corre más rápido, la tortuga o la gatita? La tortuga corre?

Antonio corre? Clase, Antonio corre más rápido o la gatita corre más rápido?
etc.

Bring out a drawing of el bosque. Use it to circle La gatita está en el bosque.

T: Chicos, la gatita está en el bosque. (Ooooh! say the students)

T: Chicos, la gatita está en su casa? No
T: La gatita vive en el bosque? NO
T: No, por supuesto que no vive en el bosque, la gatita vive en Sebastopol
(here I use the name of our hometown, so that we don’t need to learn or
translate a new location, such as the school, the store, etc.).
T: La gatita vive en una casa grande
(that is a line I use from a poem that I usually teach, so as they recognize
it they feel more connected to the story and most importantly, they feel
safe, they know what is being said and that gives them a great sense of
relief).

T: Clase, hay un problema…

T: Chicos, la gatita ve su casa?
T: No, la gatita no ve su casa, chicos! (They express sadness: “AAAAHH!”)
T: Chicos, la gatita no ve su casa! Es un problema?
C: (si)
T: Es un problema pequeño o grande?
C: (Grande)
T: Es un problemita? (gesture “small”) No, claro que no chicos, no es un
problemita, es un problema grande!!
T: La gatita, está contenta?
T: Está enojada? (here you are recycling known vocabulary)

65
T: La gatita… tiene miedo?? (gloomy voice)
T: Sí, chicos, la gatita tiene miedo!
T: Tiene miedo o tiene mucho miedo? Chicos, Izzy tiene miedo? No, es
ridículo! Izzy no tiene miedo.

You can keep going with the asking, recycling, retelling, and embellishing with
more details as you go. As long as you have the interest of the children, you will
know your story is developing well. If you feel they are losing interest, change
the location, add a character, or maybe it is time to finish the story and do a
retell.

STEP 3: READING
An example of what the written story would look like is below:

The dialogue phrases are taken from a story my students know from first
grade, La Casita, a version of The Mitten. They love to identify things they
know from previous years. You are free to use it as is or edit it.

Hay una gatita. La gatita se llama Gaby. Gaby corre muy rápido. Está
en el bosque. Tiene miedo. Gaby ve una casita y para. Gaby grita:
“Casa, casita, ¿quién vive dentro?” Gaby escucha una voz: “Yo, el
Oso zarposo”
¡Gaby tiene mucho miedo! Gaby corre a su casa en Sebastopol.
¡Qué suerte!

As you read, stop frequently and relate the story to the students too. If it says,
Gaby corre muy rápido, you can start asking, ¿Quién corre muy rápido en la
clase? ¿Jeremy corre muy rápido lo Jeremy corre muy despacio? ¿Quién corre
más rápido, la tortuga o el conejo? ¿Quién corre más rápido, Jeremy o Gaby la
gatita? and so on. In this way you can spend a good 15 minutes with this
relatively short reading. Then they can illustrate the story in four frames, which
will later help them remember the story and practice retelling it themselves.

66
 Cuento 1
La gatita Gaby tiene miedo

Hay una gatita. La gatita se llama Gaby. Gaby corre muy rápido. Está en el
bosque. Tiene miedo. Gaby ve una casita y para. Gaby grita: “Casa, casita,
¿quién vive dentro?” Gaby escucha una voz: “Yo, el Oso zarposo”
¡Gaby tiene mucho miedo! Gaby corre a su casa en Sebastopol. ¡Qué suerte

Hay una gatita. Se llama Gaby. Gaby está en el bosque. Tiene

miedo.

Gaby ve una casita y grita. Gaby escucha una voz y tiene

miedo.

67
Mini Story 2

New Vocabulary Known vocabulary:

Vuela aire
piensa agua
tiene una idea llora
hay
árbol
un chico
un osito
un día

You can adapt the gestures and PQA to your own style, following the examples
given for Mini Story 1.

For the structure piensa (he thinks), I have a student come to the front,
standing close to the blackboard, facing the class, and I draw a “thinking
bubble” next to her head and I write inside the word piensa… with a little
drawing of a cat or a dog, or anything we can imagine that she is thinking
about… and we can start a mini discussion about her thoughts!

For tiene una idea I cross my left arm and rest my right elbow over my left
hand. I put my right index finger on my right temple as if I were thinking,
looking to the side, and suddenly I separate my finger from my head and look
brightly and directly to the students while I say tiene una idea.

Here I am including the conjunction y (and), which they know intuitively. In this
way, I can make a special point about showing it to them and I don’t need to set
up a whole lesson to teach them. It belongs in the context.

This story is based on some phrases learned in different poems we learn in the
beginning of the school year, as well as a finger game they know from first
grade. I don’t have to work a lot on them, and they love to identify them and
use them freely.

Next you will find two different versions of stories written with the same basic
vocabulary. This is the result of my work with two different classes. Also, the
type of tasks offered after the reading are different in each case.

68
 El  osito  vuela  
Hay  un  osito  que  se  llama  José.    José  es  un  osito  especial.    José  vuela.    Vuela  en  
el  aire.    Vuela  muy  alto.    Un  día,  José  vuela  y  choca  con  un  árbol.    ¡Ay!  La  cabeza  
se  lastimó.    Mamá  llamó  al  doctor  y  el  doctor  le  dijo:  “¡No  más  ositos  vuelan  por  
el  aire!”  José  llora.  
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Hay  un  osito  que  se  llama  José  .   José  es  especial  porque  él  vuela.  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
Un  día,  José  choca  con  un  árbol.   Mamá  llamó  al  doctor.  
 
 
1. ¿Cómo  se  llama  el  osito?  ………………………………………..  
2. ¿Quién  vuela?  ……………………………………………………  
3. ¿Cómo  vuela  José?  ……………………………………………………  
4. ¿Quién  llamó  al  doctor?  ………………………………………………  
5. ¿José  está  contento?  …………………………………………………  

69
  
Cuento  
“El  niño  que  vuela”  
 
Hay  un  niño  que  se  llama  David.  
David  es  un  chico  especial.  
David  es  especial  porque  él  vuela.  
Él  vuela  como  un  pájaro,  vuela  como  un  águila.  
 
Un  día,  David  vuela  en  el  jardín.    Vuela  por  el  aire.    Está  contento.  
David  vuela  a  un  árbol.    David  vuela  a  la  ventana  de  su  casa…  ¡oh,  
no!  La  ventana  está  cerrada.  
David  choca  con  la  ventana  y  llora.  
 
¡Ay,  no!  La  cabeza  se  lastimó.    Mamá  llamó  al  doctor  y  el  doctor  le  
dijo:  “No  más  niños  vuelan  por  el  aire.”  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
¡Escribe  una  frase  del  cuento!    Dibuja  esa  parte  del  cuento  en  el  cuadro.  

70
Mini Story 3

New Structures Known Vocabulary

no tiene miedo tiene una idea
se cae él piensa que
vuela como los pájaros sube a un árbol
salta
se cae al suelo
llora
se lastima

In this story there are many structures that need review, such as se cae al suelo.
It is good therefore, to circle all of them and make sure we stay within the
boundaries of the known vocabulary, for, as Susie Gross would say, we need
to… “Shelter the vocabulary, don’t shelter the grammar.” This means, do not go
over board teaching too many new words at once, or the students will feel
overwhelmed. However, if you needed to use a different grammatical item such
as a past tense, go ahead and use it correctly. Just be mindful of circling it and
staying 100% comprehensible.

You can use this sample story as a guide to create your own or make it very
similar; remember to let them give you some details (like the name of the
character, etc.), so that they “own” the story.

Hay un niño que se llama Daniel. Él piensa que vuela en el aire, como los
pájaros y las mariposas. Un día, Daniel tiene una idea: sube a un árbol. Sube y
sube, sube muy alto. ¡No tiene miedo! Salta… y no vuela! Se cae al suelo.
Llora mucho. Solamente se lastima la nariz. ¡Qué suerte!

71
 Cuento

Hay un niño que se llama Daniel. Él piensa que vuela en el aire, como los
pájaros y las mariposas. Un día, Daniel tiene una idea: sube a un árbol.
Sube y sube, sube muy alto. ¡No tiene miedo! Salta…. y no vuela. Se
cae al suelo. Llora mucho. Solamente se lastima la nariz. ¡Qué suerte!

Hay un niño que se llama Daniel. Daniel sube a un árbol. No tiene miedo.

¡ Daniel salta y no vuela! Se cae al suelo. Se lastima la nariz y llora mucho.

72
Mini Story 4 (Review and Recycle)

El  elefante  tiene  miedo  

Tiene  miedo     ……………………………………….  

Le  gustan     ……………………………………….  

Piensa       ……………………………………….  

Mucho  ruido     ……………………………………….  

Hay  un  elefante.    El  elefante  tiene  miedo  de  los  ratones.    ¡Oh,  no!  Hay  un  problema:    hay  un  
ratón.    No  es  un  ratón  grande  y  no  es  un  ratón  chiquito  
 
Al  elefante  no  le  gustan  los  ratones.    Tiene  miedo  de  los  ratones.  
Al  ratón  no  le  gustan  los  elefantes.    Tiene  miedo  de  los  elefantes.  
 
El  elefante  escucha  un  ruido.    Piensa:  “Oh,  no.”  
 
El  elefante  mira  y  dice:  “¡Oh,  no,  hay  un  ratón!”  
El  ratón  mira  al  elefante  y  grita:  “¡Oh,  no,  hay  un  elefante!”  
 
El  elefante  piensa.    Piensa  mucho.  
El  elefante  corre  al  teléfono  y  llama  al  9-­‐1-­‐1.  
 
El  elefante  escucha  mucho  ruido  afuera.    Ve  una  ambulancia.    El  elefante  se  levanta  y  abre  la  
puerta.  
¡Oh,  no!    ¡Los  doctores  son  ratones!  

73
74
  
 
 
 
 

Cuento

“El osito”

75
76
77
78
79
80
81
 Vocabulary by Thematic Units
“El osito”

Forest animals Moods

Conejo Está contento
Oso Está triste
Ratón Está enojado
Pájaro Tiene miedo
Zorro Está aburrido
Lobo Está cansado
Está enfermo

Body Parts El bosque (the forest)

La cabeza El árbol
El pelo La hoja
La cara Amarilla
La nariz Roja
Los ojos Verde
Las orejas Café
La boca El aire
La lengua El río
El cielo
El sol
La garganta
El brazo New structures taught or
reviewed
La mano hay
El dedo vive
El estómago ve
Las piernas vuela
Los pies para
ve
llora
toca
piensa
tiene
grita
escucha

82
Samples of stories written for and by my fourth grade class
September 2011-June 2012

All of the mini-stories above take us to our final goal, the reading of the main
story, El osito, which I first introduced on page 56.

In the following section, I will share some of the stories and work we did
together with the fourth grade class from September 2011 to January 2012. In
addition to the printed stories that they received from me, I have included some
examples of the stories they developed on their own, first in drawings and then
in free-writes. These have not been edited, and were written in the classroom
almost without any help from the teacher. My main purpose it to share with
you the many ways to work with the printed stories and how the children take
the stories in.

• There are several ways to practice reading with your students: I have
included examples of typed versions of the stories we did together in
class. Sometimes these stories have only four sentences, which I could
put in four separate squares for them to illustrate each phrase. This
technique gives me an additional assessment of their comprehension.

• Sometimes the squares (either one or four) were empty, for them to
choose a phrase and illustrate it.

• In some cases, I started the reading with a review of the most recent
vocabulary. You will see the list of words at the top. Once we reviewed
them, they were totally ready and eager to read.

• Whenever there are blank spaces, I could either do a dictation for them to
fill them in, or I could give them the chance to make up their own story by
filling in the details and then reading some of their stories to the whole
class.

I am also including some other stories, in no specific sequence, that led to

different main stories with some other fourth grade classes. Please feel free to
use them as they are or to edit them.

83
84
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Más  Mini-­‐Cuentos  
 
 
 
The  following  section  includes  stories  at  random.  You  can  
use  them  as  they  are,  as  an  inspiration  for  a  new  series  of  
stories,  or  they  can  serve  as  a  model  to  give  you  more  ideas  
for  your  own  stories.  
 
Some  of  them  are  shown  with  different  ideas  from  different  
students  just  to  show  how  much  they  each  own  the  stories.  
 
 
 
 

85
 “El  cuento  del  perro  y  la  gatita”  

Hay un perro grande que se llama Bruno.

Hay una gatita muy pequeña que se llama Fifí.
Bruno duerme en la casa pequeña de Fifí. ¡Qué problema!
Bruno está contento pero Fifí no está contenta.

Hay un perro grande que se llama Bruno. Hay una gatita muy pequeña que se llama
Fifí.

Bruno duerme en la casa pequeña de Fifí. Bruno está contento pero Fifí no está
contenta.

86
 La  gatita  no  duerme  
tampoco    ___________________          no  duerme  ______________  
está  contenta  ________________      por  fin  __________________  
todo  el  día  __________________          ahora  _________________  
 
Hay  una  gatita.    La  gatita  se  llama  Lolita.    El  lunes  Lolita  no  duerme.    
No  está  contenta.  Lolita  no  duerme  el  martes  tampoco.    No  está  
contenta.    El  miércoles  Lolita  tampoco  duerme.    No  está  contenta.    El  
jueves  Lolita  tampoco  duerme.    No  está  contenta.    El  viernes  Lolita  
tampoco  duerme.    No  está  contenta.    Por  fin,  el  sábado  Lolita  
duerme.    Duerme  y  duerme  y  duerme…  duerme  todo  el  día!    Ahora  la  
mamá  de  Lolita  no  está  contenta.  
 
Los  días  de  la  semana:  
_________________  
_________________  
_________________  
_________________  
_________________  
_________________  
_________________  

87
  
El  cuento  del  ratón  chiquito  y  el  Señor  Queso    
(Primera  Parte)  

hay      ……………………………………  
 
se  llama    …………………………………..  
 
se  peleó  ……………………………….  
 
corre    ……………………………………  
 
llora  ………………………………………  
 
se  ríe    ……………………………………..  
 
mira  …………………………………  
 
tiene  una  oreja    ……………………………………  
 
 
Hay  un  ratón.    No  es  un  ratón  grande.    Es  un  ratón  pequeño.      
Es  un  ratón  chiquito.  
El  ratón  se  llama  ___________.      Es  un  ratón  valiente.  
 
El  lunes,  ______________  se  peleó  con  un  gato.    El  gato  corre  y  llora.      
El  ratón  se  ríe.  
 
El  martes,  ______________  se  peleó  con  un  gato  otra  vez.      
El  gato  corre  y  llora.    El  ratón  se  ríe.  
 
El  miércoles,  ________________  mira  un  animal  enorme.      
¡Oh,  no!    ¡Es  un  ratón  gigante!  
El  ratón  se  llama  Señor  Queso.  
 
El  ratón  chiquito  se  peleó  con  el  ratón  gigante.    ¡Ahora,  el  ratoncito  solo  tiene  una  
oreja!  
 
¡Pobre  ratoncito!  

88
 ¡Pobrecito Bobby!
(Segunda parte)

Bobby,  el  ratón  corre  a  su  casa.  

 
Bobby  llora  en  su  casa.  
 
Sus  dos  hermanas  escuchan  a  Bobby.  
 
Sus  hermanas  se  llaman  Sal  y  Pimienta.  
Ellas  hablan  con  Bobby:  
 
-­‐          Bobby,  ¿qué  te  pasa?  
 
-­‐            Me  duele  mi  oreja…  ¡oh,  no!  ¡No  tengo  oreja!  
 
 -­‐            Pero  Bobby,  ¿por  qué  no  tienes  oreja?  
 
-­‐ ¡Porque  el  Señor  Queso  se  la  comió!  
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 

89
90
¡Pobrecito Bobby!
(Segunda parte)

91
  
Cuento  
“El  niño  que  vuela”  
 
Hay  un  niño  que  se  llama  David.  
David  es  un  chico  especial.  
David  es  especial  porque  él  vuela.  
Él  vuela  como  un  pájaro,  vuela  como  un  águila.  
 
Un  día,  David  vuela  en  el  jardín.    Vuela  por  el  aire.    Está  contento.  
David  vuela  a  un  árbol.    David  vuela  a  la  ventana  de  su  casa…  ¡oh,  
no!  La  ventana  está  cerrada.  
David  choca  con  la  ventana  y  llora.  
 
¡Ay,  no!  La  cabeza  se  lastimó.    Mamá  llamó  al  doctor  y  el  doctor  le  
dijo:  “No  más  niños  vuelan  por  el  aire.”  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
¡Escribe  una  frase  del  cuento!    Dibuja  esa  parte  del  cuento  en  el  cuadro.  

92
  

93
  

94
  
 
 

95
  
More    stories!  This  time,  written  freely  by  my  fourth  grade  students:  
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
   

96
  

97
  
 
 
 
 

98
  

99
  

100
  
Two  Real  Life  Stories  
I am including these two stories to illustrate how important it is to choose our
Small Circle, the vocabulary we will teach, to match what the children will need
to communicate. One interesting case is the structure se cayó (he/she fell)_in
the past tense. I don’t mind teaching past tense together with present tense,
since that is the correct way in which we speak. This is how we “Shelter the
vocabulary but not the grammar”, meaning that we limit the amount of new
vocabulary we teach in one class, but we always go for the correct grammar
forms.

We made up this story with a fourth grade class after they came back from a
field trip to a mission in California. This was part of a story they heard there.
When we had our class, they immediately wanted to tell me about it in Spanish!

Hay  un  chico  que  se  llama  Miguel.    Miguel  es  mexicano.    Miguel  vive  
en  una  misión  en  California.    Miguel  tiene  diez  años.    
Hay  un  oso  en  el  bosque.    ¡Oh,  no!    El  oso  come  las  vacas  y  las  ovejas  
de  la  misión.  
El  papá  de  Miguel  tiene  dos  perros.    Los  perros  tienen  miedo  del  oso.  

On a different occassion, with some guidance, the class told me what actually
happened to one of the girls; they were so proud to be able to do it all in
Spanish!

101
The following story is the one written by a student who had only one year of
Spanish, but participated with great enthusiasm and interest in our fourth grade
class. As I mentioned before, he wrote it in fifth grade one day at home, when
he found his fourth grade Spanish book. When his Mom gave me the story, I
was deeply moved. I knew my search was over.

102
Final Remarks

TEACHING with the Storytelling techniques is an art. This book is not meant to
be a “recipe.” It is merely a pointer, an example of what can be done. However,
I highly recommend that you start by following the stories as they are until you
feel safe enough to do your own. It will come naturally as you and your
students get the gist of it.

These techniques require great presence of mind of the language teacher, and
excellent classroom management becomes paramount. We need to establish
clear rules and boundaries, in order to maintain a safe atmosphere for
everyone. This entails following certain guidelines that each teacher can device
for himself, or else, you can also consult with other TPRS senior teachers. Some
ideas include establishing an order to speak and give ideas to the story, paying
attention to the teacher during the oral part, responding accordingly as a group
during the story-asking, etc. This will make your life easier. Again, please go
to the list of references I include at the end, and look especially at Susie Gross’s
and Ben Slavic’s indications.

I invite you to try this method, use it all or even partially in your lessons. This
can be the main section of your class, while of course you continue using your
opening verses and movement section, etc. All of the techniques in Steps 1 and
2, except the writing, can be successfully implemented in the Lower Grades,
even when we have not yet introduced any writing. Teaching dialogues, reading
books, playing games… all can be done introducing circling, PQA, gesturing,
etc.

Your input is most welcome, as we are all foreign language teachers

continuously discovering, learning, and sharing together.
Please feel free to share with me at [email protected]

The result is well worth all of our efforts.

Blessings on our work!

103
Bibliography

Deutscher, Guy. Through the Language Glass, Why the World Looks Different in
Other Languages, Picador, NY, 2010

Fritze, Jason, ¡En español!, Level 1, McDougal Littell

Jaffke, C., Zur Begründung und Durchführung des Fremdsprachenunterrichts in

den ersten drei Schuljahren, Stuttgart, 1984

Kiersch, Johannes. Language Teaching in Steiner Waldorf Schools, Steiner

Schools Fellowship Publications, Sussex, UK, 2001

Steiner, Rudolf. Soul Economy and Waldorf Education, 1986, Lect. 10 and 12
- The Foundations of Human Experience, p. 136
- High School Education (formerly: The Supplementary Course)
- Education for Adolescents, Lecture 1 and 3
- A Modern Art of Education, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1972
- The Education of the Child, 1907
- Practical Advice to Teachers, Lecture 9, page 135

Websites and Resources for Foreign Language in general and Spanish

Teachers in particular:

Blaine Ray’s website: www.blaineraytprs.com

Susan Gross’ website: www.susangrosstprs.com
Dr. Stephen Krashen’s website: www.sdkrashen.com
Carol Gaab www.tprstorytelling.com
Scott Benedict: www.teachforjune.com
Ben Slavic: www.benslavic.com

Several teachers have developed their own workbooks. I like the books for
Spanish class written by Laura Anaya de Zuchovicki to get a lot of playful ideas
and inspiration: www.conversabooks.com

Waldorf Spanish Teachers Association

http://www.waldorfspanishteachers.org/
¡Regístrate!

104
 Appendix 1 - Sample Lesson Plan

Spanish Threefold lesson

Cuarto grado
Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm

Date: September 2011

Goal: to read “El osito” by December
Festival or theme for the season: Autumn; Michaelmas

RHYTHMICAL PART

Poem:
Movement:
Date, weather (props):
Mental math:

TPR review words:

THINKING PART

New Vocab: Establish meaning, PQA:

(Props and/or illustrations to bring with me)

OR: Mini-story: story asking/ retelling/reading:

WILLING PART

Writing, drawing:

Game, wind-up activity:

Closing verse and good-bye:

105
Appendix 2: Total Physical Response Phase (TPR)
TPR Words To Gesture

Before and during the storytelling method, it is always very useful to teach as
many words/structures as possible through Total Physical Response (TPR). For
more information, you can look in the internet.

In teaching through actions, Waldorf methods accomplish an important amount

of work already. In my regular teaching to the fourth graders, I always use
poems with movement, such as Yo salto, yo camino… etc., found in the book
Senderos... I use some others too, but it would be out of the scope of this work
to include all those materials here. I also usually start class by giving
commands to a child and having them perform silly or interesting actions.

I usually teach these verbs in third person singular, as if I was telling someone
else what he/she is doing. I do this because it is difficult to transition from the
command mode for you to the indicative in storytelling.

I got this list from another great TPRS presenter, Karen Rowan, and it includes
suggestions about how to introduce each word. This does not necessarily have
to be the way we do it, but is helps the novice to get ideas. The challenge is to
remember the gestures you teach to every class, and create gestures that will
not bring about confusion, such as with to see and to look.

This is a long, very useful list. I don’t necessarily teach all the words in it,
although most of these words are taught in the first three grades.

INTRODUCTORY VOCABULARY LIST FOR TPR

(modified from a handout from Karen Rowan)

The words The English The actions

se levanta he/she stands up stand

se sienta he/she sits down sit
da una vuelta he/she turns around turn around

camina he/she walks walk; for a change, walk with

fingers
anda he/she strolls,march,go walk around
para he/she stops hand out in front of body, palm
facing out; or, take a wide stance
with hands and arms straight
down

106
rápido quickly snap fingers and/or make
hurrying motions with verbs
despacio slowly pantomime walking or
running slowly
arriba up point upward, or raise both arms
abajo down point downward or lower arms
adelante/enfrente forward move forward
atrás backward move backward
(a) la derecha (to) the right point, move to the right
(a) la izquierda (to) the left point, move to the left
alto high mime high
bajo low mime low

salta he/she jumps jump

pega he/she hits hit hand with other hand
toca he/she touches touch something with pointer finger

levanta raise raise one arm

baja lower lower arm or something
ve see / look fingers in v shape, middle finger
touching corner of eye, thrust both
fingers out from face

escucha listen cup hand to ear

habla talk hold both pointers up at each side of
mouth and move in and out
alternating the pointers
grita yell hands in front of mouth and open
them up and out suddenly (with no
noise)

mira look/watch hands make binoculars in front of

eyes
toma take right had lifts something out of left
hand
señala point point to something

agarra grab/catch make grabbing motion with

hand/fist
suelta let go of release tight fist
tira throw` mock throwing something

recoge pick up mock seeing something and picking

it up with finger
bota kick mock kicking

107
corre run mock running, or if sitting do
running with fingers on other hand

escribe write write on palm of hand with

imaginary pencil
dibuja draw draw in the air—circles or on board
el papel paper show a paper

ríe (se ríe) laugh laugh out loud, ja, ja, ja

dice tells, says cup hand around mouth like telling
a secret

busca looks for shade eyes with open palm as in

looking for something

abre open mock opening something, a book,

the door
cierra close mock closing something
toca knock knock on something—say toc, toc,
toc

sonríe smiles grin and draw a smile on your face

llora cries fists rub eyes, make loud crying
noises
roba steals snatch at the air or toward someone
as though stealing something

sube climbs,ascends show fingers climbing up other arm

baja descends show fingers climbing down other
arm
se cae falls down show something falling down, ¡bum!

toca música play music pretend to play an instrument

come eat all fingers on right hand mock
eating something
bebe drink mock drinking a glass all up, make
glugging
sounds

tiene (ten) has right fist on top of left palm close to

chest
dale/dame give him/give me 1 palm facing up as though giving
something
besa kiss make kissing noises

108
abraza hug mock big hug in the air
silba whistle whistle
baila dance dance around, if sitting –left palm
open and 2 fingers swing left and
right

canta sing pointer makes circles away from

mouth/ sing lalala
estornuda sneeze sneeze “achú”
ronca snore snore loudly (not too much)

fuma smoke mock smoking a cigarette and

cough, of course
huele smell mock smelling something good
and/or bad
saca take out mock taking something out of
pocket, book, trash

lee reads open hands like a book and read

pone puts put right fist on top of left palm
away from body
la pelota ball pantomime using a ball

la flor flower hands in front of chest, wrists

touching, fingers apart like petals,
or use just one hand
la casa house fingers shape a house

el gato cat fingers stroke whiskers, say miau

el perro dog or bring a stuffed animal, a puppet
la taza cup drink from a humongous cup

el vaso glass have a glass and show grabbing and

drinking
Point to...
la puerta the door el pizarrón the blackboard el suelo, el piso the floor

la ventana the window la silla the chair el escritorio the teacher’s

desk
el techo the ceiling la luz the light el pupitre/ student desk
mesabanco
el lápiz pencil libro book el sombrero regular hat

la carpeta binder el/la profe teacher la clase class

el alumno(a)/ student el salón classroom el bote de basura trashcan

109
estudiante
el chico/la chica boy,girl
el reloj clock
el plumón marker

la hoja de papel sheet of paper

el cuaderno workbook/spiral notebook
el bolígrafo/la pluma pen

bueno good thumbs up

malo bad thumbs down
grande big arms in huge circle
pequeño little make tiny box with fingers & say in a little voice
bonito/lindo pretty pat hair and primp
guapo handsome prim in a manly way

los colores – point to something rojo (red), azul (blue), verde (green),
anaranjado ( orange), rosa/rosado – pink, amarillo (yellow), morado, púrpura
(purple), gris (grey), blanco (white), negro (black),café/marrón (brown), pardo
(light brown)

Touch
la mano the hand la boca the mouth el ojo the eye
la nariz nose el pelo hair la oreja ear
el dedo finger el codo elbow el pecho chest
el hombro shoulder la cabeza head la cara face
la pierna leg la rodilla knee la frente forehead
el pie foot la panza belly el estómago stomach
el brazo arm el cuello neck el dedo del pie toe
la uña fingernail las caderas hips el tobillo ankle
el cuerpo body la espalda back la garganta throat
los labios lips la lengua tongue la mejilla cheek
la ceja eyebrow las pestañas eyelashes los dientes teeth
el beso the kiss la sonrisa the smile la barba beard
el bigote moustache el ombligo bellybutton

110