Spanish Sentence Combination

I have so much to share. The problem is that I don't have too much time to do so. I have to be careful with my time as I have been sick recently. I don't want to get run down and then suddenly get bulldozed by the flu. I missed some work last week due to the flu. My doctor was concerned about the state of my health that he demanded that I take some time off including Friday and the weekend. Reluctantly, I listened to his wise words. I am recuperating from my terrible cough, congestion, and bronchitis. Today, after a three days of doing nothing but resting, I have a little more energy. I am will be finished with my antibiotics soon. Phew!

I have been working hard with students and teachers at my school. I also have shared some of my work and ideas. I will post more later. I just wanted to post some photos of our work with compound and complex sentence structures.

We studied ways to combine sentences.  I had my students study the coordinating conjunctions in Spanish. Each conjunctive has a specific function and relationship with the two sentences. I asked my students to combine a group of sentences that I had written on sentence strips. They had to decide how the two sentences were related and if they could combine them. Then I gave them conjunction cards. They had to think about the sentence to sentence connection and decide which conjunctions would best join the two sentences. They had to test them out to see if the conjunctions conveyed the meaning that the author intended. They then shared with their classmates. I had them work in pairs.

We then studied the opener, sentence pattern of combining sentences with a subordinating conjunction and phrase with a sentence. We spoke about the independent and dependent clauses. They then combined sentences using the Spanish subordinating conjunctions. We, in English terms, AAAWWWUBBICized our sentences. They tried it out by selecting a word that are are comma causers. They they wrote their OPENER, sentence pattern. I learned much of this patterning from Jeff Anderson's Mechanically Inclined and Dr. Joyce Carrol's Acts of Teaching. They really enjoyed it and I think it had a high stick factor. (They won't forget it and the concepts has been solidified in their minds.)  Here are the photos.  (More to come.)