Discussion: El verbo “gustar” + infinitivo

Purpose: You will practice your listening and speaking skills in Spanish by posing five questions to your classmates about their likes and dislikes, and responding to the questions they ask you in Spanish as well. You will share information about how much you like or dislike certain activities by using the following words: odio (I hate it), no me gusta, soy indiferente, me gusta, and me gusta mucho followed by the activities in question.

Task: This activity has four parts.

  1. An introductory writing portion preparing questions and answers
  2. An original audio post to the discussion board answering and asking questions
  3. An audio response to your peers
  4. A final audio post to those who commented on your original posts

Paso 1. Download or print the following PDF. PDF download: ‘Gustar’ + infinitivo Look at the chart in Paso 1 and put a checkmark in the box that represents your feelings for each of the eight activities listed. Choose five activities from the same list on the chart that you want to ask your classmates about. Using el verbo gustar + infinitivo, prepare five questions for your classmates regarding what they like to do.

Paso 2. Using a computer or a voice memo function on a smartphone, record your questions in Spanish in a single audio file (if you make mistakes, it is okay and expected; start over from the beginning of the sentence and keep recording) and post this voice recording to the discussion board. Others will be able to hear your five questions in Spanish, just as you can hear theirs.

Paso 3. Listen to the questions of two peers in your class. You may take notes as you listen so that you can remember what they asked you, as each person will ask you five questions. Then, record your responses to their questions in a single audio file for each peer (if you make mistakes, it is okay and expected; start over from the beginning of the sentence and keep recording) Be sure to use the following phrases: odio, no me gusta, soy indiferente, me gusta, and me gusta mucho followed by the activities in question. You may use the chart you completed in Part 1 to guide you through your responses. Ask them about their own preference on one of the questions they asked you by saying ¿y a ti? directly after your answer.

Ejemplo:

Original question: ¿Te gusta bailar?

Student response + follow-up question: Sí, me gusta mucho bailar. ¿Y a ti?

Paso 4. Just as you have responded to the five questions of two of your peers and asked them ¿y a ti? to one question, some of your peers have responded to your questions and asked you ¿y a ti? on one of your questions from your original post. Finish up the conversations by responding to each peer who asked you a follow up question on your original post. Answer their questions, incorporating one of the following phrases: odio, no me gusta, soy indiferente, me gusta, and me gusta mucho followed by the activities in question.

Criteria: The components of this activity add up to 100%.

Pasos 1 & 2. 25% of the grade will be earned from this portion of the activity. Answer the questions so they are true for you, then prepare five questions based on the PDF chart for your peers using the el verbo gustar + infinitivo construction. Record a single audio file that includes these five questions and post the file to the discussion board. Each question is worth 5%.

Paso 3. 60% of the total grade. Choose two peers and listen to their questions. After listening to your peers’ questions, you will answer their five questions in Spanish using the following phrases: odio, no me gusta, soy indiferente, me gusta, and me gusta mucho followed by the activities in question. You will then ask ¿y a ti? as a follow-up question to one of the questions they asked you. You will need to make two audio files, one for each peer. Each audio file should include the answers to the questions your peer asked you as well as the follow-up question. Post this file to the discussion board as a response to your peer. Each answer is worth 5% and your ¿y a ti? question to each peer is worth 5%.

Paso 4. 15% of your grade will be earned for responding to your peers on your original post: you are to answer the ¿y a ti? question that your two peers asked on your original post (7.5% each) using the following words: odio, no me gusta, soy indiferente, me gusta, and me gusta mucho followed by the activities in question.

Ejemplo:

Cari downloads the PDF and draws an X on the chart for each activity listed based on how much she likes to do it. She then chooses the verbs bailar, pintar, beber Coca-Cola, cantar karaoke, and hacer tarea to use in sentences to ask her classmates about what they like to do. She records a single audio file in which she asks those five questions and she posts it to the discussion board. She has earned 25% of the total grade for this activity.

She then finds two peers, Tabitha and Tim, and she listens to the questions they created. She takes notes, and then she records an audio file responding to Tabitha’s questions (asking one follow up ¿y a ti?) and an audio file responding to Tim’s questions (asking one follow up ¿y a ti?). She posts these responses under Tabitha and Tim’s original post, and she has earned 60% of the points for this assignment.

To wrap up, Cari goes back to her original post and listens to the responses of her peers. As she listens, she takes notes so that she can be sure to know what the ¿y a ti? follow up question was referring to. She records and posts a final response to each peer in which she answers their follow up question. She has earned the remaining 15% of the points for this assignment.