Discussion: Verificación de datos (Fact Check)

Purpose: You will practice your writing skills in Spanish by building complete sentences using Subject, Verb, and Object prompts. Each verb you may use is a stem-changing verb, so you will have to pay close attention to the details.

Task: This activity has two parts:

  1. An initial post to the discussion board with six unique sentences
  2. A follow up interaction with two classmates “fact checking” their sentences

Paso 1. Create six unique sentences in Spanish using the Subject, Verb, and Object prompts below (you may modify the Object prompts as you would like, but the Subject and Verb prompts may not change). Note that the Object options are verbs that you will use in the infinitive form, since you will conjugate the first verb in each construction. You may use each word only once. Be sure to pay close attention to the verb conjugation, as each of the verbs you will conjugate is a stem-changing verb. Push yourself, and be creative! You may add additional pieces of information, such as locations, time frames, etc. to make these sentences more robust.

  • Sujetos posibles:  Adela – Bernardo y Javier – las compañeras de clase – nosotros – Tomás – tú – ustedes – yo
  • Verbos posibles:  empezar – pensar – cerrar – tener – preferir – querer – comenzar – entender
  • Objetos posibles:  charlar – dibujar – tocar el piano  – navegar el internet – jugar videojuegos

Paso 2. You will read the six sentences of two classmates and choose to follow up on three of their statements. You will read the sentence and double check that the subject and verb correspond correctly. Double check the stem change as well! If you have any recommendations that would make the sentence stronger, share them with your partner, like locations, times, with whom the activity is being done, etc. If you agree with how your partner built the sentence, let them know that you agree with the grammar and syntax in their sentence. You must retype the final version of the sentence as the final part of each comment, even if no changes have been made.

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

Paso 1. 40% of the points for this activity will be earned by creating six sentences with one component from each of the Subject, Verb, and Object prompts for this activity and posting them to the discussion board. You may incorporate additional or different Objects as you see fit, but the Subject and Verb prompts must be used for each sentence.

Paso 2. 60% of the points for this activity will be earned for interacting with two peers on their initial posts. You are to read the posts of two peers and choose three of their sentences to “fact check.” Your comment on each sentence should either let your partner know that you agree with the structure and grammar of the sentence or it should offer a recommendation for changes in the sentence. Each comment is worth 5%. You must retype the final version of the sentence as the final part of each comment, even if no changes have been made. Each final version of the sentence is worth 5%.

In the following example, Carolina makes her original post to the discussion board (only two sentences have been shown here as an example). She makes a couple of errors, and her peers help her see what they are. Her peers, Keiko and Tatiana, each choose three of her sentences to “fact check” (only two have been shown here as an example). Carolina still needs to find two peers and write a total of six “fact check” comments and final versions of those sentences to earn full points.

Ejemplo:

Carolina:

  1. Adela empeza charlar con su hermana.
  2. ¿Ustedes piensan tocar el piano este fin de semana para la festa?
Keiko:   Hola Carolina. Nice job on your sentences! It looks like you forgot to stem change in your first sentence. It should say: empieza. Your second sentence looks great! Nice job :) Final versions: 1. Adela empieza charlar con su hermana. 2. ¿Ustedes piensan tocar el piano este fin de semana para la festa?
Tatiana: Hola Carolina. I agree with Erica that your first sentence verb should be “empieza.” Also, I think you spelled “party” wrong in the second sentence. It should say “fiesta.” Good job! Final versions: 1. Adela empieza charlar con su hermana. 2. ¿Ustedes piensan tocar el piano este fin de semana para la fiesta?