Purpose: You will practice your conversation skills in Spanish by listening to a recording and responding to the questions about your life and habits in Spanish, as well as asking questions to your fellow classmates. You will get exposure to different stem-changing and irregular verbs in the questions, and you will respond to these questions in the yo form, changing the verbs as necessary. Hint: many of these are “yo-go” verbs.

Task: This activity has four parts.

1. An initial listening activity
2. An audio recording based on the prompts in the listening portion
3. A written response in Spanish to two peers’ questions
4. A final written response in Spanish to peers’ follow up questions

Part 1. Listen to the following questions about your life and habits in Spanish. You may read along with the Spanish instructor. Notice the spelling and pronunciation of the stem-changing verbs presented in this activity.

1. ¿Tienes tarea todos los días? ¿Dónde haces las tareas para tus clases?
2. ¿Haces deportes? ¿Qué días?
3. ¿Pones atención en clase a las explicaciones de tus profesores? ¿Cuál clase es más difícil para ti?
4. ¿Traes los libros contigo (with you) en tu mochila todos los días?
5. ¿Sales con tus amigos los fines de semana? ¿Adónde van?
6. ¿Dices la verdad siempre?  O ¿a veces dices mentiras? ¿Cuándo?  ¿A quién?
7. ¿Ves “youtube” todos los días?  ¿Qué ves en “youtube”?
8. ¿Oyes conversaciones ajenas (Do you eavesdrop/hear other people’s conversations) a veces?  ¿Cuándo? ¿De quién?
9. ¿Das dinero a los pobres necesitados (in need)? ¿Cuándo? ¿A quiénes?

Part 2. Pick three questions you want to answer and three questions you want to ask your fellow classmates (these may be the same or different, but they need to be from the 9 questions presented in the original audio file by the Spanish instructor). Using a computer or a voice memo function on a smartphone, in a single audio file record your answers to the 3 questions you selected to answer in Spanish, along with the 3 questions you chose to ask you peers (if you make mistakes, it is okay and expected; start over from the beginning of the sentence and keep recording). Post the audio file including your three responses and three questions in Spanish to the discussion board. Others will be able to hear your responses and questions in Spanish, just as you can hear theirs.

Part 3. You will respond to the original posts of two classmates by answering the three questions they asked you and asking them one question in return. This question must be a complete question from the original 9 presented; it cannot be ¿y tú? for this activity.

Part 4. Just as you have responded to the three questions of two of your peers and asked them an additional question, some of your peers have responded to your questions and asked you a question on your original post. Finish up the conversations by responding to each peer who commented on your original post. Answer their questions, and politely thank them for their time and sign off.

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

Parts 1 & 2. 30% of the grade for this activity is earned in this portion of the activity. You will hear 9 questions, and you will choose 3 questions that you would like to answer and 3 questions you would like to pose to your classmates. Record your 3 responses plus your 3 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). Each response is worth 5% and each question for your peers is worth 5%.

Part 3. 40% of your grade will be earned for interacting with two peers on their initial posts: you are to answer the three questions on the posts of two peers, so each answer is worth 5% and responding with one follow up question per peer is worth 5%.

Part 4. 30% of your grade will be earned for responding to your peers on your original post: you are to use Spanish to answer the follow up question that your two peers asked on your original post (10% each) and politely thank them and sign off (5% each).

Ejemplo:

Rashon listens to the recording. He then chooses which three questions he wants to answer and which three he wants to ask to his classmates. Rashon then records his responses in Spanish to the three questions he chooses to answer and he ends by asking three questions in Spanish to his classmates. He uploads this single audio file to the discussion board. He has earned 30% of the points for this activity.

Rashon then finds two peers, Elie and Rebecca, and he listens to their responses to the original prompt, as well as the follow up questions they ask him. He then prepares his responses, paying careful attention to the changes to the verbs and being sure to answer each question completely. He writes his answers to each of his peers’ three questions, and he follows up with one additional question that was on the Spanish instructor’s recording. He has earned 40% of the points for this activity.

Rashon  goes back to his original post and sees that two of his classmates have answered the questions he asked. He reads their responses and their follow up questions carefully. He writes a final message for each peer in which he answers their follow up question, thanks them by name, and signs off.