Follow the links in the “Stories” menu to see the stories that either a.) I have written to use in the classroom or b.) the students have written as a class group. Each one will have some context about when I use/used it as well as the story in written Spanish and in English.
The stories published here are just the scripts, they don’t include the most important part of story-asking, which is repetition. The stories may seem repetitive because I use the same structures and forms over and over throughout, but I also make sure to circle the forms (See instructions for how to circle–and how to use lots of other TPRS methods–here).
In each story, I use some or all (depending on the level) of the first ten high-frequency verbs that I teach the students.
I call them the “Tremendous Ten” and I got them from various other lists and from what I found that the students needed the most when retelling and rewriting the stories. Based on the needs of the students and the story, I will use the past or the present tense (both are listed below). I make sure to present these at the beginning of the year. I start off by using them for circling and when the students have a bit more control of them, I leave them posted in the room whenever I am telling a story.
After the students are familiar with the Tremendous 10 and they know where to look to find them, I add new vocabulary in small amounts for each story. I also post these words on the board, but they are not there permanently.
Tremendous 10:
Past tense:
- Había – there was
- Se llamaba – was named
- Tenía – he had / she had
- Quería – he wanted / she wanted
- Estaba / Era – he was / she was
- Fue a – he went to / she went to
- Le dijo – said to him / her
- Le dio – gave to him / her
- Le gustaba – he liked / she liked
Present tense:
- Hay – there is
- Se llama – is named
- Tiene – has
- Quiere – wants
- Está / Es – is
- Va a – goes to
- Le dice – says to him/her
- Le da – gives to him/her
- Le gusta – likes
Please feel free to use the stories in your own classes and change them however you need!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
senor fernie 
Hola, how do you transition from one story (after weeks of working on it and its structures) to the next? I work with pk-6, but am most interested in transitioning in 1st-3rd grades. They seem to be the most challenging groups for me. Thanks!
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I usually do all of my activities for one story, then when it’s time to start another, I give them a little preview of what it will be about (food, toys, etc) using pictures on ppt. Then, we talk about the new vocabulary using pictures and pqa.
I try to use the same target structures through several stories and add new vocabulary slowly day-by-day. The other reason it takes so long for stories is that I incorporate the interpersonal mode throughout the class through linguacafe (Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell talks about it in depth on her blog musicuentos.com) at the beginning of class and through pqa and questioning during the story.
Stories, because of how slowly I tell them and with all the other routines we have to practice interpersonal speaking skills, usually take a few weeks. I just tell what happens in one location per week. Then, the next week, we review what happened in that location and add the new one.
Then, after the story is finished, we do listening and reading comprehension activities about the story. Then, it’s time to start all over again.
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Thank you, thank you!
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