This story came from a unit on famous and significant Hispanics in the United States and elsewhere. It is a great story for introducing professions vocabulary and for Hispanic Heritage Month. It is also a good opportunity to use lots of students as actors. Many of the stories you will find only have 3 or 4 characters, but this one has more than that and gives lots of students the chance to be up and participating in the story. Since some of the characters are real people, I printed out pictures of the people that I planned to use in the story (Lionel Messi, Sonia Sotomayor, etc) and had the students playing those people hold the pictures so all the students could see what the real person looked like.
In Spanish:
Había una chica. Se llamaba María. María quería ser una profesional. Ella quería un Trabajo. (circle some pqa here_ qué trabajo quieres?—add words to board, ask several kids and circle on the phrase ‘quiere ser’—explain difference between quiere ser in pqa and quería ser in story) Fue a su mamá.
Le dijo: “Mami, quiero un trabajo.”
Mami le dijo: “Muy bien! Qué trabajo quieres?”
María le dijo: “Yo no sé.”
Mami le dijo: “Quieres ser una futbolista? Habla con mi amigo Lionel Messi.” (Insert any other famous soccer player here that your class recognizes, or even ask the students who some famous players are and use one of them — Lionel Messi, James Rodriguez, Neymar Jr. Mia Hamm, Abby Wombach, Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, etc)
María fue a la casa de Lionel Messi. Lionel le mostró el juego de fútbol. A María no le gustaba al fútbol. Fue a la casa de Mami y le dijo, “No quiero ser futbolista.”
Mami le dijo, “quieres ser abogada o juez? Habla con mi amiga Sonia Sotomayor.” (Sonia Sotomayor)
María fue a la casa de Sonia Sotomayor. Sonia le mostró qué hacen los abogados y jueces. A María no le gustaba la ley. Prefería el crimen. Fue a la casa de Mami y le dijo, “No quiero ser abogada ni juez.”
Mami le dijo: “Ay ay ay, quieres ser astronauta? Habla con mi amiga Ellen Ochoa.”
(Franklin Chang Díaz, Ellen Ochoa)
María fue a la casa de Ellen Ochoa. Ellen le mostró qué hacen los astronautas. A María no le gustaba la ciencia ni la físia. Fue a la casa de Mami y le dijo, “No quiero ser astronauta.”
Mami le dijo: “Ahora yo sé. Quieres ser una profesora? Habla con mi amigo __(Insert your name here)
SENOR!!!!
María fue a la clase de Senor Fernie. Señor le mostró qué hacen los profesores de español. A María le gustaba mucho la clase de español. Fue a la casa de Mami y le dijo, “¡Mami, quiero ser profesora de español como mi profesor favorito, Señor Fernie!”
…
In English:
There was a girl. Her name was Maria. María wanted to be a professional. She wanted a job. (circle some pqa here_ what job do you want? -add words to board, ask several kids and circle on the phrase ‘want to be’-explain difference between wants to be in pqa and wanted to be in story) He went to his mom.
He said: “Mom, I want a job.”
Mami said: “Very good! What job do you want? ”
Maria told him: “I do not know.”
Mami said: “Do you want to be a soccer player? Talk to my friend Lionel Messi. “(Insert any other famous soccer player here that your class recognizes, or even ask the students who some famous players are and use one of them – Lionel Messi, James Rodriguez, Neymar Jr. Mia Hamm, Abby Wombach, Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, etc)
Maria went to Lionel Messi’s house. Lionel showed him the soccer game. Maria did not like football. He went to Mami’s house and said, “I do not want to be a footballer.”
Mami said, “Do you want to be a lawyer or a judge? Talk to my friend Sonia Sotomayor. “(Sonia Sotomayor)
Maria went to the home of Sonia Sotomayor. Sonia showed him what the lawyers and judges do. Maria did not like the law. I preferred crime. He went to Mami’s house and said, “I do not want to be a lawyer or a judge.”
Mami said to her: “Ay ay ay, do you want to be an astronaut? Talk to my friend Ellen Ochoa. ”
(Franklin Chang Díaz, Ellen Ochoa)
Maria went to Ellen Ochoa’s house. Ellen showed her what the astronauts do. Maria did not like science or physics. He went to Mami’s house and said, “I do not want to be an astronaut.”
Mami told him: “Now I know. Do you want to be a teacher? Talk to my friend __ (Insert your name here)
MR!!!!
Maria went to Senor Fernie’s class. Señor showed him what Spanish teachers do. Maria really liked Spanish class. He went to Mami’s house and said, “Mommy, I want to be a Spanish teacher like my favorite teacher, Mr. Fernie!”
senor fernie 