Here’s a little gem written up by Jody Noble, an excellent TCI teacher now living in MX.

It’s great timing for this rhyme. Spanish teachers unfamiliar with Luis Pescetti, you might like more of his work.

Jody’s description of how she presents it, works it, reworks it, etc is beneficial for anyone who likes working with short, cultural rhymes, nursery rhymes, etc.

Here is a GREAT one for Halloween time. SE HACE DE NOCHE:http://youtu.be/N4K5uzxvBD8
I do not have them repeat any of the words at first. I like to do the rhyme with one actor at a time but, of course, we do it many times–so their are lots of actors during the teaching part.
I say in a scary voice: “Se hace de noche”. I tell them what it means in Spanish–“it’s getting dark”. They know “noche,” so we talk a little about that. You could teach them “night is falling,” but I don’t bother. When people say “se hace de noche,” they mean “It’s getting dark.” Then, we figure out a good gesture for the phrase. The actor and the class do the gesture every time I say–se hace de noche–which is many times–I say it softly, then loudly, then horribly, then creepily, etc. I get close to a kid, stare at them eerily, and say it. I turn my back to the class, turn around suddenly, and say it. You get the drill. Each time I say, they do the gesture. NO OUTPUT (yet). I choose another actor. We do the whole sequence again. If the kids are literate, I write the phrase on the board–after many, many repetitions. I want the sound of Spanish in their ears before they see the words and start laying English pronunciation/sound system on those words.
I move on to the next phrase: Se ve un castillo. Same routine. New actors. Total class participation. NO OUTPUT. I throw in “se hace de noche.” I alternate the phrases. I do them fast; I do them slowly–etc., etc.
That is probably all I would do the first day. The next time I see them, we review–using the same technique. I ask if there is someone who thinks they can really show us how to do the actions for the rhyme, and I call them up one by one. They ham it up; we have fun; they get more reps.
I move on to “se abre una puerta,” y “sale un vampiro.” The suspense is building. We do these phrases and add on the old ones just like we did the first day. I do not do the final phrase with them until the third day. On the third day, we do the “saca un cuchillo” and “unte pan con mantequilla.” If I’m feeling particularly inspired, I bring bread and butter (watch out for those gluten-intolerant or celiac kids) to class and we partake after we finish the rhyme. There has still been no output.
The next time we meet, we can do a game/circling with the phrases. I call up a kid, whisper one of the phrases in her/his ear; he/she does the action. I ask the class, “¿Se hace de noche?” I get a “Sí” or a “No.” I do that with all the phrases and the actor.
I move on to either/or questions and another actor: ¿Se hace de noche? o ¿Sale un vampiro? OUTPUT!!! It’s whole class response, so no one is on the spot. If they are more advanced, you can do things like: ¿Se hace de noche? o ¿Se hace del día? or ¿Saca un zapato? o ¿Saca un cuchillo? or ¿Se cierra una puerta? o ¿Se abre una puerta?, etc., etc.
Feeling confident? Move on to questions: ¿Qué se abre? Offer alternatives if you don’t get an automatic answer: ¿una boca? ¿una puerta? I don’t do too much of this because it stops being fun.
Then, we move on to the call and response. I say the phrase and do the action. They say it and do the action. It doesn’t matter what it sounds like; I know it will eventually come.
Then, we do the whole rhyme a few times. If some of them don’t want to say it, can’t say it, whatever–no big deal. I don’t require it. They must do the actions however.
On another day, if they are literate, I give them a blank cartoon sheet with boxes and the phrases of the rhyme written at the top of each box. They draw a little scene depicting that phrase.
This is a really fun rhyme with good verbs–hacer, ver, salir, abrir, sacar. Untar–not so much–but that’s the fun one! I hope this explanation doesn’t come off pedantic or too elementary. I’m sure you already do these types of things. These are just the kinds of things I do.

It’s Getting Dark – a spooky rhyme for this here time

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