Sunday, May 25, 2014

An Explanation of WEIRDO Verbs

Years ago in Spanish class I learned subjunctive in the same grueling way that people before me had learned - with long and complicated rules that made little sense to me and that seemed incomprehensible.

"The subjunctive mood occurs with a change of subject in subordinate clauses and requires the the employment of a verb of volition, negation, or doubt in the main clause."

It is no wonder everyone thought the subjunctive so hard!  Rules like the above make it nearly impossible to understand.

 WEIRDO Verbs Animated Power Point by AnneK at Confesiones y Realidades Blog


Years ago I came across the acronym WEIRDO that was used to describe which sorts of verbs would trigger the subjunctive in the subordinate clause.  It was like a breath of fresh air and I suddenly had a cute little way of laying out the rules for the subjunctive to my students.

But I have a lot of teachers write to me and tell me they don't know what I mean by "weirdo verbs" or that they would like to have a way of presenting this material to their students.  Yesterday Michelle, a reader of this blog, wrote and asked how to teach weirdo verbs to her students.  So I got to thinking about it and decided to make a Power Point that we can use to show to our students and help them make sense of the subjunctive.

I had a great time making this slide show, creating the background images, animating my little weirdo monster and playing around with various colors and effects.  I think your students will find it memorable and I hope it will help them to understand the mechanics of the subjunctive a bit better.  Click the image above or click here to download the Power Point.

I would love to hear from you if you find it useful, amigos.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

7 comments :

Unknown said...

Wow Anne! You and your powerpoint are amazing. What a thorough response to my question regarding WEIRDO verbs - thank you so much. This will be incredibly useful with my IB Spanish class. Thank you again for taking the time to reply with such a comprehensive explanation!

AnneK said...

Michelle, I'm so glad you like it! I had a lot of fun putting it together. Over the years I have had a lot of people ask me about the subjunctive so clearly there was a need for some explanation. I figured the Power Point would be a great resource for Spanish Teachers and would put a little humor into a topic that students often find very intimidating. I hope your students have a lot of fun learning the subjunctive, Michelle! <3 --AnneK

Mr. Eric White said...

Ojalá que el universo te regale todo lo bueno que mereces por compartir esto con nosotros (gratissss!) ;)

Gracias, Sra. Blanco de Oahu, HI ;)

AnneK said...

Que linda eres, Sra. Blanco. La única recompensa que necesito es la gratitud de mis colegas, y me haces muy feliz con tu comentario. <3 --AnneK

Abejita Industriosa said...

Es importante que compartamos como colegas para ayudarnos a enseñar conceptos como éste que causan tanta confusión en los estudiantes! Muchas gracias por tu generosidad y ojalá que pueda contribuir con algo que pueda ayudarte a ti también!

AnneK said...

Estoy de acuerdo, Abejita. La colaboración es una parte de ser profesional hoy en día. He conocido a profesores que querían guardar sus materiales y lecciones como si fueran documentos ultra secretos. Ese comportamiento es poco profesional en mi opinión y son los estudantes que sufren. Fui a visitar tu blog y me inscribí. Ojalá que podamos compartir y colaborar juntas muy pronto. Gracias por tu visita y tu comentario. Te invito seguirme si te da la gana.

Lydia Louise Carlson said...

Muchas gracias! Esto va a ayudarme mucho. Estoy agradecida!

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