The ladder
6 of 6 lessons builtA structure is not one lesson; it is a series. Each rung opens with a story, teaches ONE rule, practices it on that same story, and ends on a hook to the next.
- 1Regular -AR verbsAyer en el barrioLesson 1 of the preterite unit, on regular -AR verbs. It opens as a narrated picture-storybook (a little neighborhood mystery about a tart that vanished) told one illustrated, voiced sentence at a time. Then you check what happened, learn the -AR endings, and practice form and use on the same story.2Regular -ER and -IR verbsRompió el empateJuly 19, 2026. Eighty thousand people, a red card, twelve saves, and one left-footed shot in minute 106. Mateo was in the stadium; his cousins were texting from two continents. Read the chat, then tell the final the way it actually happened.3Spelling changes in the yo form (-car, -gar, -zar) and i → ySaqué mil fotosSeptember 15, the Zócalo, a million people and one bell. Vale posted the whole night as a photo dump: arrived at six, found her cousins, took a thousand photos, paid forty pesos for an elote. Read her post, then post your own night.4Irregulars I: ser, ir, and the u/i stems¿Qué hiciste el finde?Independence weekend in Paterson: a carne asada at four, twenty relatives and a dog, the fight on the patio TV, and nobody asleep before one. Mateo told the whole thing in a 50-second voice note. Listen, then answer the only Monday question that matters: ¿qué hiciste el finde?5Irregulars II: the j stems, dar and ver¿Qué dijo?Dani's quince. An emerald dress with a skirt that comes off to dance, a cake that drove three hours from Boston, a speech nobody understood until abuela translated it, and the one thing everybody said when they saw the cake. The chat has the receipts. Find out what happened.6Stem-changing -IR verbs in the third personPidió moleNovember 1st, a patio in Paterson, marigolds on a table and abuelo Chuy's favorite mole. Nobody cried; the cat slept under the ofrenda; the stories went past midnight. This is the story of one night, and the last rung of the ladder.
Practice
5 to repeatShort, repeatable sessions with no new story: assign one the day the class finishes the rungs it drills, then run it again. Each ships with a printable sheet and answer key.
Every lesson runs the same spine: see and hear → notice → process → produce → evidence. No points, no prizes. The story is the hook. Assign with a class code and get a per-student report that shows which verbs cost attempts.
More with this structure
Intermediate LowContame qué pasó
A focused first lesson on the preterite. A friend asks what happened last night; first you learn how the preterite works (regular endings + the irregulars you'll actually use, and how it differs from the everyday present), then you notice it, practice form and use, and tell the story yourself, every step gated by understanding.
Novice HighEl sábado de Cami
An input-based listening activity. Cami sends a voice note about her Saturday, told entirely in the preterite. You just listen and show you understood: the gist, the order of events, who did what. You never conjugate anything. The past tense is acquired through meaningful exposure, not a rule.