Preterite v. Imperfect

Preterite v. imperfect can be tricky for a lot of students because we have no equivalent to the concept in English. After I introduce the basic differences between the two (see another blog post for the mnemonic device), I show them a scene from movie.

I first pause the movie. I have them describe the scene (Estaba lloviendo y hacia sol. El chico se sentaba encima del carro. Las chicas en la distancia estaban hablando.). This helps with understanding that the imperfect is about description and setting the scene of a story. After we describe the setting, I press play, and after watching I have the students write the action in the story (all of which should be in preterite).

I usually do this twice with two different movies. I have used the scene in Shrek where Princess Fiona wakes up from sleeping in the cave to a bright, sunny morning. She hears a bird singing, and she starts to sing with the bird. I have also use the scene from Twilight where Bella is about to almost get hit by the van, and Edward swoops in and saves her.