Writing About a Childhood Memory in Spanish

Writing About a Childhood Memory in Spanish

In this lesson, you will write a short childhood memory with a clear frame, place, people, central event, and ending. Use the imperfect for background and habits, and the preterite for the completed events that move the memory forward.

Plan the memory before writing

Answer these questions:

• ¿Cuándo era? — When was it?
• ¿Dónde estabas? — Where were you?
• ¿Con quién estabas? — Who were you with?
• ¿Qué hacías normalmente? — What did you usually do?
• ¿Qué pasó? — What happened?
• ¿Cómo terminó? — How did it end?

Set the childhood frame with the imperfect

• Cuando era niño, vivía en un barrio pequeño. — When I was a child, I lived in a small neighborhood.
• Cuando era niña, vivía cerca de la escuela. — When I was a child, I lived near the school.
• Tenía diez años. — I was ten years old.

Describe the place and people

• Mi casa era pequeña. — My house was small.
• Había un parque cerca. — There was a park nearby.
• Siempre jugaba con mis amigos. — I always used to play with my friends.

Introduce the central event with the preterite

Once the background is clear, use a completed event to move the memory forward.

• Un día fuimos al parque. — One day we went to the park.
• De repente, empezó a llover. — Suddenly, it started to rain.
• Vimos un perro pequeño. — We saw a small dog.

Link background and event

Mientras jugábamos, empezó a llover. — While we were playing, it started to rain.

Cuando llegó mi madre, todos estábamos mojados. — When my mother arrived, we were all wet.

For this lesson, mojados — wet is useful memory vocabulary.

Give the memory an ending

• Al final volvimos a casa. — Finally we returned home.
• Después comimos juntos. — Afterward we ate together.
• El día fue muy divertido. — The day was very fun.

For this lesson, divertido — fun is useful evaluation vocabulary.

Model memory

Cuando era niño, vivía en un barrio pequeño y había un parque cerca de mi casa. Siempre jugaba allí con mis amigos. Un sábado fuimos al parque por la mañana. Mientras jugábamos, empezó a llover. Corrimos a una tienda y esperamos allí. Al final volvió a salir el sol y regresamos a casa. Fue un día muy divertido.

Meaning

Cuando era niño, vivía en un barrio pequeño y había un parque cerca de mi casa. — When I was a child, I lived in a small neighborhood and there was a park near my house.

Siempre jugaba allí con mis amigos. — I always used to play there with my friends.

Un sábado fuimos al parque por la mañana. — One Saturday we went to the park in the morning.

Mientras jugábamos, empezó a llover. — While we were playing, it started to rain.

Corrimos a una tienda y esperamos allí. — We ran to a store and waited there.

Al final volvió a salir el sol y regresamos a casa. — Finally the sun came out again and we returned home.

Fue un día muy divertido. — It was a very fun day.

For this lesson, corrimos — we ran, esperamos — we waited, and regresamos — we returned are understandable completed actions used inside the model.

Keep references clear

If you introduce several people, make sure the reader can identify who each verb refers to.

Ana y yo jugábamos en el parque. Carlos llegó después. Habló con Ana y luego los tres fuimos a casa. — Ana and I were playing in the park. Carlos arrived later. He spoke with Ana and then the three of us went home.

Do not make every verb the same tense

A childhood memory usually needs different functions.

• era / vivía / jugaba — background or habit
• fui / llegó / empezó / vimos — completed events

Do not replace tense choice with one time word

Use meaning and narrative function. A phrase such as cuando era niño supports a background stage, but later completed events inside the same memory still use the preterite when presented as completed.

Writing task

Write a short memory with:

1. one childhood frame
2. one place and one person or group
3. one habitual or background action
4. one central completed event
5. one connector such as cuando, mientras, or de repente
6. a clear ending

Editing method

1. Underline background and habit verbs and check that the imperfect is appropriate.
2. Underline completed event verbs and check the preterite.
3. Check who each pronoun or omitted subject refers to.
4. Check the event order.
5. Make sure the memory has an ending rather than stopping abruptly.

From Childhood Memory to Comparing Then and Now

You can now write a short childhood memory in which the background and completed events are clearly separated. The next lesson is a speaking task in which you compare life then and now.