Supporting the New-to-Language Kids: Differentiation in Action

Something that comes up a lot for teachers who have been using an acquisition driven, comprehension based approach is this: what do I do when I have a student who has little to no language in a class of students who have had a year or more of comprehension-based instruction, and have a lot of language under their belts?

We have to accommodate them.

Now, I want to be clear: accommodating them is my job. It’s hard. And to some degree, a little unfair for them- I mean, who wants to be the person with a kindergarten reading level in a 6th grade class? (Which is a close equivalent.)

As a teacher, it’s reasonable to differentiate about 3 sub-levels; like Novice Mid, Novice High, Intermediate Low.

It is a big ask to do 4 or more levels in one class. And in 2022-23, it's totally normal.
So in this sub job that I went to in Fall of 2022, students were put in language class without regard to their level. They were just lumped in.

Which meant that students with 0 language were put in a class with students who had at least a year (or more if they were in 8th grade!) of solid comprehension based instruction. And just to add some more challenge, I wasn't told which of the students were completely new.

It was REALLY hard! For them and for me. 

However, there are some things that I did that are a) good practice, and b) allowed them to successfully read an ENTIRE page of text at the end of our time together. And frankly, I’m really proud of these interventions. 

So what did I do? What were my teacher moves and strategies? How did I think ahead to start to address this situation? 

WHOLE CLASS: Establishing Meaning

What this means is that I told kids what words meant. This looked mostly like me putting the most important words on the board in the target language and in our shared language.
Was it possible to put every word I was going to use on the board? No.
It was possible for me to put the most important words up, and with the support of the question words, cognates, and adding words as needed, I was able to keep our conversations pretty “sheltered”.

But wait! What about the recommendation from ACTFL that says that 90% of the language in class should be in the target language? By telling kids what things mean, aren't I depriving them of "productive struggle"? 

First, ACTFL's recommendation is just that: a recommendation. It's not the law. There are no ACTFL police that are going to come around and fine me. 

While it is absolutely true that I want my students to be hearing (and reading, and interacting in) the target language a whole lot, if I am just speaking in the target language and they are not understanding, they aren't going to acquire anything. And frankly, using a shared language to link meaning is the simplest, most efficient way to make sure that students are able to comprehend the target language. Efficiency is important when we have limited hours of contact. You can read more of my opinion about this here: 90% Target Language.

"Productive struggle" is one thinly veiled way to make sure that some kids succeed and some don't. It's also a concept from traditional education contexts that just doesn't apply in a language classroom. If the goal is for students to acquire language, intentionally making things difficult for them to understand (or making it such that only a select few, or a certain kind of learner can understand) is both elitist and a waste of time. It also leads to the belief that only certain people are good at learning languages, minimal enrollment in upper level classes, and eventually, program closure.   

WHOLE CLASS: Sheltering Vocabulary

When I say “sheltering”, I am referring to the skill of “shelter vocabulary, not grammar.” I was focused on sheltering vocabulary- or as Martina Bex puts it: “protecting students from the words they don’t know and the negative emotions that come from not knowing them.” (And for what it’s worth, this is one of the most challenging skills for a teacher to develop.)
I planned ahead as much as possible and pre-wrote words and their meaning on the board as well - which in turn helped me remember what words to use- it helped me shelter better. It meant that I had a reminder in front of me about which words to use (and if it wasn't on the board, I should really try to not use it!)

WHOLE CLASS: Pause, Point, Slow

I worked really, really hard to speak slowly and point to the meaning of words as I said them. Of course, they had to be looking at where I was pointing, and paying attention to the English meaning. That was tough- but I'll deal with that in a minute.

WHOLE CLASS: Glossing everything

Glossing means adding the meaning of words- like a glossary. If I gave the students a reading, I put the core vocabulary on the top with meaning, and other words that I would not expect them to know as footnotes.

Reminders to myself

I had to constantly remind myself: I can not assume that they know anything. I certainly can not assume that they remember anything because I have no idea who was in class before. So thinking that they "should" know a word or meaning is just not fair. As John Bracey, a colleague and amazing Latin teacher reminds us: there are no "shoulds" in class.

This is such an important thing to remember- and one that I feel so deeply as I sit in my Chinese class and ask about the meaning of the same word...every. single. week. (OK, I ask for one word like 3 weeks in a row, then I ask about a new one.) If my teacher made me feel ashamed for asking, I'd never show up again. 

What it looked like:

Here's an example: I knew that we were going to be doing a ClipChat about a man, on a sofa, who opens and closes the door. On the board, I put up every word that I thought would be unknown- mostly it was verbs (opens, closes, walks, runs, there is, etc.). I tried to do this ahead of each class- this is why I love having a lot of whiteboard space.

Here's a picture of my white board:

Image of a whiteboard with Spanish words, underlined, and English meaning written in blue

For another story, using the EXACT same vocabulary, I made sure that all the words were on the board and on the copy of the text that they were going to read.

We did a gallery walk style reading, where they had to decide who said what based on the reading. Again, all the words were on the board. 

This is differentiation

I want to be clear: making sure that everyone is able to understand is differentiation. It is so easy to teach to the top tier of student- the motivated, the ones with tons of language, the ones that are engaged because they love it. But our job is to teach all the students, and this is the first step: making sure all students understand the target language input.

The Results

Was it perfect? Nope. Not at all. I was imperfect because I am not a mind reader, and I had no idea what they did and didn’t know, and who knew what, and so on. I was imperfect because it’s been since last May that I was in a classroom. I was imperfect because I am human!

It was messy too- because the students who had no prior language experience really struggled with believing that they could understand. They didn’t believe that I was pointing to the meaning of the words as I used them, and they didn’t believe that they were going to succeed. They arrived tuned out, turned off, and disconnected. 

And slowly, they started to come around. The magic really began to happen in 7th grade, when I started using an early unit from Somos. The thing about Somos is that it is structured in such a way that students get a lot of repeated exposure to the same vocabulary and it is written so that it is very easy to shelter vocabulary for the teacher. (Read about my relationship with Somos here.) 

The students really responded to the structure of the unit plan, but more importantly, we were keeping the language really focused on just a few key terms. 

INDEPENDENT WORK: Individual interventions and Small Groups

Any time I had students doing independent or partner work (reading a story, responding to questions about that story, etc.), I tried to either modify the task for the newer students or pulled them in a small group to work with them separately, or both. (Of course, it took a few days for me to figure out who was brand new.)

Sometimes this looked like having them just read the first paragraph with me and translating it. Or just reading highlighted sentences (that I highlighted as they sat down to work- no prep.) Another option was to not answer all the comprehension questions, or not complete the entire task. Remember: all students need not be doing the exact same thing. This is differentiation!

I also had them working together in a homogenous (same level) group so I could work with them and the other students could work independently. 

In 8th grade, I had one student new to language, and she sat with me and read some stories from the very first units of Somos (that I happened to have from previous classes). She translated them or drew them while everyone else was working on a more appropriately leveled activity. 

When we did Quick Draw, a partner activity that I did want her to participate in, I had already created two versions of a text (one in present tense, one in past tense). I put her in a homogenous group and modified the task: I invited that group to play with just 5 of the 10 sentences from the present tense, familiar version. (Read more about quick draw, from AnneMarie Chase, here.)

In another class, I had my 7th graders do a fun variation on a volleyball reading: one I first saw demonstrated by Craig Sheehy of TPRS Books. Note: this was a text that they had listened and read along with me already- it was familiar. 

In this activity, I arranged chairs to be in the formation of a small airplane, 2 by 2. Students were seated with a partner and had to do a volleyball reading: one person read the target language sentence, then the other translated it, and then read the next target language sentence. Then the first partner translated that one. Read more about volleyball translation here from The Comprehensible Classroom (Martina Bex). 

The twist is this: I put up a map of different countries, put on my best flight attendant voice, and every few minutes, announced that we would be landing in a different destination, and the first 2 or 3 people in first class (either on the left or right) had to move to economy. Everyone else moved up. I alternated what side of the "plane" had to move so students would get different partners. They had to go back to the earliest part of the text of either partner, even if one of them had already read that section. 

Image: students sit with their backs to the camera in rows of 2, reading out loud

SUCCESS: Two out of the 3 new-to-Spanish students were able to read and translate the ENTIRE page with their partners.

Note: Only 2 of the 3 did it. I had not managed to convince the 3rd kiddo that I was there to help them succeed. But that’s not too bad for 3 (shortened) weeks of instruction! 

What would I do next?

In practical terms, moving forward, I would plan on giving the new students nearly the same assessments, but I would discuss a few different options for reporting their assessments with them and their caregivers.

One option would be that they would take the assessment but I would not report their scores for the first trimester or 2. Since my grades are standards-based, this is something that has worked for me before, with admin and caregiver approval. 

I hope this helps you get some ideas about what to do with different levels, new students, etc.! 

Differentiation and more: Back in the classroom!

BACK IN THE CLASSROOM!!!

I spent the first three weeks of school…in school! I was invited to take over for 3 weeks while a teacher was out on paternity leave- so I got to start the year with students! 

Some students were those that I knew from way back in the Before Times- when I was teaching one section of 5th grade, writing curriculum for grades 3-5 as I went, and mentoring an elementary teacher in addition to teaching my regular schedule of Spanish 1 honors, Spanish 2 honors, and Spanish 1b.  Then the pandemic hit, and the rest was…well, you all know.

I did a week-long sub job last year for a colleague in Texas as well, but it was a short, quick week at the end of the year, and while it was wonderful and worthwhile, I didn’t really get to try a lot of new things. 

I got to try A LOT of new things this time! 

And wow, I had a lot of new things to try!  I was so lucky to get to spend time in the language labs at IFLT this summer with Marta Ruiz Yedinak, Skip Crosby, Annabelle Williamson, Hayiun Lu, and others, and to be a facilitator-coach at the Agen Conference (IN FRANCE!!!), embedded in Spanish with Adriana Ramírez. From all of that came a list of things that I wanted to try, observations, things I wanted to think about, etc. However, the theme of the summer for me seemed to be Differentiation. I watched as some incredibly masterful teachers modeled a TON of different differentiation techniques- some that were familiar and some that were totally new to me. 
In my next few blog posts I am going to share some of the things I saw, learned, and tried. Let's start with Differentiation and the Amazing Skip Crosby! 

Differentiation: Skip Crosby Style

Skip was a language lab teacher at IFLT this summer. 

I should mention that Skip is a master at differentiation. It’s so subtle that if you aren’t looking for it, you will likely miss it, which is incredibly impressive because the students don’t even notice it. All they seem to notice is how successful they are any time he asks them something.  If you ever get a chance to watch Skip teach, treat yourself. 

(Side note: He hosts the annual TCI Maine conference, which is open for registration as of September 2022 and although I am not going, I am 100% sure it will be amazing. Click here for more information: TCI MAINE 2022)

Some things that I observed him doing included (some are very differentiation focused, some are just Skip being amazing). 

Accepting non-verbal answers

    As a learner (of Chinese) myself, I can not stress the amazing value of this practice. There are many times when I understand a question and even know the answer, but may not be able to or confident enough to verbalize. I have seen this over and over again. 

Using cognates

    Cognates, if you teach a cognate-rich language, are great *so long as everyone understands them!* Cognates are a literary skill and can backfire- imagine being the person in the class who doesn’t know the word that is “obvious”. Making meaning clear for cognates is one trick. Mike Peto taught me this: use a gesture (I use my two index fingers coming together) to indicate a cognate. When I do that, students can shout out what they think it means in English. Then I confirm. 

Changing the question when it was not understood

    I watched Skip ask a question and then realize that it wasn’t a good question for that student- that is, they weren’t able to understand or answer it- and smoothly repeat the question in such a way that it was understandable. I can’t quite wrap my head around how to do this in such a way that it isn’t obvious-like Skip did- but it is something that I aspire to. 

Letting one student repeat and translate to the shared language any time it was needed

    This practice is something that I have really struggled with. It was really eye-opening for me to see and hear Skip model this and to recognize how it didn’t interrupt or disrupt the flow of teaching or language. I know, based on research and practice, that using the shared language in class does not do harm to student acquisition of the target language, but I have always stopped this when it happened in my class. (Like last week.) Re-reading my notes from watching Skip, I wish that I had just let it run its course, and recognized that the student was getting what they needed in that moment.

Personalizing

    Personalizing our classes is one of the core practices of a comprehension based classroom - after all, getting to know our students and talking with and about them is in our standards! And it takes a while- and practice- to use the information we get from them in a way that works in class. Skip reminded me of the importance of this. Some of the things he did included referring to their pets and their interests and hobbies throughout the class.

Staying in-bounds- only using language that had been used in class and referring only to what had happened in class that day. 

  Out of all the skills that are necessary for a comprehension based class, staying “in bounds” is maybe the hardest. ESPECIALLY when you have students who are at widely differing levels of proficiency. (Like me, last week, with an 8th grader who had never had language instruction and the rest of the class who had 2+ years of proficiency driven instruction…) It takes a lot of intention and work to make it automatic, and compassion for ourselves when we don’t get it right.    

Differentiation in the Moment: A Game 

Overview 

Using a simple game format, the teacher asks questions of students that they are confident they can answer. The teacher asks different questions of students depending on the student. 

What’s the point? 

Teachers can use a game format to build student confidence and motivation by asking differentiated questions during the game. Plus, this is a great “sponge” activity to use when only a few minutes of class remain. 

Teacher Directions: 

• Students stand or sit in a circle.
• Teacher throws a soft object at a student OR students pass object around until music stops. 
• Teacher asks a question about the day’s input (or other known information) that the student can answer.

Student directions

• Catch or pass the object as directed.
• Answer the questions. 

For some ideas of differentiated questions:

• What does ___ mean in English? 
• How do you say ____ in [the target language] ?
• Where did [person] go first in the story?
• What is one fact about [topic]? 
• [in target language] Yes or no: ______. 
• “You ask me a question” (for more advanced students, in the target language) 

Tips 

You can play this with a lot of different kinds of games- any game where you ask questions about something that you make up on the spot. I have done it with The Lucky Reading Game and also with a variation of 4 Corners.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE - Coming soon I hope! 
Differentiation and observing Adriana Ramírez, 
The Student who is new to Class and how she read a whole page of a story after 3 weeks
Not Quite Plan B, Not Quite Anything goes (adding structure when kids are squirrely) 

Upcoming: two amazing opportunities to grow as a comprehension based teacher.

So, this is a little bit of shameless self promotion. Forgive me.  This blog *is* my platform to share some great opportunities coming up.  

First, Martina Bex and I are doing our very first SOMOS (and Nous Sommes) training.  We have been very busy creating new materials and reflecting on how to best support teachers implementing SOMOS/Nous Sommes.  I have been moderating our collaborative Facebook group for a long time now, and there seem to be common questions and concerns.  Our goal is to try to help teachers understand why SOMOS/Nous Sommes is written the way that it is, and how to use the curriculum as a guide to create joyful connections in language class.  We are so excited to finally do this- it has been my dream for a LONG time!  We are going to have coaching, social time, and a fantastic day and evening of training and support.  

http://bit.ly/SOMOSWorkshop2020

Seriously, this is a big deal.  At least for me!  And then, there is Comprehensible Online.  

The second opportunity upcoming is Comprehensible Online.  This is my third year presenting as part of this amazing conference, and I am so proud to be included.  The thing about this conference- well- there are so many things.  PD in your PJs?  YES!!!  A TON of presenters who are presenting on their areas of expertise and passion? That too.  The list of topics is breathtaking and vast.  I *know* that I will not have enough time to even watch a portion of these, and I also know that they will have an immediate impact on my teaching.  Also, you can watch them on a treadmill or exercise bike. BONUS!  

As a presenter, I try to go deep into a classroom practice and use live video of my students and I in the classroom to model and explain that practice.  For me, seeing actual teachers in their classroom is some of the most impactful training I can get.  

This year, I decided to dig deep into what differentiation looks like in my classroom.  Because we have to teach the kids that we have, not the kids we wish we had.  

Somehow, I feel like it has become a core part of my practice, so I decided to present on it.  I have two presentations this year. 

The first one, called Differentiation in the Moment, includes lots of footage of my classroom (grades 7 and 8, Spanish 1 honors, 2 Honors, and Spanish 1B) and presents a few strategies that I use to differentiate during story asking, classroom discussions, games, and whole group reading.  

www.desklessclassroom.com 

My second presentation is also about differentiation, but more focused on input based tasks and activities that are pre-planned. 

I will be sharing templates and resources for participants to download and implement in their classroom.  I will also be talking about how I adapt some of the resources for elementary FLEX classes and how that has gone.

This one doesn't include classroom footage because, well, it was incredibly boring to watch the students work on things, but it does have a lot of content- so much that I had to cut out 10 minutes! 

If you sign up before Jan 15, you will get a $25.00 discount AND better pricing, and will help me recoup some of the 40+ hours spent making the video with the kids. Sheesh- it takes HOURS to edit!! Thanks! Use code ELICIA.     


Please consider joining me (and my dear colleagues) at one of these trainings. You will not be disappointed!   

Day 3: Working with the stories (and activity ideas)

Day 3

This post is the third in a series about what I actually did the first 3 days of classes.  Here are posts about Day 1 and Day 2.  

In Panamá and República Dominicana (class names for my Spanish 1B classes), my plan was to finish the story we started a couple of days ago.  I was successful in one class, and the other...well,  it's a work in progress.  We sure did get a chance to practice our procedures and routines, I tell you what!  That is a nice way of saying that they needed a lot of practice- practice not talking over each other or me, practice listening, practice not throwing things, etc.  Lots of practice.  

I believe in practice.

My classroom mantra.  

 We did establish a few facts in their story, but I am going to have to finish their story another day.

I also wanted to give all the classes their interactive-ish notebooks, but not spend too much time on them.

I spent about 20 minutes at the beginning of class passing out notebooks, getting names, updating tables of contents, going over expectations for gluing, and gluing in one important rubric- that of daily engagement.  

Then, back to the stories.  In Panamá I dispensed with the notebook stuff because several kids are gone due to a mountain bike race, so we just worked with the story (and finished it!).  In República Dominicana, I focused on the notebook and we will finish their story during the next class.  

In Cuba (Spanish 1 Honors), we did Around The World with Translations and Illustrations. It went really well.   


In my Honors 2 class, Honduras, we started with the notebooks, but since they were with me last year, it took about 5 minutes.  Then, I projected their illustrations from the mural and gave them a copy of the story that I typed out.  They had to write the sentence (on whiteboards) that best described the picture I showed- and if there were different opinions, we had a conversation about it.  (Here are directions for that activity. It is one of my favorites.)

Differentiation
To differentiate this activity and get more input, I asked different students to be interviewed (by me) as a character in the story about what happened and how they felt.   I let any student volunteer, but some students got yes/no and either/or questions and others got more open ended questions.  

Here are some question examples for students who needed more support: 

• Were you scared when ___ happened?  
• Did you go to ___ or ___ afterwards?
• Did you do ___ first or ____?  

Open ended questions:

• Why were you scared?
• How did you feel when ____ happened?
• Did you want ___ to happen? Why or why not?  

Was this forcing output?  Nope, I don't think so.  They were volunteering to be interviewed (they knew that they would be speaking) and I was using different kinds of questions to make sure they were successful.  

I also added a write and discuss so they could see the 1st person forms of the words with the answers the interviewees gave.  

 I didn't even get through all the pictures of the mural when I realized if I wanted to start the movie trailer activity, I'd better move on.  We started just as Amy describes in her blog post- discussing what are the elements of a trailer, and started brainstorming important events.  

Then it was time to go to lunch!

Next week's plans

Next week, I plan on continuing to teach procedures, add in new brain breaks, and add a few procedural things to our interactive-ish notebooks.   (Passwords, birthday compliments, and performance descriptors come to mind.)  

I will use the Around the World translation and reading activity in my standard classes (with their class story) and play some kind of secret input game with the illustrations.  

I also plan on taking one whole class period and teaching them about proficiency levels. (See this post for specifics).

In addition, I will spend at least one class period with my 8th graders setting them up for Sustained Silent Reading (Free voluntary reading), but if I don't get to it until the following week, that's ok.  

Day 2, 2019: some lessons about going out of bounds

Day 2

This is a series of posts about what I actually did during my first three days of class with students.  Click here to see Day 1, and here to see Day 3. 

For some information about what I do to start the year, click here.  

I started each class today by giving students time to read the syllabus and assigned the syllabus homework that I have students do each year.  We reviewed how students enter class and practiced it with one group.  (Here is a sample of my routines and procedures.)

We spent a few minutes discussing the syllabus homework, then I taught them another brain break and we practiced that.  

Next, we continued with the story we had started the previous day. In the case of the class that had no time to start one, we started a new story.   (Here is the rough script that I was roughly following.)  

A vegetarian chupacabra and Elmo.
I LOVE TPRS!  

In Honduras, the class that looped up with me (they were Spanish 1 honors last year, now Spanish 2 honors), we spent very little time practicing procedures, but jumped straight to a complex story about a vegetarian chupacabra that wanted to be popular, but also refused to hunt. It was a classic TPRS story in that there were multiple locations and unexpected details- Mall of America, a roller coaster, and Elmo.  (If you want more information about how to ask a story, you are in luck!  We made a whole episode of our Summer Fun Club on this Story Asking-  and here is even more information! )

When the story ended but there was still class time, I turned to my favorite activity- a Cooperative Mural.   Students had 10 seconds to draw one moment of the story, then I narrated and verified what part they drew. 




At the end of class, I took pictures of the mural with my phone.  I know that I will use these in some way the next time I see the kids.  

For the other classes, I took pictures of the board again. 

TEACHER FAIL 

In Cuba, Spanish 1 Honors,  I had a terrible fail.  I used WAY too much vocabulary (went way out of bounds) and overloaded them.  Although I did a good job of making sure they understood the words (linking meaning, writing words on the board, etc.), I used WAY too many words.  I have no idea what I was thinking in that moment- all I can say is that I forgot my audience. It was a pretty epic TPRS fail and I knew I had to think of some ways to scaffold the crap out the story and make sure they felt supported.  More about that below.  

In that sense, it was ok because I showed them that I am going to make sure they understand- I did all the things that I try to do- each time a kiddo showed me they didn't understand, I clarified (and said thank you and gave them a high-five), and each time they didn't answer my questions with confidence, I clarified, and I gave them lots of processing time...so I guess it wasn't a total fail, but not an experience I hope to repeat.  I have to remember to give myself some slack, right?  

In República Dominicana and Panamá (class names), I had two incomplete stories, but we had established some hilarious facts and had some laughter in Spanish, so I was happy with that.  

End of day  

At the end of the day, I had two completed stories to finish typing out and two half-completed stories to start typing out.  Still exhausting, but I had a big block of planning time before I saw three of the four classes again, so I had some time to work.

I also had the illustrations from the mural to work with for one class.  

What I prepped for the next class:

In Cuba, the class with which I used too much vocabulary, I decided to do an input-based translation and reading activity.  I wanted to reinforce the idea that "you are going to understand everything, and I am going to help you."  This was the best way I could think of to overcome my epic fail.  

AROUND THE WORLD Translation and Illustrations

Click for examples that you can use or adapt:

Directions I post

The handout with story

Translations to put up around the room 

1) I typed up the story and divided it into 9-12 paragraphs.

2) I created a handout with the story and a space to write a number next to each paragraph. I made one for each student.  I also included a box for small illustrations.

3) I translated each paragraph to L1 and assigned each one a random number.  (This is an easy way to teach low frequency vocabulary like numbers. Just use them!) 

4) I printed up the translation paragraphs, cut them up, and put them around the room.

Students need to walk around the room, reading the story and the translations, and write the number of the translation in each box.  When they finish, they sit down and choose some scenes to illustrate.

*The reading and matching L2 to L1 is the most important part of this activity. The illustration is an extension for kids who fly through the first one, giving them something to do while slower processors take the time they need.  I will let them know that the illustrations are not meant to be completed (although I bet I have some fast finishers who will) so the slower processors don't get stressed. This is one way that I differentiate. 

On Tuesday, when I next see them, I will have them read the text again, and we will review the activity.  THEN, I will have them cut out their illustrations and we will put them in a big pile and do some variation of a Secret Input activity. I think that this group, which is boy heavy, will enjoy some healthy competition, so I need to think about how to do that.  Or maybe I will divide up the illustrations and kids into small groups, and have the students pull one illustration and their group members have to find that scene in the text and write it on a whiteboard.  I will see how I (and they) feel.

For the other class that finished the story, Honduras, I took the pictures of their mural and put them in a quick slideshow- click here for more information about that- so we can do some kind of secret input game for our next class.  

I also went back to my notes from all the PD I did this summer and decided that I wanted to try this idea from Amy Marshall, which requires no prep from me other than having a story.  Perfect!  

I also typed up my notes from the other classes, and came up with a way to end the stories we started.  

I went to bed at 8:15 that night. 

Day 1 in my classroom, 2019

I started school last week!  This year, my schedule is less convenient, I lost prep time, and I added another class.  I am doing my very best to be positive and sanguine about these changes, while looking ahead at what I will need to do to maximize my limited time.  I expect another blog post about planning time to come soon, as soon as I have lived it a bit more! Here is one planning post to get you started, if you are interested.  

But what the heck did I do during my first three or four days with the kids?   This post is about Day 1 and my overall goals.  Click here for Day 2 (with some examples of activities that I do) and Day 3. (with examples of how I differentiate an activity).  

Overall Goals 

My goal for the students was to help them see that this class is fun, that they will understand the Spanish we use, and also fun.  My teacher goal was to introduce them to some procedures and routines that will be the foundation of our year (like how we return to our seats from brain breaks and how we interact with each other in class).  My academic goal was to spend enough time in Spanish to make it feel like a language class, while not overwhelming or scaring them.  

My favorite way to do this is with a story.  But sometimes it doesn't go as planned! Read on for details, and a couple of ideas of what to do with the stories once they are finished, or skip to here for detailed activity ideas.
   

Day 1 in middle school 

Short classes!  In each class, I started with teaching the procedures for walking into my classroom.  (Because that first moment is the most important opportunity to establish how it is going to go, at least in my opinion.)  I had name tags for the kids, seating cards so they had random, assigned seating with less anxiety, and directions on the board.  

Kids lined up outside my room to wait for me.  I pulled one kid who I sort of knew and had them be my helper; they stood by the materials and made sure each student saw the directions and saw where the materials are located in the room.  Meanwhile, I greeted each student, asked them their name pronunciation and preferred nickname if applicable, and welcomed them.  

I did not welcome them in Spanish.  I did not start class in Spanish.  Once I taught them my "class is starting" procedure (in English) (click here for an older post about procedures and routines) and we practiced it a couple of times, I welcomed them in English.  

Then I made a little time for them to tell me what they were excited about, what they were nervous about, and what questions they had.    I smiled a lot.  We chatted.  I answered their questions and concerns, and I shared mine.  One class had more questions, and one was silent so I had to do a think-pair-share.  

I said several times "I am speaking in English now because I want you to know what is going on in this class, and I know that we will be speaking plenty of Spanish later."  

Then we did a quick brain break- I taught them to form 2 lines quickly and we practiced that a couple of times.  Then, they made a complex handshake with their partner(s) and practiced it- they had one minute.  I did this all in English, except for the second time we formed two lines- then I gave the direction in Spanish.  

I told them this handshake partner was their compañero de Bolivia, (Bolivian partner) and whenever they heard me yell BOLIVIA they needed to run to a space in the room with their partner and do their crazy handshake.  

We practiced that a couple of times, and then practiced how I get them back to their seats. (I do a call and response, which I learned from Annabelle.)  I praised them for doing it correctly and invited them (invited is a nice way to say that I forced them, but in a friendly way) to practice it again when they didn't get it quite right.  

Then, depending on how much time that all took, we started a little Spanish story.  

In two classes (I use class names as Annabelle suggests in this post- so these classes were Cuba and Honduras, both honors classes), I had them move chairs to how I like them for story asking, and we got started. 

 Here is the outline of the script I use (and some other beginning of the year resources) but it is very loose.  And remember, I am *not* teaching beginners!  If I was teaching beginners, I would start out doing exactly what is described in SOMOS 1, Unit 1, available for free on TPT.  *

With República Dominicana, the story went nowhere, but we did establish that one kid had shoes that smelled delicious, and that it was bad behavior to eat other people's sandwiches.  

Panamá ran out of time to move chairs and start a story, so I started talking about animals.  I used my rather gigantic collection of stuffed animals to ask (in target language) "Who has a dog?  I have a dog. Jay, you have a dog?  Who else has a dog?   Who has a cat?"  I used gestures and comprehension checks and the realia of the stuffed animals to support.  When I got to a stranger animal (moose, otter, giant spider), I started asking "Who wants a ___?", again checking for comprehension and using gestures.  

At the end of each class, I took a picture of whatever I wrote on the board so I could recreate it later.  

This wasn't quite a story, but it was a lot of input!  

At the end of the day, I took a few minutes to type out as much of the story we had done, based on the photo of the board.  This is a CRUCIAL, if exhausting step, both to help me decide where to go tomorrow, and to help me remember what we talked about.  I remembered why I usually don't do storyasking at the same time in all my classes if I can help it!  

Read on for Day 2 and 3!   

*Full disclosure: I now work for Martina Bex and the Comprehensible Classroom, but I do not renummerated based on sales or commission- at all. I am recommending it because it is fantastic.  

  

The Great Grammar Compromise part 1 (with activity idea)

How do I teach grammar? (the philosophy bit)  
(scroll down for the activity!) 

One question that seems to come up for many teachers new to teaching with comprehensible input (aka acquisition driven, proficiency oriented instruction, and comprehension-based communicative language teaching -CCLT) is what to do about grammar.

By the way- in my own Second Language Pedagogy, I believe that grammar is basically useless for language acquisition. I believe that so-called rules and patterns are *not* language, and that students do not internalize rules.  I believe that with enough input, students create language in their heads, and there is nothing at all in that process that is grammar related.  But I understand that is a pretty radical paradigm shift and that everyone is on their own journey.

Here is a great article by Alina Filipescu about the extent of grammar in her class. (Can I just say that I have linked to this article SO MANY TIMES that all I have to do is type "the extent..." in my browser and it just pops up. How awesome is that?)

For me, it looks like this:

Instead of teaching about the language and patterns and rules,  and expecting students to internalize that information and apply it immediately, I use language for input.  When the time is right (when students have a lot of language), I point out what students can already do and give it a name.

Here's an example. By the way, my kids have only ever heard the word conjugate...well, never.

So the other day, I asked them how to say "I go."
-Voy.- they replied.
-How do you say 'He goes to the bathroom'?- I asked.
-Va al baño.
-What word in that sentence means 'he goes'?
-Va.
-And 'they go'?
Van.
-What you are doing- changing a verb to say who is doing something (or when it is being done)- is called conjugating.

via GIPHY

I quickly pulled up a verb chart, using notes from the Grammar In Context series from Martina Bex, and we quickly filled it in.  (This one was about ir + a, or one way to talk about the future.)

Boom. They already knew all the words. (Or most of them, at least.  Note to self- we need to talk about us more- like us as in using the "we" form of verbs because for whatever reason this year, it seems to be harder for them- which to me means I have not been giving them enough input.)

Verb chart + conjugation lesson complete in about 5 minutes.

Mind you, this is the second year of being exposed to the word goes in all kinds of forms (goes, went,   is going to go, etc.) and we just spent a week talking about the future, using the construction is going to g...[do something].  So it was not new to them.  The only new thing was this word conjugate and a verb table.

 They have already acquired *most* of the verb forms without direct instruction.  

The grammar lesson was complete in about 10 minutes, then we moved back to more input.

But wait, is that it?  Well, actually, no.

I know that 100% of my students are going into combination grammar translation classrooms/"communicative"  classrooms. (I am using that description to mean classrooms where the focus is on practicing language rather than communicating with language.)  They have a ton of language and I want them to be surprised at how much they know, not shocked by how many of linguistic features they can't name.   But I also want to make sure that they are still getting a ton of input.

So how do I find that balance?

1) I utilize some Grammar-in-context notes from Martina Bex in class.  (Not many, and not often.)

2) I send some Grammar-in-context notes and readings (more input) home as *optional* supports for summer work for students headed to high school.

3) I also send home a list of novels and say that if it is one or the other, the novels are much better for acquisition if they are both interesting and easy. For a list of all novels, click here. I take this list and make an edited version of it based on what books are in the Spanish library in my classroom.

4) Horizontal conjugations.  Although I often model this throughout the year, I tend to do a lot more of these in the late spring because students have acquired so much more by then.  Click on the link for more info about how to do it.

SECRET GRAMMAR INPUT
Here is a "Secret Input" grammar activity that is not new, but has worked VERY well for me this week.  I did this in both my Spanish 2 honors class and my Spanish 1B classes.

First, we read a text together.  I made sure it was comprehensible by personalizing it, bringing actors up to act it out, and checking for comprehension.

Then, I gave each kid a copy of the text and asked them to re-read it out loud (with a partner) or silently.

Then, they had re-write the text from a different perspective. (In my honors class, they could choose one of 3 texts written from either 3rd or 1st person perspectives.  To further scaffold, one was a text that we had already done as a group.  )

Students worked together if they wanted (yeah differentiation!) and re-copied the whole story, changing it from 3rd person to first person. (Or vice-versa, depending on the text.)

When they were done, they came up to get a copy of the horizontally translated story and self-checked, marking their errors in red (I had them do this not so I could grade them, but so I could see if there were patterns.)

I moved around and helped them out.  This gave me the opportunity to sit with a few groups who I knew might need more support for one reason or another.  The fast finishers self-checked and then had the option of helping another group or reading their FVR book.

Why I love horizontal conjugation:  in order to change the perspective, they really have to understand the words- so it it is one more way to get comprehensible input in their brain.  They have such a sense of satisfaction when they do it because it shows them just how much they can really understand.

Differentiation in the TPRS/CI classroom

Definitions: 

Differentiation:  "Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction."

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-differentiated-instruction

I chose this definition, not because I love Reading Rockets, but because I have a lot of respect for the author of this article- Carol Ann Tomlinson- who has written a great deal about differentiation in the classroom. 

Barometer student (aka Pacesetter): the student in your classroom who is often the slowest processor and needs the most supports (visual, gestural, etc.) to fully comprehend everything.  They also need more think time and comprehension checks.  Note: TPRS/CI teachers use this term differently than behavior specialists.  

Every class, regardless of level, has a wide range of students.  That includes (but is not limited to): processing speed, previous exposure to L2, emotional status, gender, executive functioning, motor skills, basic needs being met (or not), attitude about learning, attitude about self, motivation, literacy skills, critical thinking skills, etc.  

photo taken from https://calicospanish.com

In one class, that may look like: native speaker, student who came from immersion school, student whose grandparent only speaks L2 (and lives with them), an extremely good test taker, student with strong oral skills and low reading ability, one with strong reading ability but slow processing speed, one with sensory integration issues, and a student diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum.  And that is only 6 of them.  In my already tracked "honors" class.  

My job is to teach all of them, right?  TPRS/CI is about creating equity in the foreign language classroom and helping each kid succeed.  Right?  (At least it is for me.)  

So, here are some strategies that I use to differentiate for all students.  However, most of these strategies are for faster processors and native speakers because your TPRS/CI skills are supporting your barometer students already.  

My goal is that my barometer student(s) comprehend everything and my other students stay engaged and are pushed. 

 I want to add that this is HARD.  It takes constant practice (on top of juggling all those other TPRS skills!).  This is work that I have been engaging in for years, with a lot of reading, workshops, thinking, trying, failing, trying again.  I am not an expert, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve.    

(I am going to assume that basic TPRS skills are being developed or are in place, because those are the skills that you need to reach your barometer student(s).  These skills include pause and point, going slow, staying in-bounds, translating low-frequency or new vocabulary, comprehension checks.)

Class Jobs that require output for fast processors

(I would like to credit the people whose ideas these are adapted from (or taken from) but I honestly don't remember the specifics.  Probably Bryce Hedstrom, Alina Filipescu, and Ben Slavic, but also probably others.) 

Faster processors during stories can be challenging. Give them a job that will challenge them and help you. 

Story Writer: This student writes the narrative in L2 as best they can.  Great for heritage learners as you can later drill down on the kind of input that they need based on what they write.  You can also use their narrative for when you sit down and write out the story- invaluable for when you have multiple classes all doing different stories!   You could also have a student do this in L1.

Quiz writer: This student writes 5-10 true/false questions in L2 (or L1) based on the story.  You can use this quiz later, at the end of class, to check for overall story comprehension.  

Hint:I print out the directions for each job and stick them at the front of two notebooks, used only for either story writing or quiz writing.  Here are the directions for quiz writer, and here are directions for story writer.  

Daily Records Keeper: This student keeps track of paperwork when a student is absent.  They also note the activities, homework if assigned, any low-frequency vocabulary, etc. that comes up.  I could not function without this job.  Requires no output in L2.  For more about this job, read this. 

Class jobs that require staying focused on the input

Question word sign holder:  They hold up the question word signs (one per kid) when you say them.  Alina Filipescu calls this her 3-D classroom as it moves the pausing and pointing that you do from a wall to the center of the student.  I usually only assign who and what.  This is also a great job for kids who benefit from having an active job that helps them stay focused.

Rejoinder sign holder: This is a great job for a fast processor because they demonstrate their understanding of the story based on when they hold up the sign.  However, I don't only give this job to fast processors.  It just depends on the kid.

What about jobs for the slower processors? Don't they get jobs too?

Yes.  Of course.  But this is a post about differentiating for fast processors and native speakers. 

Teacher Strategies for Differentiation

One place where Bloom's might be valuable!

Questioning: All students should be able to answer yes/no, either/or, and "what does ___ mean?/what did I just say?" questions.  Right?  Good.  But "who/what/where/when" questions are a little bit harder, even with question signs and supports.  You probably should be asking all kids those question word questions too, but they are more challenging. 

"How" and "Why" questions are the hardest, and a great way to ask more challenging questions of your faster processors and/or native speakers.  Yep, they do require output, but you know your kids.  It might even be junky (incorrect) output, but you can rephrase it, and it helps hold them accountable.

UPDATE: Here is Bryce Hedstrom's very in-depth take on differentiation with questioning.  I think he deserves the credit for my basic ideas!  

Partners and Groups:

This is tough.  In a TPRS/CI classroom, I rarely do partner and/or group work, unless the activity is completely input based.  And it is something that I am sure they can do on their own.  And it is completely scaffolded.  And...you get the idea.

However, here are some strategies that I have used successfully. 

1) Homogenous groupings with embedded readings.  Groups or pairs of faster processors start with harder versions of the embedded readings, and progress further.  Groups of slower processors start with the easiest versions of embedded readings, and progress at their own pace.  

2) Heterogenous groupings for input based group games.  (Whole class activities like Word Chunk, scrambled eggs, running dictation, Jeopardy, Unfair Game, etc. are different in that the teacher is still controlling the input.)   I don't love games in the classroom.  They take forever to make and require a lot of work to make them truly input based (or secret input based), and a lot of teacher management to justify their use in class. (In my opinion.) 

 However, if you have a good input based game, faster processors and/or fluent readers can help provide the input by reading out loud.  That is not to say that the others don't read.  I just don't use homogenous groupings when I want things (sentences, not paragraphs!)  to be read out loud.  

What do I mean by input based group games?  Here are examples:  

Chain Reaction

First, Second (I haven't played it but plan on it)

Go Fish with TEXT on the scenes (so students read the text and get the input!)

Memory- I made this one for the last chapter of Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro.  In each "deck", there is a question, an answer, and a visual of that answer.  (See images)

Using Profiency/Standards based grading- I can't even start to discuss why this is a good practice for differentiation. It is too big of a topic and I am not an expert. And this blog post is getting really long.

There are a lot of resources available on this topic; assessing knowledge and competency is, for me, the core of differentiation.  Carol Ann Tomlinson, Robert Marzano, and TPRS teachers/trainers such as Lance Piantaggini (MagisterP) and Scott Benedict (TeachforJune) have a lot of information.  Books such as Grade Smarter, not Harder, Fair is not Equal are good resources as well. Here is a good great  intro written by Scott Benedict over at TeachforJune.


There are many more differentiation strategies. These are just a few that I turn to daily to try to meet every student's needs.  I didn't even go into alternate assignments or novel-based independent studies.  For more on that, check out Martina's blog post on multi-level classes.

Updated: I just stumbled across this incredible post by Kristy Placido.  Read it!  You can thank me later!  

 Updated again:  I am presenting on Differentiation in the CI classroom at Comprehensible Online 2020.
Use code ELICIA for a $25 discount!

https://comprehensible.online/