Live! In Person! Two-day training! Salt Lake City, here I come...

Warning: Shameless pitch about a workshop that I am leading. 

(It's my blog, I can pitch if I want to!) 

I am so excited to be able to bring a 2 day workshop to our Mountain West region. I have been working very hard at creating trainings that actually mean something- and frankly, I am really proud of the work I've been doing. I'm really proud of the aha moments I see from teachers, from the feedback that helps me grow, and of the confidence that teachers have reported feeling after the workshops. I'm also (and yeah-I am tooting my own horn here) really proud that teachers of languages other than Spanish (我 看 你们 中文 老师）feel supported. 

I also tried to make this particular workshop as easy as possible for people coming in from out of town- based on all the things that I find hard and expensive when traveling! 

The workshop location is in a downtown hotel, easily accessible by quick and simple public transportation (direct ride) from the airport, near places that I would actually want to eat. (I know, because I actually eat at the near by restaurants.)   We were also able to negotiate a reasonable hotel rate.  Finally, I designed it so that participants could potentially fly out on the second day (workshop ends at 1:00, with optional coaching in the afternoon), because who needs to spend another night in a hotel unless you want to? 

Oh, and you can earn graduate credits too!  

Here are the details:

Click here for registration

August 10-August 11, 2022

Teach and Assess for Acquisition 

Salt Lake City, UT 

Cost  $150.00

If you are interested in doing some in-person training with me, please take a look at the information on this link- all the details are here, including information about the hotel, what's included, more about the workshop content, contact info, and more, check out this link: Teach and Assess for Acquisition in Salt Lake City 

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!   

Teacher Goals

One of the things I love the most about being a teacher is the expectation that I am always a learner as well.

I love getting better at things.  I love learning new things.  I love the challenge of figuring out how to do something well, or how to get better at something.  And of course, because I am human, I love that feeling of success. 

I was very lucky to attend a graduate program that required an immense, intense amount of self-reflection.  We were taught how to make self-reflection a habit, part of our lesson planning routines and our lives.  I am sure that I am a better teacher for that habit.

But it is easy to turn self-reflection into criticism, or even self-loathing.  Believe me- watching hundreds of hours of video of myself - to make videos for Comprehensible Online and to post here for others to watch- is really, really hard. But I am a better teacher because of it.  When I watch a video, or even reflect on the day or the lesson, it is very easy to go down the path of seeing only the things I did wrong, the things I could have done better.  It is hard to train myself to find the good.

I think this is a roadblock for teachers- when we take the time to be reflective, it is hard to get out of the habit of criticism, because that is how we are evaluated.  But it is imperative to shift our mindset to look for the positives, if we want to be better teachers through self-reflection.

The Coaching from the Heart model, as used by coaches at Agen, NTPRS,  IFLT, and now all over the country, is a great way to start.  

As coaches, we only look for the positive things that teachers do to make language comprehensible and make the students feel encouraged and safe to take risks.  It is such an amazing feeling to find out what we do well.  In fact, I think it was Angela Watson who suggested taking what you already do well...and getting better at it.  Isn't that a radical idea? 

So here are some of the goals I have set over the past years as a teacher focused on communicative embedded input, aka comprehensible input, and how I measured my success. 

I believe in setting goals that are focused, achievable, and that will have big impacts. 

My big piece of advice: Pick just one resource to teach and one skill or goal to work on.  

Before I share these, I want to say one really important thing.  I see a lot of teachers trying to figure out how to use all the great resources that are available these days -all at the same time.  I get it- there are so many great things out there, but I think that is really hard.

I think it is better to focus on just one resource/curriculum.  That way, there is less worry about what to teach, so you can concentrate on how. 

I use the SOMOS curriculum for the most part.  For the first three years that I taught, I only used SOMOS (and only after the first year, a novel).  Then I started adding in bits and pieces from other curriculum creators- Señor Wooly, resources from SomewhereToShare and Placido Language Resources, and other resources from Martina Bex.  

These goals are written as SMART goals.

Year 1* goals: survival.  

I was just trying to figure out which way was up- new school, new level, new job, new career, etc.

Year 2: SLOW

Why: After being a student at NTPRS in a few demo classes and during coaching, I realized that the easiest, most impactful change I could make was to go slow.   I even made a huge poster of my cats being super lazy with the word "slowly" on the bottom and hung it where I could see it while I was teaching.  

Specific: My goal was to go slow- specifically, to speak slowly, with pausing and pointing to slow me down. 

Measurable: I filmed myself in 15 minute segments and watched how many times I pointed to the L1 meaning, and did my best to measure my rate of speech. I also did a lot of self-reflection, and my supervisor agreed to observe me for just this one thing. 

Attainable: Getting better at just one thing is realistic.

Realistic: It was very, very easy to focus on one thing.  It felt manageable.  Since I already knew, more or less, what I was teaching, focusing on just this felt like I could really do it.  

Time based: I actually gave myself the whole year to work on this skill but self-assessed regularly.

Focusing on just this has made the greatest impact on my teaching.  

Year 3: Survival.  

Because some years, that is what you have to do.  This was the year that we doubled the size of our middle school but did not hire any new staff.  I have very few memories of this year, other than crying a lot.  

Year 4: Brain Breaks 

Why: I spent the summer reading about boys, and how boys learn.  (Hmmm...that was the year that instead of having a whole school read, we were given a list and got to choose.  That was some good PD. Hint hint, admins!)  I read Boys Adrift by Dr. Leonard Sax,  and two other books about gender differences and education, and then I also spent some quality time with Annabelle Williamson, who is, of course, the Queen of brain breaks.  I decided that one very tangible thing I could do to make my classroom more boy-brain friendly was to do more brain breaks.

Specific: just brain breaks (not rethinking everything!) and managing them. My goal was to incorporate 4-6 brain breaks an hour, or more. 

Measurable: I measured by self-reflection, counting the number of breaks that I took in certain class periods, watching video of my teaching, and having my administrator observe me.  

Attainable: I felt like I had enough of a handle on my classroom, being comprehensible, school culture, etc. to be able to focus my energy on this.  

Realistic: I felt like it was reasonable to try this.  I thought it through and made a plan. (My plan was basically to teach the "get quiet and go back to your seats" procedure first, and to keep a running list in front of me with favorite brain breaks and USE them.) 

Time based: I gave myself the entire school year to figure this out.  Having that much time helped me feel like I could try, fail, reflect, and try again.  

Result: Brain breaks are such a huge part of my practice now that I can't even do a presentation with adults without doing brain breaks.  

Download my expectations here.

Year 5: Consistency in responses to disruptions 

 This last year, my goal was to consistently use the classroom management system in A Natural Approach to the Year, also referred to as ANNATY, to maintain consistency and better manage my responses to behaviors.  A key to this plan is to stay positive, so I added a sub-goal of being relentlessly positive the whole time.   

Why: the previous year was a real bear in terms of classroom management- just a handful of kids, but they really worked me.  It is the only time I have told my admin that I never wanted a kid back in my class.  I felt like the plan outlined in ANNATY fit well with my philosophy about management as well as my teaching style,  and provided really clear, easy to follow steps that could be practiced and implemented with consistency. 

Specific: I was going to use the A,B,C, D levels of responses to disruptions with positivity. I wrote them out for myself and posted a mini-version next to my computer, so I could see it at any point. 

Measurable: This was a little harder to measure, but I filmed myself and did a lot of self-reflection. And as far as measuring the positivity, it really came down to how I felt at the end of the class.   

Realistic: Because I believed that this was going to be a good plan for me and my teaching style, it felt very realistic. And again, it was ONE thing.  

Time-based: I had a check-in with myself at each mid-term and term end (6x). But again, I did it for a whole year.

Gaining consistency and maintaining the attitude of Relentless Positivity, (credited to master teacher Paul Kirshling but I first heard it from Annabelle) made another huge difference. I had the best year of my career.  It wasn't because I had great kids (I didn't, ask all the other teachers!) nor was it because it was easy year (Oh, it really, really wasn't).  I think it is because I was both consistent and positive.

Year 6: Responding to Anxious students 

Big goal: I would like to better support high-anxiety, anxious students in my classroom.   

Why: Let me be perfectly honest: I have little patience for these students.  They are the ones that get under my skin and that I have to work very hard to not just dismiss them. And I know that I can do a lot better at meeting them where they are at and helping them develop a sense of efficacy and agency.  It is a real area of growth for me because I just don't understand why they can't ....anyway, I know I need to work on this. I teach an honors class and I have a LOT of these students. They drive me crazy and I KNOW that I am not always meeting their needs.  

Specific: I want to recognize my own lack of patience and respond in a way that will support these students- with kindness and understanding, not impatience and frustration.  My plan is to identify when I start feeling frustrated and impatient, and take a deep breath, then think before responding.  And when I respond, I want to respond with love.  

Measurable: I plan on asking my admin for some ideas on how to measure this.  I know that I can train myself to respond better, but I would like some feedback.

Time Sensitive: I want to give myself a full year for this.  

What are your goals for the upcoming year?  

Do you need some ideas?  Here is a blog post I wrote about CI overwhelm, and also about goals- but at the bottom, there is a graphic organizer that might help categorize what you want to work on, and a little bit more about why I believe picking ONE THING is more powerful than many things. Please feel free to take a look.

*This was actually my fourth year teaching, but it was my first year really committing to input based teaching.  

Secret Input

Here is my handout from the ACTFL presentation.

Super special thanks to everyone who came and supported me- we guessed that there were more than 200 people!

Secret Input Handout!

This is not the presentation, but all the info *in* the presentation.

Enjoy!  

Comprehensible Online! A new kind of conference (and I am presenting!)

I am so excited to announce that I will be presenting for Comprehensible Online, a web-based conference presented by the amazing Scott Benedict at Teach For June.  

Some of the most amazing teachers I have ever met (and been coached/trained/influenced by!) are presenting as well.  If you are interested in developing your CI skills, I strongly encourage you to attend this conference.

For more information, go check it out! 



To see what I am going to be presenting on...read this blog post.

Targeted vs Non-Targeted input...the great debate

Targeted vs Non-Targeted Input: Our little slice of language teaching is finding itself divided over these terms.  There seems to be WAAAY more animosity and negativity around these than could possibly be justified.  At times, the discourse seems almost political (that is to say horrible, disrespectful, unnerving, unkind).

Ben Slavic demonstrating the power of pause and point in a
demonstration of Non-Targeted input

However, in my exploration of non-targeted input (NT) at the recent Comprehensible Cascadia conference, I learned that we all want the same thing and most of the core beliefs about how languages are learned are identical.


These observations are mine and mine alone.  They do not constitute a manual, plan, or merit much in the way of debate.  I am just thinking out loud and trying to process some of what I learned and match it to what I already know.  Many thanks to Ben Slavic, Tina Hargarden, and all the participants and workshop leaders at Comprehensible Cascadia for discussions and answering my questions.  

First, definitions.  Thanks to Bryce Hedstrom, Tina Hargarten, and the great community over at the CI liftoff Facebook page for creating this definition.

Non-Targeted Input:  The words needed (the input) emerge from the activity. The teacher uses skills to make the students comprehend the language. Acquisition is allowed to develop according to the natural order and the unconscious mind is able to process the linguistic data from understanding the messages. One technique that works well for Non-Targeted (NT) is One Word Images, pioneered by Tina Hargarten and Ben Slavic.

Targeted Input: The words (often called structures or target structures) are chosen from high frequency word lists; often they include the Super Seven (from Terry Waltz) and the Sweet Sixteen (Mike Peto).  Teachers create input around these words using techniques that include TPRS and other comprehensible input techniques. (This is my working definition)


Some similarities:

Non-targeted classroom, comprehensible input

• Languages can be taught most effectively through comprehensible (comprehended) input.
• The core skills- going slow, teaching to the eyes, sheltering vocabulary but not grammar (aka staying in-bounds), personalizing.
• The idea of teaching for mastery, not memorization.
• Creating a classroom community that is safe, welcoming, extremely positive and joyful, and equitable (reaching all kids, not just high achievers) is a huge priority.  In fact, it is necessary to do it in order to be successful. 
• Equity is a core theme: all kids can learn language.  
• Languages can be most effectively taught through comprehensible input.
• Teachers have a responsibility to hold ourselves to best practices and research-based instruction.
• Everyone who is doing it is extremely passionate about their work.  
• Teaching is a very difficult job and as such, teachers have a right to not be miserable in their professional life work-life balance.  As such, low to no prep lesson planning and a joyful classroom allow us to take care of ourselves so we can be the very best we can be when we are with the kids.  
• Much of the content comes directly from the kids- in NT it is One Word Images or Invisibles; in TPRS it comes from story-asking and student suggestions.  But both are student centered and highly personalized.  

Some differences:

• One of the key skills in TPRS is circling.  Often circling is used to get frequent repetitions of targeted words.  
• NT prefers to use light to no circling and does not focus on repetitions in the same way.

My takeaway: As I get more experienced, I focus less on circling anyway.  When I do it,  I *think* it is light circling.  Having Terry Waltz's circling cards is pretty great for this.  However, for less experienced teachers, circling is a basic skill that I think one needs to know how to do for either type of input.

• TPRS is one way to stay in the target language at the recommended (by ACTFL) 90%.  Practitioners (myself included) find it easier to maintain that much language in class. 
•  In a recent workshop with Ben Slavic, he dismissed the notion that staying in the target language for a certain number of minutes is an important goal.  While he didn't actually scoff at the ACTFL 90% recommendation, he pointed out that since a human brain needs 10,000 hours to learn a language and we have at best 120 hours a year, it's ridiculous to stress about it. We aren't going to get 10,000 hours, so why not focus on the important stuff: creating community, having fun in the language with the class.  From a private conversation:  "The stress that it (90%) puts on the teacher and the children doesn't make sense." "It is not practical in a school setting to go at 90%."  

 I think it is important to note that he is not saying we shouldn't teach in the target language. Of course we teach in the target language.  He is merely asking teachers to give ourselves permission to lighten up.
My takeaway: I don't need to stress so much about that 90%, or compare myself to others who do it better.  That is a huge gift!  Also, it reminds me of Karen Rowan's frequent admonition: "Comparison is the thief of joy." 

• Comprehension Checks- TPRS teachers use comprehension checks to, well, check comprehension.  Frequently.  Individually and chorally.  Sometimes cold calling students.  Often by simply saying "What did I just say?" and expecting an answer in the shared language (L1).  In fact, much of circling is comprehension checking, when you think about it.  
• Non Targeted (Non targeting?) CI teachers watch for understanding (look at them- do they understand?) and listen for the weakness of the response (to questions).  In a discussion about this, Ben said: "I am not doing any comprehension checks, I am just paying attention."  Tina mentioned that she no longer cold calls on kids at all and does not do comp checks that put kids on the spot, and reports that it seems to be positive for her classes.  

One path, lots of ways to get there!

My takeaway: There are many different ways to do comprehension checks.  But everyone using CI effectively is probably doing them in one way or another.  More experienced teachers with strong classroom community building skills (note- I did not say classroom management skills!) know how to pay attention to what they need to and do less intrusive checks, and less experienced ones will benefit from just asking what was understood.  My wondering: I wonder how to teach the skill of listening/paying attention for comprehension checks?  

In conclusion:
We all want the same thing.  We all choose the same path to travel.  We differ in the exact pattern of stepping stones that we jump to get there.

Rethinking: How I use TPRS in novice levels and how I had to un-learn.

Recently a teacher posted on the moreTPRS listserv about her intense and incredible frustration with TPRS.  Her questions and concerns seemed to indicate that she wasn't familiar with some of the basics (which is understandable).  Several others addressed her concerns in a generous way, and I added to the discussion.  Here is a recap of what I wrote.  I am reposting based on a request from someone, and because I think, well, the questions were really legitimate.  Her frustration was real, and rather than discounting it, the community reached out to support her.

On starting TPRS 

Explaining to students  *why* you are asking questions (aka circling), and how language acquisition works is a pretty important part of helping them understand why you are asking them to do what you are doing. Being confident that you are on the right path helps them believe that you are making a change.  Believing that comprehensible input is (probably, at least in my opinion) the most effective way to teach a language and knowing that TPRS is probably the most efficient, interesting, teacher-and-student friendly way to deliver that input, and being confident about your knowledge will help you stay the course and help them buy in.  

On working with novices or students who may have language experience but not sentences
In my novice classes, I start them with very, very few words in Spanish. and I use a ton of cognates, plastic toys, pictures, and stuffed animals to reduce the cognitive load.  However, I start my novice-high kids (some who have had 6 years of Spanish classes) with the same story outline because most of them have a lot of random words bumping around in their heads but no idea how to make actual sentences with them.    They can do great things with a verb table, but can’t apply that knowledge in context.  

A story script can be as simple or as challenging as you want it to be.  Here is one that I do in my first week of absolute beginners: [Bold words are my targeted structures…rockin’ it old school.]

Week 1 There was a (girl/boy).  [Name of girl/boy] had a problem. S/he wanted a ____. [I use a stuffed animal - in Spanish, a cognate, in other languages…a stuffed animal that you know is recognizable].    With circling, added details, TPR, brain breaks, and first week scheduling surprises, this is a full week! 

Week 2- I added that the main character went somewhere and the [animal] was not there, so they went someplace else, and the  animal was there.  The girl/boy was happy.   The amount of functional language required was about 25 words, written for students to comprehensify in L1 and L2 if possible, with language posted for the student actor to speak (are you a girl? I am a girl.  Do you want/I want, etc.).  

Week 3- we reviewed the story in many of the ways that others have discussed, or that can be found for free by many brilliant teachers who generously make their work available.  

After week 3, I do not expect them to produce anything.  At all.  They do not have to answer in complete sentences (I often have to discourage that), they do not have to write anything, they don't have to say anything other than yes, no, and one word answers.  I do want them to answer questions- yes or no, a boy or a girl, who had the problem, etc.  In TPRS, this is known as asking circling questions, or just circling.  

On keeping it REALLY comprehensible and fun
I should also note that I have all the question words on the wall to point at, all the English translations of the bold words, and a handful of posters with other useful words- like with, or, and, to, for, except; also before, after, sometimes, always, also.  In this way, these common words for story telling are already made comprehensible, and all I have to do is point and pause for kids to understand what the new word is.  I train kids to hold up signs with the question words when I say them, giving more comprehensible input, and use a lot of sound effects to help keep it fun but also more understandable.  An example of this is when I use the word but, a student hums a three note "impending doom" song, and when I use dog, someone barks.  When I use the word for who, someone holds up an own and goes who who.  I also use a lot of ASL (sign language) and some signs and gestures that I made up myself.  Again, this helps keep it comprehensible for students and requires me to slow down and really consider the words taht I use.  

On teaching (and selecting) structures- rethinking how and what you teach
In TPRS, we talk about functional language (also known as language chunks, targeted structures, super 7, sweet 16) to mean high frequency words in context.  Words like had, was, wanted, are all functional language, not isolated lists of semi-connected words.  Instead of teaching I had, you had, they had, we had, I teach s/he had, then weave a story about what someone had or did not have.  I use a student actor as the person who did not have the thing.  I interview the student actor to get I had and You had or you have and I have.  Don’t get me wrong.  It is a whole new way of thinking about language and has taken me a long time to get my head around it. 

Managing and eliciting student responses: How can they create the story if they don't know any words?  

Allow 2 words of a shared language for student suggestions if possible.
Drawing, on paper or whiteboards is another option. 

Cognates, inexpensive toys and stuffed animals, and even printed pictures are other options.
However, it is important to be aware of possible misunderstandings with pictures especially- a picture of a man running could mean: a man, legs, fast, running, to run, street, or many other things.  

 One of the least discussed (I think) and most important TPRS skills is how to keep your language really, really simple when it needs to be- how to keep it “in-bounds”.  (This means how to talk to them just using those 25 words that they know, and not add in anything else.)  Practicing that and training students to let you know when you are out of bounds (or they just don’t understand) is important!  Many teachers establish a signal that means "Teacher, you have not made yourself clear."  They celebrate the courage it takes for students who admit when they are lost!  

Not Complete Novices?  

 For my novice - high classes and above, I use a lot more language.  A LOT.  I assume they have acquired almost all of what I previously taught, so my language is more complex.  

 For instance, I am doing a story right now with “is hungry”, “is sad and cries”, and “eats”.  (This is from Martina Bex's SOMOS unit 10, Como Agua para Chocolate) They are familiar with tiene hambre, está + emoción, and most can figure out that llorro means “I cry” instead of s/he cries.  But they haven’t acquired all of those structures yet to use them without errors. They know what they mean…but they need more practice.  My job is to give them that practice (input) in compelling ways.   So my story uses all the language that they have (which is a fair amount) but I focus on using the new words- cries, is sad, is hungry, eats- in a bunch of new ways.  Who is hungry?  Are you hungry? Were you hungry after school yesterday?  What do you eat when you are hungry?  Is there food you can not eat?  What do you eat when you are sad (or happy, or excited).  I also added in laughs and smiles because they are included in a great activity about Celia Cruz, so students were familiar with them.  I know they know tiene hambre but I don’t think that they know tenía hambre very well, so I focus on that.

To keep it compelling, I ask things like “Do you eat your sister when you are hungry, or do you prefer to eat chairs? I prefer to eat chairs, but only if they are  stone chairs from Bolivia”.   Their laughter lets me know that they understand.  And the golden moment: when the actor says something like “I don’t like to eat stone chairs from Bolivia; I prefer to eat stone chairs from Mexico when I am hungry.” (Golden moments don’t happen that often, but you know you are weaving a compelling story when they do!)     

Students know to let me know if they are lost, plus I do a lot of comprehension checks (translate the sentence that I just said, summarize in L1 what just happened, what does the o at the end of a verb mean, etc.) in the moment to make sure.  As soon as I am confident that they are solid, I add something else in.  

Pacing

 I do about 3 structures in one story, not per 3 weeks.  Stories tend to run 1-3 classes to create, then we spend another class or two or three reading and reviewing the story, then I usually do another reading or a Movietalk to further review those structures.  Then maybe a cultural story or short film that, again, uses the structures in a totally different way.  In my case, using a curriculum written by Martina Bex, called SOMOS, after I do a story, review, read another similar story, and watch a silly movie about someone who is really hungry, we are going to watch part of Como agua para chocolate, and use the target structures to discuss what we saw, read about it, and write about it.  Since we are watching a scene about eating and crying, I am confident that they will have the language to discuss an authentic piece of culture at their level.  

Sometimes I do more, depending on the level, and sometimes I do less- again, depending on the level.  In my first novice story, the structures are había, era, tenía/no tenía, quería.  Then I added in fue, estuvo, and estaba (emoción). But also remember that I have the present tense on the board for them too, so I can interview my actors.  Era- eres, soy; tenía tienes/tengo.  It is all written out for them to remember, and so the student actor responds correctly.    

If your students are frustrated, you can move faster- until their comprehension level is reached, then back up a bit. If they are frustrated because they don’t understand what you are saying or why you are doing what you are doing, maybe back up and address that too.  

TPRS is Equal Opportunity

[The original question-asker mentioned that she felt like TPRS worked only for kids from high socio-economic backgrounds in the US.]   

I do not agree TPRS only works with students from high socio-economic backgrounds, because it seems like most teachers in more diverse (economically diverse, racially diverse, etc.) communities have just as much, if not more, success with it.  I know that for my students who are labelled as lazy, recalcitrant, pains in the butts, etc., it is a real change for them to have fun in class by just listening and responding.  Since my school doesn’t yet use proficiency based grades, they still don’t get good grades, but they can read whole paragraphs in Spanish after just a month and after 4 months, can give (error ridden) opinions and descriptions.  Yeah, it is hard for them to buy in at first, but it is hard for high achieving students too, since often they just want to memorize and fill in blanks, but that doesn’t work in my class.

Mindshift for students AND me 
Students  have to be willing to listen with the intent to understand and admit (signal) when they don’t understand, and they have to let input be input rather than jumping straight to output.  It is a mindshift for everyone.

I had to let go of my idea of what “good” language production looks like. I had to learn to embrace the errors in their writing and speaking, and not judge them (it turns out that they are not, in fact, lazy or stupid.  They just need more input.)  or myself (I am a pretty good, caring teacher and I just need to get better at being patient and providing more, compelling, input.).

In fact, I had to let go of my ideas of output, partner activities, etc. completely, and start asking myself with each and every activity “Does this provide students with more good, comprehensible, reasonably compelling input?”  If the answer is no, I don’t do the activity, unless I want to do it for other reasons (engagement, class buy-in, brain breaks, and of course assessment).  

Final Thoughts

Languages take time to learn.  That is why TPRS teachers often use the phrase "Teach for June”- not sure who coined it originally, but the idea is that everyone learns at their own pace, and as a teacher we just keep giving comprehensible, compelling input and they will get it.  By June.  Because everyone acquires at a different rate.  

As a 3rd year TPRS teacher, I am seeing that trusting in it and worrying less if the kids are getting it (and working more on my own TPRS skills) does pay off.  My kids who have been on a full TPRS diet with me for the past year and a half are excited, reading, and speaking.  And they are anything but perfect.  I am not perfect.  They still make mistakes that make me grind my teeth…and that is ok.  Next year’s kids will maybe make fewer of the same mistakes, because I will be a better teacher.   Which leads me to my second important thing: 

TPRS skills are really hard.  Highly skilled TPRS teachers make it look so easy…but it isn’t.  It takes practice, coaching, patience, more practice, and failure.    Also, some TPRS teachers are super theatrical and are really happy to pull out duck faces and bat wings and cat ears and wear them (so that the students will too).  And some aren’t.  TPRS works for me because it is equitable, personal, fun, WAY easier than teaching from a textbook, works better for the kids, and lets me channel my energy and love of silliness and the absurd.  For others, who are perhaps differently energetic and less prone to wearing bunny ears, it works for other reasons.  (I have heard some folks’ classrooms described as meditation rooms.  Not mine.) 

Part 1: Teaching empathy, diverse perspectives, and critical thinking...in the target language

Part 1: Philosophy and Derivation of my Plans

Teaching empathy, diverse perspectives, and critical thinking...in the target language.

Is it possible?  Is it important?  And if the answer to the previous questions is an emphatic YES, then how do you even start?  With novices?  

Terrible iPhone picture of inspiring poster from NTPRS16 Diversity and Inclusion Workshop

I am going to try.  This fits into my personal "Tikun Olam" goal: repairing the world.  (I am not Jewish but this is one of our school's values and the one that I am most drawn to.)  

Last year, at NTPRS16, I attended a really amazing workshop on diversity and inclusion.  For me, the workshop brought a lot of threads that I had been playing with all together into one big gorgeous blanket.  And knitted into that blanket: We must teach empathy, critical thinking, and diverse perspectives.  It is a moral obligation.  

One thread came from Bryce Hedstrom's Special Person interviews. (Scroll down to Special Person interviews from the link.)   His presentation started with the quote "Only Connect" E.M. Forster.  Bryce made a very compelling case for social learning and why we remember things about other people, based on brain research.  (Aside: I love that one of his passions is reading the science behind why we learn what we learn, and how.  Very inspiring.)  In Special Person interviews, teachers use comprehensible language and input to help students listen to each other, learn about each other, and connect.  Bryce also insisted that it is our obligation as teachers to help kids who are so disconnected by social media and all the other disconnectors in their lives to...only connect.  That, in my own words, this is one way that we can help them begin repair the world.

Another thread was woven from Alina Filipescu's workshop about classroom management.  She is a brilliant teacher and so many of my daily routines are borrowed from her workshops.  Two actions that she takes that I put away to think about were: 1) Show inspiring stories.  English, Target Language, doesn't matter.  Take a few minutes to show kids inspiration and hope.  2) Write cards to each and every one. Hand written.  Mailed to their home.  [Aside: I started...with hand written and mailed thank-you notes for holiday gifts received this year.  Start with what you can do...right?]

Yet another thread that has been coalescing for me is based on Bob Patrick (a brilliant Latin teacher) and his colleague's work around creating language classrooms that are accessible to all learners, including those with special needs.  The work that they are doing is brilliant and one reason why I am so drawn to TPRS/CI.  (Almost) anyone can learn a language.  It isn't just reserved for smart/monied/privileged/organized/school successful students any more.  I have seen this play out in my classroom (and I feel like I am just scraping the surface of creating equity...I have so much more to learn).  

Finally, my own threads and passions: diversity of thought, cultural perspectives, implicit biases: I came from a graduate program that taught a social justice-through-education curriculum.  I am bi-racial.  I live in a community where I am anything but the dominant (even if I am light skinned and married, which makes me at least similar to much of this city) and work in a community that is apart from the dominant culture.  Issues of diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice are incredibly important to me.  

At the diversity and inclusion workshop at NTPRS, we were presented with examples of implicit bias, asked to question what values we were teaching with our stories, and given actionable examples to help break out of teaching values that weren't necessarily aligned with equity and inclusion. 

I ate it up! It was amazing!  And I had to chew on it little by little before deciding how to make changes in my own classroom.  I forgive myself.  Change is hard.  And balancing the wackiness/unexpected details of TPRS with a vision of diversity and inclusion can be...well...challenging.  Part of the reason TPRS is so fun is because it is so silly.  How do I keep the silly and inject something more?  

The first change I started making was teaching my level one novice speakers adjectives for personality traits that went beyond physical description.  I just started with "works hard" and "friendly".  I have got a lot of mileage out of those two.  Instead of someone being pretty and attractive, now they are friendly and work hard.  Think about that.  What message am I sending?  Yeah, I feel pretty good about that.  

In my next blog post, I will discuss what I am trying to do to further implement empathy, diverse perspectives, and critical thinking in my classroom...and all my stellar failures and occasional successes.