When a Lesson Bombs

Today, I had a lesson that just went NOWHERE with students - it totally bombed.

I felt a gamut of emotions. I felt very frustrated, because I did not feel that this class connected with me or with the lesson at all. It was also hard not to take "personally," since it was a lesson which I created - was there a personalized connection factor missing which I had neglected? However, on the other hand, when I took a step back from it all, I actually did not see it as that big of a deal, because I realized "Okay, tomorrow is a new day, and I can start over from scratch."

After 28 years of teaching, I have come to accept that daily I deal with over 100 variables known as students, and then throw in another variable which is me. There are going to be days where I am on, and students are off. There will be days where I am off, and students are on. There will be days where both students and I are off (I consider those a win-win day, because we all can start over the next day from scratch). But then there are those golden days where both students and I are on. I do not take those days for granted.

It is okay to have a lesson which bombs with students, and the sooner you accept that, the easier it is to deal with. As teachers, we want to hit homeruns every day with our students, but that is absolutely not realistic at all. Give yourself permission to strike out or to get hit by a ball! We must learn to manage our own personal expectations of ourselves. When we realize that teaching is a marathon and not a sprint, we learn to pace ourselves emotionally. Teaching is like grilling brisket - it goes low and slow.

FYI - for the next class, I quickly retooled the lesson. It worked a bit better but still did not garner the reception/engagement which I wanted. But you know what - that is okay!

The Importance of Community, part 2

This is part 2 of a two-part series. Guest contributors are Erica Peplinski, Gary DiBianca, Bess Hayles, and AnneMarie Chase.

Wow - what a response I got from my part 1 blog post on the importance of community! Many of you wrote me off-blog to talk about how much you have received from your own CI community. I am so glad to have written something which resonated with so many people! As educators, especially as CI/ADI teachers, we so need each other.

Maybe you are in a teaching situation where you are craving CI community but do not where to find it. Luckily in this 21st century age, there are TONS of options:

1. Facebook groups - While there are numerous CI Facebook groups, the primary one which I use is IFLT/TPRS/CI Teaching. If you have a question about how to do something, you can post there. Need a resource? You can do a search to see if anyone has posted something about it. There are SO many CI-folks whom I only know online and from whom I have learned a great deal through Facebook groups, so it is always really weird finally to meet them in person! If you ever attend an in-person CI/ADI conference like CI Summit, Comprehensible Iowa, Mitten CI, NTPRS, Agen, etc, these conferences also have their own Facebook groups.  
2. Blogs - When I first started going all-in with CI/ADI, my primary means of learning was through reading CI blogs. If you look at the sidebar of this blog, you will see a number of blogs (I cannot verify how recent or updated they are) which I have followed and still do. 
3. In-person CI/ADI conferences - To me, this is the best way to develop an in-person community. Being immersed in a conference setting completely dedicated to CI/ADI (CI Summit, CI Iowa, Mitten CI, CI Midwest, NTPRS, Agen) is a perfect breeding ground for community - you are already surrounded by like-minded people who desire to grow in their knowledge and usage of CI. General state and local world language conferences can only go so far with that. Those who attend these CI/ADI conferences are definitely looking for community!
4. Professional Leaning Communities (PLC) - Consider creating one of your own, whether it be in-person or virtual!

Here's my final round of guest contributors from this summer's CI Summit and their thoughts on the importance of community. These are people whom I SO highly respect and from whom I have learned a great deal about the CI classroom:

"I taught for ten years before I ever attended a teacher conference. They always felt too expensive for our budget. But I had been following the IFLT Facebook group for a while and felt so drawn to the sense of connection there that I finally made the leap and signed up for my first CI conference at an IFLT in Chattanooga. I didn’t know anyone else attending, and as a busy mom of three, I was honestly looking forward to quiet nights reading and swimming alone. On the very first morning, though, I met a forever friend in the elevator. We clicked immediately, became conference besties, and are still friends to this day. What I thought would be peaceful evenings turned into nights filled with laughter, new friends, and energizing conversations. By day two, I knew this would not be a one-time event. That conference didn’t just give me new tools for the classroom, it gave me a community. And that’s what has kept me coming back year after year.

Humans are wired to connect, literally. On a neurological level, our brains and bodies thrive on social connection. We are at our healthiest and happiest when we feel a sense of belonging. There’s something deeply human about the way we gather, whether in the same physical space or through glowing rectangles across time zones. That connection has sustained me as a CI teacher. Teaching can be isolating, but the CI/ADI community has been my reminder that we were never meant to do this alone. From quick messages that spark new lesson ideas to late-night heart-to-hearts at conferences like CI Summit, this community fuels my creativity and helps me stay grounded in purpose. We teach language to connect people, and it’s through these connections with other educators that I’ve grown, healed, and stayed inspired to keep going, even on the hard days." -Erica Peplinski

"So much of my career and classroom successes are because of the CI/ADI community of world language educators that has been cultivated and encouraged to flourish over the years. The game changer for me were the connections made from early TPRS conferences and workshops that later turned into online group support networks and now personal friendships. So yes, I tend to be super dedicated to my profession but my sustained commitment has been because of the people with whom I enjoy spending time and our shared passion for helping all students communicate. For all teachers just starting out on your journeys with ADI/CI, know that there is a strong network of educators and new friends that want to help you along your way. - Gary DiBianca 

"I could not do my job without my CI community, which includes teachers from all over the United States. Teaching French can be so lonely because I'm usually the only teacher in my building. Through conferences, I have found my people and we get together at least once a month to touch base and share ideas. It is so refreshing to meet with people who are like-minded and positive! Instead of complaining about kids, we talk solutions, wins and cheer each other on. If you don't have others to share with yet, there are blogs, Facebook groups, TikTokkers, Podcasts, etc to keep you going! Don't give up! - Bess Hayles

"They say "no man is an island," and that's especially true in our profession! Personally, it's the CI community that has taught me, problem-solved with me, inspired me, laughed with me, and commiserated with me along the way. Outside of my in-real-life colleagues, the iFLT/TPRS/CI Teaching Facebook group is my go-to space when I'm looking for advice, fresh ideas, or new resources. The digital collaboration there is fantastic—more than 14,000 generous and passionate teachers striving to teach in alignment with language acquisition principles. Teaching is a tough job, especially if you're transitioning to Comprehensible Input or you're the lone language teacher at your school. There's no need to go it alone—and the ride is so much more fun when you're connected with like-minded educators." - AnneMarie Chase

The Importance of Community, part 1

This post is part one of a two-part series. Guest contributors to this post are Erin Almeranti, Eric Richards, and Andrea Schweitzer.

A few weeks ago, I attended the CI Summit in Norman, OK. There, I worked with Squad 2 (led by Andrea Schweitzer), and although I was in a "staff member" position, I still got SO much from attending sessions, experiencing language labs, and learning from others. However, for me, the most important part of attending any in-person CI/ADI conference is the community. 

Being part of a CI/ADI community has been my lifeline these past 12 years in which I have gone all-in with CI instruction. I know that I would NOT at all be the CI implementer that I am today if it were not for my community. These people are the ones who purely by their friendship and our common passion for CI encourage me and make me want to strive to be a better ADI teacher. I have learned so much from them over the years - if you have read my blog, you will find that most (if not all) of the CI/ADI activities and strategies about which I have written come from them! I absolutely love how we share a deep common mutual respect for each other. They are the ones who keep me motivated when the novelty of the school year begins to wear off, and real life begins. They are the ones who remind me that I am not alone in the trenches. These are the people who refill my cup when it is empty. I am so thankful to have seen and hung out in person this past summer at CI Iowa and CI Summit with so many in my CI community who made me laugh and through their sheer presence encouraged me and always reminded me afresh that I am not alone as a CI teacher. 

So, I have asked many of my CI Summit team members to contribute their thoughts on the need for and the importance of being part of a CI teacher community. I received such a number of responses that I have to divide this topic into two separate posts as a result! I am so grateful to these people, because I have learned so much from them. I hope that you will enjoy reading their writeups and that it will motivate you to be a part of a CI teacher community, whether it be online or in-person!

"The CI/ADI community is like fuel for language teachers - providing encouragement, guidance, and genuine camaraderie to those who are part of it. Whether you’re the only language teacher in your district or part of a larger department, teaching languages can sometimes feel isolating. After all, it’s a very different experience from teaching subjects like math or science. There’s also the challenge of teaching what is often defined as an elective—seen as non-essential—where you must convince students to choose your class and see its value. That’s what makes the CI/ADI community so special. It not only embraces the unique nature of language teaching, but the community also offers the empathy and understanding that help fellow language teachers feel truly seen in a profession where that isn’t always the case."       - Erin Almeranti

"After 20+ years of teaching, people ask me, "Why do you still go to conferences?" The short answer is: community and the connection. Through our community of educators, I continue to learn, grow and refine in my craft. It is inspiring to see all the great work others are doing in the classroom. Also, the support and encouragement our community gives is second to none. The school year can wear us down and by the end, our cups can be empty. But being in this community of teachers continuously motivates you to be the best educator you can be. They fill your cup and help keep the fire lit. Without them, I don't know where I would be in my career." - Eric Richards

"The first few years that I was dabbling with CI, it seemed like I would always hit a wall and retreat back to my traditional textbook tools.  I was a lone language teacher with no other CI teachers that I knew of in the DFW area at that time.  Thus, whenever I went to a CI conference, if I met someone from the DFW area, I got their contact info and started creating a local PLC for myself and for those DFW teachers that wanted to join in and share ideas.  It was a great help, and many of those teachers in that group still inspire me today.  Additionally, I began sharing a hotel room at summer conferences back in 2014 with a Kansas City French teacher named Bess Hayles... after a few years of conferencing together we made the commitment after one of them to stay in touch with each other regularly throughout the school year, to hold each other accountable and to troubleshoot ideas when needed.  We've continued meeting in recent years--Elicia Cárdenas joining us as well--and having that support and "accountability" team has been tremendous.  Lastly, it's amazing how generous and inspiring the CI teacher community is at large.  You need an idea??  There's a blog post or a Facebook group or a demo video on YouTube or an upcoming webinar, etc., to give you new ideas at your fingertips.  All of that keeps you moving along the "path to ADI-teaching proficiency" and greatness.  Don't be discouraged!  Plug in to the CI community online or in your community.  Phone-a-friend when the school year "going-gets-rough" sets in. You can do this!!" - Andrea Schweitzer

Part 2 of this topic will focus on how to find CI community and will feature more writeups from others! 

My School Year is Beginning

Today was my last day of pre-planning - I had SEVEN days of in-service (yes, seven, count 'em, seven!) and still did not have enough time to get everything done that I needed to. Students return on Monday - my summer break is over. It definitely went by too fast, and it is not like I did a whole lot during that time. I attended two CI conferences: CI Iowa in mid-June, and CI Summit towards the end of July. The rest of the time I was basically a bum hanging out.

However, as unprepared as I feel for Monday (does anyone ever feel 100% prepared for the first day of school?), I will admit that I do feel a sense of joy about it. Weird, huh? As much as I am still wanting my summer break to continue and as exhausted as I am at the moment from pre-planning, I am excited to be back in the classroom. I am excited to implement so many new strategies which I learned this summer. I am excited to further my journey into purposeful communication. I am excited to meet my students (of which I probably only know about 20% of them from last year) and to see them acquire Latin this year.

I am certain that I will get no sleep on Sunday night and that on Monday morning before the 1st period bell rings, I will be an absolute nervous wreck. But after 28 years of teaching, I also know that once that bell rings and I open my mouth to welcome my students, I will instantly be back in teacher mode and ready to start. 

So for those of you who are starting school or have already started, I wish you joy too. And for those of you who do not start until Labor Day and still have a month left, enjoy your time away from students, and when my school year is finished before Memorial Day, I will think of you as you labor until mid-June haha!

Novellas - Balancing Comprehensibility and Compelling

If you want to get me talking at length about anything, mention the following to me: the Brady Bunch, Star Wars (specifically the recent season 2 of Andor [episodes 7-9 and 10-12] which is the BEST Star Wars I have ever seen) or the podcast Sold a Story. Honestly, I cannot get enough of that podcast - I have found it SO informative about the whole language/balanced literacy/three cueing system taught to beginning readers since the 1980's which essentially taught students to guess words and not to truly employ phonics/decoding when reading. If you are currently concerned about the current state of student literacy, I challenge you to learn all about this, because it will both sadden and anger you!

As I have listened (and re-listened) to this podcast, I am finding so many parallels to reading in the CI/ADI world language classroom. Allow me this excursus to detail the philosophy behind this three-cueing/balanced literacy reading methodology - I think the following video does a good job of summarizing the whole language vs. science of reading approaches to teaching reading (and I hope it does not oversimplify the bases for each):

The primary foundation of the whole language approach rests on the idea that much like learning to speak is natural, so learning to read follows the same premise, i.e., beginning learners do not need explicit instruction on how to read and to sound out words since babies do not need explicit instruction in learning to speak; because we learn to speak subconsciously from hearing/interacting with speakers, so will learners pick up reading by being read to and interacting with reading without explicit instruction. As a result, the idea is to surround students with plenty of books to read and to provide ample opportunities for them to read and to be read to. In these ways, novice readers will then develop their own reading skills. Proponents believe that teaching students to decode/sound out words is too boring and burdensome for beginning readers and will actually impede their enjoyment of what they are reading. 
 
Upon this foundation emerged the balanced literacy/three cueing system. Developed by Marie Clay in the 1960s, this methodology eschewed teaching developing readers to sound out words but rather instead to follow these "three cues" when encountering words:

1. look at the picture on the page to guess the meaning of the words/sentences.
2. look at the first letter of the words, then scan the word for other letters, and to guess a word which best fit that pattern. This is called isolated phonics, so it is incorrect to say that the whole language approach does not ever teach phonics.
3. look at the context of the sentence to guess the meaning of the words.

From this developed the "leveled readers". Replacing the decodable books, which focused on students sounding out words and had sentences which followed predictable sound patterns, leveled readers allowed for the plot to dictate which words these readers encountered, regardless of whether these words were level-appropriate. These leveled readers had plenty of pictures to aid readers in determining meaning of the sentences. Lower-level readers focused on predictable word patterns, instead of sound patterns, and had plenty of pictures from which readers could deduce meaning. The concept posited that these leveled readers were viewed as compelling for beginning learners, since they were "word-driven" instead of the boring, "sound-driven" decodable books; because these readers had compelling plots, this would cause beginning readers to want to continue reading. However, the reality was that these beginning readers were not actually reading but guessing based on pictures or context and were never truly reading the individual words - thus it gave the appearance that these students were reading. Therefore, when the readings became longer and more complex and the pictures began to disappear, many students began to flounder, because they never truly had possessed the necessary foundation needed for reading. 
 
For roughly 40 years, this is how students were taught to read. Meanwhile, scientific studies began to reveal that students actually need explicit instruction in how to read and that decoding words is an essential skill for reading development in the brain and for orthographic mapping, a key part of reading. I will end my excursus here, since I could continue. The three cueing system may be a strategy which can be implemented MUCH MUCH LATER following YEARS of reading but should not be used as the sole substitute for teaching students to read. Because of the popularity of the Sold a Story podcast and tons of parents becoming informed about this, states have begun to ban the balanced literacy/three cueing approach from schools in favor of the science of reading (which is so much more than just phonics).

 
Side note - In a communication with Martina Bex about the Sold a Story podcast, of which she is a fan, she wisely noted to me:

So interesting how it’s the SAME THING we have in world languages, with language acquisition but reversed—kids don’t need explicit instruction to acquire language but that’s the wrong idea that has been perpetuated by publishers forever.

So with all of the above in mind (I appreciate you continuing to read this), while balanced literacy and world language instruction is not a 1:1 comparison, I do see some of the same principles applied to so many novellas today: we sacrifice comprehensibility for compelling, especially at the novice-level. Because we want our students to read the target language (Krashen himself says that reading plays a key role in language acquisition), we often rush into creating plots which we think will be compelling but as a result, we overload our readings with vocabulary or structures which we think that they should know (again, we have been influenced too much by what textbooks say). It becomes an overload of language and structures for novice-level readers. These novellas should rather be marketed as intermediate level readers (notice that the terms "Spanish 1" or "German 2" are not used but rather ACTFL proficiency levels).
 
While we teachers (the experts in the room who can read the target language very quickly) may think that true novice-level readings are too boring and predictable for beginning language learners due to a focus on sheltering vocabulary, in reality we need to realize that for these students, it probably is not boring at all! Do we ever extol and laud our students by telling them that they are reading another language?! It is very possible and doable to have level-appropriate comprehensible novellas which have compelling plots, especially at the novice level. I will point to the Confidence Readers and Pablo Paloma by Adam Giedd and the Mosca series by Margarita Perez Garcia. 
 
But at the same time, I do worry that students are applying the cueing system when reading novellas:

1. if there are pictures to help guide students, do they rely solely on the pictures for meaning and not on the words in the target language?
2. if sentences are predictable in nature at the novice level, do students rely on the pattern for meaning and not ever really look at the words per se, i.e., they know the pattern in their L1 so they do not find it necessary to focus on the L2 words? Could they just be memorizing the L2 pattern of words for L1 meaning but never really knowing which specific L2 word means what in L1?

Enough of my grumpy old man tirade (I turn 55 next month!). If you have not been made aware of the balanced literacy approach taught in schools, I hope that this has enlightened you some, and I would love to hear your comments on this.

New Page on my Blog - Literacy in the World Language Classroom

While combing through my blog posts, I noticed that in the past 16 months or so, I have written many addressing literacy in the world language classroom. As a result, I have decided to gather them all into one page. You can find them in the link below, as well as on the navigator bar in my header on my main blog page. I hope that you will take a look at some of my posts on the topic!

Literacy in the World Language Classroom page 

Left/Right PQAs - Purposeful Communication

This past weekend, I attended/presented at Comprehensible Iowa in Des Moines. This was my second time attending/presenting at this local conference, and again, it did not disappoint at all! I truly love Comprehensible Iowa (you can read my post about it from last year), because the organizers put on a such a great conference - lots of very good presenters, a very communal and welcoming Midwestern atmosphere, a great social gathering following the Friday workshops, and plenty of food and snacks!

On the first day, I co-presented a 3-hour adult German language lab with Eric Richards - since Eric is a German teacher, he did most of the heavy lifting in leading it, while I led the debriefs. Because of this, I was able to participate in the language lab; I absolutely LOVE being a participant in language labs where I do not know the language, because then I can experience learning a language like one of my own students. Years ago, being in Linda Li's Mandarin Fluency Fast class was such a turning point for me in my CI/ADI journey, and Eric is a master at implementing CI/ADI as a German teacher! Every time I sit on a German session led by Eric, I learn so much from him.

One activity which Eric facilitated during this language lab was Left/Right. Eric wrote the words "links (left)" and "recht (right)" on the appropriate sides of the board and then projected a question slide similar to this one:

Our job was then to move to the proper side of the board which best reflected our answer. Although a very simple activity, Eric did SO much with this:

1. After we had moved to our sides, Eric counted us in German and then said in German, "X have brothers." Then depending on the numbers, he said, "More do have (not) a brother. Most have (not) a brother."
2. He then in German asked some of those who had brothers "Is your brother older or younger? Do you have one brother? Is your brother friendly? What is your brother's name?"
3. From then, Eric projected a new slide asking us a new question, and as previously done, he repeated the same pattern of questions.

I absolutely LOVED this activity which Eric did for so many reasons:

1. Even though the activity was in German, Eric had scaffolded the lesson already to such a degree that the necessary vocabulary had already been previewed and meaning established, so it was incredibly comprehensible for us.
2. It was a wonderful example of purposeful communication in that all of us participants were able to learn about each other nonverbally based on what side of the board we were standing and then verbally through Eric's followup questions.
3. The movement aspect made the activity quite compelling and novel, instead of the traditional "raise your hand" kind of response.
4. This activity was done throughout the 3 hours so although each time it involved a new set of questions, we became very familiar with it.
5. Eric changed up the slides so that not every one was necessarily a question, e.g., "I swim __________" (left - good, right - bad); "I have a _________" (left - iphone, right - Android phone); "I need more ________" (left - luck, right - patience). I not only loved how our responses were not always to a question but that Eric snuck in the first person singular forms. However, since the focus for us participants was not on grammar per se but rather on the activity, I do not think I even noticed that the form of the verb had changed. 
6. Although it started out as a group PQA, by Eric then asking individuals about their answers, it turned into an individual PQA. Eric did a master job at "keeping the balloon in the air" (I think this is a Ben Slavic phrase?) with questions until he felt that it was time to move on.

This is just one of the many CI/ADI strategies which I learned this past weekend at CI Iowa, and I will be blogging about them. I hope that you will consider attending CI Iowa in summer 2026 - I am already planning to attend, so I hope to see you there!

P.S. If you are attending CI Summit next month, Eric will be leading the German language study class and will be doing this activity as part of the lab. Consider taking the German class, because you are in for a treat!