Thursday, December 14, 2017

Top 5 of 2017

With final exams coming up next week, this will be my last blog post for 2017 before I take a holiday hiatus. As I have traditionally done at the end of each year on my blog, below are my top 5 viewed posts for 2017:
  1. QR Code Running Dictation
  2. 4-Word Picture Stories
  3. Technology in a CI Classroom, part 1
  4. Focusing on the Basics of CI
  5. Presentations
This blog is now four years old. In December 2013, I began this blog, and quite honestly, I never envisioned so many people would be reading it. I am always so humbled to meet people in person at conferences who tell me that they read my blog and have found what I write to be very useful.

Thanks to all of you who read this blog and keep encouraging me to post. I appreciate that you think that I actually have something of value to say. Thanks also to all those CI teachers whom I so admire (see the sidebar for their blogs) and from whom I have learned so much - you are the ones whose voices are coming through in my posts.

Here's to continuing my CI journey in 2018!

Thursday, December 7, 2017

2018 Latin Comprehensible Input Summer Study/Tour of Italy

Allow me an excursus here to do some self-promotion.

Are you a Latin teacher who has heard about Comprehensible Input, read posts about it on blogs, seen presentations at conferences but have never received any formal training? Are you a Latin teacher who has dabbled some in Comprehensible Input but still are trying to figure out how it all works and how it applies to the bigger picture of teaching Latin? If anything in those two sentences applies to you AND you would like to tour Italy while learning about Comprehensible Input, then read on!

Next summer (July 10-21, 2018), I will be leading a 12-day CI workshop/tour of Italy sponsored by the Vergilian Society. Below is the official write up as found on the Vergilian Society's website:
This 12-day tour is designed to teach Comprehensible Input pedagogy to Latin teachers and to demonstrate how Comprehensible Input methodology can be applied to the teaching of Roman authors. The tour will include travel to sites relevant to Roman authors and textbook readings. Workshop sessions will alternate with visits to sites and museums such as the Colosseum, Capitoline Museums, Vatican City, Pompeii, and Capri. 25-30 hours of classroom instruction will be included, and workshop topics cover an overview of Comprehensible Input theory, demonstration of Comprehensible Input techniques/strategies, such as Total Physical Response (TPR), storyasking, circling, dictations, Movie Talk, embedded readings, Personalized Questions and Answers (PQAs), incorporating technology into the delivery of Comprehensible Input, and numerous activities related to pre-reading, reading, and post-reading activities. Other topics will include Sequencing and Scaffolding of a Comprehensible Input Lesson, Grammar in a Comprehensible Input classroom, and Teaching Upper Level Authors/the AP Syllabus with Comprehensible Input
. The program features 3 days in Rome and the remainder in Campania at the Harry Wilks Study Center at the Villa Vergiliana.
Price: $2,895 (does not include travel to/from Italy) - there are lots of scholarships out there!
  • All prices are per person for double accommodations;
  • All programs are contingent upon enrollment; Do not make flight arrangements until you are alerted that we have sufficient participants!
  • All prices include a $200 tax-deductible contribution to the Vergilian Society.
  • Breakfast is included in all tours. Lunch and dinner are included in days spent at the Villa Vergiliana. Some meals may be included on tours that are not staying at the Villa. 
I am looking forward to be doing this for the Vergilian Society, since I love teaching others about Comprehensible Input, and I have traveled to/led numerous student tours to Italy (this will be my 12th time to Italy!). If you are interested in Latin in the Comprehensible Input classroom, truly consider this opportunity.

Links of interest

Tour page (itinerary soon to be added)

Tour application

Vergilian Society Scholarship application - The Vergilian Society (sponsor of the tour) offers many full/partial scholarships for its tours. Application deadline is March 1. Definitely consider applying!

Other Scholarship opportunities - there are LOTS of scholarship opportunities out there for classical-related travel/study from national, regional, and state classical associations. Some national scholarships of particular interest are:
If you have any questions about this summer tour, please contact me off-blog at kttoda@hotmail.com