How to CI a Latin Textbook Chapter Reading

With the school year now beginning for many Latin teachers, here is a blog post about how to CI a textbook chapter for those teachers who are "bound" to the textbook or are wanting to incorporate CI in their curriculum but do not feel that they possess a strong enough foundation yet to leave behind the textbook.

Since most Latin textbooks are centered around readings, the first thing to do is to pick 1-2 readings from a chapter on which you will focus - do not feel the need to cover EVERY reading in a chapter (e.g., stage 14 of the Cambridge Latin Course has 9 readings!). The name of the game, though, is to sift through the reading(s) to determine with what vocabulary words students are unfamiliar PRIOR to the students reading it, and then to determine what vocabulary to PRETEACH, how you plan to introduce it, and what words will you leave as icing/glossed words. Then, you need to determine what kinds of post-reading activities which you want to do in order to consolidate this vocabulary.

Below are lessons plan examples of "how to CI" Stage 1 of the Cambridge Latin Course and Chapter 3 of Ecce Romani. 

Cambridge Latin Course - Stage 1 Model Sentence (due to copyright law, I am unable to post the actual reading from the story)

1. Words to immediately target before the reading:

• pater
• mater
• filius
• filia
• canis
• est
• scribit
• bibit
• laborat
• in culina
• in tablino

    Icing words/words for glossing:

• servus (possibly a cognate which students may recognize)
• in atrio
• in triclinio
• in horto
• dormit
• legit
• in via
• coquus

2. Preteach the following words using Picture Talk: pater, mater, filius, filia, canis, est, -ne, quis, quae

Picture talk script

3. Preteach the following words using a Movie Talk: in culina, in tablino

Movie Talk script

4. Preteach the following words doing 3-ring circus: scribit, bibit, laborat
5. Project the model sentences and pictures from the textbook for students to read. Gloss icing words.
6. Do a choral reading of the model sentences.
7. Play a game of Stultus with the model sentences.
8. Do a Ping Pong reading of the model sentences.
9. Play Pancho Cumacho with vocabulary from model sentences. 

Pancho Cumacho script

10. Word Chunk Game with model sentences. 

Ecce Romani - Chapter 3 reading "In the Garden" (due to copyright law, I am unable to post the actual reading from the story)

1. Words with which students are "familiar/may have acquired" due to prior use in previous chapters:

• est
• nomine
• in villa rustica/villis rusticis
• habitat
• alter
• et
• sunt 
• amici
• hodie
• quod
• laeti
• quoque
• in agris
• currunt
• sed

Words which are cognates:

• pictura
• Romanus
• servus
• Italia
• Brittanicus
• statua

Words to immediately target before the reading

• puer
• solus
• clamant
• rident
• subito
• laborant
• iratus
• molestus

Icing words/words for glossing

• qui
• in horto
• eadem
• multi
• in piscinam
• cadit
• abite, molesti
• gemit

2. Preteach the following vocabulary using a Movie Talk: Dragonboy

Dragonboy script

3. Preteach the following words doing 3-ring circus: clamat, ridet, laborat
4. Project Dragonboy reading for students to read. 

Dragonboy reading

6. Do a choral reading of the Dragonboy story.
7. Play a game of Stultus with the Dragonboy story
8. Social Emotional Learning reading with Dragonboy story.
9. Read/Draw of Dragonboy story

Read/Draw sentences
Read Draw cartoon grid

10. Using Read/Draw as a guide, do a 5-minute timed write of the Dragonboy story
11. NOW introduce Chapter 3 Ecce Romani reading. Gloss any icing words.

While some many wonder why it is necessary to do another story prior to introducing this chapter, our goal is to make the Chapter 3 reading as comprehensible as possible for students upon reading it for the first time, meaning that they know as many words as possible. Preteaching vocabulary will allow for this.