Retrieval Practice - Complete the Sentence

As I continue to look into retrieval practice and its role in language output, I am learning that in some ways the concept itself is not as difficult as I thought when I base it on Henshaw's definition of output ("expressing meaning retrieving from one's system"). Retrieval practice is a very sheltered, guided way for students to output what is in their system but also a way for their system to gain more input.

Recently, in my Latin 1 classes I did a very simple, short activity which I am certain that many of you have done before but maybe never viewed it as a form of retrieval practice: Complete the Sentence. Essentially, it is cloze-sentence in nature. 

• I wrote a basic, unseen Latin sentence on the board but left out a word, leaving a line instead (and the part of speech underneath).

         Example: Uxor Cheetos __(verb)___. (translated as "The wife ________ Cheetos.")

• I told students to copy down the sentence on their whiteboards and to fill in the blank with one Latin word which we have covered that will complete the sentence. The sentence must make sense. I gave them 30-45 seconds.
• You as the teacher write down 3-4 words of your own which can complete the sentence.
• After 30 seconds, I then had students stand up (a' la Retrieval BINGO).
• I told them that I had written down words of my own and if I called out their word, they were to sit down.
• Whoever was left standing after I called out my words read their word aloud to the class and received a small prize. 

Observations

1. Wow, what a simple activity but one in which you can get a lot of bang for your buck!
2. This is such a low-stakes, guided output activity that in many ways, it does not even look like "output".
3. In the end, when those students who are remaining standing read their word, that is input for the rest of the class. 
4. Most students did not pick the obvious word "eat". Again, I was surprised at what words students wrote down, because many chose words which I had not been targeting yet but somehow had found their way into these students' language systems.
5. As always, the kinesthetic aspect of having students stand up and then sit down if I called their word added a huge student buy-in component. 
6. Because students already knew the sit-down component of the activity, many took effort in choosing their word carefully in their attempt to outguess me. Little did they realize that they were activating the retrieval process from their language system.
7. There is some degree of higher-order thinking involved, because students cannot just put down any word. Their word choice had to fulfill the required part of speech AND make sense in the context, e.g., in the example I gave, students could not write down the word "est (is)," because although a verb, it does not make sense in the context of the sentence.
8. A caveat - do not expect students to know grammatical terms/parts of speech. While there were many students who did understand what a verb was, I had to explicitly say over and over again, "I want an action word. Give me a Latin word which explains what the uxor did in relation to the Cheetos."
9. I would NOT turn this into a grammar exercise unless I knew that ALL students could do it flawlessly. I could have written "Ego Cheetos __________," and asked students to give me the first person singular form of a verb which completed the sentence, but to be honest, that is way too much for Latin 1 students who have only had 8 weeks of Latin. Way too much going on for students to focus. My focus is on meaning, not form.
10. Oh my gosh, after we did this, students BEGGED me to do another round (or two)! I had to come up with another sentence on the spot, so I chose a different part of speech for them to do (adjective).
11. Other fill-in-the-blank sentences can be adjectives, persons, family members, food items, places, rooms of the house, etc. 

Extension activity

1. Using the sentence, pick a word to complete the sentence. From there, do a One Word Image or do TPRS/Storyasking.

Meeting the Multi-Lingual Learners in Our Classes Where They Are - Guest Post by Miriam Patrick

The following is a guest blog post by Miriam Patrick, a CI/ADI Latin teacher who has also taught Multi-Lingual (ML - also referred to as ELL, ESL, and ESOL) students full time. I have asked her to write a post about what we teachers should know about how to best serve ML students in our World Language CI/ADI classrooms.

When I was first asked to consider getting my ELL (aka: ESOL, ESL, ML, etc) certification, I wasn’t sure I’d go for it. After looking into it (and realizing how much I already knew about it), I decided it would be worth it. Since then I’ve taught many ML students in my Latin classroom, taught ML students in an ESOL program, and even transitioned to an ESOL program exclusively before returning to my World Language classroom. What I discovered was that I already had the skills to work with these amazing students, I just needed to adjust the context.

Working with ML learners can feel intimidating, especially if we don’t have much (or any) knowledge on what language they do already know and where they are in their English learning journey, but the same knowledge applies to them, no matter if they are learning their second (like many of our native English speakers in our rooms), third, or fourth language: ML students acquire language when they receive understandable, compelling message in the target language in an environment of belonging.

While I could likely write a little novella on working with learners of all kinds, I want to focus this blog post on three areas: quick shifts, activities that shine, and daily practices. In each area, I’ll provide a quick introduction and 2-3 ideas (with links where I can).

Quick Shifts

Quick shifts are just that: quick and easy changes we can apply to what we are already doing. These can help support our ML learners without having to write multiple activities or make large changes to what we are already doing:

1. Allow your ML students to take notes in their native language… even if you are taking it for a grade. When it comes down to it, notes must be beneficial to the learner. Students who are acquiring extra languages need to be able to make connections to what they already know. Additionally (see points 2/3), consider letting students take portions of the test (vocabulary for example) in their own nativelanguage. If it is a simple vocabulary test, you can fairly easily get the vocabulary list in the TL and their native language and check their work with that.
2. Provide multiple forms of input. We already do this, but we often start to lessen that support earlier than we should (I’m guilty of it too). Provide a picture, a gesture, the English, and, if you can, the word in the ML student’s native language every time. If you are unfamiliar with the student’s language, give them the vocabulary list ahead of time (in the TL and English with a picture) and let them look up the word in their native language. Allow them to have that list out as you do your instruction.
3. Test without English. There are quick ways to adjust an assessment to allow for students of all kinds to show what they know. Consider doing a TPR quiz and give instructions in the target language. Allow your ML students to go a little later in the call and respond so they can see what is expected of them. Consider a vocabulary quiz with pictures instead of definitions. Students can draw a picture or match them to the TL vocabulary. Allow students to highlight within the passage and color code instead of writing proof for an answer.

Activities that Shine

These activities are ones that I’ve done with my ML students and they’ve remarked that they’ve enjoyed them or they were able to show me some great things in their work.

1.  Illustrated Texts - I love this activity for everyone. This could be done in a variety of ways, focusing on a variety of things, but I have found it most meaningful when students get to choose what to focus on and how to highlight what they’ve found important.
2.  Code Switched Passages - This activity, admittedly, takes some prep work, but it allows students and teachers to really focus on target vocabulary and/or structures using a known language. The research was done with ML students and they had very strong findings.

Daily Practices

These are things that I have started to ensure I do each day with my classes. I do not mark them as strategies for my ML students, but invite everyone to consider them.

1. Expand your cognates and derivatives list, but don’t assume cognates and derivatives are clear. I used to provide cognates and derivatives in English to show how Latin has influenced my own language. Now I offer them in multiple languages if I can, but, caveat emptor, make sure you are clear on those connections and you are clear on false connections. The Latin word nunc is a prime example. It means “now”. There is a Spanish word, nunca, that means never. I used to just simply give the English meaning, but now, if I know I have Spanish speakers, I provide that extra context.
2. Slow down, pause, point, as often as possible. I know that sometimes it feels like moving at a glacial pace, but remember that our ML students are filtering between more languages than many other students. If we aren’t (or can’t) provide input and support in their language then they are working, at best, in three languages: their own, our target language, and the English we provide. They need processing time!
3. Check in with them. We often put the onus on students to let us know when they need help. Our ML students have been “trained” (often unconsciously by the system, parents, and teachers) to stay quiet and not make a fuss. They sit in classrooms nodding and desperately needing help. A simple check in with your ML students can go a long way to finding out what support they actually need from you.

Dear Latin Novella Authors

Previously I had written a blog post to Novice-Level novella authors, praising them for why I felt successful reading their novice low/mid Spanish novellas. This one is now directed to Latin novella authors.

Dear Latin Novella Authors,

10 years have passed since the first Latin novellas Brando Brown Canem Vult and Pluto: Fabula Amoris came out. Since 2016, a great number of Latin novellas have since been published - I love that finally Latin novellas are on the scene! Thank you for writing these much needed readings which greatly support the acquisition of the Latin language. Krashen writes:

“More speaking or writing does not result in more language or literacy development, but more reading does.”

However, Latin authors, I have one request: we need more Latin novellas truly written for emerging/novice low level readers. We are leaving out a huge portion of our Latin student population. While many Latin teachers may feel that we need more upper-level novellas, hear me out.

My foundational argument is this: although our beginning Latin 1 students may be advanced readers of English, they are only emerging readers of Latin (not even novice yet). A huge false assumption which we Latin teachers have is that when we begin to introduce readings to our Latin 1 students at the beginning of first semester, our students should be able to read them. The reality, however, is:

1. many of our students do NOT possess a high reading level when they come to our Latin 1 classes due to having come through the balanced literacy approach and never actually learning to read or due to not being a native speaker of English.
2. one's reading level in one's primary reading language does NOT transfer immediately to reading in another language. It is not a 1:1 exchange. This includes the ability to decode words when reading. To say that a student who can read X number of words/minute in English should then be able to read that same number of words/minute in Latin is faulty. In the Winter 2026 edition of The Language Educator (ACTFL's magazine), in its article, "Leveraging the Science of Reading Research for Multilingual Success in Dual Language Immersion Programs," Budke and Showers note that we must "acknowledge that transfer between foundational skills in English and the partner language is not automatic and many phonemes and graphemes require explicit instruction."

In the beginning, level 1 students are dealing with a lot at once when reading Latin: they are still familiarizing themselves with how the Latin language appears as a written language, the sounds which the letters represent, the inflected nature of the language, that the verb usually appears at the end of the sentence, and that these words have a meaning attached to them.

In addition, what we think is level-appropriate readings for emerging/novice-level readers is actually not in reality. Latin textbooks have "told" us what are "level-appropriate" readings for Latin 1, but Latin 1 textbook readings are not aligned with any true acquisition theory but rather with a race to get students to translate classical literature by the 3rd year. 

Aspects of emerging/novice-low target language readings are:

• short sentences, with each primarily focusing on one idea
• predictable sentence patterns
• limited vocabulary AND grammatical structures (now is not the time to introduce "shelter vocabulary but not grammar")
• repeated use of sentences
• sentences are not written as paragraphs but rather as individual lines
• high usage of English cognates and proper nouns so that readers can then focus on the target language words
• pictures to aid students in their comprehension (I do feel a bit uneasy with this though due to how much "look at the pictures" played a role in balanced literacy and how students struggled to read when the pictures disappeared)

How often do we find our students never developing their Latin reading skills, because they are rather focusing their attention on stopping at every single word in a sentence to decode it? That does not develop reading.

Some of you may be saying, "Well, my Latin 1 students can read Latin right away with no problems." If that is you, go forth and prosper. However, I have students who STRUGGLE to read in English, let alone another language. I want these students to feel successful in reading Latin which is developmentally-appropriate in their Latin acquisition process.

I encourage you to check out Adam Giedd's Confidence Readers in Spanish. I began reading them in my quest to read novice-level Spanish. Along with Margarita Perez Garcia, both of these authors have a great understanding of what emerging/novice-level readers of Spanish need. They also are masters at creating compelling plots with limited vocabulary!

Many Latin teachers use novellas for Free Voluntary Reading (FVR), and this is to be applauded. Nation and Wang (2020) write, "The single most important way that a teacher could improve their language program would be to include extensive reading." A key feature of pleasure reading is that we tend to read materials which are BELOW our reading level. I always use the examples that People Magazine is written at an 8th grade reading level and that most newspaper articles are written at a 10th grade reading level. When we read for pleasure BELOW our frustration level of reading, our reading fluency will increase. (The converse is true: if we wish to increase our reading comprehension, we should read ABOVE our frustration level of reading. Yet, I would not suggest doing this with language learners - that will only raise the affective filter in students!). Therefore, even advanced readers of Latin will benefit from reading emerging/novice level Latin readings!  

And just so you do not think that I am not practicing what I say here, I have written about 8-10 drafts of emerging/novice-low, "Confidence Readers" in Latin for which I just need to get on the ball and start shopping around to novella publishers.

Keith