Where my Passion Lies

This past July, I led a Vergilian Society tour to Italy, where the morning focused on classroom sessions about CI in the Latin classroom, and the afternoon was devoted to touring. For our tour sessions, I wanted to focus on classical sites, since we were Latin teachers. At these sites, a number of participants wanted to read aloud excerpts in Latin from Roman authors who had written about some of the sites in classical times which we were now visiting. When our group was in the Piscina Mirabilis in Miseno and was reading excerpts from Book 6 of the Aeneid (where the Sibyl tells Aeneid that his comrade Misenus is dead, that his body needs to be buried, but that the land will be called Misenum after him), we took turns reading the passage in Latin and in English. Many participants really enjoyed it, but quite honestly, I so wanted to feel a part of it all and to experience the joy of hearing the Latin read about these places like others were, but to be honest, my heart just was not into it. That is not to say that there was anything wrong either with those who enjoyed it or with me who did not fully get into the experience - it just means that we are in different places when it comes to Latin.

I have come to realize that my passion no longer is in the Latin language itself. When I came straight out of graduate school, I would have told you that my passion was Vergil and how much I loved anything related to the Aeneid or dactyllic hexameter. That is NOT to say that I have lost my love for the Latin language; in many ways, it is as strong as ever. It is just not as strong as others whom I know and quite honestly, something else has taken its place and superseded it.

Where my passion lies is now in the TEACHING of Latin, in learning how to be a more effective CI instructor, and in passing along this knowledge to others through presentations, blogs, social media, etc. That is what excites me as a Latinist. This is why every summer I attend IFLT - I want to hone my craft and to become a better practitioner of delivering comprehensible input to my students. This is why I read blogs devoted to the topic and follow CI teachers on Twitter. In many ways, this is why I have not attended Rusticatio in the past few summers; as much as I want to become a better speaker of Latin, as I become more selective in what summer conferences I attend, an IFLT or NTPRS conference is going to be my first choice.

Even though I am taking off this year from conferences, I love presenting on implementing comprehensible input in the classroom. My absolute favorite presentation which I have ever given was my first session at IFLT 2017 in Denver on how to play Mafia (I gave two presentations there on Mafia). I had no idea what to expect for the presentation, since it was the first time for me to present on the topic, and I was also a bit intimidated, because there were a number of folks in attendance whom I absolutely admire and respect as CI teachers. Everything went so well, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Usually at the end of doing a CI demonstration in a presentation, I ask, "What made this activity comprehensible for you? Compelling for you? Lowered your affective filter?" One participant responded, "Your body language during the entire Mafia game made the activity so interesting for us and kept it entertaining." To be honest, my body language was something of which I was completely unaware (and am still unaware. Occasionally, I will notice my body language when telling a CI story or asking questions, and it kind of freaks me out). I am always taken by surprise when I hear this, because my body language is completely unintentional. One time, Jason Fritze commented that I look like I am surfing when I circle. At the same time, it is great to hear that my body language even communicates my joy of teaching Latin using CI and of wanting to teach others about how they can implement CI in their classrooms.

Where does your passion lie when it comes to language and to teaching?

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.

Embedded/Tiered Reading Example

I am finishing up the second week of school - yep, here in Georgia, we start early. In my Latin 2 classes, I wanted to ease them back into reading with a very easy passage in order to make them feel successful, so I felt like doing an embedded/tirered reading would achieve that. Also because I am now doing a daily ritual of a "weather report," I felt like that particular vocabulary needed to go somewhere, so I included some of that in the reading. 

Tier 1

Latin: Sol non lucet, et pluit. Rhonda umbrellam non habet. Rhonda dicit, “Ubi est mea Mickey Mouse umbrella? Quis meam Mickeyem Mousem umbrellam habet?” Rhonda est madida. Rhonda est irata, quod pluit, et umbrellam non habet.

English: The sun is not shining. Rhonda does not have an umbrella. Rhonda says, "Where is my Mickey Mouse umbrella? Who has my Mickey Mouse umbrella? Rhonda is soaking wet. Rhonda is angry, because she does not have an umbrella.

Tier 2

Latin: Rhonda est tristis. Sol non lucet, et pluit. Rhonda est in domo. Rhonda umbrellam non habet. Rhonda dicit, “Ubi est mea Mickey Mouse umbrella? Mea Mickey Mouse umbrella non est in meo sacculo! Quis meam Mickeyem Mousem umbrellam habet?”

Pluit, sed Rhonda umbrellam non habet. Rhonda est madida (soaking wet). Quod Rhonda est madida, est irata!

Rhonda Carolem videt. Carol Mickeyem Mousem umbrellam habet! Rhonda est irata, et dicit, “Carol meam Mickeyem Mousem umbrellam habet! Sol non lucet, et pluit, et madida sum.

Rhonda Carolem pulsat, et umbrellam capit! Rhonda est laeta, quod habet Mickey Mousem umbrellam! Carol est tristis. Rhonda ridet.

English: Rhonda is sad. The sun is not shining, and it is raining. Rhonda is in her home. Rhonda does not have an umbrella. Rhonda says, "Where is my Mickey Mouse umbrella? My Mickey Mouse umbrella in not in my bookbag! Who has my Mickey Mouse umbrella?"

It is raining, but Rhonda does not have an umbrella. Rhonda is soaking wet. Because Rhonda is soaking wet, she is angry.

Rhonda sees Carol. Carol has a Mickey Mouse umbrella! Rhonda is angry and says, "Carol has my Mickey Mouse umbrella! The sun is not shining, and it is raining, and I am soaking wet!"

Rhonda punches Carol and takes the umbrella. Rhonda is happy, because she has her Mickey Mouse umbrella. Carol is sad. Rhonda laughs.

Tier 3

Hodie est primus dies scholae. Rhonda est tristis, quod sol non lucet, et pluit. Rhonda est in domo. Rhonda non vult ire ad scholam, quod sol non lucet, et pluit. Rhonda umbrellam non habet. Rhonda dicit, “Ubi est mea Mickey Mouse umbrella? Mea Mickey Mouse umbrella non est in meo sacculo! Mea Mickey Mouse umbrella semper est in meo sacculo! Quis meam Mickeyem Mousem umbrellam habet? Sol non lucet, et pluit!”

Rhonda ad scholam ambulat. Pluit, sed Rhonda umbrellam non habet. Rhonda est madida. Quod Rhonda est madida, est irata! Rhonda dicit, “Hodie est primus dies scholae, et madida sum. Sol non lucet, et pluit. Quis meam Mickey Mousem umbrellam habet?!”

Rhonda Carolem videt. Carol meam Mickeyem Mousem umbrellam habet! Rhonda est irata, et dicit, “Carol meam Mickeyem Mousem umbrellam habet! Sol non lucet, et pluit, et madida sum!”

Rhonda Carolem pulsat, et umbrellam capit! Rhonda est laeta, quod habet Mickey Mousem umbrellam! Carol est tristis, et quod pluit, Carol est madida. Rhonda ridet, quod pluit, et Carol est madida.

Subito, Bob Rhondam videt, et dicit, “O Rhonda, habeo tuam Mickeyem Mousem umbrellam! Quod sol non lucet et pluit, cepi tuam umbrellam!” Rhonda est laeta, quod habet DUAS Mickeyes Mouses umbrellas, sed Carol est irata, quod Rhonda cepit eius Mickey Mousem umbrellam. Carol displodit.

English: Today is the first day of school. Rhonda is sad, because the sun is not shining, and it is raining. Rhonda is in her home. Rhonda does not want to go to school today, because the sun is not shining, and it is raining Rhonda does not have an umbrella. Rhonda says, "Where is my Mickey Mouse umbrella? My Mickey Mouse umbrella in not in my bookbag! My umbrella is always in my bookbag. Who has my Mickey Mouse umbrella? The sun is not shining, and it is raining."

Rhonda walks to school. It is raining, but Rhonda does not have an umbrella. Rhonda is soaking wet. Because Rhonda is soaking wet, she is angry. Rhonda says, "Today is the first day of school, and I am soaking wet. The sun is not shining, and it is raining. Who has my Micky Mouse umbrella?!" 

Rhonda sees Carol. Carol has a Mickey Mouse umbrella! Rhonda is angry and says, "Carol has my Mickey Mouse umbrella! The sun is not shining, and it is raining, and I am soaking wet!"

Rhonda punches Carol and takes the umbrella. Rhonda is happy, because she has her Mickey Mouse umbrella. Carol is sad, and because it is raining, Carol is soaking wet. Rhonda laughs, because it is raining, and Carol is soaking wet.

Suddenly, Bob sees Rhonda, and says, "O Rhonda, I have your Mickey Mouse umbrella. Because the sun is not shining and it is raining, I took your umbrella!" Rhonda is happy, because she has TWO Mickey Mouse umbrellas, but Carol is angry, because Rhonda took her Mickey Mouse umbrella. Carol explodes.

Observations

1. Yes, the reading passage may seem very basic for the second week of Latin 2, but as I stated earlier, I wanted to give them a passage where students would feel successful right away reading it. I also wanted to get in lots of repetitions, especially of the weather words.
2.  Reading the passage as embedded readings, where new facts and details are added for each tier, keeps the passage novel and compelling.
3. For more information about embedded readings, check out the official Embedded Reading website.

Brain Breaks

A brain break is exactly what the name implies: a break for your brain and a chance for it to reset. Years ago, I had heard of the concept but actually wrote it off as some trendy "touchy feely" kind of activity which had no merit. It was not until IFLT 2016 that I saw brain breaks in action as something which needs to be incorporated into one's classroom. At that particular IFLT, I had the opportunity to observe Annabelle Allen (whom I did not know at that time but now absolutely love) teach Spanish to elementary school-aged students and was absolutely blown away by her and what she does in her classroom. In addition to Annabelle's absolutely phenomenal teaching and her connection with her students, I saw how often she did brain breaks. This is where I finally understood the need for them in a classroom, especially since she was teaching elementary school-aged students. 

Some things I have learned about brain breaks:

1. They do not have to be long - they can be less than a minute or as long as 3-4 minutes.
2. They can be any type of activity (see list below).
3. Brain breaks need to be done every minute for the average age of your class, e.g., my classes this year are mostly sophomores and juniors, so the average age is 15-17, meaning my students need a brain break every 15-17 minutes. 
4. For classes later in the day, students need brain breaks more often, so I will do it every 12-14 minutes for my afternoon classes.
5. According to science, the best brain breaks are those: 
1. where one crosses the middle of one's body.
2. which involve the use of one's non-dominant side, 
3. or which involve trying to do two different actions simultaneously.
6. They can be done in the target language. I will usually do them in English, because my brain needs a break too from speaking Latin in class.

There are a ton of resources out there regarding brain breaks, but here are some links of interest:

My list of brain breaks
Annabelle Allen's blog - search "brain breaks" - in my opinion, Annabelle is the queen of brain breaks
Annabelle Allen Teacher Pay Teachers Brain Breaks - this is a FREE resource about Brain Breaks on TPT - this was a professional development which Annabelle gave on Brain Breaks. It does require that you sign up for a free account before you can download the resource.
Cynthia Hitz's blog - search "brain breaks" - you can find lots of really good brain breaks here
Martina Bex - Brain Breaks for the Language Classroom
Martina Bex - Best Brain Breaks
Justin Slocum Bailey' - Image Imitation
Bryce Hedstrom - list of brain breaks
Mindful Brain Breaks

Observations

1. Although students may not realize the importance of brain breaks, they really do need them. As the teacher, I can definitely notice a change in students following a brain break.
2. Brain breaks are important for you too as the teacher!
3. When I do brain breaks every 16-17 minutes in a 52-minute period, it really helps break up a class into short chunks of time. I am always amazed at how quickly a period goes by when I do 2-3 brain breaks in a class.
4. It is important to be consistent with brain breaks. Consider assigning student job who will serve as the brain break countdown timer or who will shout out "We need a brain break!"
5. Like anything, when it comes to brain breaks, the brain craves novelty (in the immortal words of Carol Gaab), so it is important to do different kinds of brain break activities.

My CI Journey

This summer, I attended a weeklong TPRS Trainer Prep Course sponsored by Altamira Language Learning and TPRS Academy. One of the exercises which we did was to create a visual representation of our individual "CI journeys" - how we came to learn about CI, our journeys of CI implementation, where we were going with CI, etc. As we only had 10 minutes to create this, in many ways, what each of us illustrated became a stream of our consciousness. Following this, we then had to share our stories with various participants. This was a great exercise, because it forced me to think about how I came to learn about CI, how did I view CI then and now, etc. and to put it down on paper without thinking.

I have decided to share my drawing and CI journey with you all. Hopefully it will resonate with you and perhaps explain how I came to embrace CI.

Prior to 2007 - I was all about grammar-translation. Like you probably, I absolutely love grammar. That is why I was attracted to Latin - since it was being taught in a grammar-translation manner, it instantly appealed to me. Latin was like a puzzle to me - I could immediately see or at least decode how sentences were set up. I had never heard Latin spoken before, but why should we? In my opinion, our goal as Latinists was simply to translate classical works into English via grammar-translation. I spent my undergraduate years at UCLA, obtaining my Bachelor of Arts degree in Greek and Latin, and I received my Masters degree in Latin from UGA - both programs were pure grammar translation. At this time, I was of the biggest advocates against any type of spoken Latin, let alone Comprehensible Input.

2007 - I attended a Blaine Ray TPRS workshop, because I had heard about TPRS and was interested in using some active Latin in my classroom. I was implementing the reading method in my classes, and I was still very grammar-oriented. I had never before heard of Comprehensible Input. I was really impressed with what I saw, as Blaine did a TPRS demo in German. I decided to facilitate some TPRS in my classes, but at the same time, I saw CI/TPRS purely as just another tool to add to my bag of tricks, i.e., I was not convinced that there was one single way to teach Latin.

2010 - This was a turning point in my teaching career, as I taught AP Latin for the first time and witnessed first hand that we (the College Board, university classics departments, and tradition) were asking WAY TOO MUCH from students after just 3 years of Latin. I was unaware of the ACTFL proficiency scales at this point (for the record, the Aeneid is SUPERIOR level reading), but I came to the realization that asking students to translate 1,900 lines of the Aeneid in a year (something I never did in college/graduate school as a Latin major) was way beyond their capability. This is also when I started to notice the concept of "4%ers," although I did not know the term or had heard anything about it. After this experience, I knew that I needed to make a HUGE change in the way I viewed the teaching of Latin and in how I taught it. I had become rather disillusioned with the traditional view of teaching Latin and what our goals were.

2013 - This was the year that I fully embraced CI. That summer, I attended THREE CI workshops, so what I did not quite understand at the first workshop was reinforced at the second one, and so on. Because I had a foundation of CI through my experiences in implementing TPRS, in addition to my experience in teaching AP Latin, embracing CI 100% was not too difficult for me. Learning ways to implement CI was where my journey headed for the next few years. I attended numerous national CI conferences such as NTPRS and IFLT, and my CI family tree began. 2013 is also the year I began this blog. When I first started this, my goal was that perhaps 20 Latin teachers would read this. Never did I imagine that it would turn into what is now, where I have had over 350,000 pages views in the past five years, and the majority of people who read this are non-Latin teachers.

2013-2016 - Although I was implementing CI at my school, I was the only Latin teacher at my school who had embraced it, as I was moving away from the textbook. As much as I loved my Latin department, it still was kind of lonely being the only CI teacher. I needed a change.

2016 - present - I am now in a Latin department, where all of us are implementing CI, as I work alongside Rachel Ash, John Foulk, Bob Patrick, and Miriam Patrick. The Parkview High School Latin department has over 700 students and 5 Latin teachers. It is so nice to be in a department where everyone is on the same page pedagogically.

The future - I really do not know where I am headed. Will I continue to be a Latin teacher? Will I leave the classroom and use my graduate degree to become a local school technology coordinator?

Reflections

1. I still love grammar and will continue to do so. I also need to realize that the average student is not I - the average student does not like grammar. I am the "weirdo" and the "not normal" one. That does not by any means mean that this is wrong, but I do need to understand that explicit grammar teaching is not productive nor 100% necessary for students to learn a language at the novice/intermediate levels - pop-up grammar teaching is what CI teachers do instead. To quote Bill Van Patten: "If all students were like language teachers, then they would be teachers of language, and they're not. We're the weirdos."
2.  I think that I was able to embrace CI completely in 2013, because I had a foundation of CI with TPRS of which I was unaware. Even though prior to 2013 I viewed TPRS as just another tool to add to my toolbox of teaching, I was still implementing CI and did not know that I was. I wonder if I would have embraced CI so fully in 2013 if I had not been dabbling in TPRS for a few years.

Picture Talk - Family Member Vocabulary

Here is a Picture Talk idea which I have been doing for years, and quite honestly, I began doing this long before I embraced Comprehensible Input and was teaching solely the reading method out of the Cambridge Latin Course. Since the very first stage of the Cambridge Latin Course introduces the family around which the readings revolve, here is how I introduced family member vocabulary.

The following script is in Latin, but it should be quite comprehensible and can be adapted into any language.

Target words for this Picture Talk (write these words on the board with their English meaning)

pater (father), mater (mother), filius (son), filia (daughter), infans (baby), canis (dog), liberi (children), est (is), sunt (are), -ne (?), quis (who - masculine form), quae (who - feminine form), quot (how many)

Haec (this) est Simpson familia. In Simpson familia est Homer. (point to Homer) Homer est pater. Homer est pater in Simpson familia. When I said, “Homer est pater in Simpson familia,” what did that mean? Yes, Homer is the father in the Simpson family. Homer est pater in Simpson familia, et Marge est mater.

(point to Marge). Estne Marge mater? Estne Marge mater an pater? Estne Marge pater? Quis est pater? Estne Homer mater? Quae est mater? Homer est pater, et Marge est mater in Simpson famila.

Sed (but) Bart (point to Bart) non est pater. Bart non est mater. Bart est filius. When I say “Bart est filius,” what am I saying in English? Estne Bart mater? Estne Bart mater an filius? Estne Bart filius? Estne Bart pater? Quis est pater? Quae est Marge - mater an filius? Homer est pater, Marge est mater, et Bart est filius.

(point to Lisa) Haec (this) est Lisa. Lisa non est pater, non est mater, et non est filius. Lisa est filia. Estne Lisa filius and filia? Look at the words “filius” and “filia” - what is the difference between the words in Latin? Quis est filius? Quae est filia? Quis est pater? Quae est mater?

(point to Maggie) Haec (his) est Maggie. Maggie non est mater, non est pater, non est filius, sed Maggie est filia. Maggie est infans. When I said "Maggie est infans," what did I say in English? Maggie est infans. Estne Lisa infans? Quae est Lisa? Estne Bart infans? Quis est Bart?

(point to dog) Santa’s Little Helper non est mater, non est pater, non est filius, et non est filia. Santa’s Little Helper est canis. What is a “canis” in English? What word in English do we get from “canis”? Estne Santa's Little Helper? Estne Snoopy canis? Estne Snoopy and Winnie the Pooh canis? Estne Winnie the Pooh canis?

In Simpson familia sunt tres liberi (count to three and point to each of the children in the picture as you do it) - unus, duo, tres. When I said "In Simpson familia sunt tres liberi," what did I mean in English? Tres liberi sunt in Simpson familia. Suntne duo liberi in Simpson familia? Suntne quattuor liberi in Simpson familia? Quot canes sunt in Simpson familia?

(You can introduce Snowball the Cat if you want, and circle that word).

(Now do the same for the following families - you will find that you will not need to circle as much for the second and third pictures, because students are very familiar with the vocabulary. For the fourth and fifth pictures, now ask students who is who in each of the families. "In the Griffin family, quis est canis? quae est mater? Estne infans in Griffin familia? Quis est infans? Quot liberi sunt in Griffin familia?")

Observations

1. Because this activity involves very limited vocabulary, meaning is established, and vocabulary is presented in a meaningful context with LOTS of repeated exposure, students acquire these words quickly.
2. Because we are dealing with tv show families, the activity is compelling for students.
3. One of the drawbacks of this picture is that students are not familiar with every tv show family. I used to do the Brady Bunch, but students no longer know they are (I weep for this generation). I do not watch Family Guy, so I am very honest with students and tell them, "I don't who this family is. Can you tell me about them in Latin?"

CI Latin Teacher Database

With so many Latin teachers having attended NTPRS and IFLT these past few summers, not to mention the number of blogs, of Facebook groups, and of conference presentations dedicated to the teaching of Comprehensible Input in the Latin classroom, I have decided to create a CI Latin Teacher Database much like the CI Teacher Database which Martina Bex has created. This will now allow us to see what CI Latin teachers are out there, in what area they are, etc. Now that we have gained a critical mass of CI teachers in the Latin teacher community, I think that it is more important than ever that we CI Latin teachers support each other. To be part of this database, you do not have to be using CI exclusively. Perhaps you are a CI dabbler. Maybe you are a CI seeker. I want you to know that you are still part of the CI Latin teacher community.

This document hopefully will lead to the creation of some Professional Learning Networks (PLN) based on local area and to being able to observe other CI Latin teachers in the classroom, but most importantly, to community and the knowledge that you are NOT alone in being a CI Latin teacher. If you are willing to have others come observe you in the classroom, please indicate that. 

A few of the questions deal with the phrase "formally trained." Some of you may be asking why that phrase is there. To quote Martina Bex:

Why ‘formally trained’? I don’t specify it to be a snooty-pants, I promise! It is my attempt to guarantee that what you see in the lesson is true, modern, TPRS®. I had a very wrong idea of what TPRS® was before I began learning about it from Michele Whaley. My idea was based on antiquated information from a methods course and my own imagination. Many teachers have observed their colleagues using TPRS® or read about it in a book or on a blog, but they have never been to a workshop in which they are coached in the essential skills of TPRS®. You would never allow a doctor that had not been to medical school to teach you how to do heart surgery, would you? Likewise, when you are learning how to teach a TPRS® lesson, you need to learn from someone that has been to TPRS® school. Now, of course there is still much margin for error, but finding a formally trained TPRS® teacher is at least some kind of a protection plan.

This is something to keep in mind. It is important that if you are willing to have others come observe you implementing CI in your classroom or you are wanting to coach someone in how to use CI, you truly need to understand what CI is and what it is not through some kind of formal training. As Martina Bex writes above about her own experience, there are many out there who have their own idea of CI and think that they understand what it is, but in reality, they are FAR from what CI actually is. My understanding of CI greatly improved (and still does) through attending conferences like NTPRS and IFLT.

How to use this database: As the database grows, search to see what other CI Latin teachers are possibly in your area. Perhaps you are wanting to observe another CI Latin teacher in the classroom. Perhaps you would like to collaborate with another CI Latin teacher who is using the same textbook or has gone un-textbook. In each of these situations, email those particular teachers.

Click here if you would like to submit information to be on this database. 

Click here to see what CI Latin teachers are a part of this database so far.

NOTE - this is a public document, so please be aware of this if you choose to submit any information.