Output is Messy

As I continue to direct my classroom towards a proficiency-based curriculum and one based on acquisition-driven instruction, I am amazed by what students are able to output purely based on what has been input. However, at the same time, so often that output is strewn with grammatical errors, while some students still have difficulty "outputting." When I see students struggle with either oral or written output, as their teacher I have to ask myself some questions:

• Have they not received enough of the correct kind of input? In other words, while I may have provided students with understandable input, was the input WAY too overwhelming and too much for them to handle? Just because the input itself was understood does not mean that students were able to handle all of that intake. 
• Was my input even comprehended? While I may have delivered what I deemed to be understandable, was it really?

However, the biggest question which I must ask myself, "Is what I am seeing COMPLETELY NORMAL for language learners in their proficiency journey, so therefore it is I who must be the one to change and to manage my current expectations?"

In many ways we can get a false sense of mastery of output demonstrated by novice-level students, since so often their communication is based solely on an exchange of memorized life skill phrases (greetings interaction, memorized dialogues, etc.). Students seem to progress so quickly through novice-level language proficiency, but then it seems like they hit a wall when it comes to intermediate-level communication. Although there is a higher-level of expectation for these learners since it seems like they should be able to do more with the language, their output is strewn with errors!

I once heard Ariene Borutski, a CI French teacher in Southern California, say that according to one of her professors, "proficiency is communicating using what you know." I really like that definition, because now that I understand more about language proficiency and the ACTFL levels, it makes perfect sense! If you were to take a look at the ACTFL proficiency guidelines, you would see the various indicators which exemplify each level. However, the proficiency guidelines NEVER address grammatical errors (either the amount of or lack thereof) as indicating language proficiency. Grammatical errors at the novice and intermediate levels only matter when they impede meaning for a sympathetic listener/reader (an ACTFL term). In most instances, novice/intermediate level students are indeed using what they know (i.e., their mental representation of language) which probably has A LOT of holes and gaps which need to be filled. Although we may wish to speed up the process of filling those holes and gaps, according to second language acquisition research, no amount of explicit instruction and correction will remedy it. It will happen when it happens.

Intermediate-level communication of any kind is MESSY. While a student at the intermediate level may have been exposed to more language than a novice and therefore be able to wield more language output, this student probably does not possess the language control of an advanced learner. So when I hear a student say "mihi vult comedit Takis," that sentence is SO FULL of errors (instead of "volo comedere Takis"). However, when I take a step back and realize: a) that this is an intermediate level student and b) this student is using/applying what is "known" at that moment (i.e., whether it be right or wrong, this is what the student's mental representation of language is) and c) errors are the norm at this level and d) as a sympathetic listener, I am still able to understand what this student is communicating, then I realize the following: 

It also shows me where the holes and gaps are in students' mental representation of language and where to focus continued input. 

So when I go in with an expectation that Intermediate-level communication is going to be messy and probably laden with errors, it is a realistic view of language proficiency. This is not to say that standards are being lowered and watered down - far from it! Instead, our expectations were way too high to begin with and did not reflect true reality! As an Intermediate-High Latin speaker, I am so glad to know this, because for me, it is absolutely freeing to realize ahead of time that I am going to make mistakes, because it is expected! 

Variety in a First Read-through

Just recently, for Latin 3 following a movie talk, my colleague and i introduced a reading based on the movie talk. My colleague had created Google Slides with the text and screenshots from the animated short for students to follow along. There were 15 slides, since the reading was long (but very comprehensible due to lots of repetition). However, I also knew that since it was the first week back from winter break, students' attention span would be short. But because this was a first read-through of the text, I also did not want to rush students through it. While they had been exposed to the reading through the actual movie talk, for most students, that is all it was: exposure - there was no guarantee any acquisition had occurred, so I needed to ensure that we went through the passage together at least once in order to establish meaning. 

In the words of Carol Gaab, "the brain craves novelty," as we began to read through the story for the first time, for every slide, I ended up doing something different with students to keep them engaged in order to add variety. First off, every had a whiteboard, marker, and a rag:

• First slide - I as the teacher simply read the text and translated into English for students
• Second slide - students wrote out an English translation
• Third slide - students did a choral translation
• Fourth slide - read, draw, and discuss
• Fifth slide - students answered comprehension questions
• Sixth slide - Stultus
• Seventh slide and further - repeated sequence or mixed it up

Observations

1. This took 1.5 days to get through 15 slides. 
2. The change in activity for each slide kept students engaged, since most of the slides involved them interacting with the text somehow, and every slide's activity was different.
3. It did keep students "on their toes," because for each slide, they would have to do something (except for the ones where I translated). 
4. Although I could have just barreled through the 15 slides in one day, I felt that mixing it up and having students do something for each slide kept a first-time read-through from getting stale.

The Start of a New Year

It is now 2023! Ever since COVID, the lockdown, and hybrid teaching, my sense of time has been totally thrown off - I feel like I have no memory of a few years there (and will I really be turning 53 this year???). 

As things are returning to "normal" (or as "normal" as things are going to get), I truly enjoyed my holiday season. Some friends of mine finally were able to throw their annual Christmas get-together after a THREE YEAR hiatus, as well as another friend holding her annual New Year's Eve bash (again another THREE YEAR interruption!) Wow, it was so good to see so many friends in person at these parties, many of whom I had not seen since pre-Covid! I also had 2 1/2 weeks off for the holiday break, so I traveled to Florida for a bit and then spent my Christmas in San Diego, visiting my sister and her family (yes, while it was 12 degrees here in Atlanta during that nationwide arctic blast, I was in sunny San Diego where it was 75 degrees on Christmas Day - we went to the beach on that day!).

School started up last week, so now we are back with students. On the one hand, I am definitely trying to get back into routine of teaching (and by now, the novelty of being back has worn off for students), but at the same time, I cannot help but look back and think, "Wow, we have made it through one semester already!" 

A new year and a new semester can be an exciting time. It can be a time to restart many of the things which we implemented back at the beginning of the school year last semester but fell by the wayside. It can be a time to build upon your foundation from last semester and introduce new types of activities/expectations. Last week, my colleague and I surveyed our students, asking them three questions:

1. What are things you enjoyed in Latin class last semester?
   
2. What are things which helped you acquire the language last semester?
3. What are things which you would like to do more of this semester?

Students were very honest in their responses. They could not respond with generic answers as "games and activities," but I asked them for specifics. Interestingly enough, many students responded "timed writes" as something which helped them last semester. Overwhelmingly, my students said, "We want more brain breaks!" (that was something which I unintentionally stopped doing by November).

I hope that you feel refreshed from your holiday break - just one more semester to go!

Top 5 of 2022

As I now take my regularly-scheduled December sabbatical from blogging, I wanted to share with you my annual "Top 5 Most Read Blog Posts" from this past year. Thanks for your support in reading this blog, and I hope that you will both end the year strongly and will recuperate much over the break. See you in 2023!

1. Dominoes - Putting the Story in Order #2
2. The Sex Game 2.0
3. Write and Discuss as Pre-Writing Preparation
4. Sight Reading Comprehension Assessment
5. Embedded Writing

Summer 2023 CI/ADI Conferences

As 2022 winds down, it is not too early to start thinking about the possible CI/ADI conferences offered next summer in 2023:

• Acquisitiion Academy (in person) - Dallas, TX June 22-24, 2023 (I'll be there!)
• CI Reboot (virtual) - July 10-14, 2023
• CI Summit (in-person and virtual)- Savannah, GA July 10-14, 2023 (I'll be there!)
• Conference in the Clouds (virtual) - July 17-21, 2023
• Fluency Matters Conference (in person) - St. Petersburg, FL July 18-20, 2023 (I'll be there!)

Lots of good opportunities (in-person and virtual) both to learn about and to further your development as a CI/ADI teacher!

Are they any which I have missed and should be included?

Hope that you will consider attending one of these, and if I am there at that conference, please say hi!

Thank You - 2022

For this particular blog post, as we are now in Thanksgiving week, I wanted to write a message of thanks and gratitude as a CI teacher. Although I wrote a "thank you" post in 2016 (and all of that still rings true six years later!), since it has been six years, I want to write a follow up:

I am thankful for:

1. My CI Family Tree - these are those teachers who were an incredible influence on my development as a CI/ADI teacher and still continue to inspire me to become a better language teacher. 
2. The fellow members of my CI Latin department at Parkview High School - Rachel Ash, Liz Davidson, John Foulk, and Miriam Patrick.
3. Those, who although are not named in my CI Family Tree, are ones from whom I have learned and am still learning so much about CI/ADI: (in no particular order) Martina Bex, Elicia Cardenas, Janet Holzer, Amy Marshall, Christina Bacca, Ariene Borutzki, Teri Wiechart, Annabelle Williamson, Jason Fritze, Michelle Kindt, Karen Rowan, Gary DiBianca, Amy Wopat, Andrea Schweitzer, Michele Whaley, John Bracey, Lance Piantaggini, Justin Slocum Bailey, Haiyun Lu, Mira Canion, Cindy Hitz, Bess Hayles, Carol Hill, Clarice Swaney, Allison Litten, Donna Tatum-Johns, Kelly Ferguson, Sarah Breckley (love her vlogs), Carrie Toth and Kristy Placido (for the CI Diaries podcast), Erica Burge, JJ Epperson, Diane Neubauer - I am certain that I have left out so many other people in that list. For the record, I still totally fanboy over these people when I see them and cannot believe that they know my name.
4. The opportunities to serve as a coach for Acquisition Boot Camp (ABC) and IFLT and that they trust me to work with others on guiding them as CI/ADI teachers! 

Most of all, I am thankful for you my readers - this blog has over 880,000 page views since December 2013. To the twelve of you who regularly read my blog, you are the ones who keep me motivated to share my thoughts and activities. As I always say, thank you for thinking that I have something to say!

Strip/Rip BINGO

This is a quick listening activity which I found out by accident a few months ago, and I do not know why I had not heard about this earlier! Not too long ago, in response to a tweet of mine about the "Sex Game," someone replied the following: "Hopefully you're not referencing Strip BINGO in the same sentence lol!" I was completely unaware of Strip/Rip BINGO, so of course, the name alone caught my interest - I just HAD learn about this activity. Much like the Sex Game, Strip/Rip BINGO is a lot more innocent than the name entails. Here are Martina Bex's write up and directions.

Variations

1. Target language word - have students write down the target language words, and read the story aloud to the class in the target language. When you get to a specific Strip/Rip BINGO word, pause, and have class chorally give the English meaning. If a student has that word on an edge of the strip, then that student can also rip it off the strip.
2. English meaning - have students write down the English meaning, and read the story aloud in the target language. When students hear the target language word aloud, they can rip off the English meaning if it is an edge word on their strips.

Observations

1. This activity lasted about 5 minutes and was a quick way to review a story in a different way.
2. I did the English meaning variation and loved that this was a new and different way to do a listening activity combined with BINGO! It was a close-listening activity.
3. I loved that this required me to read the story around 1.5 times - students heard repetitions of the story but with a goal of being able to rip off their strips in order to get BINGO!
4. After a student got BINGO, I actually had students ask me to keep reading the story so that they could get BINGO too! Of course, I did not refuse - this does not happen often at all! I am not a fool to refuse getting in more repetitions of language at their request!!
5. Now that students are familiar with the game and know "how" to game it (i.e., pick words which appear early in the story to put on the edges), future variations are to read a sight story, to start in the middle or end of the story, or to not use a story with a lot of repetitive vocabulary.