The Necessity for i-1 in Reading

(Unbeknownst to either of us, Eric Richards has recently posted something very similiar on his blog about this topic - "Why Level-Appropriate Reading?" Take some to read it - very good and has research to back it up!)

If you are familiar with Krashen's theories related to Comprehensible Input, you should know the concept of "i+1 (input plus one)" - according to this hypothesis, Krashen states that while comprehensible and understandable input (i) is 100% necessary for language acqusistion, the "+1" represents the next level of understanding which is needed for a learner to progress in the language. Without oversimplifying this concept, our goal should then be to deliver messages and content which are completely comprehensible for students but also slightly (key word is slightly) challenge their current level of understanding in order for them to progress.

In this blog post, however, I am going to argue the absolute vital necessity for the opposite: i-1 (input MINUS one) when it comes to reading, especially Free Voluntary Reading (FVR).

Krashen is a HUGE advocate of reading and firmly believes that this is a major component  of language acquisition:

"Our reading ability, our ability to write in an acceptable writing style, our spelling ability, vocabulary knowledge, and our ability to handle complex syntax is the result of reading."

"The ability to speak is the result of listening [and] the result of reading." 

I have heard many CI/ADI teachers say that when we have students read L2, our goal for them should be that those messages translate into "moving pictures in their heads," i.e., that these messages should go beyond just words to them. While I am fully on board with this goal, I will also argue though that as novice language learners, our brains will automatically translate L2 messages into L1 (whether we like it or not), because our brains are trying to create mental representations of that L2. In order for our brains to transform L2 messages into "moving pictures in our heads," those messages then need to be BELOW our current level of reading proficiency so that these messages immediately "translate into images."

When novice language learners read messages in L2, numerous brain functions are occurring simultaneously:

• what does this individual word mean? (meaning)
• what does the form of the word tell me? (grammar and syntax)
• what do I do with this word? How do I put all of these words together to create overall meaning? (translation)

As a result, reading can be very overwhelming for novice language learners (and they may already struggle with reading in their L1) if too much is going on in their brains. When students encounter unknown vocabulary and forms, this can impede reading flow, because they are forced to stop to establish meaning. While some students are meta enough to persist in establishing meaning, most will not. 

When a reading is targeted at i-1, although the reading is targeted at a level below students' current reading proficiency, students are receiving repetitions and robust exposure to language with which they are already familiar, thus refnforcing the subconscious nature of the language acquisition process. When learners have constant robust exposure to vocabulary, the words can move from just being words to now "images in their heads." 

So when it comes to FVR (Free Voluntary Reading), although we want students to read for pleasure to reinforce language acquisition, the messages which they are reading need to be 100% understandable. In your own experiences, do you tend to read for pleasure messages which are above your current reading profciency? I would argue that most people do not. For the record, People Magazine is written at an 8th grade reading level.

Here is an example from my own experience. I HATE reading research articles; to me, these articles are written at a i+100 level!! If you want to torture me, forget waterboarding - force me to read academic articles! Whenever I read research articles, I can definitely tell you that there are NO MOVING PICTURES IN MY HEAD! Honestly, I am doing everything which I can to stay afloat in comprehension when it comes to reading scholarly material, because it is so above my reading proficiency level. To me, reading academic material is like translating one of Cicero's Latin speeches into English (Latin folks, you will understand that reference).

I would love to hear your take on "i-1 in reading" in the comments!

Strive to be THAT Class!

I am now in week 5 of the school year - while I am still setting up classroom routines and expectations, I finally feel like I am back in the swing of things. However, I also know that many teachers have just completed their summer vacation (finally!) and are starting back up again in the classroom. The start of the school year can be an exciting time, because it represents a new beginning. There is still hope in the air, and the sky is the limit for what can be accomplished before reality sets in. I had a great summer of in-person professional development, serving at Acquisition Academy, CI Summit, and Fluency Matters Conference. As a result, there is so much which I want to implement that I learned from these CI/ADI conferences.

However, what is my overarching goal for this school year? Simply this: Strive to be THAT class (in no particular order)...

• where language learning seems effortless to students, because the emphasis is on subconscious language acquisition by means of comprehensible input.
• where both students and I each do our 50% to succeed in the classroom. 
• where my classroom space is a communal safe space for everyone.
• where students can learn about each other and the world through the use of the target language.
• where the classroom emphasis is on language proficiency, not on language performance.
• where I celebrate what it is that students CAN do with the language and not focus solely on what they cannot.
• where while I may not always agree with every student politically, those students know that I still love them.
• where students are praised for asking questions or clarifications.
• where students are given TONS of different opportunities and ways with which to interact and to play with the language.
• where students can expect and anticipate brain breaks (hopefully daily).

I am quite certain that I am missing some other important goals in the above list at the moment. What is your overarching goal for the school year?

TPR/Gesturing Vocabulary

For the past ten years, I have been very familiar with using TPR/gestures to teach many basic verbs e.g., want, give, take, has, etc., using ASL signs. Whenever I have taught Latin 1 in the past, I have definitely used TPR/gestures for students to learn basic vocabulary. However, Latin 1 was the only level where I have done this, because I thought, "Honestly, do upper level students need TPR/gestures to associate with vocabulary? Aren't they kind of 'past' that? They are no longer Latin 1 students - TPR/gestures is so basic!" Boy, was I wrong!! Because TPR/gestures are so basic, they are a great way to teach any type of vocabulary regardless of the level.

These past few summers at IFLT and CI Summit, I have had the great opportunity to be part of a cohort team led by Gary DiBianca. Gary has demonstrated using TPR/gestures to preteach Spanish vocabulary for a future reading. Since I do not know Spanish, I definitely took an active part in doing the gestures. Soon I realized that I had acquired these vocabulary words/phrases in Spanish because deep down inside I knew them, and that it was all based on muscle memory from TPR/gestures!

Flash forward to two weeks ago: After a 1.5 weeks of "getting back into Latin" with my students, I wanted to begin a cultural reading about Roman holidays in my Latin 2 Honors classes. I also wanted to throw in some new vocabulary, which I would both shelter in the passage (but not the grammar) and get in lots of robust exposure within the passage. The four Latin words which I chose to TPR/gesture (the ASL signs are listed too) were:

• dies festus - holiday - https://youtu.be/Lm3_E0TZ6lA
• saepe - often - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_5pcvSFbo8E
• advenerunt - went to - https://youtu.be/cz8JIl_M7ng
• ludi - games - https://youtu.be/0m-wPJj7_2E

NOTE - when using ASL signs to teach as vocabulary, be sure to inform your students that you are NOT teaching them ASL per se, since that is its own linguistic system with its own set of grammatical rules and structures.

Now the key to teaching TPR/gestures lies in the sheer number of repetitions of doing the TPR/gestures so that eventually students associate these words/meanings with muscle memory. In working with Gary DiBianca these past few summers at IFLT where he demonstrated TPR/gestures with our cohorts, I learned a way to do this. In turn, Gary learned this from Teri Wiechart.

1) Say 1 and you model

2) Say 1 and they do

3) Say 2 in a row and they do

4) Say 2 in a row with their eyes closed

5) Say 3 in a row and they do

6) Say 3 in a row with their eyes closed

6) Say 4 in a row and they do

Use the grid as means of helping you add variety of order in calling out which words to TPR/gesture.

dies festus	advenerunt	ludi	saepe
saepe	ludi	dies festus	advenerunt
advenerunt	dies festus	saepe	ludi
ludi	saepe	advenerunt	dies festus

Observations

1. I know from my own experience in language learning that TPR/gestures works!
2. TPR/gestures are a great way to teach L2 phrases which seem very specific or "weird" to students. This summer at CI Summit, I taught my cohort the phrase "along the shore/coast" using TPR/gestures because I needed to preview it for a reading. I just ended up combining two ASL signs, and it did not present a problem.
3. It is important to review the TPR/gestures constantly. In the beginning, students will associate the gesture with L1 to establish meaning, but eventually, the L2 association will kick in, but you as the teacher need to get in lots robust exposure of these signs with both L1 and L2..

Quick Draw - Senora Chase Version

Here is a fun, post-reading activity which I recently saw on a blog post by Gary DiBianca. which he in turn got from Anne Marie Chase (Senora Chase). I recently did it with a few of my classes, and it went really well!

Quick Draw directions (Senora Chase)

Observations

1. This is a great post-reading activity, because it forces students to re-read a passage many times, thus receiving continued robust exposure and repetitions to understandable language.
2. Students need to have a great deal of familiarity with the passage, since it is a race. I did it immediately after a Treasure Hunt Writing, and that was a great setup for this activity since students were already familiar with how the passage was arranged.
3. When I first did this activity, it was with my first period class. No one was in the mood at 7:15am to say anything, let alone to be the first person to say the sentence from the passage aloud first. As a result, I had them find the sentence and WRITE it down, with the goal of being the first person to write the correct sentence. I found that many students preferred this way. However, with other classes, I found that students did not have a problem with being the first one to say the correct sentence aloud! Either way has its benefits.
4. I also made students wait before they wrote down the sentence in order to give slower processors a chance to find the sentence in the reading. Once I said "Scribite," students could write the sentence, but usually I counted silently between 7 and 10 before saying it.
5. Students discovered quickly that it was best to draw the long sentence for their partner and not to pick the short sentences!

Treasure Hunt - Writing

 At this summer's CI Summit in Savannah, I attended Eric Richards' presentation "Writing Strategies for the ADI Classroom" (based on his book, Grafted Writing - get this book!!) - for me, easily this was the BEST presentation which I attended that week (tied with Annabelle Williamson's "Brain Breaks," because 1) it was all about brain breaks and 2) it was freakin' Annabelle Williamson!). Eric presented SO MANY really practical ways to get students to write in the target language which are very easy to incorporate into one's curriculum.

One of the activities from Eric's presentation which I recently used with a few of my classes was Treasure Hunt Writing, and it is exactly that: a "treasure hunt" for students to find and copy down specific sentences from a reading based on a number of categories.

Directions

1. Using a known passage, create your categories. The categories can be structures, certain vocabulary words, or details. Pick categories for which students can find more than one sentence, i.e., do not pick an esoteric category for which there is only one sentence. 
2. If you want to give students additional parameters, tell students that they need to find X number of sentences for a category.
3. Give students a copy of the reading, as well as a whiteboard and marker (everything is made better with whiteboards, just like bacon!)
4. Project a category, and give students time to copy down the sentences based on the category.
5. As a group, review the sentences which students found.
6. Have students erase their whiteboards, and project a new category. 
7. Repeat again.
8. Variation - you can divide students into groups, and project all categories at once. Each group is in charge of finding sentences for that category. Students can then share and compare their sentences within their groups.

Below is an example which I used - mine was in Latin, but it is in English for you (this passage is actually based on a PQA which Eric demonstrated with our cohort group)

Cooper is not happy, because Kevin is a better basketball player than Cooper. Cooper wants to be a better basketball player than Kevin, but Kevin is the best. Kevin plays basketball very well! Cooper is athletic, but Kevin is more athletic than Cooper. When people see Kevin playing basketball, they shout, "Kevin is the best!" and they celebrate! When people see Cooper playing basketball, they do not shout and they do not celebrate.

Cooper has an elephant. The elephant is big and athletic. The elephant does not play basketball but plays soccer. When people see the elephant playing soccer, they shout, "The elephant is the best!" and they celebrate! Cooper does not want the elephant to play soccer. Cooper wants the elephant to play basketball. Cooper wants the people to shout, "The elephant is the best basketball player!"

Cooper wants the elephant to be a better basketball player than Kevin. Cooper wants the elephant to be more athletic than Kevin. Cooper trains the elephant to play basketball. Cooper trains the elephant to be a better basketball player than Kevin! But the elephant is not happy - it does not want to play basketball! The elephant wants to play soccer!

Categories

1. Copy down FOUR sentences from the story which contain the Latin word “want”
2. Copy down THREE sentences from the story which describe Kevin as a basketball player.
3. Copy down THREE sentences from the story which describe actual or possible crowd reaction.

Observations

1. This is a great post-reading activity!!
2. Students need to have some degree of familiarity with the passage, because this involves close reading. This is not at all something which I would do after introducing a passage unless it was very readable and 100% comprehensible for students.
3. Some may be wondering, "Where is the CI aspect of this? Aren't students just copying down sentences from the reading?" My response: "There is SO MUCH CI going on here!" First off, students are receiving understandable messages in reading/re-reading this familiar passage - lots of robust exposure to familiar language. Secondly, in copying down the sentences, students are receiving more comprehensible input, because they should be understanding the meaning in L1 as they copy down each word; if they are not, then to them they are just writing down "nonsense words."
4. I love that this is very low-prep activity! All that I had to do was to create 3-4 "categories" for students to find sentences based on the reading.
5. This is also a great higher-order thinking activity, because for those categories asking for a specific detail, students have to truly read the passage and to use their judgment to determine if a sentence fits that category.
6. I was surprised at how engaged students actually were in this!

Give this one a try - it is a definite keeper! Thanks, Eric!!

Returning to School after a CI/ADI Conference - What Now?

This past summer, I attended and served as part of the team for three conferences: Acquisition Academy in Dallas, the CI Summit in Savannah, and the Fluency Matters Conference in St. Petersburg. Even though I was in a "staff position," I still was able to attend presentations and language labs like other participants, and I walked away with so much which I am wanting to do now in my classroom.

Maybe like me, you also attended a summer CI/ADI training conference of some kind and want to apply what you learned with your students. Whether you are a novice or an experienced user, it is very easy to get overwhelmed by wanting to do it all or not even knowing where to start.

Here is my advice: Keep doing whatever it is that you are doing in your classroom (even if that is the textbook), but…

1. “Pick the low-hanging fruit” & look for where you can start implementing that. In other words, what kinds of CI/ADI strategies do you feel that are within your own individual reach to facilitate based on your familiarity with CI/ADI? There is no rush to change things right away. Do what you can with what you feel comfortable.
2. Build up your foundation. Again, there is no rush to go "all-in" with CI/ADI instruction if there is no foundation. Get a strong foundation and move on from there. Even if you are an experienced CI/ADI practitioner, sometimes your foundation can get a bit rusty over the summer.
3. Manage your expectations of your progress. Be aware that things may go well and that things may not go as expected with CI/ADI. If something does not go well, that is okay. Reflect on why and try it out again or maybe try a different CI/ADI strategy. I am not a big fan of TPRS/Storyasking because there are too many unknown variables going on, but I love doing One Word Image (which is loosely based on TPRS/Storyasking).
4. Be curious, not judgmental. I love this quote from Ted Lasso, because it sums up a growth mindset. Strive to learn more about CI/ADI before you dismiss it as trendy or that it does not "work"

Here is my list of "low-hanging fruit" which I want to implement:

1. Get students writing at least once/twice a week. This writing does not have to be formal or a timed write, but I want students interacting with writing the language, even if it is just copying sentences from a reading.
2. Implement more PQAs and questioning of my students in Latin as warmups to engage in purposeful communication. 
3. Continue "communicatifying" existing activities, including brain breaks.

What is your low-hanging fruit which you plan to implement in your classroom?

Musings on Introduction to CI/ADI Theory

Last week, I attended the Fluency Matters Conference in St. Petersburg, and I served as a Strand Guide for one of the Beginners/Novice strands. During those three days, these participants were exposed to A LOT about CI/ADI instruction and theory - I am certain that it felt like drinking from a fire house during those three days! Since it was a strand for beginners/seekers to CI/ADI, there often is a lot of resistance (which is perfectly okay. I was once one of the biggest advocates AGAINST CI/ADI). On the final session, as part of a gallery walk reflection, using post-its I asked my strand participants to write a short answer reflection on a number of questions. These are some of their responses to the following question:

How has your view of Second Language Acquisition and CI/ADI theories grown over the past week? 

• Grammatical accuracy is a result of acquisition, not the means of it
• It has deepened my confidence that this is the way to go
• Realizing that I can do this - just not all at once
• I now understand this is a long process. It just takes time. Just like when little kids are developing language
• I have a deeper understanding of how CI activities and strategies can be used together to help acquire a new language
• It can be changed little by little
• Less focus on grammar, but it is not "the enemy"
• I feel better equipped to use CI and challenge my students w/ higher level of questioning at the proper level
• SLA knowledge has grown from near nothing to mid-level understanding
• I can incorporate CI with activities which I already do in class

I love these responses, especially that many people realized that the transition to a CI/ADI classroom is gradual and takes time! 

So to anyone wanting to start their CI/ADI journey or who have been journeying for awhile, be aware that it is a continuous process - I feel that my view of CI/ADI continues to grow and to expand every year! The above responses definitely motivate me!