Shared Thoughts on In-person Conferences - Another Collaborative Post with Eric Richards

This is another collaborative post with Eric Richards - this one was unplanned! However, both Eric and I independently had planned to release a post about in-person conferences on our individual blogs unbeknownst to each other. When we realized that we touched on many of the same points about the importance of in-person conferences, we decided to combine them as one blog post.

My post surrounds reasons why I am going to ACTFL this week, and Eric's post encompasses his reflections on in-person conferences upon attending a FLAM regional conference. Hope you enjoy this!

Keith Toda - Why I am Going to ACTFL

This weekend in Philadelphia is the ACTFL Convention, the national conference for World Language teachers, and I will be attending. It has been YEARS since I last attended one (it was in 2017 in Nashville). I had been on the fence about attending this year's convention, because one of the downsides for me is the sheer size of it - THOUSANDS attend the ACTFL Convention, and it is easy to feel overwhelmed by that. However, this past summer's CI Summit's headquarter hotel was in the downtown Philadelphia area right across from City Hall and not too far from the convention center where ACTFL will be located. Since I was already kind of familiar with that area after this summer, that was a major factor in my decision to attend.

However, what is my main reason for attending ACTFL this year after not having attended since 2017? Quite honestly: I need my CI/ADI cup filled. My cup is low, and believe me, there are only but a few drops in it. In the world of education, the months of late September, October, and November are HARD and can suck the joy out of teaching (I just recently learned that this time period is known as DEVOLSON - the Dark, Evil Vortex of Late September, October, and November - and let me tell you, this is REAL! It finally has a name!). This is the time of the year where I hate being a department head, cannot stand students, and everything related to work feels like such a chore and a burden. I do not feel like I have/am exhibiting any joy in my lessons, and it is so toilsome to teach. In short, I am weary.

I need to be around my CI/ADI people - people who get me; people over whom I still fanboy because they are seasoned, experienced teachers; people who by their sheer example and friendship both motivate and encourage me to be a better CI/ADI practitioner; people whose presentations I attend and walk away feeling refreshed and reinvigorated. And going to an in-person conference like ACTFL where I will see many of these people is my incentive.

Although many conferences are heading towards being digital in nature (and I completely understand the reasons why), there are some aspects which can only be achieved by attending an in-person conference:

• Personal - There is something about sharing a common learning experience together with other people in the same room and being able to interact with the presenter and others who are there. Blogs and digital environments can only go so far in experiencing this.
• Reflection - On a recent blog post, Eric Richards says it best:

I also find that many times when I attend a conference, something “unexpected” sticks. It is usually something that I heard, saw or experienced that I was not necessarily expecting or anticipating. Many times, this “unexpected” really sticks with me, and I find myself deeply thinking about it for a long period of time. 

• Distraction-free - In-person presentations force me to be present in the moment and allow me to take it all in, while during a digital talk, I will multitask (send emails, watch videos, complete a Wordle, check sports scores).
• Connections and Community - All of the CI/ADI people whom I am hoping to see at ACTFL are those whom I met first previously at in-person conferences. As I said, I still fanboy over them and still cannot believe that they know my name! Over the years, we have "talked shop," discussed our lives over coffee or dinner, and have learned from each other during these times. This is not to say that this cannot happen digitally - I think that it would just be different though.

At ACTFL, I am looking forward to just being Keith Toda, attendee, and not Keith Toda, presenter or Keith Toda, trainer/coach. I am looking forward to being able to attend sessions being "present and all there" in the moment and not half-heartedly thinking about my own upcoming presentation during a session. I am looking forward to learning from others either from their sessions or over a meal as we discuss and process what we learned that day.

So if you see me at ACTFL, please say hi! I hope that your cup will be refilled there too!

Eric Richards - Reflections and Insights on In-Person Conferences

I recently attended and presented at the FLAM (Foreign Language Association of Missouri) St. Louis Regional Conference. It was a great experience, not only motivating and inspiring. It was wonderful to see familiar faces and also get to know new educators. It was also rewarding to see my colleagues from right here in the St. Louis area presenting! They were all great presentations, and I took away so much to implement in my own classes. Overall, it was a fantastic experience - and a much needed one! The energy and comradery really helped invigorate me!

It also got me thinking about conferences, specifically in-person conferences. I found myself reflecting on why in-person conferences still matter in a digital world. I mean, in the age of virtual meetings and online networking, why hold in-person conferences at all? It is easy to connect from anywhere via digital platforms. Do we even need in-person conferences anymore?

I understand there are benefits to online conferences, but face-to-face events bring unique benefits that are difficult to replicate online. Let me share why I believe that in-person conferences remain incredibly important in today’s digital world.

Authentic Connections

In-person conferences offer an environment where participants can genuinely connect. The spontaneous conversations that happen in hallways, during lunch foster, and before or after the conference create a sense of comradery and connection that is difficult to achieve over a screen. These moments can lead to lifelong professional connections, mentorships, unexpected insights, and collaborations that often feel more meaningful and lasting.

Focus and Engagement

Attending a conference in person brings a level of focus and engagement that can be hard to maintain in a virtual setting. In-person participants are less likely to be distracted by home or work tasks. They’re more likely to immerse themselves in presentations, workshops, and discussions, gaining a deeper understanding of topics and finding more value in the event.

Atmosphere

Attending a conference in person is energizing. The chance to step away from daily routines - and surroundings - and join a community of like-minded individuals can spark new ideas and inspiration. In-person events offer an atmosphere with a tangible energy that can help participants to think creatively, set new goals, walk away with a sense of accomplishments, and bring a renewed energy back to their classrooms.

Hands-On Learning & Immersive Experiences

Finally, in-person conferences allow for hands-on workshops and immersive experiences that online events can’t always match. Whether it’s attending live demonstrations, or participating in interactive sessions, these experiences can enhance learning and make it easier to apply new knowledge. (Plus, I enjoy physically thumbing through a book or reader at the vendor tables!)

In any case, I believe that virtual events have their place. However, I still believe that in-person conferences are still the best way to connect, grow, and get inspired - and re-energized!
(And for the record, I never want to see in-person conferences go away!)

Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below!

Purposeful Communication with Movement: A Collaborative Blog Post with Eric Richards

This is a continuation in my series on purposeful communication.

This is my first of what I hope are many collaborative posts with Eric Richards. I first met Eric at the 2023 CI Summit in Savannah. Both of us were assigned to serve as team members/trainers for the same cohort (woohoo - go Cohort 2 with Gary DiBianca and Andrea Schweitzer!). Although I had never formally met Eric before, I did know of his name (and that he was an ACTFL Teacher of the Year Finalist for 2021!) and had seen him present digitally at the 2023 Voces Digital Spring Conference - I was very impressed with both his presentation and very comfortable online demeanor and delivery. When Eric and I were on the same team, we hit it off, and since he teaches German and I am a Latin teacher, we were the ones tasked with doing the cohort L2 demonstrations since the majority of teachers in the cohort were Spanish and French teachers. I always learn so much about CI/ADI pedagogy from taking part in/observing L2 demos where I do not know that language, so I was able to see Eric daily demo PQAs in German (and a later presentation on writing) - all of Eric's demos/presentations were so good that I have now "Latinized" his first week PQA lessons for my own classes!

Anyhow, Eric recently wrote up a post on his own blog about his reflections on my presentation on purposeful communication at Comprehensible Iowa this past summer (read his post - it is a good one!). He had also emailed me about how he implemented a purposeful communicative activity involving movement with his classes similar to my pizza topping bellringer, which in turn motivated me to facilitate one based on his list of PQA questions. 

As a result, I asked Eric to write up his experience for this blog, and in turn, I would then add my own activity inspired by this. I hope that you will enjoy and learn from our posts here!

Eric Richards - Four Squares for more Purposeful Communication 

This school year, I’ve been considering the role of communication in the classroom, how I deliver content, and how I engage with my students. As I gave thought to this, I realized that I need to adjust the way I communicate and how I approach some activities in class. I need to be more purposeful in my communication and engagement with my students.

That is, I need to communicate (more) in a way that allows me and my students to:

• learn about each other and ourselves (build our relationships through language)

• learn about the world around us (learning information)

• entertain/create with language in fun, engaging ways (language play)

But why?

According to Bill Van Patten, “Language use without purpose is not communication.” That is, we may be using the language, but without purpose, communication may not be happening – and I definitely want communication to happen in my classroom!

(Let’s fast forward a bit.)

As I adjusted lesson plans for this school year to better meet my goals, I started thinking about if there was a way to get a little extra “bang for your buck” with the activities. After a bit of reflection, it hit me – incorporate more movement with the activities!

But, before we move on, let’s quickly review a few reasons why movement in the classroom is beneficial (for both students and teachers):

• Increased Focus and Attention: Short movement breaks or incorporating physical activity helps students refresh their minds, improving focus and concentration.

• Enhanced Learning and Memory: Movement activates multiple areas of the brain, which enhances learning, memory retention, and cognitive function. 

• Improved Behavior and Reduced Disruptions: Regular movement opportunities help reduce restlessness and behavioral issues. (Plus, it supports kinesthetic learning.)

• Increased Engagement and Enjoyment: Incorporating movement makes learning more engaging, which can help increase student interest.

So, with that in mind, I began incorporating movement into my lessons. Note: I kept it simple! I was not about to reinvent the wheel, and I sure was not going to throw all my lessons out and start over! As they say, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Here is what I did: 

I made a quadrant in the middle of the room. (I have a deskless classroom, but you can simply label 4 corners/areas in your classroom to substitute the quadrant, if you don’t have space.)

That’s it!

Then, I started incorporating movement into activities that helped me achieve more purposeful communication. Note: I sometimes incorporate movement activities at the beginning of class and sometimes at the middle or end. It just depends.

Also, did I mention that I kept it simple?

Here are some examples of the activities:

I use this one the second day of German I. We are focusing on (very) good / (very) bad.

• This is another activity from the first week of German I. Once they are comfortable the structure, e.g., “Can you play ____?”, you can incorporate a new vocabulary word (using both text and pictures):

• Again, don’t reinvent the wheel! Use what you have and simply build on it! In this example, I simply added “good (well)” to an already familiar structure. It allows you to build in new vocabulary while also changing the “feel” of the question.

Here is another example of how you can level an activity. In this pizza topping activity, which I stole from Keith Toda, I had them sort the toppings on their note sheets (paper) according to how each student liked – or disliked – a topping. Then, they got up and moved accordingly (in the quadrant - good or bad -) as we had a discussion. Again, I repeat, don’t reinvent the wheel! Take what you have and level it up and down where you can!

As this was in German II, I led the discussion and questions at a more appropriate level. Obviously, they know “good” and “bad”, so I incorporated vocabulary like "majority" and "minority", e.g. After they moved, I would say, "Oh. The majority of the class likes pepperoni on their pizza." This scenario also gives you the chance to level up and introduce a structure like, “Would you eat ….”, e.g., “Would you eat a pizza with broccoli on it?” Or, introduce a relative clause like, "Would you eat a pizza that had broccoli on it?"

Not only did this provide a chance for oral input - because they had to listen to which topping I said and what questions I asked – it also gave the chance for students to respond and answer ‘why’, e.g., “I don’t like onions. They taste bad.”

Observations

1. This is a simple, effective, and well-received activity. The students enjoy it, and they appreciate the opportunity to get up and move around. In fact, when we do different activities that don’t involve movement, they ask if they can get up and do something similar. (And when I say ‘no’, I see plenty of frowns.)

2. Also, using a quadrant for movement is simple to incorporate into existing activities; in other words, it is low prep! It can easily be used to implement question and answer responses. Plus, you can adjust the level of the questions to fit the appropriate level of target language. That means, you can use the same activity for different levels! 

3. In addition, incorporating four squares and movement into your lesson gives students the chance to learn about others and use the language in an enjoyable, engaging way – both non-verbally and verbally. In other words, they are (literally) moving with purposeful communication.

Lastly, I will give you a couple of things to consider. Students will sometimes move to quadrants where their friends are, even if it isn’t their true answer. This can lead to side chatter (not in the target language) between peers and cause distractions. It also can bring about a lack of attention to the oral input that you are giving (in the target language). To help with this, you need to model the activity. You need to work with students and set expectations from the beginning – and stick to them! Don’t forget to explain to them that you are trying to make this enjoyable and effective for everyone!

Tip: It is okay to make them sit back down and get back up and do the same activity again until they meet expectations. 

Also, some students can be hesitant to get up and move. They are sometimes tired, “not in the mood”, etc. In this case, you’ll need to decide if you want to encourage them to participate or let them sit this one out. You just need to find the balance that works for you (while also not abandoning your expectations!)

I hope this helps get things “moving” in the classroom! Please let us know how it goes in the comments below!

Keith Toda - Moving Purposefully with Four Corners PQAs

When Eric had contacted me about how he was using movement with PQAs, especially with the pizza topping bellringer, I had never thought about connecting PQAs and purposeful communication with movement. However, I thought that this was a great idea! My PQAs were definitely getting rather stale (both teacher and student were hitting a wall when it came to academic motivation), so I decided to try out asking PQAs as a Four Corners activity.

At the time in my Latin 2 classes, I had just given a purposefully communucative, cultural lesson in Latin about popinas (restaurants), so the next day, I decided to ask students a series of questions related to fast food restaurants in a "Four Corners" kind of way (where student would respond by moving to that corner of the room which corresponded to their answer). Each corner of the room was numbered accordingly, and I projected the first slide. 

After students moved to their corners, I would then ask invidual students opinion questions:  "tua sententia, estne Carlos rectus? Taco Bellne optimum cibum Mexicanum habet?" After asking this a few times about different students, I then revealed my pick: "mea sententia, Chipotle optimum cibum Mexicanum habet." Then I proceeded to the next question and repeated the process.

Observations

1. I love these kinds of PQAs, because EVERY student has an opinion about fast food! I loved it that students would "argue" with each other and with me about which fast food restaurants had the best food!

2. Students really wanted to hear my opinion on which fast food restaurant had the best X - maybe they wanted to learn about me, or maybe they wanted adult validation for their answers!

3. I loved it when a particular corner would just have 1-2 students - I am glad that they felt safe enough to "voice" their opinion even if "unpopular." They were usually the ones whom I would ask the follow up opinion questions.

4. Because this involved every student moving, students got to see others' responses (which is different from a traditional PQA where I may ask individual students or ask for a show of hands). 

5. This activity definitely shows that purposeful communication does not always have to be verbal - we can still learn about ourselves and each other non-verbally. 

6. As a teacher, I learned a lot about my students, even if it was just about their favorite fast food restaurants!

7. This activity lasted about 10 minutes.

***************************************************************************************************************Anyhow, Eric and I would love to hear your experiences in the comment section - hope you can use these in your classrooms!

If I were to Write a Latin Novella

(This blog post is a continuation of a series on literacy in the language classroom)

I have been asked a number of times why I have not yet written a Latin novella for students. Prior to April 2024, my response would have been , "I have no idea where to start or what to write about. I do not fully know what truly characterizes a novice reader for beginning L2 learners. While I do understand the concept of sheltering vocabulary, not grammar, and I do implement it with my own students when I create readings for them, the difference is that these readings are for my students, not the Latin student community as a whole." 

However, I have a completely different mindset now after reading several of the novice level Spanish novellas which Margarita Perez Garcia has written. For someone like me with very little knowledge of Spanish, that was such an incredible learning experience for me (see blog post here). Moreover, I am blown away and honored that Margarita left a lengthy comment on that post thanking me for what I had written and then explaining her thought processes in writing her novellas (read her comments at the bottom of the post - they are a goldmine of knowledge!).

In her About the Author section, Margarita notes that she "write(s) fiction and non-fiction in Spanish that beginners and struggling readers can read" and that she is "passionate about supporting beginning Spanish learners in their reading journey." I like that description very much, because it truly shows her heart, and Margarita's novellas definitely reflect that vision. So if I were to write a Latin novella, writing one which "beginners and struggling readers in Latin can read" would be my primary goal - one which would be geared towards Novice Low Latin students.

To achieve this, I would do the following:

1. Keep a low overall head word count, yet facilitate continued exposure of this focused vocabulary, i.e., shelter vocabulary.
2. Use short, simple sentences, which consist of predictable repetitive patterns of word chunks and sentence/grammatical patterns - these are characteristics found in the majority of Novice Low L2 readers, including English.
   
3. Include compelling subject matter and characters which create an emotional connection to readers.
4. Write the text not as paragraphs but as individual sentences which are formatted on the right margin of the page. The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities suggests "Text should always be aligned on the right hand side of the page, and images should be aligned on the left hand side of the page [to help struggling readers]." Margarita Perez Garcia does this in her novice-level novellas - now I know why!
5. Implement other Easy Read standards (again from Margarita Perez Garcia):
1. No more than 15 words per sentence.
2. One idea per line, one sentence per line and if the sentence must break, then break it at a natural "breathing point" where it makes sense.
6. Include illustrations which can serve as additional input for text.
7. Maybe use Roman culture as its background. While I understand that L2 novellas are a great way to embed and to teach culture, quite often I do get tired that Latin readings are stuck in ancient times. I guess my SALVI, spoken-Latin background is screaming, "You do realize that Latin is still used communicatively to talk about today's modern world and is not bound to the first century!"

Now that I have some parameters, maybe one day I will get around to writing a Novice Low novella!

My Elevator Speech on Language Acquisition

If I were to give an elevator speech about language learning (especially to administrators!), I would pare it down to these five concepts (and by no means am I trying to oversimply the language acquisition process nor to reduce it to a series of general platitudes) - this is what I have learned about the language acquisition process over these many years from reading/listening to Stephen Krashen, Bill Van Patten, and so many others whom I deeply respect:

1. Language learning is unlike any other subject area, because it is not linear in nature.
2. Because of this, learners do not acquire language on a prescribed timeline or at the same pace.
3. The language acquisition process is subconscious in nature.
4. When encountering L2, the brain on its own is constantly creating, making connections to, and revising its mental representation of that language.
1. That language which the brain understands, it keeps and then creates, adds to, and refines those existing mental connections.
2. That language which the brain does not understand, it throws out.
5. As a result, learners need to interact with/have constant exposure to understandable, meaningful, purposeful messages in L2 so that the brain can create/revise its mental representation of that language.

For me, this elevator speech can then serve as a springboard to discuss other topics such as proficiency vs. performance, the need for compelling messages, the role of the affective filter in learning, the monitor hypothesis, etc.

My Journey into Bellringers

I am starting my 27th year of teaching, and I have seen A LOT of educational trends and new "flavor of the day" initiatives come and go. One of them is bellringers (also known as do-nows, entry tickets, and openings), and it is something which my district has been really pushing this past year as part of its "I do, we do, you do" curriculum model. I have resisted the idea of bellringers, because I have always associated them with "cookie-cutter" educational frameworks. Plus, the world language examples which I have always seen relate to grammar-translation models, focus on L1 discussions about culture, or do not involve comprehensible language. 

However, last year, my colleague John Foulk began to open his classes with a bellringer, and I was intrigued by this. In addition, this past summer at both the Fluency Matters Conference and the CI Summit, I had some good conversations with some CI/ADI folks about how they use bellringers successfully in their classes. I also then found Cindy Hitz's blog post about how she uses bellringers, and I decided to give it a try (Cindy was one of the first CI/ADI people whom I met - it was at the 2013 ACTFL Convention in Orlando, and she was working at the TPRS Books exhibitor book. Over the years, I have learned so much from Cindy at conference presentations and from her blog, and finally this summer at the Dallas Acquisition Academy, I was able to see her again in person after many years!).

When school began this past August, I started every day of my classes with a 5-minute bellringer. I DO NOT KNOW WHY I WAITED SO LONG TO DO THEM, BECAUSE I LOVE THEM! And yes, they can align with CI/ADI pedagogy and be communicative!

If you have not read Cindy's blog posts about bellringers, read it (link here). She does such a great job of explaining the purpose, gives examples of bellringers, and details her observations of their efficacy. My blog post here will mirror hers.

Examples of my bellringers (again, refer to Cindy's blog post here, since many of these mirror hers):

1) Vocabulary bellringers

2) Scenarios

3) Translation

4) Tables

5) Graphics/Writing

6) Cloze Sentences

7) Who Would Say? (yes, the man in the picture has three arms - the perils of using AI to create an image lol)

Observations - many of these line up with Cindy's own observations:

1. Bellringers require commitment on your part so that it becomes part of the expected beginning-of-classroom routine. 
2. I am AMAZED by how focused students are after the bellringer is completed compared to when I did not implement them previously. 
3. The whole bellringer time should take 10 minutes - I give 5 minutes for students to complete it (while I take attendance) and 5 minutes to go over the bellringer as a class. My class periods are 53 minutes.
4. The bellringer itself needs to connect with the current unit/lesson. The point of the bellringer is to activate current background knowledge needed for the day's lesson or to reinforce past knowledge.
5. Bellringers are a source of input, so they need to be COMPREHENSIBLE! If they are not, then input disruptions occur, and the brain will toss out what it does not understand. 
6. Bellringers do not need to involve critical thinking/higher order thinking - the goal is just to transition students into an academic frame of mind.
7. Bellringers need to be "easy" so that students feel successful with them. When students feel successful with bellringers, they are more apt to buy into them.
8. Much like classroom activities, bellringers need to be scaffolded accordingly.
9. I allow students to have their phones/listening devices out during the 5 minutes when they are completing the bellringer, but when that time is up and we are ready to go over it, I then begin my cell phone ritual.
10. Bellringers need to involve students writing them down and interacting with them. I require students to have a composition book solely for bellringers. Partly I do this to ensure that students are doing the bellringer, but mainly more because...
11. I use bellringers as a time to toss in pop-up theory! Daily I tell students, "Please write down the bellringer. Whenever you write down understandable messages in Latin, your brain makes a connection. That which the brain does not understand, it throws out. If there is a word which you do not understand, ask me so that your brain can start making a connection with that word!" I am sure that students are sick of hearing me say that lol.

What has your experience been with bellringers?

Smashdoodles

This is a great post-reading activity, and I feel like I have come totally late to the party on this one. A Smashdoodle is a way for students to interact with a reading, to demonstrate comprehension, and to summarize these interactions in various ways. It is called a Smashdoodle, because essentially, one is "smashing together" various components of a reading in one place to demonstrate comprehension, reflection, and/or higher order thinking. A Smashdoodle can be done digitally on a slide or on paper. Students can create a poster summarizing different parts of the text, fill out a foldable graphic organizer, or fill out boxes on a sheet of paper.

You can ask WHATEVER questions you want on a Smashdoodle, but the purpose is that the artifact is a holistic summary of the text. Possible questions to address - students can answer this as written sentences or as images (digital or drawn):

• Copy five sentences which best summarize the text.
• Who are the characters in this reading?
• Where is the location of the reading?
• Draw a picture which summarizes the reading
• Write down any words from the reading which are new to you
• Write down (parts of speech) from the reading.
• Reflection questions
• I learned that…
• I was surprised/shocked to learn that…
• I found it interesting that

Below is my first attempt at a Smashdoodle - it is very basic and on paper:

As I said, there are SO many different ways to do a Smashdoodle, and I feel that others explain it so much better than I do (and they have student examples to show). Below are some blog posts from where I learned how to do a Smashdoodle:

• Scott Benedict Smashdoodle write up
• Martina Bex Smashdoodle write up
• John Piazza Smashdoodle write up
• Elizabeth Detlinger Smashdoodle write up

For those of you who have done Smashdoodles, what do you like about them?

Backwards Design for a Reading - CI Summit Example

A HUGE question which many novice CI/ADI practitioners ask is "I have readings/authentic literary resources in my textbook which I need to cover. How does one lesson plan for a reading?" This is a really good question which we experienced CI/ADI teachers/trainers need to do a better job of addressing, because so often at conferences and trainings while we may teach skills and demonstrate various strategies, we leave out this very important component.

The key to lesson planning a reading is backwards design, but to be honest, it can actually be a very detailed process. I originally learned this from Karen Rowan years ago (and she may have learned it from someone else) as well as from others in recent years. I have found that although this process can appear onerous, it really does provide a good map for where to go and what to cover. My goal is that when students see the actual textbook/literary/ authentic reading, 98%-100% is already comprehensible to them.

The following is from this past summer's CI Summit and how I did backwards planning for a reading. During our daily cohort time, as a team member of Cohort 2, my task was to teach Latin to this group of 50 teachers (most of whom knew NO Latin) with the goal that on the last day they would be able to read a short cultural reading IN LATIN which I had written up about the city of Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius. These Latin lessons were roughly three 25-30 minutes sessions over 3.5 days.

Mons Vesuvius erat mons iratus in Italia antiqua. Pompeii erat urbs in Italia antiqua per litora. Quod Pompeii erat urbs per litora, erat urbs popularis! Multi homines iverunt ad visitandos Pompeiios, quod Pompeii erat per litora. 

Sed Mons Vesuvius erupit, et urbs Pompeii deleta est! Sed cum Mons Vesuvius eruperit, mons iratus multam terram addidit! Pompeii non iam erat per litora, sed erat procul a litore! 

Hodie, Pompeii est urbs in ruinis. Multi homines ad urbem Pompeios eunt ad visitandas ruinas. 

Mons Vesuvius adhuc est mons iratus activus! In futuro, Mons Vesuvius erupiet! In futuro, multi urbes in monte et per litora deleti erunt!

How I backwards planned this:

1. I wrote the cultural passage first. Since these were novice-low Latin learners, my emphasis was on “sheltering/limiting vocabulary,” with the intent of lots of repetitions and predictable sentences/structures. In addition, I made a conscious effort of utilizing as many cognates as possible
2. I made a list of EVERY vocabulary word/phrase in the passage and categorized them as follows: 
   
3. I determined which words I would TPR/gesture - mons iratus, per litora, iverunt
4. I determined which words I would use as a password - deleta/deleti sunt.
5. Using the words which i determined for a preview vocabulary story, I wrote a “silly story” 
6. I determined which words I would gloss and provide the L1 meaning in the cultural reading. Because I only had a few 30-minute sessions of Latin before revealing the cultural reading, I felt that I glossed a lot more words than I normally would have. If I had one more Latin session, I would have been able to target many of the glossed words.
   
7. I determined the activities to be used with this story
8. I determined how to introduce the cultural reading 

During CI Summit, my daily lesson plans were as follows:

• Day 1 (15 minutes) - TPR/Gestures, TPR/Gestures with Story
• Day 2 (30 minutes) - Password at the Door, Review of TPR Gestures, What is Behind the Door, Readers Theater of "Silly Story"
• Day 3 (30 minutes) - Post Reading of Silly Story - SEL Reading, Is this Relevant to the Story, Hot Potato
• Day 4 (25 minutes)- Cultural Reading, Read/Draw/ Discuss

Observations

1. Why did I not use an authentic resource about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii? My primary goal was comprehensibility and readability. If you know of an authentic Latin resource which communicates this event for NOVICE-LOW learners, please let me know!
2. I think too many times CI/ADI critics get caught up in an assumption that all we CI/ADI teachers do is focus on "silly stories" and never do anything beyond that. While I can understand that misconception, my use of a "silly story" was very deliberate and was to preview vocabulary and sentence structures which participants would experience in the cultural reading. In other words, it was part of the process and not the end goal.  

Hope this helps some!