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…
- “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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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"
- 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.
- Implement more PQAs and questioning of my students in Latin as warmups to engage in purposeful communication.
- Continue "communicatifying" existing activities, including brain breaks.
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