Our newest group member is Latrina Thompson and she asks a good question here:
…I really want to start fresh with CI in the spring. Do you think it is possible to transition to CI mid-year? These students have never been in a class where Spanish was spoken more than 10% of the time….
My own opinion is that it can be done but it has to be done with care. Like five minutes a day and try not to draw their attention to the fact that it is something new. I would base it on reading as well, in the sense that you could do some reading and then sneak in some really slow R & D into the mix without their noticing. So for that to happen everything you say has to be really comprehensible.
Waving a flag around saying how things are going to be different now would upset months of training and the kids who currently own you will rebel strongly. They absolutely have to not notice the incremental increase in comprehensible input strategies. The goal I would set for myself is that after a few months I am doing it pretty much half the class period or more.
Others’ opinions on how Latrina can make this change in mid-year are most welcome.