Today I peeled off about 200 layers of the CI onion. The class that just left my classroom taught me how to do it.
We were working from a killer script. The script was short and the sentences were tight. The script was not long and drawn out. The structures were limited. I went through the three locations. In each location I repeated the same structures. I didn’t go out of bounds because the script wouldn’t let me. No English because everything was so clear, only two new structures clamored their way in.
BUT all that limitation (2 original structures only) was not limiting! The kids thought that they made it all up themselves. That is what the really great scripts do. They are very limiting and some people misinterpret that to mean that the story will be boring because scripted but it is not.
So:
- Tight script, very limited target structures. (2)
- Addition of (2) more structures naturally in the flow of the creative process. They were necessary so I found myself saying lots of sentences during the story to hit those (4) structures, over and over (that was the key to success).
- So I hit a few structures a million times and it wasn’t boring because the script was so interesting.
- Everything was so simple that no comprehension checks were needed.
- Kids were fighting each other to get into the story line; acting was first rate.
- I know this is a hippy thing to say, but we were genuinely happy together. At one point I found myself looking at the floor and a voice said, “Isn’t this fun?”* And the kids, to watch them (sixth graders) made me feel that all the work of 38 years of hard work to get here was easily worth it.
It made me see that what I used to do was stories was too loosey goosey, too long, too all over the place in too many directions, no three locations, and not very interesting because I didn’t have the right script.
To repeat – we didn’t want to because everything was so tight and clear and the French was flowing so much that the English kept its distance out of respect. The main actor was a child with severe emotional problems who suddenly became a great actress.
*this never happened when I was teaching AP French in English.