A question for the group from Ben Lev:
..I work in a small, new charter high school and for most of seven years have been the only Spanish teacher, using TPRS/CI and it’s great. The curriculum through the levels focuses on mastery of high freq words, esp verbs, using class stories, novels, Movie Talk etc. As we’ve grown new teachers have been hired, with some CI training. Now there’s a new teacher who is pushing hard for us to adopt ACTFL Can Do statements as an organizing principle/curriculum. I see it as an emphasis on doing “activities” in the classroom, and a de-emphasis on stories. Does anyone have experience with incorporating Can Do statements into a CI department? Are they compatible? I’d appreciate your perspective.
Ben