Bryce requests that we read and discuss the text below:
Here is an attendance and make-up work policy I am preparing now to deal with absences next school year. Progress in CI-based classes depends upon regular student attendance. Only students that show up can get the input. I have to begin writing at this time of the year because the keen frustration of dealing with myriad absences tends to evaporate during the summer. I have to start putting down these thoughts now to catch the full, bitter flavor of too many absent students.
Here is what I have so far:
The goal of this class is for you to acquire Spanish, for you to really be able to speak and understand Spanish fluently. Language is acquired through input (listening and reading), not output (speaking and writing). You learn language by receiving it rather than by producing it. In this course we will concentrate during class time on receiving language. And receiving happens through reading and listening.
Rather than doing a lot of homework, I prefer that you give me your full attention in class. If you are actively listening in class you will not need much homework. Filling in worksheets in front of the TV is not the best use of your time. Copying answers from others and turning in homework questions is not a good use of your time. Checking homework assignments in class is not normally a good use of our class time either. These things will not help you acquire language.
Most of what we do in this class cannot be easily reproduced when you are absent. If you have to miss class you will need to make up the lost input with Spanish. It will need to be Spanish that you can understand. The best way would be simply to read in Spanish. You can re-read the mini-stories or extended readings from class. You can read magazines, novels, or newspapers. You can read fiction or non-fiction.
The only requirements for this make-up reading material that you choose are that it be interesting and comprehensible to you. It should be something you enjoy reading and it should be relatively easy to understand. It does not have to be utterly fascinating, and you do not have understand every single word—just most of them. It just has to be something that holds your interest for awhile and something that you can mostly understand. You can also watch TV or movies in Spanish if they meet these criteria.
I would appreciate discussion to refine the thinking.