Circling – 5

6 thoughts on “Circling – 5”

1. Diana Noonan

   March 19, 2015 at 10:04 pm

   DPS has several job openings which are posted on the DPSK12.org website. We are looking for CI teachers. If interested, please apply online and contact Diana Noonan. Diana_noonan@dpsk12.org
   Thanks!

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2. Daniel

   March 20, 2015 at 2:08 pm

   Thanks for sharing! It’s familiar, but still a great refresher!

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3. Alisa Shapiro

   March 20, 2015 at 4:21 pm

   Thanks so much, I so benefit from the refreshers. My question is a general one. When we are reminded about staying narrow and in bounds so as not to overwhelm the tender ears of our novice listeners, are we only talking about beginning of year 1? I mean, haven’t we accelerated the processing and improved the productive listening (>= comprehension) of our Ss after several months of hi quality CI? After how many hours of instruction can we started to widen our CI, confident that we’re not blitzing the kids with mumbo-jumbo? For how long do we stay slow and narrow?

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   1. Ben Slavic

      March 20, 2015 at 6:59 pm

      …after how many hours of instruction can we started to widen our CI, confident that we’re not blitzing the kids with mumbo-jumbo? For how long do we stay slow and narrow?…
      Alisa I have a very conservative view on those points. I believe that no matter how slow we go, at no matter what level, we are still going too fast for them. So I stay slow and narrow as long as I can. There does come a point where you can go wider and faster but I think that in those cases it is the faster processors trying to push you along. If you have ten fast processors and twenty five others who are not clearly engaged, then you are running the risk of splitting the class. That’s just my opinion however. I find that I always go too fast.

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      1. Eric Herman

         March 20, 2015 at 7:34 pm

         Good question, Alisa. Something I’ve pondered recently as well.
         Of course, as the year progresses, we have introduced more targets and in order to recycle them all regularly, then it starts to appear like we are going wider. Yet, we are sticking to known language. If every 2 weeks we only narrowly targeted 3 new structures, then we won’t get the recycled language we need. The entire semester/year should be like 1 giant embedded reading, all new structures getting integrated with the rest while we retell all the “base versions.”
         We will reach a point when we’ll need to start a NEW embedded reading, i.e. we can’t keep adding and also recycling, because then that guarantees we won’t get enough reps of the new stuff. But like Pimsleur’s approach, the time between recycling can be greater and greater. It may be helpful to some of us to have days in which we schedule our targeted new stuff and days of non-targeted recycling of the familiar. . .
         I have also wondered whether kids need fewer concentrated reps as proficiency develops. I feel like this is the case. At the beginning the kids are working from scratch on sounds, syntax, meaning, etc. We have no choice but to be super targeted if we want all the kids to comprehend. But as they acquire the high-frequency language they are given the fundamental structure to “hang” future language on. They’ll have acquired a lot of those essential “glue words,” so they can focus attention more on only the new sounds. But I side with Ben in that it’s good to recommend what is the conservative side, since we almost always assume more than what the kids are actually getting.

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4. Ben Slavic

   March 20, 2015 at 11:15 pm

   …we almost always assume more than what the kids are actually getting….
   It’s so true. Try it with the same group as an experiment. Teach one class like you are protecting every kid from getting anywhere near to being confused. Just teach that way, totally slowly in bounds. Then the next day let yourself drive the train faster and nearer to being derailed. Watch how they react to you in each class. That will tell you everything you need to know.
   It’s Susan Gross whom I first heard say that they always get less than we think. And so that is all we need to know. If Susie said it, it’s true.

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